The manufacture of earth colours

by Josef Bersch

White Earth Colours

Carbonate of Lime:

Chalk; levigated chalk; Vienna white; Spanish white; marble white; artists’ white; Bougival white; Champagne chalk; Paris chalk; Cologne chalk; Mountain chalk; craie; blanc minéral; Blanc de Champagne; Blanc de Meudon; Blanc de Bougival; Blanc de Troyes; Blanc d’Orleans; Blanc de Rouen; Blanc de Briançon.

Basic Carbonate of Lime:

Vienna white; Vienna lime; pearl white; whiting; Blanc de chaux; Blanc de Vienne.

Note.—The calcareous marls, consisting of carbonate of lime and clay, are also frequently sold under the above names, the same being the case with gypsum.

Silicate of Alumina:

White earth; pipeclay; Dutch white; Cologne earth; terre d’Argile; Argile blanc; Terre blanche.

Silicate of Magnesia (mineralogically, talc and soapstone):

Talc; Venetian earth; French chalk; Venetian white; glossy white; feather white; shale white; face-powder white; Blanc de Venise; Blanc d’Espagne; Blanc de fard.

Note.—Fine grades of white lead are also sold as Venetian white, Spanish white and shale white; but can easily be recognised by their weight. The term “prepared” white, frequently applied to earth colours in the trade, usually indicates that the material in question has been either levigated, ground or burnt—in short, put through some kind of preparatory treatment—and is therefore in frequent use for all the colours.

Barium sulphate:

Heavy spar; barytes; heavy earth; mineral white.

Precipitated colours:

Permanent white; blanc fixe.