How to Mix Paint

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By Magentaslb
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Mix Paint

Whether you're painting a room or a painting a masterpiece, mixing paint is a useful skill to have.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

paint
stirring sticks
brushes
containers (for your mixed colors)
a hairdryer (optional)

Step 1

Stir your paint well

Stir all of the colors you will be working with well. This is to make sure the paint is well combined (the pigment and binder can seperate), and also to remove any lumps of color. Stir the paint until it reaches an even color and consistancy.
Step 2

Learn your color theory!

To increase the value or intensity of a color add a color or the same hue but a higher value - or you can add white. If white is added to colors with already low values it will have a 'bleaching' effect; the color will appear chalky, or pastel. If too much is added, more of the original color can be mixed in to restore some of the color's vibrance.
Step 3

To decrease the value or intensity, add a color of complementary hue, and less pigment of the same (or a similar) color. If this does not decrease the intensity enough, try adding black - but only as a last resort. Adding black tends to muddy lighter colors (pinks, yellows), and, unless that's the look you're going for, should really only be used for darker hues (like dark blue, dark green and purple).
Step 4

Have a couple of brushes on hand

If the color you are mixing has a high value/color intensity, start your mixing with the lightest color first, and slowly mix in the other colors (if any). If starting with white, don't be shy; it tends to take more white to alter the color when the original color is particularly intense.
Step 5

When mixing dark colors, start with the darkest and slowly add in the lighter colors.
Step 6

Do test patches to be sure of the final result

Paint has the tendancy to look lighter when it is dry than whenit is wet. Make test patches of your color mixing as you go on the same material that is to be painted. The hairdryer can help speed along the drying process.
Step 7

If two complementary colors are mixed in equal amounts, the result will be grey.
Step 8

Store any leftover pain in a paint bucket with a lid for future use.

Comments

vicdaye said

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on 9/23/2009 Thanks for all of this detailed information, especially about wet and dry. I had never thought of that.

cosmichorse said

on 9/23/2009 Great article. I can use this for my room (yay! ^_^) and - even better! - it was very interesting. Thank you!

charlotteh said

on 9/7/2009 Thanks so much for sharing, I have notice the paint looks darker when wet and adding different colors to the paint is a great way to enhance the color. 5*S