Into the Blue
So pretty, yet poisonous!Did you know that cobalt is made from salt? Specifically, the compound is made by sintering the stoichiometric mixture of finely ground CoO and Al2O3 at 1200°C. … Yep, I knew that you wanted to know that. And I also knew that you would know exactly what it means, so I’m not going to bother explaining it.
Actually, of more interest is that the first recorded use of the word cobalt to describe a shade of blue was in 1777. Despite its distastefully scientific origins, I think it is a pretty word.
Long before that, around 800AD, the Chinese began using cobalt pigment in the manufacture of their famous and widely imitated blue and white porcelain (which in fact owes its origins to the Middle East). Much of the decoration in today’s production is not applied by hand however, but by transfer-printing. Potters still use cobalt to this day, and as the pigment is toxic, precautions must be used to prevent cobalt poisoning. (A form of delirious intoxication, so I gather from my source, Wikipedia.)
Nothing poisonous about the cobalt hued items above although the colour is so delicious it’s intoxicating. I have collected them over the years: bejewelled silk heels from Hussy (a gift from a boyfriend); an embossed patent leather belt (on sale at David Jones); a striped, silk scarf found on one of my op-shopping forays; and a necklace of blue onyx, handmade by myself from faceted beads bought in Sharjah (UAE). The pendant was bought from a different seller, an Afghan merchant, for the princely sum of $4.
I have always loved the blue and white porcelain, and was a few years ago inspired to create a collection of jewellery made from it:
Click image to read about these little trifles.