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what were early dyes made from

by Sarai Larkin Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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What were early dyes made from? Early dyes were obtained from animal, vegetable or mineral sources, with no to very little processing. By far the greatest source of dyes has been from the plant kingdom, notably roots, berries, bark, leaves and wood, only few of which are used on a commercial scale.

Until the mid-1800s, all dyes came from natural sources, such as insects, roots, or minerals. Producing them was difficult and expensive. In 1856, an 18-year-old English chemist, William Henry Perkin, accidentally discovered one of the first synthetic dyes.

Full Answer

Where does dye come from?

Where Can Dye Be Found:

  • Personal Care & Skin Care
  • Toothpaste
  • Mouthwash
  • Shampoo
  • Lipstick
  • Eye shadow
  • Blushes
  • Cough Syrup
  • Tattoo Ink ~ Red in particular can cause red dye allergy. This can lead to redness, swelling as well as itching of the skin.

When was dying invented?

The first known use of the word 'dye' was before the 12th century. The earliest dyed flax fibers have been found in a prehistoric cave in the Georgia and dates back to 34,000 BC.

What is the origin of tie dye?

Western Tie-Dye

  • The Hippie Era. Following the Great Depression, tie-dyes became less and less popular following World War II and more people going into austerity and seeing tie-dyes as a waste of ...
  • Rit Dyes. ...
  • Modern Tie-Dyes. ...

When was tie dye invented?

Tie-dyeing was known in the US by 1909, when Professor Charles E. Pellow of Columbia University acquired some samples of tie-dyed muslin and subsequently gave a lecture and live demonstration of the technique.

What were natural dyes made of?

What is the color of lichens?

What were the most common dyes used in ancient times?

What was the first dyed fabric?

What were the colors of the slaves?

What is the significance of the Stockholm Papyrus?

How long has dye been used in clothing?

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What were the first dyes made from?

Early dyes were obtained from animal, vegetable or mineral sources, with no to very little processing. By far the greatest source of dyes has been from the plant kingdom, notably roots, berries, bark, leaves and wood, only few of which are used on a commercial scale.

What was used to make earlier dyes?

So how did people dye fabric before this? Dyers used a variety of plants, lichens, fungi and insects to create dye recipes that made good colors. Plants that make a good stain usually do not make a good dye. An example is green grass stains that fade to yellow.

What was the first natural dye?

Tyrian purple was one of the most important natural dyes to have ever been found. As legend has it, a sheep dog belonging to Hercules was walking along the beach in Tyre. He bit into a small mollusk which turned his mouth the color of coagulated blood. This became known as royal or tyrian purple.

What did Native Americans use for dyes?

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) was used to produce red dyes. Green dyes were made from algae and yellow dyes were made from lichens. Early colonists discovered that colors produced by the Native Americans quickly faded, thus suggesting that mordants may not have been used.

What is the oldest dye?

bright pinkBy crushing 1.1 billion-year-old rocks found beneath the Sahara Desert, scientists say they have discovered the world's oldest color: bright pink.

How was dye made in the 1800s?

Until the mid-1800s, all dyes came from natural sources, such as insects, roots, or minerals. Producing them was difficult and expensive. In 1856, an 18-year-old English chemist, William Henry Perkin, accidentally discovered one of the first synthetic dyes.

What dyes were used in ancient times?

Vegetable dyes They were the most used in antiquity as they were the easiest to find and develop. The most common dyes were made of madder for red, saffron and safflower for yellow and indigo for blue and blueish purple. Items dyed in indigo were considered luxurious, as they were hard to find.

What is the oldest hair colour?

In 1863, a professor named William Henry Perkins was trying to formulate a cure for Malaria but instead, he inadvertently created the first permanent hair dye. The only hiccup? The hue: It was a purply pink.

How was dye made in medieval times?

In medieval Europe, purple, violet, murrey and similar colors were produced by dyeing wool with woad or indigo in the fleece and then piece-dyeing the woven cloth with red dyes, either the common madder or the luxury dyes kermes and cochineal. Madder could also produce purples when used with alum.

What did Egyptians use for dye?

madderAncient Egyptians were also able to tint their textiles using madder or kermes carmine dyes. The former was derived from the root of a madder plant, rubia tinctorum (see below).

