There was a dark brown color that artists commonly used called Mummy brown. It was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and was made from a mixture of myrrh, incense, and the remains of Egyptian and Gunache (from the Canary Islands) mummies and mummified cats. Painted these centuries preferred this brown because of its significant usage of shadows, flesh tones, and shading. Unfortunately, there was such a high demand for mummy brown that Egyptian and Gunache mummies would run out and use recently dead bodies of slaves and criminals.
The fascination with this color began to die around the 19th century when artists started to learn what this color was made from. Then by the 20th century, the production of this color almost became non-existent due to the low supply of mummies.
This painting by Martin Drolling called “Interior of the Kitchen” (1815) is one of many examples of the color mummy brown being used.
Fast forward to this century, the color mummy brown is still being used. However, it is made from various ingredients like quartz., and hematite and not from actual bodies.
Have you heard of any other colors made with weird ingredients? If so comment below!
For the past 8 years of having this blog. I wanted to create a cultural space where I share my feelings, and things that interested me and also interviewing others. However the interview portion recently have taken a bit of a toll for me. I am currently going to law school and between working 40 hours a week, school, and doing my own writing. The interview portion of my blog has lately been becoming a chore rather than an enjoyment. The demands from that section have ranged from constant emails or messages asking for constant edits to being extremely unhappy with not having a quick turnaround releasing the interview right when it is submitted to me.
Instead of getting rid of that portion of the blog. I decided to take a step back which includes a submission process. I will have up to two interviews posted on my blog per month.
If you are interested in wanting to be interviewed for the blog. You must email me at cnajera1@gmail.com
Write a short synopsis of who you are and why you want to be interviewed.
If you are chosen there will be a 50 dollar fee ( accept apple pay and PayPal only! )
And I’ll email you the questions along with any other information you will need.
Please feel free to comment below with any other questions regarding this change to my blog.
Recently, when I was looking at my social media, I kept seeing a weird trending article on my feed. Earlier this month a woman in Germany was arrested and charged with murder. She concocted this weird plan. She had faked her own death by finding her doppelganger and killing her.
What is a doppelganger? The actual word means “double walker” in German. It is someone who is not related to you but has striking physical characteristics. Basically, there could be someone walking this planet that has a striking resemblance to you. However, they are not you. They could have the same kind of nose or hair color or height. You could confused that person and call them by your name that is how similar they could be. I always wondered who my doppelganger could be. How much they look like me and what do they do for a living.
However, after learning about this experience I lessen my curiosity in wondering…..
Picture from Fox News (2023).
The woman who was arrested for murder named Sharaban K. is a 23-year-old living in Germany as a beautician. She made contact with her “doppelganger” through a social media outlet. Khadidja Q. who was a beauty blogger on Instagram was under the impression that Sharaban wanted to meet up with her in regards to receiving a cosmetics kit.
It was speculated (so far the details are not concrete since this is still an ongoing investigation) that Sharaban and her boyfriend went to go pick up Khadidja in the southern part of Germany. Somewhere between the car ride to their next destination, they stabbed Khadidja to death and then put her body in the back seat, They then drove to the city of Ingolstadt and abandoned the car with her in it. Sharaban parents were under the impression that she was meeting her ex-husband in Ingolstadt and when she did not turn up where she said she was going to be. They started searching for her in that city and found the abandoned car and what they thought to be Sharaban.
The parents had identified the body as Sharaben before the autopsy was performed however the autopsy confirmed that it was Khadidja.
Picture from The Cut (2023)
When the police got involved they found out that Sharaban had tried to contact various women who shared similar physical features through social media under fake names trying to get them to meet with her.
Sharaban and her boyfriend were held on remand last August 2022 and after a half year investigation they were finally arrested this February when arrest warrants were issued for the both of them in late January 2023. If they both are find guilty of this crime they will both be serving life sentences.
Picture from the Insider.
Learning stuff like this really breaks my heart. I hope that Khadidja’s family received justice for this horrible crime.
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing @2puzzlepeople !
1. How did you come up with your Instagram name?
I’m a competitive jigsaw puzzler, and with my partner (Dan) we’re British national pairs champs. So, we picked something that would be really clear and simple – we’re just two puzzle people.
2. How does competitive puzzling work?
Competitive puzzling can vary depending on the specific competition. But the core principles are usually: 1. everyone gathers together at a specific time/date/place (usually in person, but some competitions are virtual). 2. everyone has the same puzzle to put together at the same time. 3. the first person/pair/team to finish is the winner. There are some other elements – like if you lose a piece, you will have time added on, which may mean if you have someone close behind, they can leapfrog you. Most competitions are time-bound; so if you don’t finish within a given amount of time (usually 90-120 minutes) you must stop and count the number of completed pieces. This determines what place you get in the competition. In team competitions (where teams consist of four people), the format is usually a ‘marathon’ style. This consists of three or four jigsaw puzzles, generally between 1000-1500 pieces each. It takes hours for teams to complete their puzzles, but it really highlights the importance of having a well-rounded team (as there are different types of strengths within speed puzzling) and of having well-chosen puzzle artwork. (I’ve seen some very poor choices from time to time! I never know if the sponsoring puzzle companies or the competition organisers make the puzzle choices, but I suspect when it goes wrong it’s down to the sponsors.) The bottom line is whoever finishes first wins. It’s a surprisingly compelling sport (?) to watch – it sucks you right in. And most of the big ones are live-streamed on YouTube. It’s more fun to participate, though. And generally speaking, you don’t have to pre-qualify for competitions. You can just sign up.
3. What was your most recent favorite puzzle you worked on? What was the least favorite? Why was it your favorite and why was it not your favorite?
Oh, this is such a hard question. I recently did a Ravensburger black ‘Krypt’ puzzle with 736 pieces. It’s all black and has a confusing cut to it (on purpose), which makes it quite hard. I can normally complete a 500 piece puzzle in under an hour (depending on a few things). So, I didn’t expect a 736 piece puzzle to take a full six days. It’s hard to say whether that makes it my recent favourite or recent least favourite. But . . . it’s left its mark.
4. What is the hardest puzzle you work on? Why was it so hard?
Someone at work asked me this question recently and there’s no hesitation in my answer. I did a 550 piece Where’s Waldo puzzle when I was about 12 that damn near killed me. I kept it on one of those felt roll-up matts under my bed and would work on it every night before going to sleep. I can’t remember how long it took me in the end, but months and months. I don’t know why I didn’t give up, it was sheer torture. But I’ve done two more puzzles like that (Waldo) since then, both 1000 pieces, and didn’t have any trouble at all. But I know I’d run for the hills if I ever saw that 550 piece one again.
5. Do you have any exciting news or events that you would like to share?
World Puzzle Day is coming up on 29 January! And as part of that, I’m inaugurating a puzzling fundraiser called Puzzle for a Cause. Hopefully it’ll become a regular event. Beyond that, I’ll be training for the British championships in June and hoping to retain our pairs title!
Thank you so much SJ & Dan!!! If you would like more information. The following contact info is below:
It’s late and I just finished my work for school. My anxiety has me wound up that when I have tasks or goals they have to be completed right away. Because I can’t rest if I leave them to be done later.
Is anyone else feeling the winter blues? It feels this winter season is colder than previous ones because all I want to do is stay in bed and drink coffee.
There will be interesting things and topics for the blog in the upcoming months. But for now I just want to make a quick blog post.
ladycultblog 