Introduction to
If you would like to register for a private advanced course, please check the box at the bottom. This will be offered sometime in January. There will be a small fee of $15.00. If you are a beginner, then it is necessary to review and understand the following information. The advance course will be based on understanding the following:
1) Welcome to those who choose to take an active part by registering. I
appreciate the attendance of those who choose to be on the sidelines. With either choice,
you will be introduced to techniques that will assist you in creating an exact color
match.
2) Please do not click on a color on the screen. My instructions will
be in red. Answers to your questions will be in blue.
3) I will open the conversation up to questions only to those who have registered. This
is only for the first hour. The last half-hour will then be an open chat for everyone.
4) What is color matching and when is it needed? This course is directed to the
wood refinisher, the
fine porcelain/ceramic restorer or an artist that is restoring any area that needs to have
the finish blended
into its surrounding area. This is not a course on color blending or mixing.
5) Color matching application is crucial when a furniture touch-up restorer needs to
perform an invisible
spot repair to a damaged piece of furniture. The refinisher needs this information when
he/she needs to
achieve an exact color match in staining a leaf to match a table, redoing a part to a
piece of furniture,
matching an item that is part of a set of furniture or matching colors for built-in
cabinets.
6) Color matching application is necessary for the art restorer when working on objects
such as
porcelain, pottery, ceramic, plaster, marble, stone and paintings. It is in the
application of the colors,
which creates the depth in a glaze.
7) This is only an introduction to COLOR-MATCHING. First I would like to give you an
overview
of the basic points that a restorer must understand if they are to be able to master this
technique.
8) #1) WORKING WITH THE "PURE" COLORS Most restorers make it more difficult
than what
it really is. So the first thing is: start with a clean slate and work with just the
"pure" basic colors.
9) #2) DISTINCTIONS You will be shown how to distinguish colors. If a restorer can not
distinguish
colors then he/she will get lost in the process of color matching.
9 - A) I suggest that everyone at some time take a color blindness test. If you go the
World Book
Encyclopedia, look up Color and there will be a color test you can take. Did you know that
one out
of every 12 males is colored blind? All the training and practice in the world will not
help if you have
this handicap.
10) #3) LIGHTER AND BRIGHTER Once you have learned what the "pure" colors are
and have
learned how to distinguish color, then #3 is what is going to help you achieve the color
you are matching.
11) In order for me to give you recipes and directions of color matching, you must be
working with
the same color of colors that I am using. Golden Artist Colors will be used as a standard
guide for
the "pure" colors. This information has already been made available to you. All
the names of the paints
were on the site so if you have them ready lets get started.
12) To make an exact color match, seven colors of which two are black and white is all
that is needed..
So really it only leaves five and most of the time I end up working with just three.
13) It is not productive to have a large assortment of colors. Too many colors make the
process more
complicated. It actually makes it harder. When you have a large assortment of colors, you
choose from
a family of color, not from the color that is needed. You never train your eye to see the
distinction of the color.
14) Using the colors that I have listed from Golden Acrylic Paints as your reference,
you then can
purchase these colors in other mediums from who ever manufactures them.
15) The important thing is to establish the "pure" color. When I teach in
person, I give all the students
a card called "Andrea's PICS ( Perfect Identification of Color by Sight). If any
members of the
Association of Restorers would like one of these cards then please send me a self
addressed,
stamped envelope.
16) With this card you can then go to any paint, art, or hobby store, and purchase the
color
using the name they call it.
17) To recap, you must work with "pure" color. The "pure" color is
the color that I have chosen
as a result of many years experience. It is the most intense and true to the basic names
of red,
blue, yellow, magenta, and green. On occasion I will need other colors just to tweak the
hue,
but for 99% of my work, these are the colors I use.
18) Place the colors: red, blue and yellow on your plate, the size of a quarter.
19) Take your paint brush and lift approximately 1/4 of each into the middle and mix
them together.
20) You will have a color that is in the brown family. The color is Maple, red Oak,
possible a light
Mahogany. From this point add twice as much of the blue; you have a walnut. Add more red
and it will
become a dark red Mahogany. Simple!
21) Take the present color and add yellow, add some more yellow and now you will have
colors in the
Oak family.
22) Mohawk Finishing Products, has a color matching kit. It contains all the primary
lacquer paints. It
comes with a selection of approximately 50 wood recipes. It has bound color samples, with
a hole
punched through it. Just match the sample card to the piece to be restored and follow the
paint recipe.
It works like a charm!
23) Mohawk Finishing"s number is 800-870-7303. It is called Mohawk MATCH-ALL Stain
and Grain System.
24) This has been your first practical step in color matching. I will tell you how to
distinguish colors.
25) There are only three colors (three) . I want you to work with identifying color
with these three.
They are red, blue and yellow. It is that easy, only three. There are no more, the rest is
just mixtures
of these colors. Someone, at sometime had given them names to identify them but it comes
back to
red, blue, or yellow or combinations of.
26) I will be able to demonstrate this theory at the convention. I will take a board
that has already
been stained a certain color and within seconds it will be another whole color by just
applying one
of the three colors.