What did Romans use for dyes?

The dyes used by the Romans included madder, kermes, weld, woad, walnut hulls, oak galls, saffron and lichen purple. With the exception of kermes, which is no longer available, these were the dyes we used on the course. According to Pliny the Elder, orange, red and purple were colours worn by priests and priestesses.

How did the Aztecs make dye?

Process: Cochineal are small red insects that feed on the juice of tender prickly pear cactus leaves. The Aztecs scraped them off the leaf, dried and crushed them. Adding water to cochineal powder resulted in a bright red liquid. Cochineal is still used nowadays!

How were dyes made in ancient times?

Mineral dyes came from minerals found on the earth's surface and in mines. Hematite for red, limonite for yellow and lazurite for blue were used to provide the necessary colours for textiles. By scratching the rocks' surface, a powder was created, which after solving with water or oil, was ready to use.

What were medieval dyes made of?

In medieval Europe, purple, violet, murrey and similar colors were produced by dyeing wool with woad or indigo in the fleece and then piece-dyeing the woven cloth with red dyes, either the common madder or the luxury dyes kermes and cochineal. Madder could also produce purples when used with alum.

What are 2 methods of ancient dyeing?

Several of these ancient dyeing techniques are forms of “resist” dyeing, including ikat and tie-dye.

What was green dye made of in the 1800s?

copper arseniteGreen was a very popular color in the 19th century, made possible by advancements in dyeing techniques. In 1778, the Swedish chemist Karl Scheele discovered how to make “Scheele's green,” a pigment made with copper arsenite.

A Brief History - The Colours of Nature

Did you know that natural indigo and other plant-based dyeing used to be mainstream? In Bengal alone, during the 1850’s, 3,500 tonnes of natural indigo were exported each year, with indigo cultivation and processing employing millions of people. Then, in 1897, BASF launched synthetic indigo and before long synthetic indigo had replaced most of the natural indigo. Today, it is widely ...

The Cultural History of Natural Dyes | Lessonface

About The Cultural History of Natural Dyes Mankind has desired colorful textiles for thousands of years. Color was highly valued and dye materials and techniques were often held secret. Pat shares the history from a European perspective: listen to the story of a secret 20 step formula for red – stolen by memorization; of the newest purple transported in the ballast of pirate ships; of the ...

Where did the insect dye come from?

It was introduced to Europe from Mexico by the Spanish. It was used as a cloth dye, artists’ pigment, and much later as a food dye. This also required a huge seasonal harvest seeing as 17,000 dried insects produced a single ounce of dye.

What color was Hercules' dog's mouth?

He bit into a small mollusk which turned his mouth the color of coagulated blood . This became known as royal or tyrian purple. It brought great prosperity to Tyre, Lebanon around 1500 BC and for centuries it was the most expensive animal dye money could buy.

What color was Cleopatra's barge?

Purple was the color of Cleopatra’s barge and Julius Caesar decreed that the color could only be worn by the emperor and his household. Cochineal is another example of an animal derived natural dye. Cochineal is a crimson dye made from cactus insects. It was introduced to Europe from Mexico by the Spanish. It was used as a cloth dye, artists’ ...

What are the two types of dyes?

There are two types of dyes, Natural and Synthetic. Natural dyes come from animal or plant sources while synthetic dyes are manmade. Until 1856, if you were trying to dye clothing, you would have had to use natural dyes.

Where did madder red come from?

The most common being madder red and indigo blue. Madder came from the roots of 35 species of plants found in Europe and Asia. It has even been found in the cloth of mummies and was the first dye to be used as camouflage.

Where did the dye Indigo come from?

Indigo was mainly used as a dye and pigment. It was derived from a shrub-like plant that was soaked in water and then beaten with bamboo to quicken oxidation.

Is indigo dye still used?

Although this form of indigo is still in use, there is a synthetic version that is used today primarily to dye blue jeans. There are other plant and animal dyes, but their range of colors is narrow and produce shades that have little color value.

What is the name of the compound that is used to make dye?

