How to Mix Acrylic Paints Into the Color Gold

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Things You'll Need

  • Acrylic paint in pure red, yellow and blue

  • Pure white and black acrylic paint

  • Plastic plates or containers

  • Stir stick or spoon

Mixing paints to create new colors is a useful skill for anyone who needs a small amount. Gold is both a basic color and a metallic color, which is difficult to duplicate. This will help you achieve the color gold, not the metallic gold. Before you begin to randomly experiment, it's important to review the basic color wheel. You can make all hues from the primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Orange, green and purple are secondary colors. From these you add white to achieve a tint of a color or black to create a shade.

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Step 1

Measure a tbsp. of yellow paint on a plate or in a plastic container. By keeping track of how much of each color paint you add, you can duplicate the color if you need a larger quantity.

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Step 2

Mix one tsp. of each of the primary colors together on a plate: red, blue and yellow. This should give you a basic brown if you have an even amount of each color.

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Step 3

Add a few drops of the brown paint to your yellow paint. Mix it to create a basic gold color.

Step 4

Add a drop of red to your gold paint if you want a gold shade that has more orange tinges. Add a drop of blue if you want a shade with green undertones.

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Step 5

Look at your color in natural light. If you like the hue but want it lighter, add a drop of white paint. Likewise if you want it darker, add a drop of black.

Tip

If you are trying to tint an entire gallon of paint, it's best to let the paint store make the transition because they'll use universal tints to achieve the color.

Warning

Creating a metallic gold will require mica powders and is very difficult to achieve without special training.

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