Hobby Thread - May 23, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. For this week, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) decided on a color theme for this Hobby Thread.

A color theme? What does that mean? Colors are a "hobby"? The ways of the Wheel are strange and mysterious but there is a method to the madness.

[Top Photo: Benjamin Moore Paint Color Fan Deck. Yours for only $30]

What are you hobbying?

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. We have a theme, but no need to stick with the theme. Even if the theme does not speak to you, find something else or offer something else relating to hobbying. Leave politics and religion to threads elsewhere (unless your hobby is building or restoring a church). Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

Why are we talking colors? Could it be that so many hobbies involve colors? Paintings, photography, crafts, stained glass, furniture, knitting, cross stitch, and more. "What color should this be?" "What color goes with this?"

Or maybe TRex did a color theme for the Wednesday ONT and had overflow content... We'll never know. Hey! Look, a squirrel! Anyway...

This photo is from Hobby Lobby, but I will bet that at least a few among the Horde have something similar in their personal stash of hobbying materials:

Remember these?

When TRex was a youngster, kids with 64 crayon boxes were living large.

Apparently 120 crayons is the big box these days...

How crayons are made:

Matchy, matchy:

Matching paint:

Making your own milk paint? Guess so.

Untitled Blue Monochrome, 1956
Yves Klein

I don't get it.

Anyone wise in the ways of dying fabric? Me neither.

Your brain "interprets" color? Apparently so.

Why the world couldn't agree on the color of "the dress"

I already don't trust my own brain for other reasons (such as "good" judgement). This doesn't help.

Colorful origami stars:

The official Barbie Pink color is recognized as Pantone 219 C. The most commonly cited Hex code is #E0218A. (HEX codes are a standard digital color format based on the RGB color model.)

I can't find official numbers, but the M&Ms color mix for plain chocolate candy is believed to contain:
24% Blue
20% Green
16% Orange
14% Yellow
13% Red
13% Brown

Why Were Red M&M's Discontinued for a Decade?

In 1976, Mars, the candy company that makes M&M's, eliminated the red version of the candies from their mix. This decision came as a result of public controversy surrounding a synthetic dye called FD&C Red No. 2, also known as amaranth. The dye was used in red food coloring and was linked to cancer in a 1971 Russian study.

The Food and Drug Administration's subsequent tests produced inconclusive results in humans, but found that it caused malignant tumors in female rats . The FDA concluded that the food colorant could not be presumed to be safe for human consumption and banned it in 1976.

"The red food coloring in question was not actually used in M&M's chocolate candies," according to mms.com. "However, to avoid consumer confusion, the red candies were pulled from the color mix."

Afraid that worried shoppers would steer clear of M&M's altogether if the bags contained anything red, Mars removed the red candies from production and replaced them with orange M&M's.

Mars reintroduced red M&M's, but kept orange in the bag, in 1987, once the panic surrounding anything red had passed.

Ansel Adams is well known for his black and white photography of Yosemite. Don't think I've ever seen a photo of Ansel Adams though. Here is such a photo (naturally, in black and white).

Photo credit: wikipedia

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an church theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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