What is colorant and where to use?

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What is a Colorant?

A colorant is a substance used to impart color to materials. It can come in many forms, such as dyes, pigments, and it can be either organic or inorganic. Depending on the application, colorants can be dissolved (like dyes) or suspended (like pigments) in the medium they’re added to.

Colorants not only serve aesthetic purposes but also functional ones—such as indicating product types, improving visibility, or even providing UV resistance.

Table of Contents

1. Artistic pigments

Supplier: Artmate Co.,Ltd.

​Artmate Co., Ltd., established in 2004 as a branch of Jiangsu Animal By-products I/E Group Corp., is one of China’s top three art materials exporters. The company offers a diverse range of high-quality art supplies, including paints, brushes, canvases, easels, and paper pads, serving customers worldwide. Artmate is dedicated to making premium painting materials accessible and supporting artists in their creative endeavors.

Main Products:

Available in various configurations, such as 14 colors in 120ml tubes, suitable for students and artists

Offers sets like 24 colors with a water brush and sponge, ideal for watercolor paintings.​

Includes options like a 10-piece set with a zipper bag, designed for acrylic, watercolor, oil, and gouache painting

2. Food Colorant

Supplier: ORGANIC HERB INC

Organic Herb Inc. (OHI) is a developer, manufacturer, exporter, and primary supplier of plant extracts, nutraceutical ingredients, effective components of Chinese herbs, and related products for the pharmaceutical, beverage, health food, and cosmetics industries

Main Products:

Rich in resveratrol, sourced from the root of Polygonum cuspidatum

Contains eurycomanone, derived from Eurycoma longifolia roots. ​

Obtained from Rosmarinus officinalis leaves, standardized to 60% carnosic acid.

3. Plastic Pigment

Supplier: LICAI PIGMENT COLOR MASTER BATCHES CO LTD

​Licai (China) Plastic Pigment Co., Ltd. is a large multinational enterprise specializing in the research and production of plastic pigments and masterbatches. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the company operates branches and factories in China and Thinh Binh Duong, Vietnam. They are committed to delivering high-quality color solutions for various industries.

Main Products:

Offers a range of color masterbatches, including white, black, and various vibrant colors, enhancing the aesthetic and functional properties of plastic products.

Provides high-quality pigments for plastics, ensuring consistent coloration and performance in manufacturing processes

Engages in research to develop tailored color solutions, meeting specific client requirements across different application

4. Colorant for paper dyeing

Supplier: WENZHOU COLOR BLOOM NEW MATERIALS CO LTD

Wenzhou Color Bloom New Materials Co., Ltd., established in 2018, is a technology-intensive fine chemical company specializing in the production of solvent dyes and metal complex solvent dyes. Headquartered in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China, the company operates production bases and R&D departments in Jiangxi and Hubei Provinces. Their products are utilized across various industries, including plastics, coatings, and printing inks

Main Products:

Solvent Blue 36: A high-quality solvent dye used for coloring plastics and other materials.

A range of solvent dyes specifically formulated for plastic applications, offering vibrant and consistent coloration.

Dyes that provide excellent solubility and stability, suitable for various industrial applications.

5. Ceramic Color

Supplier: NGY COLOUR

Founded in 1996, NGY is a leading manufacturer of ceramic pigments in China, specializing in the R&D, production, and trade of inclusion pigments, inclusion inks, and other inorganic materials for the ceramic and porcelain industries. NGY products are known for their excellent stability, high-temperature resistance, and superior quality.

In 2016, NGY made a breakthrough in ceramic inks, successfully developing red and intense yellow inclusion inks compatible with various ceramic inkjet machines. These inks offer higher intensity, brightness, and wider color gamut.

In 2018, NGY became the first in China to launch water-based digital glaze, supporting the intelligent transformation of the ceramic industry.

Main Products:

Inclusion pigments are specially formulated ceramic colorants that encapsulate coloring oxides within a crystal structure. This allows vibrant colors like red and yellow to remain stable even under high firing temperatures. NGY’s inclusion pigments are known for their excellent thermal stability, color consistency, and compatibility with various ceramic glazes.

NGY’s inclusion inks are digitally printable inks that incorporate inclusion pigments, enabling high-definition ceramic printing with intense red, yellow, and other complex shades. Launched in 2016, NGY’s inks are praised for their brightness, durability, and compatibility with major ceramic inkjet machines.

Introduced by NGY in 2018, this innovative product is a sustainable, water-based glaze designed for digital application. It reduces environmental impact and enhances production efficiency, supporting the shift toward intelligent, eco-friendly manufacturing in the ceramic industry.

6.Textile Dyes

Supplier:CHUNG FU DYESTUFFS CO LTD

Chung Fu Dyestuffs Co., Ltd. is one of Taiwan’s oldest dye suppliers, established in 1951 in Taipei. With decades of experience, the company specializes in distributing high-quality dyes and chemicals for the textile industry. It has expanded its operations to Shanghai and Vietnam, offering comprehensive solutions and technical support to clients across Asia​.

Main Products:

Disperse dyes are water-insoluble dyes used primarily for dyeing synthetic fibers such as polyester, acetate, and nylon. These dyes are finely ground and dispersed in water using dispersing agents, allowing them to penetrate hydrophobic fibers effectively. Known for their excellent thermal migration, wash fastness, and light fastness, disperse dyes are widely used in sportswear, textiles, and transfer printing.

