Zaffre facts for kids

Zaffre is a very deep blue color. It's also the name for an old substance that creates this color. People used to make zaffre by heating up a special rock called cobalt ore. This process turned the rock into a blue powder. Zaffre is mostly made from a type of cobalt, often with other materials mixed in.

What Is Zaffre?

Zaffre is a pigment, which means it's a material that gives color to other things. It's a deep blue color that comes from cobalt ore. To get zaffre, people would heat the cobalt ore to a very high temperature. This process is called roasting. After roasting, the ore would become a blue substance.

Zaffre is usually an impure form of cobalt oxide or cobalt arsenate. This means it's made mostly of cobalt, but it might have other elements mixed in.

History of Zaffre

The word "zaffer" was first used in English to describe this color around the 1550s. People have used zaffre for a very long time.

How Zaffre Was Used

During the Victorian Era, which was a time in history from 1837 to 1901, zaffre was very important. It was used to make another blue pigment called smalt. Smalt was like a blue glass powder.

Zaffre was also used to stain glass blue. This means it was added to glass to give it a beautiful blue color. Imagine old church windows or fancy dishes; zaffre might have been used to make them blue!

See also

In Spanish: Zafre para niños

• List of colors