Prussian Blue—one-third dark blue; one-third Victoria blue; one-third ultramarine; a touch of grey No. 2; a very little touch of purple.
Indigo—dark blue; a touch of raven black.
Carmines and Purple. (First Group.) Carmines must be used very thin, lest they should turn yellow in the firing. You must put but little oil to avoid shrivelling. Never touch them with a knife; the brush must be sufficient. It is also recommended, when using purple, to fill the brush well and to turn it round and round to dissolve the little gritty lumps generally found at the opening of the tubes. When a pink color has had an addition of purple to it, spirits of lavender with a drop of oil of turpentine should be preferred to turpentine only.
All the carmines are shaded with the same tint. Purples are also used for strong shadows, and blues for reflected lights. If light tints or pinks are made with light yellows, these colors must not be spread one over the other, but side by side, otherwise the carmine tints would be injured. In the first painting, carmines and purples are to be laid on very light; it is only in the second firing that strengthening touches are made.
“When carmines are fired in the muffle at too low a temperature, silver takes the upper hand and the color has a dirty yellow tint; if, on the contrary, the temperature is too high, the silver shade is completely destroyed, and the carmine becomes lilac or violet, which explains the difficulty in firing carmines. The same thing takes place with purples, but in a considerably less perceptible degree, because of the shade being much darker and cassius being in a larger quantity.”—A. Lacroix.
Enamel carmines and purples are equivalent to the oil colors of the same name.
Light Pink—Carmine A and carmine No. 1.
Deeper Pink—Carmine No. 2 with carmine No. 3.
Laky Red—Crimson lake.
Purple Lake—Carmine No. 1 and a touch of purple.