A Dictionary of Arts: Carmine.

A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines; containing A Clear Exposition of Their Principles and Practice

by Andrew Ure, M. D.;
F. R. S. M. G. S. Lond.: M. Acad. M. S. Philad.; S. PH. DOC. N. GERM. Ranow.; Mulh. Etc. Etc.

Illustrated with nearly fifteen hundred engravings on wood
Eleventh American, From The Last London Edition.
To which is appended, a Supplement of Recent Improvements to The Present Time.

New York: D Appleton & company, 200 Broadway. Philadelphia: George S. Appleton, 148 Chestnut St.
MDCCCXLVII

1847

CARMINE (Eng. and Fr.; Karminstoff, Germ.) is, according to Pelletier and Caveaton, a triple compound of the colouring substance, and an animal matter contained in cochineal, combined with an acid added to effect the precipitation. The preparation of this article is still a mystery, because, upon the one hand, its consumption being very limited, few persons are engaged in its manufacture, and upon the other, the raw material being costly, extensive experiments on it cannot be conveniently made. Success in this business is said to depend not a little upon dexterity of manipulation, and upon knowing the instant for arresting the further action of heat upon the materials.

There is sold at the shops different kinds of carmine, distinguished by numbers, and possessed of a corresponding value. This difference depends upon two causes; either upon the proportion of alumina added in the precipitation, or of a certain quantity of vermilion put in to dilute the color. In the first case the shade is paler, in the second it has not the same lustre. It is always easy to discover the proportion of the adulteration. By availing ourselves of the property of pure carmine to dissolve in water of ammonia, the whole foreign matter remains untouched, and we may estimate its amount by drying the residuum.

To make Ordinary Carmine.
Take 1 pound of cochineal in powder;
3 drachms and a half of carbonate of potash;
8 drachms of alum in powder;
3 drachms and a half of fish-glue.

The cochineal must be boiled along with the potash in a copper containing five pailfuls of water (60 pints); the ebullition being allayed with cold water. After boiling a few minutes the copper must be taken from the fire, and placed on a table at such an angle as that the liquor may be conveniently transvased. The pounded alum is then thrown in, and the decoction is stirred; it changes colour immediately, and inclines to a more brilliant tint. At the end of fifteen minutes the cochineal is deposited at the bottom, and the bath becomes as clear as if it had been filtered. It contains the colouring matter, and probably a little alum in suspension. We decant it then into a copper of equal capacity, and place it over the fire, adding the fish-glue dissolved in a great deal of water, and passed through a scarce. At the moment of ebullition, the carmine is perceived to rise up to the surface of the bath, and a coagulum is formed, like what takes place in clarifications with white of egg. The copper must be immediately taken from the fire, and its contents be stirred with a spatula. In the course of fifteen or twenty minutes the carmine is deposited. the supernatant liquor is decanted, and the deposite must be drained upon a filter of fine canvass or linen. If the operation has been well conducted, the carmine, when dry, crushes readily under the fingers. What remains after the precipitation of the carmine is still much loaded with color, and may be employed very advantageously for carminated lakes. See LAKE.

By the old German process, carmine is prepared by means of alum without any other addition. As soon as the water boils, the powdered cochineal is thrown into it, stirred well, and then boiled for six minutes; a little ground alum is added, and the boiling is continued for three minutes more; the vessel is removed from the fire, the liquor is filtered and left for three days in porcelain vessels, in the course of which time a red matter falls down, which must be separated and dried in the shade. This is carmine, which is sometimes previously purified by washing. The liquor after three days more lets fall an inferior kind of carmine, but the residuary colouring matter may also be separated by the muriate of tin.

The proportions for the above process are 580 parts of clear river water, 16 parts of cochineal, and 1 part of alum; there is obtained from 1½ to 2 parts of carmine.

Another carmine with tartar. - To the boiling water the cochineal is added, and after some time a little cream of tartar; in eight minutes more we add a little alum, and continue the boiling for a minute or two longer. Then take it from the fire and pour it into glass or porcelain vessels, filter, and let it repose quietly till the carmine falls down. We then decant and dry in the shade. The proportions are 8 pounds of water, 8 oz. of cochineal, ½ oz. of cream of tartar, 3/4 oz. of alum, and the product is an ounce of carmine.

The process of Alxon or Langlois. - Boil two pails and a half of river water (30 pints), throw into it, a little afterwards, a pound of cochineal, add a filtered solution of six drachms of carbonate of soda and pound of water, and let the mixture boil for half an hour; remove the copper from the fire, and let it cool, inclining it to one side. Add six drachms of pulverized alum, stir with a brush to quicken the solution of the salt, and let the whole rest 20 minutes. The liquor, which has a fine scarlet color, is to be carefully decanted into another vessel, and there is to be put into it the whites of two eggs well beat up with half a pound of water. Stir again with a brush. The copper is replaced on the fire, the alumina becomes concrete, and carries down the colouring matter with it. The copper is to be taken from the fire, and let at rest for 25 or 30 minutes to allow the carmine to fall down. When the supernatant liquor is drawn off, the deposite is placed upon filter cloth stretched upon a frame to drain. When the carmine has the consistence of cream cheese, it is taken from the filter with a silver or ivory knife and set to dry upon plates covered with paper, to screen it from dust. A pound of cochineal gives in this way an ounce and a half of carmine.

Process of Madame Cenette, of Amsterdam, with salt of sorrel. - Into six pails of river water boiling hot throw two pounds of the finest cochineal in powder, continue the ebullition for two hours, and then add 3 oz. of refined saltpetre, and after a few minutes ebullition for two hours, and then add 3 oz. of refined saltpetre, and after a few minutes 4 oz. of salt of sorrel. In ten minutes more take the copper from the fire and let it settle for four hours; then draw off the liquor with a syphon into flat plates and leave it there for three weeks. Afterwards there is formed upon the surface a pretty thick mouldiness, which is to be removed dexterously in one pellicle by a slip of whalebone. Should the film tear and fragments of it fall down, they must be removed with the utmost care. Decant the supernatant water with a syphon, the end of which may touch the bottom of the vessel, because the layer of carmine is very firm. Whatever water remains must be sucked away by a pipette. The carmine is dried in the shade, and has an extraordinary lustre.

Carmine by the salt of tin, or Carmine of China. - Boil the cochineal in river water, adding some Roman alum, then pass through a fine cloth to remove the cochineal, and set the liquor aside. It becomes brighter on keeping. After having heated this liquor, pour into it, drop by drop, solution of tin till the carmine be precipitated. The proportions are one pailful of water, 20 oz. of cochineal, and 60 grains of alum, with solution of tin containing 4 oz. of the metal.

To revive or brighten carmine. - We may brighten ordinary carmine, and obtain a very fine and clear pigment, by dissolving it in water of ammonia. For this purpose we leave ammonia upon carmine in the heat of the sun, till all its colour be extracted, and the liquor has got a fine red tinge. It must be then drawn off and precipitated, by acetic acid and alcohol, next washed with alcohol, and dried. Carmine dissolved in ammonia has been long employed by painters, under the name of liquid carmine.

Carmine is the finest red colour which the painter possesses. It is principally employed in miniature painting, water colours, and to tint artificial flowers, because it is more transparent than the other colours. For Carminium, see COCHINEAL.