Nitrous acid (HONO) was one of the reagents tried in the early experiments with aniline, and in 1858 the German chemist Johann Peter Griess obtained a yellow compound with dye properties. Although used only briefly commercially, this dye sparked interest in the reaction that became the most important process in the synthetic dye industry. The reaction between nitrous acid and an arylamine yields a highly reactive intermediate; the reaction of this intermediate with phenols and aryl amines is the key step in the synthesis of more than 50 percent of the commercial dyes produced today.

Why are Azo dyes important?

Azo dyes became the most important commercial colorants because of their wide colour range, good fastness properties, and tinctorial strength (colour density), which is twice that of the anthraquinones, the second most important group of dyes. Azo dyes are easily prepared from many readily available, inexpensive compounds and meet the demands of a wide range of end uses. Cost advantages tend to offset the fact that these are less brilliant and less lightfast than the anthraquinones.

What is the second largest group of commercial colorants?

Preparations of derivatives gave a host of anthraquinone dyes that today constitute the second largest group of commercial colorants. After 1893 sulfonated anthraquinones provided a group of bright, fast dyes for wool; the unsulfonated analogs are disperse dyes for synthetic fibres. In 1901 German chemist Rene Bohn obtained a brilliant blue vat dye ...

What was the name of the dye that Perkin discovered?

Triphenylmethane dyes. Perkin’s accidental discovery of mauve as a product of dichromate oxidation of impure aniline motivated chemists to examine oxidations of aniline with an array of reagents. Sometime between 1858 and 1859, French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin found that reaction of aniline with stannic chloride gave a fuchsia, ...

How does sulfuric acid affect water solubility?

Nicholson had independently discovered aniline blue and found that treatment with sulfuric acid greatly increases its water solubility. This process, in which a sulfonic acid group (―SO 3 H) is added onto an aryl ring, was found to be applicable to many dyes and became a standard method for enhancing water solubility. Most of the few hundred triarylmethane dyes listed in the Colour Index were synthesized before 1900. In some, one phenyl ring is replaced with a naphthyl group, whose substituents include NH 2, OH, SO 3 Na, COOH, NO 2, Cl, and alkyl groups. While most substituents act as auxochromes, sulfonates are present only to increase the solubility of the dye, which is also improved by amino groups, hydrochlorides thereof, and hydroxyl groups. Many vat dyes have quinonoid groups that are reduced to soluble, colourless hydroquinones in the vatting operation and then oxidized back to the original dye. Similar reactions are utilized in the developing process in colour photography.

Why are disazo dyes no longer produced?

Until the 1970s derivatives from methyl- or methoxyl-substituted benzidines constituted the major group of disazo dyes, but they are no longer produced in many countries because they are carcinogens.

When was triphenylmethane discovered?

Furthermore, all the dyes were found to be mixtures of two major components. The triphenylmethane structures were established in 1878 by German chemist Emil Fischer, who showed that the methyl carbon of p -toluidine becomes the central carbon bonded to three aryl groups.

Why is Friedel Crafts acylation important?

Friedel-Crafts acylation is an extremely important reaction mechanism to know how to perform because it allows for the formation of ketones. Generally speaking, Friedel-Craft acylation could be useful in a practical application such as industrial chemistry. Using this reaction mechanism can create plastic, synthetic rubber and ethylbenzene, which can eventually lead to polystyrene (Chemical Technology). This reaction can also synthesize high-octane gasoline, commonly referred to as “premium gas.” Therefore, the products generated from Friedel-Crafts acylation are significant because they are used in everyday

How long did the Aztecs live?

The Aztec Civilization dates back from 1427 all the way to 1521, about 94 years. The Aztecs were a very great, imaginative and they invented many new technologies and activities. There were activities that the Aztec nation did and they also have a very rich and captivating history that still impresses people around the world until this day.The Aztecs culture was filled with inspiration and refinement. Firstly they made very interesting art, poetry and architecture. Furthermore, the Aztecs had also developed many different type of technologies that we used today, such as the calendar systems, mathematical systems and even the form of astronomy.

What was the first message sent by Morse and Vail?

