Dragon Blood

Dragon blood is called blood exhaustion in traditional Chinese medicine. Unlike other plant-based resins, dragon blood resin is made from the sap of tree fruits, rather than from the trunk or branches. The dragon blood tree has a wide range of growth and is cultivated as an ornamental plant in many households and gardens. As a resin, it is mainly produced in the Canary Islands and the East Indies. Yunnan in our country also has a considerable amount of production.

The fruit of the dragon blood tree contains resin scale like deposits, which are picked when immature, dried, and then placed in a cloth bag for grinding. Impurities are sieved out to obtain powdered resin, which is then melted and prepared. Alcohol solution is a bright red color.

The main component of dragon's blood resin is tannic acid, which contains a small amount of dragon's blood yellow lipid and white matter. These compounds are red, yellow, and white in color, as well as benzoic acid and acetic acid. Dragon blood resin emits a unique odor of benzoic acid when heated. The finished dragon blood resin is in the form of a deep red rod or cake. Dragon blood sold internationally is of the highest quality with a gold seal. Most of the products available in the Chinese market are block dragon blood resin. Although most records state that the resin is completely soluble in ethanol, in reality, only a small portion of the "Golden Seal" purchased on the international market can dissolve in alcohol, and the color of the dragon blood soaked out is very easy to fade. European qin makers often have a method of burning dragon blood solution, concentrating the dragon blood solution to make it less prone to fading. The solubility of dragon blood produced in our country is much better than that in Europe. The disadvantage is that the transparency of the solution is not sufficient.

Anyway, dragon blood is one of the most commonly used color materials by violin makers. Many people believe that the classical violin makers in Cremona, Italy used dragon blood as a coloring material in their paint.