How would or do you go about color matching?

[Henry W]

I have a straight forward project that requires me to do some color matching - makes the new parts the same color and finish as the old parts.

In this case I could take the piece to the paint/stain place to be scanned, so I may actually do that.
What if I could not scan an existing piece directly? How would you go about trying to color match the piece?

Thanks

Henry W

 

[b4man]

Are you working with stain or paint?

If it's stain, I would buy a stain that closely matched making sure it was in the same tone family.
Umber vs Siena. I would choose the lightest match so I could then use artist colors to more closely match the original piece.

If it's painted I would take several paint chips and again match the tone and finish tweaking with universal colorant and maybe even glaze.

Hope this gives you an idea:eusa_thin


Barbara

 

[Henry W]

Re: Universal colorants, Artist colors?

Thanks Barbara. A few answers and follow up questions
_____________
"Are you working with stain or paint?"
- stain, but my latest project with MinWax water based stains makes me think there is not much difference between thin paint and stain
___________________
"If it's stain, I would buy a stain that closely matched making sure it was in the same tone family.
Umber vs Siena. I would choose the lightest match so I could then use artist colors to more closely match the original piece.
If it's painted I would take several paint chips and again match the tone and finish tweaking with universal colorant and maybe even glaze."

- Universal colorants, artist colors... While the terms are familiar, what exactly are these?
- Powders to mix in water or alcohol, or tints soluble in oil based solutions?
- Dyes or pigment?
- Do you have the whole color range bought in one big set, or are these materials you have bought one by one and now have a decent selection?

I currently have a few choices of MinWax stains oil based stains, and more recently have a few water based ones as well, and have at times been able to create the color I needed. The project I have now just does not look like I have the materials on hand.

Thanks

Henry

 

[Glennbear]

Re: Universal colorants, Artist colors?

Thanks Barbara. A few answers and follow up questions
_____________
"Are you working with stain or paint?"
- stain, but my latest project with MinWax water based stains makes me think there is not much difference between thin paint and stain
___________________
"If it's stain, I would buy a stain that closely matched making sure it was in the same tone family.
Umber vs Siena. I would choose the lightest match so I could then use artist colors to more closely match the original piece.
If it's painted I would take several paint chips and again match the tone and finish tweaking with universal colorant and maybe even glaze."

- Universal colorants, artist colors... While the terms are familiar, what exactly are these?
- Powders to mix in water or alcohol, or tints soluble in oil based solutions?
- Dyes or pigment?
- Do you have the whole color range bought in one big set, or are these materials you have bought one by one and now have a decent selection?

I currently have a few choices of MinWax stains oil based stains, and more recently have a few water based ones as well, and have at times been able to create the color I needed. The project I have now just does not look like I have the materials on hand.

Thanks

Henry

Here is a link to a page at Highland Woodworking which may answer your questions :wsmile:
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/utc12-colorassortment.aspx

 

[b4man]

@ Glenn,
That's a great Kit for the money! Thanks for the link and steering us there!

Henry,

I've got an Art background so I tend to use whatever I have on hand like artist oils or water colour or even gouache. The nice thing about universal tints is they will work w/ oil base and water base medium. I stay away from acrylics because they don't reduce and blend/mix as well, even with acrylic latex paint.

I was about to NOT recommend buying a SET of anything until I saw Highlands offer.

I need to go back and reread your post to see what I'm not including! I'm way too A D D:gar-La;

Barbara

 

[Henry W]

Yes that does indeed look like the kind of kit that will be very useful (thanks Glennbear), especially if I can modify both oil and water based stains.

Now where did that credit card go?

Henry

 

[Makinsawdust]

I use Trans-Tint dyes a lot for this application. Pick a stain that's close and add drops of dye in whatever cast that's needed. Also, sometimes it makes more sense to add dye to the clear coat and build the color to the right shade.