Morse and Vail initially received funding from the government. The very first message sent was “What hath God wrought.” This newfound system spread not only across America but as well as across the world. Due to the fact that this way of communication was becoming very popular, it led to the invention of improved insulation for telegraph wires. Another new way of communication in the mid to late 19th century was the signal lamp. A signal lamp was a “visual signaling device.” It also used the Morse code to communicate.

Why did Ibn progress in the social side of Islam?

Ibn progressed the social side of Islam because many other cultures looked towards his work of medicine because it was advanced . The Europeans knew him as the Prince of Physicians which is a notable title. It is stated that his book was used for over 600 years. That is a big achievement for progressing Islamic culture in some reasons due to making Islam look like a strong religion in its early years.

How did the Industrial Revolution affect society?

The industrial revolution had the greatest impact on education, science and technology, and the society which, drastically changed the course of history unlike any other event from thousands of years. During the industrial revolution, public education started to be revamped in order to make social progress and reduce poverty. In Science and technology, Marie Curie discovered the atomic theory, and The Wright Brothers invented the first model of the airplane. The most important change of society was the attention about how Women’s rights were very important this change is a lasting impact however, these rights were slowly adapted but not all of the at the same time. These are the effects of the industrial revolution/ During the industrial

What were the major inventions of the Gilded Age?

Industrialists had major impacts on the Gilded Age. During the Gilded Age, Thomas Edison Invented the lightbulb.This enabled workers to continue working after dark. This meant getting more done. He als invented the first power plant.

Why is dyeing important?

Back then dyes were made of natural pigments mixed with oil or water to decorate items and caves. Fast forward to over two hundred years ago and dyes were extremely important during the first industrial revolution. They helped boost the textile industry and motivated scientists to research the composition of natural dyes. Dyes also became central to the second industrial revolution because the search for synthetic colorants drove chemists to the advancement of science based industry. William Henry Perkin was the scientist that invented the first modern synthetic

What is the red deposit in the Tk1 abalone shell?

The red deposit is the ochre rich mixture that was in the shell and preserved under the cobble grinder. [Image courtesy of Grethe Moell Pedersen

Where did the color pigment come from?

The earliest evidence for the processing of color pigments for ritual or artistic comes from the early modern human site of Blombos cave in South Africa . Blombos is a Howiesons Poort/Stillbay occupation, and one of the middle Stone Age sites in South Africa that include evidence of early modern behaviors. the residents of Blombos mixed and prepared a red pigment made of crushed red ocher and animal bone.

How long has saffron been around?

Its color comes from the three stigmas of the crocus flower, which must be plucked and processed within a brief window of opportunity: two to four weeks in the autumn.

What color is the background of Bonampak?

The vibrant turquoise color of the background for these musicians at Bonampak is a form of Maya blue. Dennis Jarvis. Maya blue is a bright blue pigment used by the Maya civilization to decorate pottery and wall mural paintings beginning about AD 500. It was also very important in some Maya ritual contexts .

What is the color of ochre?

Ochre, a natural pigment which comes in shades of yellow, red, orange and brown, is the first pigment used by humans, in the Middle Stone Age of Africa, at least 70,000 years ago. Ochre, also called hematite, is found all over the world and has been used by nearly every prehistoric culture, whether as paint on cave and building walls, staining of pottery or other types of artifacts or part of a burial ritual or body paints.

What were the colors of the Paleolithic period?

The glorious paintings that were created during the upper Paleolithic period in Europe and in other locations were the results of human creativity and the input of a wide range of colors, created from natural pigments mixed with a wide variety of organic substances. Reds, yellows, browns, and blacks were derived from charcoal and ocher, blended to make fabulous lifelike and abstract representations of animals and humans alike.

What color is Maya blue?

Archaeology research in 2008 revealed the contents and recipe of the ancient color of Maya blue. although it had been known since the 1960s that the bright turquoise color Maya blue was created from a combination of palygorskite and a tiny bit of indigo, the role of the resin incense called copal was not known until researchers from Chicago's Field Museum completed their studies.

How do colorants work?

Colorants function through selective electromagnetic absorbance in the visible spectrum. A given pigment or dye molecule absorbs different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation according to its atomic structure, and local chemical environment. The quantum behavior of a chemical typically results in distinct resonant frequencies of chemical bonds, which can be excited best by discrete wavelengths—meaning broad spectrum radiation has its spectra changed via absorption upon interaction. The physical shape, size, organization and concentration of dyes and pigments can also drastically affect observed color. Pigments are particularly susceptible to altered appearances based on physical properties.

