We’ve all heard the expression “feeling blue” – but perhaps not to the extreme that some of the Mayan sacrificial victims may have felt after being painted blue? Recently anthropologists believe they have discovered just how the ancient Mayans made this unique blue pigment. “First identified in 1931, this blue pigment known as Maya Blue has puzzled archaeologists, chemists and material scientists for years because of its unusual chemical stability, composition and persistent color in one of the world’s harshest climates.”
Much has been written and researched about in regards to artists’ pigments in the past several hundred years and it is fascinating to imagine that the mechanism for creating some of these pigments are just being re-discovered. In polymer clay it is a little easier, as 7 parts Turquoise and one part ultramarine blue yields a convincing replication of the cooler versions of Maya Blue.
Surprisingly enough there were a few responses to “Does it come in Yellow”?…Have you made a polymer clay piece in Maya blue lately?
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i never heard the expression mayan blue. I never did a piece in yellow – I use orange a lot, but never yellow – maybe because that color doesn’t become me at all – looking like a floater in yellow or purple (yes, purple…too bad isn’t it?).
i made some cute blue earrings lately (which I proudly traded with Judy BElcherfor her new DVD;) – here you go
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beadworx/2066366300/in/set-72157594585722926/
Didn’t know this color was called Maya Blue, but I make things in the colors of natural turquoise all the time. There are some here: http://www.georgiamorgan.net/html/allnew707.htm, notably in the 2nd row.