Mrs. Stewart's Bluing is a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

of liquid bluing agent used for whitening fabrics. It is primarily a

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others exte ...

of the blue pigment "

Prussian blue Prussian blue (also known as Berlin blue, Brandenburg blue, Parisian and Paris blue) is a dark blue pigment produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. It has the chemical formula . It consists of cations, where iron is in the oxidat ...

" and water.

History

Mrs. Stewart's was founded by Al Stewart, a traveling salesman who sold the formula to Luther Ford of

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, who owned what has been claimed as the second

five and dime A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells th ...

store west of Wanseburge, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Stewart's Bluing was first sold at Ford's store in 1883. The product has been manufactured exclusively in Minnesota. The picture on the label is a portrait of Al Stewart's mother-in-law. Her name was "Mrs. Stewart." Mrs. Stewart's Bluing once attempted to change the photo on the label to appear "kinder looking," but customers demanded the stern faced matron be returned to the label. The Stewarts sold the rights to manufacture their product to Luther Ford of

, in 1883. The product has continued to be manufactured exclusively in Minnesota. In 1976 the company moved from Minneapolis to Bloomington, a nearby suburb.

Uses

The product is primarily used on white fabrics that have become dingy or have taken on a yellow color cast over time. When a small amount of it is added to wash water, fabric laundered in it will actually be dyed slightly blue. Because blue and yellow are

complementary colors Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other out (lose chroma) by producing a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two ...

in the subtractive model of

color perception Color vision, a feature of visual perception, is an ability to perceive differences between light composed of different frequencies independently of light intensity. Color perception is a part of the larger visual system and is mediated by a co ...

, the added trace of blue color visually cancels out the yellow color cast, making the fabric again appear white (actually less brightly white than originally). Like other bluing agents, the product can be used for other purposes as well. This includes dyeing hair and dyeing denim jeans. It is also sometimes used by white-haired people in a blue rinse.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://mrsstewart.com 1883 introductions Dyes Cleaning products Economy of Minneapolis

History

Uses

See also

References

Further reading

External links