Basic (cationic) dyes are water-soluble dyes with a positive charge, ideal for dyeing acrylic fibers, paper, and certain modified polyester fibers. They have strong affinity for negatively charged substrates, resulting in bright, vibrant colors with high color yield. These dyes are especially valued for their brilliance and intensity, often used in textile dyeing, paper tinting, and in the production of inks.

Reactive dyes form covalent bonds with fiber molecules, primarily used for dyeing cellulose fibers such as cotton, rayon, and linen. They offer outstanding wash and light fastness due to their strong fixation with the fiber. These dyes come in various types depending on the reactive group (e.g., monochlorotriazine, vinyl sulfone), and are widely used in both solid shade dyeing and textile printing processes.

7. Cosmetic Pigment

Supplier:RIKA TECHNOLOGY CO.LTD

​RIKA Technology Co., Ltd. is a company specializing in the production of pearl pigments, utilizing advanced coating technologies to enhance product quality. Their product range includes various pigment series, each tailored for specific applications across industries such as automotive coatings, interior decorative coatings, plastics, and special papers.

Main Products:

RIKA color and pigmentation series use natural muscovite, coating with metal oxides, titanium dioxide or di-iron trioxide to create different interference colors, followed by the coating process with colorant or pigment. More than 30 products are available in this series.

This series products are an ideal combination of pearly interference effect and color effect of colorant or pigment, which give fresh monochromatic colors and also dynamic bicolors. They have great pearly luster and excellent brightness. This series products can be a best choice to substitute colorant or pigment due to its less pollutation to the environment and easier application in the formula.

RIKA natural mica based silver white series use well-chosen, high quality natural muscovite, which is made into mica powder in different particle size ranges through rigorously grinding process. Silver white prodcuts are made by coating mica powder with titanium dioxide. The final products show three-dimension pearly luster.

This series products can effectively improve the brightness, whiteness and luster effect of the applied products. Big particle size products are recommended to obtain a strong shimmer effect, while small particle size products are recommended to obtain good coverage. Wide particle size ranges provides customers more choices based on applications. Restrict measures are taken to keep quality consistent from batch to batch

RIKA natural mica based gold series use well-chosen, high quality natural muscovite, followed by coating metal oxides, giving a vivid gold luster effect. This series products give different shades of gold effect through precise control over the coating thickness of the metal oxides, and give a various sparkle effects through the particle size control. When applied to the end products, they can offer an effect like sunshine, or elegence-like nobleness, different gold effects as you want. They are applied well in interior and exterior decorative paints.

8. Pigment for ink

Supplier:HANGZHOU HONGYAN PIGMENT CHEMICAL CO LTD

​Hangzhou Hongyan Pigment Chemical Co., Ltd. is a private enterprise specializing in the research, development, production, and sales of organic and inorganic pigments. Established in 1991, the company occupies over 35,000 square meters, possesses fixed assets of 100 million yuan, and employs nearly 300 individuals. With an annual production capacity exceeding 10,000 tons, their diverse pigment portfolio serves industries such as solvent-based and water-based inks, plastics, paints, rubber, leather, and stationery. Their products are widely distributed across China and exported to regions including America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

Main Products:

A bright yellow organic pigment suitable for industrial paints and water-based coatings.

A reddish-violet pigment commonly used in offset inks.

A vibrant red pigment utilized in various applications, including plastics and coatings.

9. Pigment paste for paint

Supplier:BALES COATINGS CO.,LTD

Fuzhou Bells Coating Co., Ltd. was established in 2012 and is located in Yihuang County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province. It is a high-tech private enterprise specializing in the research, development, production, sales, and technical consulting of coatings. The company integrates production and sales services, covering an area of 33000 squre meters  with a total investment of nearly 100 million RMB.

Main Products:

Solvent-based pigment paste is a high-performance colorant designed for use in solvent-based systems such as alkyd, PU, nitrocellulose, and epoxy coatings. It offers excellent dispersion, strong color strength, and outstanding compatibility with various organic solvents. This type of pigment paste ensures long-term storage stability, good weather resistance, and consistent color development, making it ideal for automotive, industrial, and wood coatings.

Water-based pigment paste is an environmentally friendly colorant developed for waterborne coatings, inks, and adhesives. It features low VOC, excellent dispersibility in water, and strong tinting strength. This paste is free from heavy metals and complies with environmental regulations, making it suitable for interior and exterior wall paints, textile printing, and children’s toys. It provides vivid colors and outstanding stability in aqueous systems.

Water-solvent universal pigment paste is a versatile colorant compatible with both water-based and solvent-based systems. It is specially formulated for high compatibility across various resin systems, including acrylic, polyurethane, and epoxy. This universal pigment paste offers strong color intensity, easy incorporation, and superior stability. It is ideal for multipurpose applications where flexibility and performance in different media are essential.

About Author and Factory

Export Manager of Bales Coatings

3 years for a chemical engineer in a paint factory since 1997

20 years for export business, Help cleints to find best suppliers

Bales Coatings Co., Ltd

Set up coating factory at 2012

We can offer you both water and solvent pigment paste.

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