Tipatshimuna 
Description:
Contained in glass bottle with gold twist on cover. The paint is a very fine rust-coloured powder obtained from the native ochre-bearing rocks.
References:
Dorothy Burnham. 1992. To Please the Caribou. Seattle: University of Washington Press. James W. VanStone. 1985. Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: the William Duncan Strong Collection. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.7. Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX.
Innu Narrative:
They used these colours to paint their clothing. Our grandma, Mary Jane [Pasteen], was very good at this sort of thing. That’s unime. And they had these paint sticks; they used them to paint. They used unime [the name for ochre paint- but in this context, probably reddish paint supplied by Richard White]. Unime is what it used to be called, and that’s the kind that people used in the past. It’s used to paint on leggings, clothing and many other things – Pinashue Benuen.
Yes, I said the old women made them. I named the two ladies before who painted these. The paint is brown (uetutshimikuau) and blue (uasheskunishiu) paint (unaman) – Matinen (Rich) Katshinak.
It’s the rock with the colour red and that why it was used for paints. It is ground into powder and it comes out to a red colour, and they put a little of oil in it. This was the paint they used. Yes, my grandmother. She was using unaman for painting. Unaman is permanent and it does not come off – Matinen (Selma) Michelin.
unaman – was used as paint. You can also get this at George River. You can also use this kind of paint on a drum or on traditional clothing. It does not wear off – Shimun Michel and Manian (Ashini) Michel.
The women were very skilled in painting the designs. The women today would know how to make them too if they tried. They used mikuanike, uname, and shiphipnipinish, uahuts (fish eggs) [MacKenize lists uakun and uakua as “fish egg;” mikuanapui as “ink”]. And they used a lot of different things for paint -Tshishennish Pasteen.
I heard the coats were painted too, and unaman was used. They would make unaman into powder and use it for painting. The people made these coats in the past – Pinamen (Rich) Katshinak.
uisushuk – substance found under an “eroding rock” used as a paint – Etuat Mistenapeo.
Other Info:
“The pigments used are procured from different sources. From the traders are obtained indigo in the crude condition or in the form of washing blue, vermilion in small buckskin bags, and a few other colors. An abundance of red earth occurs in several localities. The pigments are reduced to the finest possible condition and kneaded with the fingers until ready for the addition of water often mixed with a slight quantity of oil or tallow. A favorite vehicle for the paint is the prepared roe of a sucker (Catastomus) abounding in the waters of the district. The female fish are stripped of the mass of ova which is broken up in a vessel and the liquid strained through a coarse cloth. The color is a faint yellow which becomes deeper with age. The fluid is allowed to dry and when required for use is dissolved in water. It has then a semiviscid consistence and in this condition is mixed with the various pigments. When a yellowish color is desired the fish-egg preparation is applied alone. The albumen gives sufficient adhesive quality to the paint and produce a rich glaze, giving a good effect to the otherwise dull colors” – Turner (1977[1834]:133).
“The principal source of the hematite is a lake near the headwaters of George’s river where it occurs as a mass of disintegrated rock along the margin. The water has by freezing split great quantities from the mass and when there is a strong wind from the opposite direction the water is often lashed into a blood-red foam” -Turner (1977[1934]:134).
“At the time of Strong’s fieldwork [1927-28], commercial paints were commonly used although native dyes were still made from iron compounds found in the interior. These were mixed with grease to make red paint, while blue dyes were made by boiling spruce and other roots. In decorating their own equipment, the Indians preferred native dyes, but, in making items for trade, commercial pigments were used unless the prospective purchaser objected” – VanStone (1985:38).
“The colours used for painting the caribou-skin coats are yellow, red, browns of various earth colours, some black, blue (which is particularly strong on the later coats), and very little green” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“The Department of Ethnology of the Royal Ontario Museum was able to acquire frozen fish roe of the right type from Labrador. When thawed, mashed, and strained, it produced a truly excellent painting medium” -Burnham (1992:37-38).
“Red, bright and clear in colour, is achieved with vermilion, obvious to the eye, but also borne out by the CCI [Canadian Conservation Institute] reports. Vermilion could be obtained by trade from the earliest times of contact” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“On some of the later coats, such as those collected by Frank G. Speck in this century, there is a strong red, definitely not local, that tends more to the blue side of the spectrum than vermilion” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“Brownish reds and browns were made with local pigments obtained from the earth” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“Ground down to fine powder and mixed with the fish roe, they [local deposits of soft rock and red earth, e.g. haematite] made excellent colours, although the reds were brownish rather than bright like vermilion” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“Black is used sparingly for small details and occasionally for the outlines of motifs. Nothing has been found in the literature to suggest an origin for the black pigment, but a present-day artist has suggested that burnt bones might be a source” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“Blue is another pigment that was supplied by trade and used to some extent at quite an early date” – Burnham (1992:37-38).
“About the middle of the 19th century there was a distinct change in the colour of blue used on the coats. The change originated with the introduction of ‘laundry blue’, which came as a compact powder in neat little cakes…The strong laundry blue was obviously in use by the time that Lucien Turner was collecting coats in the area of Fort Chimo, and it dominates the decoration of most of the coats made after that pe