I have a few staple colors that I like using for all kinds of different creative activities. They can usually be found in every painting I finish. One of most prominent is Prussian blue.
The pigment in the paint is generated by adding Fe(III) salt to a solution of [Fe(CN)6]4-. The color is that of bluejeans and cyanotype blueprints. Two things that to me are part of a grand American legend. The better part of what we have created. Durable clothing, bic pens and big dreams.
Making this fine pigment more interesting isn't difficult. it has quite a few unusual properties. It's electrochromic (changing from blue to white when charged), toxic (due to prevalent cyanide ions in it's raw state) and experiences all manner of molecular activity when exposed to light and magnetism. It is the first modern synthetic color and its creation was accidental.
Prussian blue is often used in color bleaches. The trick to making your clothing seem brilliant white is making them slightly blue. It fools the eye into thinking it is brighter and therefor, a little cleaner. The same thing happens to your teeth when you bleach them. Your grandmother might have it blue rinses applied to her hair.
Prussian blue is very valuable. It is a good name for a useful chemical compound.
However, a name is only that.
There are some things I despise about the name.
Take for instance the pop folk duo that bears it.
The two young musicians named Lamb and Lynx are, to put it politely, a "white power" band. They have also been described as "a sinister version of the Olsen Twins". I prefer to call them "the cute hate group."
Their music, according to their mother April Gaede, is about Vikings and German History. She has been home schooling using textbooks from the 1950's and her own uniquely bigoted perspectives to teach her daughters the way of the world.
She seems malevolent and domineering.
Here are some of the lyrics to Sacrifice:
~
"He fought so strong for our race. We're finally back in our place. It took his life, my dear son, and now it's over the war is won. Our Race was saved because the lives that were sacrificed: those men that died...
Sacrifice , they gave their lives. All those men who have died. Sacrifice, they gave their lives, all those men who have died.
Warrior poet, I sing his songs. Ian Stuart, with his voice so strong. Remember his words, as we sing along.
Rudolph Hess, a man of Peace. He wouldn't give up he wouldn't cease, he gave his loyalty to our Cause. Remember him and give a pause.
Robert Matthews he knew the Truth. He knew what he had to do. He set an example with Courage so bold. We'll never let that fire grow cold.
Dr Pierce, a man so wise, helped so many of us open our eyes, see the future for what it could be: a future for our Race’s eternity."
~
-Ian Stuart was the singer for Screwdriver, a racist punk band. A automobile accident did away with him after it was supposedly tampered with by London gangsters.
-Rudolph Hess was one of Hitler's deputies. A man of peace indeed.
-Robert Matthews robbed banks and an armored car and a porn shop to raise funds for his hate fledgling group. The FBI burned him alive in a house fire.
-Dr. William Pierce wrote The Turner Diaries and helped to found the American Nazi Party and Cosmotheism. He died rather peacefully four years ago.
Intolerance, elitism and unprovoked hatred are some of the unusual properties of this Prussian Blue.
I am reminded that though we live here as individuals, we do so together. Sometimes that is forgotten when the us vs. them mentalities abound.
...
A name is an abstract. Something intangible that is only real in the spectrum of our minds. Names are just reference points.
I like a specific shade of blue so much that I purchased tubes tubes of it yesterday and they will likely be gone soon. At the same time I despise the hatred laced into lyrics sung by two seemingly innocent adolescent girls. Now I find myself in a situation wherein I must refer to them both unfairly using a single moniker.
When I say I like Prussian blue I could be saying I have a pedophiliac yearning for an absurd little pop-fascist folk duo that frequents Nazi rallies and Renaissance fairs. Or I could be an aspiring architect. Or maybe I'm a mad chemist who spends all day electrocuting Iron/salt compounds then blogs about how much fun it was. Or maybe I came really close to picking a favorite color.
Does this seem strange to anyone else?
Oh well.
The pigment in the paint is generated by adding Fe(III) salt to a solution of [Fe(CN)6]4-. The color is that of bluejeans and cyanotype blueprints. Two things that to me are part of a grand American legend. The better part of what we have created. Durable clothing, bic pens and big dreams.
Making this fine pigment more interesting isn't difficult. it has quite a few unusual properties. It's electrochromic (changing from blue to white when charged), toxic (due to prevalent cyanide ions in it's raw state) and experiences all manner of molecular activity when exposed to light and magnetism. It is the first modern synthetic color and its creation was accidental.
Prussian blue is often used in color bleaches. The trick to making your clothing seem brilliant white is making them slightly blue. It fools the eye into thinking it is brighter and therefor, a little cleaner. The same thing happens to your teeth when you bleach them. Your grandmother might have it blue rinses applied to her hair.
Prussian blue is very valuable. It is a good name for a useful chemical compound.
However, a name is only that.
There are some things I despise about the name.
Take for instance the pop folk duo that bears it.
The two young musicians named Lamb and Lynx are, to put it politely, a "white power" band. They have also been described as "a sinister version of the Olsen Twins". I prefer to call them "the cute hate group."
Their music, according to their mother April Gaede, is about Vikings and German History. She has been home schooling using textbooks from the 1950's and her own uniquely bigoted perspectives to teach her daughters the way of the world.
She seems malevolent and domineering.
~
"He fought so strong for our race. We're finally back in our place. It took his life, my dear son, and now it's over the war is won. Our Race was saved because the lives that were sacrificed: those men that died...
Sacrifice , they gave their lives. All those men who have died. Sacrifice, they gave their lives, all those men who have died.
Warrior poet, I sing his songs. Ian Stuart, with his voice so strong. Remember his words, as we sing along.
Rudolph Hess, a man of Peace. He wouldn't give up he wouldn't cease, he gave his loyalty to our Cause. Remember him and give a pause.
Robert Matthews he knew the Truth. He knew what he had to do. He set an example with Courage so bold. We'll never let that fire grow cold.
Dr Pierce, a man so wise, helped so many of us open our eyes, see the future for what it could be: a future for our Race’s eternity."
~
-Ian Stuart was the singer for Screwdriver, a racist punk band. A automobile accident did away with him after it was supposedly tampered with by London gangsters.
-Rudolph Hess was one of Hitler's deputies. A man of peace indeed.
-Robert Matthews robbed banks and an armored car and a porn shop to raise funds for his hate fledgling group. The FBI burned him alive in a house fire.
-Dr. William Pierce wrote The Turner Diaries and helped to found the American Nazi Party and Cosmotheism. He died rather peacefully four years ago.
Intolerance, elitism and unprovoked hatred are some of the unusual properties of this Prussian Blue.
I am reminded that though we live here as individuals, we do so together. Sometimes that is forgotten when the us vs. them mentalities abound.
A name is an abstract. Something intangible that is only real in the spectrum of our minds. Names are just reference points.
I like a specific shade of blue so much that I purchased tubes tubes of it yesterday and they will likely be gone soon. At the same time I despise the hatred laced into lyrics sung by two seemingly innocent adolescent girls. Now I find myself in a situation wherein I must refer to them both unfairly using a single moniker.
When I say I like Prussian blue I could be saying I have a pedophiliac yearning for an absurd little pop-fascist folk duo that frequents Nazi rallies and Renaissance fairs. Or I could be an aspiring architect. Or maybe I'm a mad chemist who spends all day electrocuting Iron/salt compounds then blogs about how much fun it was. Or maybe I came really close to picking a favorite color.
Does this seem strange to anyone else?
Oh well.
posted by Peter at 10:36 AM
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