PRUSSIAN BLUE

The invention of Prussian Blue.
Konrad Dippel was born in Giessen, Germany in 1673. Dippel became interested in alchemy, mainly the tranformation of base metals in to gold. In Berlin he created a laboratory with the purpose of achieving the a universal remedy. Dippel believed that this remedy lay in the distilling from mouldering animal parts such as leather, hoofs and horns in to a viscous oily liquid which became known as “Dippel’s Oil.” Dippel claimed this oil could cure fever, colds and epilepsy and slowly did gain a certain notoriety as a medicine. As a cure-all its results were refuted, however its positive results as a sheep dip and insecticide were undeniable.

Johann Jacob Diesbach was a paint maker of the time, and was attempting to create a red lake pigment from cochineal but a mistake obtained Berlin Blue. While at work Diesbach had run out of potash, so he borrowed used by Dippel. To his astonishment he created not a deep red, but an ungodly, dark blue. Dippel traced back the process and found that the potash used by his colleague, Dippel’s own, contained animal blood and it was discovered that animal blood mixed with iron sulphate (green vitriol) caused a reaction creating a never seen before blue. He named it Berlin Blue. Its unearthly colour mixed with its stability made it the popular choice of painters and printers and, fittingly, for fabric makers who chose that colour for the Prussian Army uniforms and became synonymous with Prussia itself.

I wallow in the color. Danke, Konrad & Johann