Cobalt blue
Cobalt blue is a pigment that gives clear blue colours. The pigment has a high degree of permanence, opacity and lightfastness. It has mainly been used to paint smaller interior surfaces.
Blue pigments have historically been rare and expensive. Cobalt blue is a compound of cobalt oxide and aluminium oxide. It was discovered in 1802 and commercial production started shortly after. This invention opened up new possibilities for different blue colours with improved properties.
Compared to ultramarine blue the colour of cobalt blue is lighter and a little bluer. When mixed with linseed oil, the tone of the paint can become slightly green if the linseed oil turns yellow.
Other blue pigments in Kulturkulör: Ultramarine blue
Mixing chart
Kulturkulör’s mixing chart describes how you can mix traditional linseed oil paints to achieve specific colours. The chart shows the result of mixing ready-made paints and the parts are stated in percent by weight.
NCS – Natural Colour System®© is a logical colour system which builds on how the human being sees colour. The NCS notation makes it possible to describe the colours of all surface materials. You can read more about the NCS system here.
There are mixing charts for a selection of the colour samples in Kulturkulör. In the sample collection you can find more nuances that you can create with linseed oil paint and traditional pigments. The mixing charts will give you an idea of how the colour changes when mixing with white and in some cases when adding black. The mixing ratios are approximate and the properties of the pigments vary.
The mixing chart is colour coded to give an idea of the result of the mixture and what colours you can achieve with the traditional pigment, but keep in mind that the colour display varies between computer screens.