How are dyes and pigments related?

Colorants can be divided into pigments and dyes. Broadly, dyes are soluble and become fixed to a substrate via impregnation, while pigments are insoluble and require a binding agent to adhere to a substrate. Dyes, therefore, must have an affinity for the substance they are intended to color. Chemically speaking, for now, pigments can be organic or inorganic, while dyes are only organic. Furthermore, organic white pigments do not exist, despite the fact that the majority of purified crystalline organic products are white in appearance. This story is complicated somewhat by lake pigments, or lakes, which are dyes modified with a chemical process to form an insoluble pigment. Typically this involves precipitating the natural extracts as salts in alkaline conditions. The historical importance of both pigments and dyes is closely related, as the markets for both, as well as the types and variety available, have always been closely tied.

Why are aniline dyes produced at scale?

Aniline dyes were produced at scale, in part because of many advances in the synthesis of their precursors. Antione Bechamp described a process for reducing nitrobenzene to aniline in 1854, known as the Bechamp Process, making the production of aniline easy.

Why are colorants no longer used?

These conditions became possible due to price drops in reagents due to new industrial preparations like the LeBlanc process, where potassium carbonate formerly obtained from ashes was replaced by sodium carbonate. However, many early colorants are no longer produced due to economics, or high toxicity, for example Schweinfurt green (cupric acetate arsenite), Scheele's green (copper (II) arsenite), and Naples yellow (lead antimonate).

What is a colorant in chemistry?

Tassels dyed with BASF dyes 1901. A colorant is any substance that changes the spectral transmittance or reflectance of a material. Synthetic colorants are those created in a laboratory or industrial setting. The production and improvement of colorants was a driver of the early synthetic chemical industry, in fact many of today's largest chemical ...

How many companies were producing dyes in 1864?

By 1864 68 firms were producing dyes. This was driven by the textile industry, which employed new designs requiring the colorful aniline dyes. Even Hofmann, who had at first criticized his student for leaving his academic research of quinine, later synthesized his own aniline dye, rosaniline.

What was the Egyptian blue used for?

In ancient Egypt, blue was considered the color of the divine. As a result, the early synthetic compound Egyptian Blue, became an incredibly important pigment. It was used for the depiction of eyes, hair and decoration in the graphic representation of pharaohs. Blue, particularly ultramarine pigment made from ground lapis lazuli remained significant for depictions of the divine through the Renaissance. Pre-industrial revolution painters in Europe used ultramarine almost exclusively for the robes of Mary because of the pigment's great expense, until the work of Jean-Baptiste Guimet and Christian Gmelin made it commercially available in larger, cheaper quantities.

What pigments did the Italians use in the Renaissance?

Renaissance. With the rebirth of interest in artistry, the Italians threw themselves into developing the range of earth pigments by roasting siennas and umbers to make the deep, rich red of burnt sienna and the rich brown of burnt umber.

What is the name of the new type of zinc oxide?

This new type of zinc oxide was called Chinese white. Alizarin is arguably the most important organic pigment of the 19th century.

What did the Greeks make?

The Greeks also manufactured white lead, the first fully opaque white – used to make flake white and Cremnitz white – which involved stacking lead strips in a confined space among vinegar and animal dung. Nice pigment, not so nice smell.

What is the name of the oxide that is used to make watercolours?

The isolation of zinc gave rise to zinc oxide, which was used as an artists’ white in preference to lead white, as it was less hazardous and more permanent, particularly in watercolour. However, it lacked opacity until 1834, when Winsor & Newton developed a method of heating the oxide to increase its opacity. This new type of zinc oxide was called Chinese white.

What is the story of pigments?

The story of pigments is a story of chance, experimentation and science. But above all it is about providing human beings with the means with which to express themselves, and this has helped create some of our greatest artistic movements – including the Renaissance, Impressionism and Modernism.

Why did artists use blue pigment?

Paintings that used it were considered a great luxury and artists used it to paint the Madonna’s clothing, as a way of reflecting her status and power .

