Blue is the Newest Colour...

​ Did you know that Blue is the most popular colour in the Western World? Who doesn't love at least one shade of this peaceful colour? Well.. I have to confess, I'm not a big fan! Not least because blue light makes my brain go funny (I have a neurological disorder)! But, not to be put off, I've been working this Blue Lotus design this last week, for all you Blue lovers out there. It's part of my Indian Inspirations series, and if you'd like to work the design yourself, why not come along to my Shisha Mirror Workshop on 21st October?

​Blue has a fascinating history - did you know that linguistically, Blue is the newest colour? The first culture to describe it were the ancient Egyptians, as they were the only culture who were able to produce a blue dye in that period. Previously Blue was considered colourless, or clear, and when the Vikings headed South, their eyes were described as colourless.

The present day Himba tribe from Namibia, don't have a word for the colour Blue, & don't see a distinction between green and blue, but they do see more shades of green. Researchers devised an experiment to see if the Himba people could distinguish between blue and green, and a reverse experiment to see if Westerners could distinguish between shades of green as easily as the Himba people - you can try it for yourself here!

Have you ever seen a blue cat? Nope? Blue is the rarest colour in nature, with only one example of a living being able to produce a blue pigment...  but... we've all seen blue butterflies, and birds, haven't we? Well... notice how all these blue birds and butterflies, kind of shimmer and change colour as we look at them? That's because the colour we're seeing is created by light bouncing off molecular structures within the wings/feathers of these creatures, and not by the production of a blue pigment in their wings/feathers.

The only creature, so far discovered, to produce an actual blue pigment is the Olivewing Butterfly, found in Central America. 

And those Vikings with the colourless eyes? Spot on! Blue eyes are colourless, they have no blue pigment, and the blue colour, as with other animals, is created by refracted light. So Blue is truly a magical colour!