genuine, handmade YInMn Blue pigment powder, 5 grams, Oregon Mas Blue, Bluetiful

Description

Short description:
This is 5 grams of pure, authentic, handmade YInMn (pronounced Yin-Min) blue pigment in powder form.
It is authentic as it really is yttrium indium manganese oxide (aka YInMn blue) not other pigments mixed to resemble the correct hue.  It is handmade because I did not buy the pigment, I synthesized it myself from the precursor oxides.  Several photographs show steps in the process, including mixing/grinding the oxides as well as before and after heating.
The sample shown in the first 3 photographs shows what you can expect to receive if you buy this.  It may be packaged in a different container. Volume varies with how fluffy the powder is, but 5 grams is typically around 1 teaspoon (about 5mL).  The pigment is packed by weight not volume.
Now ball milled to reduce graininess and improve ease of incorporation into paints or resins.
PLEASE NOTE:  this is not paint, this is pigment
.  You can make it into paint but you will need other stuff too. See making paint below. I have also used it to color resin. I suspect it could also be used in lamp work or glassblowing like a powdered frit due to its incredible temperature resistance.  Making this pigment requires heating to glass furnace temperatures for hours at a time
Please
request ONE of the following items as a gift
with the purchase of the pigment:
- A dollop (about 1/2mL) YInMn blue fluid
acrylic paint, either semi-gloss or matte, or
- A
dollop (about 1/2mL) YInMn dark blue fluid matte
acrylic paint ( darker shade of YInMn blue), or
- An extra 0.5g of YInMn blue pigment, or
- A 0.5g sample of YInMn dark blue pigment
It's your choice with purchase.
Please state which item you want in a note when you buy the pigment sample.
Please send me a message if you have any questions and I am happy to try tp help you in your application of the pigment as much as I can.
If you are interested in getting larger amounts of pigment than 5grams at a reduced per gram price, please leave me a message.  We can set up a purchase here on ebay.
Full Description:
YInMn blue, the first inorganic blue pigment discovered in 200 years, inspiration for the Bluetiful Crayola Crayon, is non-toxic, completely fade proof under intense UV light, unchanged by acids and bases, extremely stable even at blisteringly high
glass melting
temperatures, and for years incredibly hard to get your hands on.  It was been so hard to get I had to resort to making it to try it out.  I am selling some I made  to defray the costs of making it and trying my hand at making the new color variants reported.
The darkness of YInMn varies with the amount off manganese used making it.  The chemical formula that provides the pigment's name (YInMn, pronounced Yin-Min) is Y(1)In(1-x)Mn(x)O(3) where x=0.15 for the pigment here [note that the numbers in parentheses are subscripts].  As x increases, the blue gets darker, x>0.6 or so is black.  See the picture from an article on the pigment.
I made this and I like the look of the x=0.15 version best so that is what I made. YInMn blue that has found its way into products, the cannonical PB86,  has used x=0.2.  I have included some photos of pigment being made.  You can have both some idea of the provenance of the pigment you are  buying, as well as the shocking change in appearance that occurs during production.
It is a vibrant, eye popping blue with a hint of a red tone that is even better looking in person than in photographs.  Discovered in 2009 by accident,  YInMn blue is just now starting to make its way into commercial products, including paint. But powder pigment is still very hard to get.
It is also expensive due to the price of the chemicals used to make it.  This is the least expensive small volume source you will find for buyers in the United States when shipping costs are included.
The only other U.S. source requires a 0 purchase to get the same price per gram I am offering here.
Please note that, although all testing to date have been consistent with YInMn blue being non-toxic, the EPA has only approved it for retail sales in products including artists paint but not as powdered pigment.  The powder pigment is approved only for industrial and R&D uses.  Accordingly, this YInMn pigment, like all YInMn pigment that is available in the U.S., is being sold for industrial and R&D use.
MAKING PAINT:
What you need will depend on what type of paint you are making.  I have made watercolors and acrylic paint using this pigment, results as shown in the photos. I used Kremer watercolor medium  for watercolor and Golden universal dispersant then mixed with matte or gloss medium for acrylic. I strongly recommend handling pigment by weight, volumes can vary dramatically for the same mass of pigment.  Very accurate electronic scales  measuring to 0.01 of a gram are available for under (sometimes under ) here on ebay, as well as amazon and elsewhere  These are very useful in working with pigments and in paint making.
You will probably need a glass muller and mulling plate to hand mull the pigment to eliminate all granularity.  Even well ground YInMn blue tends to be grainy. You mull the pigment into watercolor medium directly for watercolors, or dispersant for acrylic.   Do not be surprised, you will only need a little of either to suspend all 5 grams.  YInMn wets very easily and permits high pigment loading.  For acrylic paint, I suggest trying a ratio of 20% pigment weight/ final paint volume.   I have not made oil paint, but it is reported to mix easily with low oil absorption/resin demand.
BACKGROUND
: YInMn blue, also known as Oregon or Mas Blue is a pigment discovered in 2009 by Andrew Smith, then a grad student in Mas Subramanian's lab at Oregon State University. It was serendipitously discovered while trying to make new materials for electronics. From Dr. Subramanian's prior experience at DuPont, he knew how rare and unusual blue pigments were and instantly understood the importance of the discovery.  Another example of Louis Pasteur's adage that "Chance favors the prepared mind."
Unlike cobalt blue pigments, YInMn is nontoxic, does not fade, and strongly reflects near IR resulting in less heat absorption. Unfortunately it also requires expensive and source-limited indium oxide.  However study of the mechanism underlying  YInMn blue's color has already helped develop indium-free cobalt based blue pigment that use much less of the toxic metal.  By substituting other metal oxides (copper, iron, zinc, titanium, and aluminum) for some of the indium oxide; green, yellow, orange, and purple pigments have been produced based on YInMn blue's chemistry.  Dr. Subramanian's lab is actively seeking a nontoxic YInMn based inorganic red pigment.  The best reds currently available for are based on extremely toxic cadmium and mercury salts and have proven very difficult for artists to adequately replace.