A distinct blue pigment reminiscent of turquoise or a clear sky was used by the ancient Maya to paint pottery, sculptures, clothing, murals, jewelry, and even human sacrifices. What makes it so interesting is not only its rich palette — ranging from bright turquoise to a dark greenish blue — but also its remarkable durability. Only a small number of blue pigments were created by ancient civilizations, and even among those Maya blue is unique. The secret of its creation was thought to be lost, until ceramicist and artist [Luis May Ku] rediscovered it.
Maya blue is not just a dye, nor a ground-up mineral like lapis lazuli. It is an unusual and highly durable organic-inorganic hybrid; the result of a complex chemical process that involves two colorants. Here is how it is made: Indigotin is a dye extracted from ch’oj, the Mayan name for a specific indigenous indigo plant. That extract is combined with a very specific type of clay. Heating the mixture in an oven both stabilizes it produces a second colorant: dehydroindigo. Together, this creates Maya blue.
The road to rediscovery was not a simple one. While the chemical makeup and particulars of Maya blue had been known for decades, the nuts and bolts of actually making it, not to mention sourcing the correct materials, and determining the correct techniques, was a long road. [May] made progress by piecing together invaluable ancestral knowledge and finally cracked the code after a lot of time and effort and experimentation. He remembers the moment of watching a batch shift in color from a soft blue to a vibrant turquoise, and knew he had finally done it.
Before synthetic blue pigments arrived on the scene after the industrial revolution, blue was rare and highly valuable in Europe. The Spanish exploitation of the New World included controlling Maya blue until synthetic blue colorants arrived on the scene, after which Maya blue faded from common knowledge. [May]’s rediscovered formula marks the first time the world has seen genuine Maya blue made using its original formula and methods in almost two hundred years.
Maya blue is a technological wonder of the ancient world, and its rediscovery demonstrates the resilience and scientific value of ancestral knowledge as well as the ingenuity of those dedicated to reviving lost arts.
We’re reminded that paints and coatings have long been fertile ground for experimentation, and as an example we’ve seen the success people had in re-creating an ultra-white paint that actually has a passive cooling effect.
“with traditional methods”, whereas making it using modern methods has been known about for a while (+ 20 years). I know this as I researched it as part of my STEM home education program for my kids, who are of Mayan decent via their mother’s bloodline.
Reinen, D., Köhl, P. and Müller, C. (2004), The Nature of the Colour Centres in ‘Maya Blue’ — the Incorporation of Organic Pigment Molecules into the Palygorskite Lattice†. Z. anorg. allg. Chem., 630: 97-103. https://doi.org/10.1002/zaac.200300251
Late to the party?
“An actual recipe to reproduce Maya blue pigment was published in 1993 by a Mexican historian and chemist, Constantino Reyes-Valerio. The combination of different clays (palygorskite and montmorillonite), together with the use of the leaves of the añil and the actual process is described in his paper.”
Oopsaday?
Maybe he missed that event and re-re-discovered it?
Failure to do a lit review is failure, not rediscovery.
Darn. Are you my thesis advisor? I feel like that’s something he would have said. A lot. To me. Because reasons.
We call this a ‘reproduction study’
Yeah, you’ve been able to buy this exact formulation from pigment suppliers for quite a while. Whoops!
Hey, what suppliers do you use? I would love to get some of this pigment.
Natural Pigments has one type of maya blue, and Kremer Pigments has quite a few varieties. Other than that, Earth Pigments is good for buying common oxides/earths in bulk, and Prodigal Sons on Etsy has some interesting rare/historical stuff.
Hope that helps!
That does help, very nice
Re: “late to the party” — Maybe. I don’t think Donald looked too deeply into this beyond the linked article.
If you have better resources, please post them here! I’m also a little bummed with the guy’s “using a traditional, secret recipe” thing.
Best to ignore it and redirect your energies elsewhere if a review of historical cause and effect is what triggers you.
No, everyone is tired of this crap and I’m not going to ignore the constant chant of race communism being injected into every piece of media originating in the US and its vassal states. We are done with your kind
I just wanted to say “Thanks” before this all gets deleted.
It strikes me as a lighter shade of my favourite blue: #336699, the colour of the mountain in the 1997 AltaVista logo.