Ever spent way too long in the store trying to find the perfect shade of paint for your DIY projects? Well, here’s the good news. You can create your own color palette right at home with color mixing.
Let's Take A Look At The Color Wheel
Color mixing means combining paints to create new colors, and anyone can learn it. A helpful guide for mixing paint is the color wheel, which is a circular chart that shows how colors mix. It starts with the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. These are the base colors, and you cannot make them by mixing other paints. When you mix two primary colors, you create secondary colors. For example:
• Red and yellow make orange
• Yellow and blue make green
• Blue and red make purple
How Colors Interact
The color wheel also helps you understand how colors interact. Colors that sit next to each other on the wheel mix easily and create smooth shades, while colors across from each other create strong contrast. Helpful tools for mixing include a palette, a palette knife, brushes, and a scrap surface for testing colors before use. To mix acrylic paint, place small amounts of paint on a palette or mixing surface, then blend them with a brush or palette knife until you reach the desired color. If the color is too bright, mix in a small amount of contrasting color to make it neutral. For example:
• Purple added to yellow
• Orange added to blue
• Green added to red
If the color is too dark, add a little white paint to make pastels. In fact, you can mix any color with white to make it lighter. When mixing paint, mix as much as you need the first time. It can be hard to match the exact shade if you run out.
Custom Colors For DIY Projects
Once you start mixing your own colors, it opens the door to all kinds of creative projects. One fun idea is painting a banner for your next celebration. Try soft pastel shades for a baby shower banner, bright colors for a birthday, shiny metallic accents for a bachelorette party, or school colors for a graduation banner.
Colors For Your Palette
The first step to creating custom colors starts with picking the right paint.