What was the significance of the opening of trade routes in the 18th century?

The opening up of trade routes in the 18th century, coupled with advances in technology and science, allowed for greater experimentation. In 1704, the German colour maker Johann Jacob Diesbach created Prussian blue by accident in his laboratory.

What were natural dyes made of?

Archaeologists who have studied the earliest surviving coloured fabrics and important ancient manuscripts have concluded that there were three types of natural dyes: vegetable or plant dyes, mineral dyes and insect or animal dyes .

What is the color of lichens?

Lichens were an important source of natural dye for the natives of North America, as they produced yellow dye by boiling lichens in water. Another type of dye from lichens (orchil dye) was also known to ancient Greeks and Romans, who used it in the place of the more expensive Tyrian purple. When comparing the two though, the orchil purple dye was not as colourfast as the Tyrian purple, and the end result was not as bright as the much coveted Tyrian purple.

What were the most common dyes used in ancient times?

The most common dyes were made of madder for red, saffron and safflower for yellow and indigo for blue and blueish purple. Items dyed in indigo were considered luxurious, as they were hard to find. Lichens were an important source of natural dye for the natives ...

What was the first dyed fabric?

The first dyed fabrics. When the first humans created clothes made from linseed and cotton, the need for dyeing was absent. All the garments were used in their natural colour, which was something close to pale grey or white. After centuries of using these textiles, when the first civilisations were flourishing in the Middle East, ...

What were the colors of the slaves?

Wealthy people were wearing brightly hued colours, while the lower class was wearing clothes in the shades of white or brown. The slaves’ clothes were dyed in greys, greens and browns.

What is the significance of the Stockholm Papyrus?

An important manuscript of the Hellenistic period showing exactly the importance of the dyeing industry in the ancient world is the so-called Stockholm Papyrus. It contains over a hundred recipes for manufacturing dyes and how to apply them to textiles. It is an important source, as it follows the development of the dyeing industry from the Hellenistic to Roman times.

How long has dye been used in clothing?

From Ancient Egypt to the modern day – for over 4000 years mankind has been brightening up clothing with natural and synthetic dyes. Throughout the ages adding individuality to clothing with colour has been used to denote gender, status and allegiance. It started with natural mineral and plant dyes, but with the discovery ...

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1.To Dye For: A history of natural and synthetic dyes

Url:https://blog.patra.com/2016/09/07/to-dye-for-a-history-of-natural-and-synthetic-dyes/

24 hours ago  · Natural dyes come from animal or plant sources while synthetic dyes are manmade. Until 1856, if you were trying to dye clothing, you would have had to use natural …

2.dye - Development of synthetic dyes | Britannica

Url:https://www.britannica.com/technology/dye/Development-of-synthetic-dyes

19 hours ago Bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis) was used to produce red dyes. Green dyes were made from algae and yellow dyes were made from lichens. Early colonists discovered that colors …

3.Native Plant Dyes - fs.usda.gov

Url:https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/dyes.shtml

26 hours ago Back then dyes were made of natural pigments mixed with oil or water to decorate items and caves. Fast forward to over two hundred years ago and dyes were extremely important during …

4.The Chemistry Of Dyes: The First Industrial Revolution

Url:https://www.ipl.org/essay/The-Chemistry-Of-Dyes-The-First-Industrial-F3ZRSKFBG5FV

18 hours ago  · The early Hawaiians made dyes from many types of their native plants. The colors were extracted from the plants’ roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. Adding soil pigments and …

5.Ancient Pigments - Natural Colors Through the Ages

Url:https://www.thoughtco.com/ancient-pigments-our-colorful-past-169888

3 hours ago William Perkin had accidentally discovered the first man-made dye, in royal purple no less. After more experiments proving the dye’s merit, he filed for a patent in August 1856 at only 18 years …

6.Synthetic colorant - Wikipedia

Url:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_colorant

6 hours ago A colorant is any substance that changes the spectral transmittance or reflectance of a material. Synthetic colorants are those created in a laboratory or industrial setting. The production and …

7.History of pigments | Winsor & Newton

Url:https://www.winsornewton.com/na/articles/colours/history-of-pigments/

5 hours ago

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