27) This process is done by going over the existing stain with an intense color of the
"pure" color of
choice. In other words, you have a brown (medium walnut) color and you need it to be a
dark red
(red Mahogany), then just wipe it over with red. Oops! Too much red! Just come back with
green.
(Green takes the red out!)
28) Again, this process is easily made for correction of color without taking off the
previous stain and
starting over.
29) A color correction can also be made by using an aerosol spray. BK Products carry a
line of
toners, which will bring a color into the desired shade. Their number is 414-677-0490.
Mohawk Products has aerosols just for this purpose. One is an intense red/orange and the
other
is a green.
30) It would be a help to the wood industry if a company would make aerosol sprays in
all the
"pure" colors. Then any color correction could be made. With just the two, it is
limiting.
31) DISTINCTION! Distinction is the first thing that needs to be done before attempting
to
correct a color or repair a spot. What do we see most of and what color will correct it?
32) Go back to the paper plate. We mixed the three "pure" colors and came up
with brown tones.
The paints probably have dried by now. Notice they are darker than when they were wet. You
will have to take this into consideration when working with water base acrylics. Oils and
lacquers
will not change color after they dry. Lacquers will always hold their color, oils will
darken over time.
33) Look at the different brown shades you created. Which one is red, which one is
blue, which
one is yellow? You need to be able to be able to look at any color and see what it has
most in it.
The last mixture that came out looking like oak would be yellow. The one that we added the
blue
and then more red to achieve a Mahogany color would be red. The first one I would
distinguish
as a cross between red and yellow.
34) The point is that when you look at a color, look at it as being either red, blue or
yellow or a
part of each.
35) Before we leave the topic of color distinction, I need to bring up a theory that I
have heard for years. It has been stated " In order to achieve a good color match,
one needs to work under a lighting situation that gives you the closest light as
daylight."
36) I will be demonstrating at the convention that it makes no (no) difference what
light you work under,
whether it has a yellow , blue or white cast. It just makes no difference!! What does
(does) makes the
difference is that the lighting you have is bright. No shadows!
37) When a repair person works on a piece of furniture in a half lighted room, or from
the natural daylight while being indoors, then takes the piece outside, and notices a
color difference, it is not the color of light but the brightness of light. It is that
brightness that allows you to see the unmatched color of the repair.
38) When I do in-home repairs, I use two bright lights, 350 or higher wattage, shining
on the subject. It
makes a world of difference when you have brightness. 39) In my studio I have four , 4
foot, florescent lights; one above me, one above my subject, one on my left (vertically)
and one on my right (vertically). With this placement I eliminate all shadows.
40) If you do not have good, bright light it will effect your ability to make color
distinctions.
41) Color distinctions are made with all colors. When I am matching a color on a piece
of fine porcelain/pottery or furniture, I am continually asking myself what color am I
seeing, and what color do I need to add to correct it to the color I want?
42) If it has too much red then I either add a little blue to the mixture of paint, or
put blue in my airbrush
and lightly go over the area. If it has too much yellow then I might add a combination of
the blue and red.
43) Working on objects, I use the airbrush mostly for background; the paint brush for
detail. To paint a
flesh tone color on a stature, that had been broken, first, with my airbrush white out the
area with white
paint. Then spay lightly with "pure" yellow and then spay over with
"pure" red.
44 ) This creates a flesh tone depending on how heavy you apply it. It recreates depth
which simulates
a fired on paint look to the finish. This may be sounding a little complicated. When it is
demonstrated, right before your eyes you see how it works. If you have an airbrush, spray
on yellow and go over with red. You will see for yourself.
45) Even when I am matching white, I first put the white on and then with the slightest
color in my airbrush, I start coloring with the Red, Blue and Yellow. My experience tells
me that I need all three colors every time I am matching white. When I attempt a short
cut, I find my self muddling around until I realize I need all three colors.
46) Sometimes I have to squint my eyes to make the distinction. Once you realize the
color missing, it's like magic how it will pull it in. Before I go onto the most technical
part, Lighter and Brighter, are there any questions? I will answer three.
47) LIGHTER AND BRIGHTER
Learn what this means. This is the tricky part. When matching color there is a point
that when you cross over, there in no return!
48) As long as your repair is lighter and brighter you can keep adjusting the color to
make it match. As soon as you pass this point, it will turns to mud or your color keeps
getting darker. The colors do not match. Start again!
49) This can only be learned through experience. I can demonstrate the steps by showing
a series of color panels that lead to a color match. To learn you must do. Just remember
to proceed slowly and build up your color, whether using a brush or an airbrush. It is the
layering that will create the illusion of an exact color match. You must not go beyond a
certain point! Proceed slowly! Practice will teach you how to achieve this step.
50) I suggest to squint your eyes. If the area is lighter and brighter then continue on
until the match is made. As soon as you go beyond, it will be darker and duller, then in
most cases you have to start over.
51) This is basic information for color matching. For those who are beginners, just
realize that we all had
to start at some point. The correction of color can keep being adjusted as long as you
keep your repair
area L__________________& B________________. (It rhymes)
To summarize:
1. Start with the "pure" colors
2. Distinguish the color
3. Keep it lighter and brighter
End