Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pigment

Recommendations for a desktop printer that plays well with DVDs/CDs

ethel — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:33:06 -0800

My work has to produce sometimes one, sometimes two at most DVDs when we do a transfer of an older video recording to digital file. We're looking to purchase a desktop printer for use with DVDs, and I'm hoping the mefi community has recommendations! Right now we have a Epson RX595 and have about $400-500 in the budget to purchase a new printer. Does anyone out there have a good recommendation for a printer that works well with printable DVDs in particular? I'm not seeing a lot of reviews specific to printing on these surfaces ("printable" DVDs)

I did a little research and it looks like dye based inks are bad for printing on surfaces that aren't paper because any droplet of water will smear the ink.. Otherwise we are just looking for others who have had good experiences especially for machines that are used quite a bit! Thanks in advance!

Why does red fade so easily outdoors?

Hither — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:44:56 -0800

On signs and other media shown outdoors, why does the color red seem to fade the fastest? In a variety of places, such as signs, advertisements painted on buildings, posters, etc., it always seems like pure-red color is the first to fade, before any other color.

Is there any photochemical reason for this? Does red just absorb UV better than other colors just by being red? Or is there some specific dye or pigment frequently used for red that isn't light-fast?

Please help me find a good Boston-area dermatologist who can tell me within a month if this is cancer or a mild annoyance.

foxy_hedgehog — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:43:30 -0800

Freaky-looking unpigmented spots have appeared on my arms. Mass General Dermatology has no appointments until January. Please help me find a good dermatologist in the Cambridge/Boston area who knows the difference between "sometimes skin just looks like that" and "skin cancer." The goal: To find a good dermatologist in the Boston area who can see me within the next month to evaluate strange changes in skin color.

The details: Over the course of this summer and early fall, strange white spots appeared on both of my arms. They aren't raised or different in texture, like eczema-- they are like spots of skin that seem to be unpigmented, and I noticed them as the rest of my arms became slightly tanned. There's a larger (half-inch in diameter) one on my right arm that's especially strange. I apply sunscreen every day evenly over my arms, and I've never seen anything like this before in previous summers.

I realize that this could be anything from a newly-developed quirk of my skin, to a side effect of a medication, to some sort of vitamin deficiency. That said, given the possibility that this is something more serious, I'm still concerned and would like to get this addressed sooner than later. I always try to go with research institution-affiliated hospitals for medical treatment, but Harvard/Mass General has no openings until January.

I don't have a car and am in Cambridge. Anything there, or right over the bridge in Boston or in bike-accessible suburbs such as Belmont, Arlington, and Watertown would be especially helpful.

Thanks as always, guys.

Owning hip out of gamut pigment will make me cooler than you

Large Marge — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:57:10 -0800

Can I buy International Klein Blue pigment/paint? If so, where, and what form would it come in? I'd be interested in painting a few things this color. Notably a bike or as part of a pattern, but most likely with an airbrush or spray can, However I'll take anything I can get

I'm not old I'm not old I'm not old

bendy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:01:21 -0800

Why is my gray hair coarser than my non-gray hair? According to Wikipedia, gray hairs grow in without pigment. So why do they feel coarser than my normal, dirty-blond hair?

Grizzly Adams

chuckdarwin — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:05:28 -0800

Why do the white hairs in my beard grow so much faster than the brown hairs do? When it comes time to trim my beard, the brown ones are much shorter, and this happens every time. There is a very noticeable and measurable difference.

How can I tone down my red lips?

Jbgohlke — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:06:30 -0800

I'm a dude and have very red lips. How can I change this? My lips are very, very red. They don't match my skin complexion at all. I can literally go into Photoshop with one of my pictures and tone down the red on my lips by quite a bit and it then looks normal.

How can I make my lips come down to a more normal level of red for a guy? I'd love to hear any way possible. Thanks :)

Bleach doesn't always work?!

rossmik — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:49:10 -0800

I sat in bleach. Why didn't it turn my chair white? It turned my jeans white with no problem. It dampened the seat in my wife's truck but didn't change the color. Why not?

The bleach: regular sodium hypochlorite laundry bleach
The jeans: blue cotton denim
The upholstery: course weave, blue and grey, something like polyester.

Guess 1: The dyes or pigments in the truck could be inorganic chemicals that aren't affected by bleach (like cobalt blue instead of indigo).

Guess 2: When you dye cotton, it sticks to dye sites on the outside of the fiber, but when you make polyester you can mix the dye in, all the way through the fiber, where bleach can't get to it.

Guess 3: I know nothing about dying or bleaching fabrics, so it could be something else entirely, and the hivemind here could have a completely brilliant alternative explanation.

I don't know how many dye chemists we have here, but thanks in advance for your answers!

Lost pigment in areolas?

rosemere — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:09:17 -0800

BreastFilter: Why am I losing pigment in the lower portion of each of my areolas? I'm a fair-skinned natural blonde (who gradually darkened to brunette in my 30s) with natural brownish-coral nipples and areolas. I'm in my mid-40s now and have never been pregnant, so my nipples and areolas have been the same colour since puberty. But in the last ten years, the lower section of both of my areolas (the area from 5 to 7 o'clock) look as if most of the colour has disappeared in in an area about a centimeter square. Each spot is a pale beige-pink, slightly darker than the my skin.

No need to scare me with suggestions that it could be Paget's disease of the breast because Paget's presents as an eczema-like rash, which is not what I have. Plus, I'm still alive after 10 years of noticing this change, so I doubt it's anything lethal.

Is this just one of those odd things that happen as you age?

Doggie Footprint Art

palmcorder_yajna — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:16:05 -0800

I need advice about a craft project that will involve taking pawprints from my dog. I'd like to incorporate my dog's pawprints into a greeting card I'm making, but I'm a bit chary. To do this, I'd need a dye that's relatively cheap, that will set quickly in paper, that's water-soluable, that will wash off easily, and that (most importantly) will not irritate my dog's pads, or make her sick if she ingests it.

Does anyone have experience with doing this? Any recommendations about dyes (or substances to use as dye?) Is this just completely inadvisable? Horror stories welcome, as long as they're even minimally substantiable.

How to I dispose of pigment?

purephase — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:45:49 -0800

Help me dispose of pigment! (In the most environmental way possible). I moved into a new apartment a little over a year ago and there was some jars of pigment left behind by the previous tenant. Having had conversations with said tenant prior to moving in I do know that these particular jars were used to print on fabric (t-shirts specifically). Unfortunately, I never got a forwarding address so I have not been able to contact them about this problem.

Not really knowing much about the practise and/or the tools involved, I'm am a little unsure of how to dispose of this stuff properly. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions and advice, I want it out of here! Thanks.