alt Hacker News> P.S. Don't lick your brushes.
Cobalt poisoning sounds scary, but I see nothing on the linked Wikipedia page that would present a risk of accidental consumption of medically relevant amounts of cobalt, whether in one sitting or through prolonged exposure.
I mean, I assume Canada stopped adding it to their beer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt#Toxicity).
Though the mention of Bolesławiec makes me worried a little; my wife loves their designs and we have a bunch of plates and bowls and such from them, and we serve food on/in them regularly...
> my wife loves their designs and we have a bunch of plates and bowls and such from them, and we serve food on/in them regularly...
I don't think you need to worry about that. The pigment is already reasonably benign when in solid form; once embedded in or under a glaze I'm not aware of anything that would suggest it carries any health risks whatsoever.
That said I'm unclear how safe direct exposure to the pigment itself is (such as when suspended in a liquid for painting). There's not a lot of data available that I could find, and of course due to having a unique crystalline structure it won't necessarily have the same properties as the component products, however cobalt(II) oxide itself is extremely hazardous which is at least cause to be cautious.
Other than manufacturing safety primarily the new pigment is just incredibly vivid.