Black is among the first pigments in the palette of early humans. By Paleolithic times, black defines lines, shadows and meaning. Black pigment materials are everywhere in the landscape, from magnetite, which can be ground into powder, to burnt bone fragments.
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Black comes from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It's impossible to get a true pure black in nature. Most blacks have warm or cool tones. The hex codes above are 'official' versions of virtual black.
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Artists often disagree with these interpretations. For instance ebony black in hex (above) is medium greenish grey, and charcoal black shows an odd medium grey-blue. Nature also presents variations; and, no two people see a color exactly the same way.
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In Paleolithic times and earlier, artisans experiment with grinding, charring, carving and sculpting various materials. White, black and red are the earliest paint pigments used, abundant in nature.
Throughout history artisans seek the finest, richest, deepest tones in pigments, dyes and sculpting material. An early source of black is soot from oil lamps. It creates a warm dense black and is found in art supply stores as Lamp Black.
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Many natural blacks, not surprisingly, come from charring. People easily make black pigment by heating and charring wood and other plant products. The equivalent in artist's paint stores is Carbon Black or Charcoal Black.
Carbon black today is created from natural gas in an environment of controlled oxygen and temperature. In this way, fine particles of consistent quality are produced. This carbon black can also be used in ink.
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The largest producers of wood charcoal today are Indonesia, China, Poland, Vietnam and Laos. Besides making artists' products charcoal's popular for cooking and barbecue, and its odor-absorption and filtering properties.
Charcoal has been made the same way for thousands of years, using a pyrolysis technique, or heating organic material in the absence of oxygen. Charcoal makers heat the wood at over 400° C (750° F) in a closed environment.
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The process is exothermic. It releases heat, causing temperature of the immediate surroundings to rise. This intensifies the level of heat. In a situation of no oxygen fires tend to go out, thus charcoal making is an art form in some regions.
For centuries charcoal is created in pits, hill dugouts or kiln-like constructions as people experiment with darker denser charcoals. For cooking, hard fragrant woods like oak, hickory and fruit tree wood are best.
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Charcoal can easily be applied with the fingers as wall decor, body and face paint. Above, the white is kaolin clay or a limestone derivative. Kaolin is used in both art and medicine. The spiritual meaning of black in ancient times is usually positive.
Different woods or processes yield various types and densities of charcoal, from crumbly soft to an almost conte-like hardness. It can be smudged or used to draw with precision. Willow is commonly used to make artists' charcoal.
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Charred grape vines and stems yield Vine Black. Fundamentally black is not black as nature blacks vary in tone, incorporating cool (blue) or warm (yellow, red) hues. Blue, yellow and red are the primary colors of the color wheel. With black and white they form all colors.
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A mixture of black and yellow creates greens found in nature. The hex triplets black and yellow mixed at 50/50 make a natural olive green. Different amounts or shades of yellow added to pure black yield lighter and darker greens.
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The giant deer or Megaloceros giganteus exists from 400,000 years ago to c. 4800 BCE. Bones and antlers of this animal can be charred to make black paint. Spiritually the deer products hold power and essence of the animal both as object of veneration and prey.
For magic and ritual as in shamanism, using parts of the desired animal as means of expression (art, dance) can attract these animals into one's sphere of being. In animal spirituality the stag represents beginnings, leadership, virility and nature magic.
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Mars Black is one of the deepest blacks. It's created in prehistoric times by grinding the iron oxide stone magnetite into powder. Magnetite is one of the three major iron oxides of the Earth. The others are limonite (yellow ocher) and hematite (red ocher).
As its name suggests, magnetite is magnetic, the magnetism created by iron oxide. Created by the shattering action of lava meeting sea water, magnetite is a major component of the famous black sand beaches in Hawaii and Iceland.
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Black sands are also a typical habitat for gold. The magnetite crystals above form in combination with chalcopyrite, a gold-look copper iron sulfide which is one of the primary sources of sulfur. Magnetite has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 - 6.5, similar to glass.
It's not easy to grind but the result is worth it. In ancient times to recent, grinding artists' paint pigments is a job allocated to apprentices and students. It's also required knowledge for scribes in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
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Ivory black has been made since prehistory. Ivory tusks, horns or teeth of animals such as elephant, walrus, narwhal, sperm whale, hippopotamus or warthog is roasted at high heat in a closed space. As it chars, ivory breaks into splinters, which are ground to pigment.
Jet black, treasured in jewelry, comes from a type of coal. A mineraloid, jet is the lowest form of coal but creates a beautiful gemstone. Jet black is used to describe a rich dark black, or the blackest black of all, as in jet-black hair.
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Regardless, jet can range from a dark brown to opaque black. Jet can be hard, about 4 on the Mohs scale, or soft, around 2.5, similar to gold. Hard jet is due to carbon compression and salt water. Soft jet can be caused by carbon compression and fresh water.
Jet is used as jewelry, protective magic and paint pigment by early people. It's especially desirable as mourning jewelry in Victorian times.
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The popularity of black at funerals and in mourning begins in the Western world with the death of Albert, beloved husband of British Queen Victoria. Victoria wears black until her own death 40 years later. An entire culture grows around the wearing of black for grief.
Some women dye their entire wardrobes black. What do they use for dye? The oak apple or gall-nut, a tumor growing on oak trees, is a main source of black dye and black writing ink from the 14th to the 19th century.
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Ebony black conjures up exotic connections, and comes from ebony wood. The name originates as ancient Egyptian hbny. Egyptians trade for the wood with the Nubians and other cultures.
Ebony is the core wood of several tree species in the persimmon family. Like ivory it can be pummeled to pigment but it's preferred as a sculptural medium. Ebony is also used for piano keys and black chess pieces. Due to deforestation ebony trade is now widely banned.
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Black volcanic glass obsidian is tempting due to its luster and brittleness, but obsidian fractures into sharp particles. It's preferred for carving, especially ancient cylinder seals. and making objects like arrowheads, cutting tools, weapons and ritual daggers.
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