Brixton Blue

Brixton blue, somtimes referred to simply as "Brixton", is a pigment or dye with a distinctive grey-blue colour. Extracted from dried blue-lace jellyfish, Brixton blue has been used by people along the Southern coastal parts of Sedia, and the Azure Isles. While not the only pigment made from blue-lace jellyfish, the signature and sought-after deep blue-grey of Brixton blue is the most rich and recognisable. First use of a dye of the same makeup seems to have been in the Azure Isles as early as the first age, indicated by ancient artifacts painted with the colour. Considered a low-class colour until somewhat recently, with the decline of the blue-lace jellyfish it is increasingly seen as a colour of wealth and status. Brixton and the white coast area are some of the only places the rare jellyfish can still be found outside of the Azure Isles where they gather to breed, and this control of the market has steadily increased demand for the colour.

Production

Brixton blue is the most vibrant pigment created from blue-lace jellyfish, and this is due to the way it is produced.
Jellyfishers catch the adult jellyfish in special, fine nets. These nets, usually made from fine silks, are easily broken and very expensive. The jellyfish are then taken in to shore, where their blue-pigmented lacy tentacles are removed. The tentacles do sting, and many workers pride themselves on becoming numb to the pain of the stings over time.
The tentacles are then soaked in barrels of diluted alcohol, a key part in breaking them down enough to release the blue pigment. This aging process takes at least three months, after which time the barrels of tentacles are strained and the individual strands are laid out to dry on finely woven mesh racks for a few weeks. Often, barrels will go untapped for up to a year, waiting until the makers can be sure the weather will be fine enough to dry the tentacles.
The tentacles have to be closely guarded as they dry on racks along the beaches, as they have a strong fishy smell and attract scavenging animals. Specially trained dogs guard them at night, and during the day children are often given the job by their parents to watch the tentacles as they play, chasing hungry seabirds off with brooms and sticks.
Once dry, the tentacles can be carefully removed from the racks and taken to be processed further. They are ground finely, passed through sieves and then ground again, repeating this process until the powder is incredibly soft, and can be easily dissolved. This powder is then sold as-is as a pigment, or mixed with carrier oils and serums to make paints, dyes or makeup.

History as a Pigment

Brixton blue, or at least a similarly created pigment, has been used throughout the known world for thousands of years. It was used as a thick paint on many artifacts from the Azure Isles dating back to the First Age. While not usually called Brixton blue due to the differing extraction process, Osmeni people have long used a colour known as "saakai"; a paler blue form of the same pigment produced by soaking linens in barrels filled with seawater and blue-lace jellyfish. In the Azure Isles today, use of blue-lace jellyfish as a dye is not as commonplace. Though the largest population of blue-lace jellyfish can be found between the calm waters of the archipelago, the people of the Azure Isles find the jellyfish very important spiritually and culturally. Because of their seasonal arrival to the area shortly before the veil-thinning, the jellyfish are often seen as bringers of spirits and are a symbol of ancestral ties and rebirth. Through most of the Second Age, the Asuri people have used the dye for only special textiles, it is still used today for altar cloths, clerical robes and tapestries for shrines and temples.

Brixton is a town on the White Coast of Sedia, often considered a luxury "retirement town" by some. With little other production or industry, Brixton was originally one small production plant for the blue pigment thousands of years ago, slowly expanding as more people came to work in the dye-making trade. Almost all the work in Brixton involves the dye somehow; from speciality net makers who weave and craft the delicate silken nets required to catch them, to jellyfishers, and craftsmen who fashion drying racks; the entire town's economy surrounds the dye. The colour is so important to the people of Brixton that even before its colour became popular, its people wore little else. Brixton is a sea of greys and blues from the fabric around its people to the colour in the tiles atop their houses. The blue colour is even found decorating their food and drink.
Brixton blue was first named as such when the dye began to have some demand as an export to countries with cooler waters where the jellyfish were not present, such as Virias and Katka. Demand has dropped in Virias in recent years due to tension between Virias and Sedia, but Katka is still a common importer of the dye. Needing a name as production increased, the colour slowly became known as "Brixton blue" when referred by those requesting the colour, as Brixton has been it's largest producer for the last few thousand years. Brixton has long made the pigment, and the town's placement and growth is owed to its production.

Brixton blue has only been recently popularised, now slowly being seen as a luxury pigment. This is owed to two separate factors, one being Brixton's status as a luxury resort town to the very wealthy, and more importantly, because blue-laced jellyfish are becoming incredibly rare. Slowly, the sophisticated grey-blue colour associated with Brixton is becoming associated with noble houses and wealth outside of the town and even outside of the country.

Uses

Brixton blue is most commonly and famously used as a clothing and textile dye. It is is a water-fast colour that holds on well to even quite low porosity textiles, and doesn't fade quickly in the sun.
Outside of clothing, another notable use is the colouring of wood in Brixton. Most buildings in Brixton are made of the pale, white sandstone mined along the White Coast and accented with blue roofs made from wooden shingles soaked in Brixton blue, as well as blue doors and window frames. The town's architecture is often seen as a beautiful combination of the resources of the White Coast, and make it a very attractive location.
The pigment was once commonly used in makeup, though many with sensitive skin find that the active pigment can cause some irritation. With this factor as well as scarcity increasing, makeup makers tend to be shifting to other blue pigments.
Brixton blue is not commonly used as an ink, due to its tendency to thicken a little too much to flow smoothly through pens, though it can be used quite well with a quill. It is very common in paint making, and Brixton-based company Blueoils produces its own oil paints in a spectrum of hues and shades of the colour.

by spooktacular

Brixton blue wooden roof shingles.

by Verillas

Brixton blue dyed loose-woven cotton

A very vibrant, desirable example of Brixton blue.

Item type

Compound