March 01, 2004
Aniline dye
Looking though my Mexican photos, I am struck by the contrast between the monochromatic palette of nature and the palapas, and the vivid colors of the marketplace. Aniline dye was invented in 1856 by William Perkin. It made the production of vivid color possible. Before 1856 colors like turquoise, magenta and ultramarine blue were not to be found outside of nature, and stained glass. The Victorians were very excited by the possibilities of bright colors, and crassly overdid aniline applications for a while.
I used alot of aniline dye in my theatrical heyday. As I recall, we were warned of it's toxicity. A few granules in a garbage can full of water would be enough to stain an entire drop. Powerful stuff. It was also permanent, as in crazy glue. Once, a comrade took a microscopic bit home with her to do a piece; her Siamese cat got into it, and then groomed itself into permanent turquoise, tongue and all. The poor kitty probably suffered an early death. Coal tar. Or maybe it just cured it's psoriasis. Honestly, the things you learn on the web when you weren't meaning to learn anything at all.
My father always used Packer's Tar Soap. The revolting odor was one of the grave disadvantages of using his shower. It smelled like an oil change. He died from Parkinson's Disease at the age of 90, so I doubt its carcinogenic effects. That was pine tar, though. Just another loose association from the Dakota brain archive.
Dakota: I enjoy reading your blog immensely, although I admit to squirming now and then based on your subjects, but that's okay! keep going! Your photos, however, are part of the reason I jumped and bought a digital camera. You have a true eye for composition and color, color to the point that I always wonder if you're juicing the images since they are so vibrant. But I'm sure you just have an eye for such things. I'd love to find out what you use (camera) and anything out of the ordinary you do to capture these images. In fact, it would be a treat to read an entry from you on your photographic process.
Posted by: Gary at March 3, 2004 08:27 AMHey Gary -- Your sweet encouragement came at just the right moment. (Await my next post, which is in preparation.) I will tell you all about my camera very soon, a Canon S40 PowerShot,if you will tell me what makes you squirm. I am eagerly anticipating the products of your eye on Inkmusings.
Posted by: Dakota at March 3, 2004 09:35 AMI don't want to say because i enjoy being streched...and wouldn't want to to censor or dilute anything. Suffice to say you touch on a lot of women issues, but I still learn from that, so keep blogging! My digitalness will be delayed as I'm returning the Olympus D545 I bought and will wait on the new Pentax S40 due at the end of the month (tiny camera!). I'm getting a new laptop that has a SD card slot, so I'm trying to match a camera that uses the SD cards for convenience of moving images to the laptop.
Posted by: Gary at March 3, 2004 10:43 AMPhew, I thought it was the Packer's Tar Soap.
Posted by: Dakota at March 5, 2004 07:34 PM