Factory Tour - Pigments & Raw Materials

Goods Inwards 

Our first stop within the factory is always “Goods Inwards” area, where we receive over 33,000 individual components to make our product range of more than 6,600 items. 

Every delivery, from essence of bergamot to acrylic co-polymer emulsion arrives at this point.  Many of our raw materials have been in constant use since 1832...whilst others may represent the very latest development in solvents, preservatives or binders.

Receiving pigments in Goods Inwards 

Testing Raw Materials 

Samples of each raw material must be tested to ensure the delivery matches our standard requirements.

Pigments must be assessed for colour in mass tone, under tone and reduction against approved samples which date back decades. 

In addition, our colour computer allows us to communicate effectively with those suppliers who just aren’t measuring up.  And that can be up to 25% of our pigment deliveries!  

Traditional manufacturing recipes

Some pigments we make ourselves, like Rose Madder.  We use a recipe which is nearly 200 years old, producing a unique pink which cannot be mixed from crimson and white.

Lake making is one of the oldest traditional processes and consists of precipitating a liquid dye upon a base particle such as alumina.  The Rose Madder precipitate is then drained through linen filters to dry naturally.

The resultant partially dried blocks of colour are then thoroughly dried in ovens and crushed to a fine powder giving us this unique, traditional pigment.  All equipment used is made from wood or stoneware to prevent any adverse chemical reactions during the 12 week manufacturing process.

Lake making of Rose Madder		Madder precipitate drained through linen filters		Dried blocks of traditional pigment

When a colour is scheduled for production, a formulation is issued for the required batch size and the pigments are weighed accordingly.  Making colour which can justifiably be called the World’s Finest requires individual attention to every detail. 

Mixing colour at the factory 

We often have to select different pigments to make the same colour in different media, for example we work with twelve different phthalocyanine blue pigments.  Different binders may also be selected to control flow, viscosity, drying times or stability. 

Counting the different requirements for tube water colour alone, we use more than 700 individual processes!

 Pigment scoops