Paints and painting

Paint plays an important part in modern life. From the eyelets of your shoes to the vast bulk of a bulldozer, from an egg-whisk to the soaring facade of a skyscraper, there are millions of surfaces finished with paints or varnishes. There is hardly a country under the sun that does not contribute some pigment, dye, chemical, oil or spirit used in paint-making—an industry which has achieved tremendous importance throughout the world