Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
lake white
English answer:
alumina hydrate, also known as alumina white or transparent white
Added to glossary by
Charles Davis
Nov 5, 2012 19:39
11 yrs ago
English term
lake white
English
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The distance was undulating prairie, bisected by stretches of the intermittent streams peculiar to the region lined with the rich green of live-oak and water-elm. A richly mottled rattlesnake lay coiled beneath a pale green clump of prickly pear in the foreground. A third of the canvas was ultramarine and -------------------------------lake white— -------------------------------the typical Western sky and the flying clouds, rainless and feathery.
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Change log
Nov 5, 2012 19:39: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Nov 10, 2012 08:00: Charles Davis Created KOG entry
Responses
+1
2 hrs
Selected
alumina hydrate, also known as alumina white or transparent white
This is a colour used by artists. As Jenni says, "lake" has nothing to do with a body of water; it denotes the type of pigment called lake, in which a dye is combined with a white binder. In the case of lake white, however, there is no dye; it is just a white metallic salt, namely alumina hydrate, also known as aluminium hydroxide, with the formula Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·3H<sub>2</sub>O or Al(OH)<sub>3</sub>.
Here is an account of its chemical composition:
Nicholas Eastaugh et al., Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary and Optical Microscopy of Historic Pigments, p. 15.
http://books.google.es/books?id=P7vbXHR2mTYC&pg=PT67&lpg=PT6...
"ALUMINA WHITE OR LAKE WHITE
This is the hydrated oxide of alumina which is ground in linseed oil, and is almost as transparent as glass. It is simply used as a medium for reducing or attenuating other pigments as, for instance, when it is desirable to glaze with burnt sienna, it is of advantage to mix burnt sienna with alumina, because in that way the burnt sienna assumes all the qualities of a lake color. Alumina is permanent, and is not affected by other pigments. As however, the amount of oil necessary to grind alumina into the paste form is very large, the oil contained in the mixture is prone to turn yellow. It has a variety of advantages, however, which makes it exceedingly useful and can be generally recommended." (p. 88)
Maximilian Toch, Materials for Permanent Painting
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/maximilian-toch/materi...
As the name "transparent white" implies, lake white or "blanc de lacque" is also combined with other colours to produce a transparent pigment.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-11-05 21:54:24 GMT)
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Unfortunately the subscript doesn't seem to have worked in the chemical formula: Al2O3·3H2O or Al(OH)3.
Here is an account of its chemical composition:
Nicholas Eastaugh et al., Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary and Optical Microscopy of Historic Pigments, p. 15.
http://books.google.es/books?id=P7vbXHR2mTYC&pg=PT67&lpg=PT6...
"ALUMINA WHITE OR LAKE WHITE
This is the hydrated oxide of alumina which is ground in linseed oil, and is almost as transparent as glass. It is simply used as a medium for reducing or attenuating other pigments as, for instance, when it is desirable to glaze with burnt sienna, it is of advantage to mix burnt sienna with alumina, because in that way the burnt sienna assumes all the qualities of a lake color. Alumina is permanent, and is not affected by other pigments. As however, the amount of oil necessary to grind alumina into the paste form is very large, the oil contained in the mixture is prone to turn yellow. It has a variety of advantages, however, which makes it exceedingly useful and can be generally recommended." (p. 88)
Maximilian Toch, Materials for Permanent Painting
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/maximilian-toch/materi...
As the name "transparent white" implies, lake white or "blanc de lacque" is also combined with other colours to produce a transparent pigment.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-11-05 21:54:24 GMT)
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Unfortunately the subscript doesn't seem to have worked in the chemical formula: Al2O3·3H2O or Al(OH)3.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
6 mins
lake is a type of pigment, white lake a variety of that type of pigment
I believe that the writer is referring to this: A lake pigment is a pigment manufactured by precipitating a dye with an inert binder, or "mordant", usually a metallic salt. This sense of lake is unconnected with lake meaning body of water; it derives from the word lac (referring to a resinous secretion). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_pigment
4 mins
artist's colour
is all it is
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Note added at 9 mins (2012-11-05 19:48:43 GMT)
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I think it could be a typo and should be Flake White. While there are colours called "Lake" I'm not sure there is a white
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Note added at 10 mins (2012-11-05 19:49:35 GMT)
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though there is an etching ink
http://www.artistmaterial.co.uk/products/Charbonnel-Etching-...
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Note added at 11 mins (2012-11-05 19:50:47 GMT)
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http://www.winsornewton.com/resource-cente/product-articles/...
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Note added at 14 mins (2012-11-05 19:53:22 GMT)
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colours have changed names however over the years so there could have been a Lake white in the past. After all "Mummy Black" used be to made from the bandages and bones of dug up mummies!
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Note added at 9 mins (2012-11-05 19:48:43 GMT)
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I think it could be a typo and should be Flake White. While there are colours called "Lake" I'm not sure there is a white
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2012-11-05 19:49:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
though there is an etching ink
http://www.artistmaterial.co.uk/products/Charbonnel-Etching-...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 mins (2012-11-05 19:50:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.winsornewton.com/resource-cente/product-articles/...
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Note added at 14 mins (2012-11-05 19:53:22 GMT)
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colours have changed names however over the years so there could have been a Lake white in the past. After all "Mummy Black" used be to made from the bandages and bones of dug up mummies!
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