THE COLOR MILL

The Ecordal mill is France's last remaining color mill. Behind the walls of the brick factory, founded in 1866, these pigments are produced: red ochre, ivory black, charon blue... For almost 150 years, the techniques used to make these natural pigments have remained identical: Sienna, for example, extracted from quarries in the pre-Arden ridges, is dried, calcined and ground into a powder finer than flour. After ten hours in a 700°C kiln, this earth, which is highly charged with iron oxide, turns red. Variations in temperature and the use of special earths reveal a whole palette of colors. In days gone by, the waters of the river Foivre powered the wheel of this unusual mill. In the workshops, alchemists still produce 45 natural pigments from nine different types of earth, some of which even come from Madras! All this for prestigious customers such as Dior and Saint-Laurent, and remarkable projects such as the renovation of the Château de Versailles and the frescoes at the Villa Demoiselle in Reims. Worth seeing.