Forum for reenactment of Tolkien's Dunedain Rangers.
https://middleearthrangers.org/forum/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt#HistoryAccording to Borillus, the labourers in copper mines or copper factories are distinguished by green hair, those of cobalt mines by blue hair; the workmen of brass-factories, particularly such as are engaged in pointing needles, by bluish or greenish hair. It is necessary to know, says Eble, that the colour in these workmen is not merely superficial, but penetrates the whole substance of the hair in such a manner as not to be wiped off the hair’s surface.
[Hermann Beigel M.D., M.R.C.P., The Human Hair: Its Structure, Growth, Diseases, and Their Treatment (1869), Ch. VII. ‘The Colour of the Hair — The Phenomenon of Sudden Bleaching of the Hair’]
Simple google search so I'm sure you've seen this before. I wasn't aware of the history of cobalt mining which goes back much further than I had thought so it definitely fits an earlier medieval feel for Middle-earth. And I was curious if the cobalt dying would wash off but it seems that it was a fairly study dye. I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that the blue of Dwalin's beard was an actual blue. A blue beard certainly fits the more "fairy-tale" feel of the Hobbit. I wish there were photos of what shade cobalt turns hair but I'm imagining a fairly pale blue.Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to glass, glazes, and ceramics. Cobalt has been detected in Egyptian sculpture, Persian jewelry from the third millennium BC, in the ruins of Pompeii, destroyed in 79 AD, and in China, dating from the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) and the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD).[28]
Cobalt has been used to color glass since the Bronze Age. The excavation of the Uluburun shipwreck yielded an ingot of blue glass, cast during the 14th century BC.[29][30] Blue glass from Egypt was either colored with copper, iron, or cobalt. The oldest cobalt-colored glass is from the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1550–1292 BC). The source for the cobalt the Egyptians used is not known.[31][32]
The word cobalt is derived from the German kobalt, from kobold meaning "goblin", a superstitious term used for the ore of cobalt by miners. The first attempts to smelt those ores for copper or silver failed, yielding simply powder (cobalt(II) oxide) instead. Because the primary ores of cobalt always contain arsenic, smelting the ore oxidized the arsenic into the highly toxic and volatile arsenic oxide, adding to the notoriety of the ore.[33]
Perhaps this is the case for Dwarves. A word once used to mean "Dark" has taken on a new meaning and is now "Blue". Tolkien's translations used the newer meaning of the word.Gladstone analysed all aspects of Homer's mythical world, to discover a total absence of blue from the poet's descriptions of the Greek natural scenery. The word kyanós (κυανός), which in later stages of Greek meant blue, does make a limited appearance, but for Homer it almost certainly meant "dark", as it was used to describe the eyebrows of Zeus.
both are possible explanationsPeter Remling wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 4:17 pm Maybe, they dyed it intentionally? Maybe the party hoods weren't colorfast, so the dye leached out onto their hair.
