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by RealDinosaur 2701 days ago
No other yellow comes close to the opacity of cadmium though. Unless you ingest it, I'm pretty sure the toxicity is a minor point.

For watercolors where you want transparency, Hansa Yellow (PY3) is a better choice, and is not toxic.
3 comments
Isamu 2701 days ago
>Unless you ingest it

Right. Typically painters of my acquaintance e.g. in college had paint all over their clothes and hands, and then they would smoke or eat a snack, transferring traces to their lips.

Cadmium sulfide is maybe not nearly as bad as elemental Cadmium, which is horrible.

All I am saying is please be careful, be safe.

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2013/05/08/th...

“... this is one of those metals that’s best avoided for life. It has acute toxic effects, chronic toxic effects, and if there are any effects in between those it probably has them, too. Fortunately, cadmium is not well absorbed from the gut...”

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eigenhombre 2701 days ago
> Unless you ingest it, I'm pretty sure the toxicity is a minor point.

Inhalation is also a risk: i.e., no sanding or spray application, unless you have a good filter mask and spray hood. When in doubt, the MSDS for the material in question is your friend.

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posterboy 2699 days ago
I've used cheap metallic spray paint without a mask and got quite dizzy and an odd aftertase, multiple times. I wonder was in those no-name wun hung lo products.

The acrylic based aerosols marketed for art aren't nearly that bad, although it's the solvent that's still a problem and requires a mask for heavy duty use, of course.

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emeraldd 2701 days ago
Liquitex has a pretty good line of cadmium free alternatives in their heavy body acrylics.

http://www.liquitex.com/cadmium-free/

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RealDinosaur 2701 days ago
They are very secretive about what goes into those paints, they don't list the pigments on the tube, and when asked state it is a 'proprietary formula, developed over several years of extensive R&D'.

Not that I don't trust them, or could A/B test them myself. They actually performed an A/B test as part of their marketing sending out 2 tubes to artists labeled... A and B.

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