Customizing your colors using Chalk Paint


Custom color mixing
Of course I paint many pieces straight out of the can, but when 
I want to create a customized color for a piece
of furniture I mix my own recipe.
Before we get to that I wanted to share
the red table above from the Annie Sloan website~
this is also a way to get a custom look using Chalk Paint
by applying soft dark wax after you apply the clear wax.
Dark wax can dramatically change the appearance 
of Chalk Paint.  Experiment with the changes by using it
on a wood sample to see the effect of the dark wax over clear wax.
One of my favorite colors to use the dark wax on is Antoinette.
Pale ballet pink Antoinette turns into a sophisticated antiqued pink!
I often use gilding wax with this combination to finish my pieces.
 You can easily mix your choice of Annie Sloan™
colors with Old White or Pure White to get a range of colors
as shown in this example from Annie's website.
The starter color is Emperor's Silk, a bright fire engine red.
Adding Old White will make your colors more vintage,
and Pure White gives a modern look.
Annie shows ratios of paint mixed above
in 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4 with the largest
swatch being the 1 part red 4 parts white.
Using this simple method of mixing whites with colors
gives you a much greater choice when deciding which 
paint color is best for a project.
You can also mix colors with colors~not just colors with whites.
 Check this out~I recently mixed up a custom color 
for the shop walls in Boston using Paris Grey and Chateau Grey. 
Using equal parts of both I created a beautiful grey green shade.
 I eyeball my measurements and mix enough to finish the job. 
 Using these quart containers that have measured markings you 
can easily do this too. After pouring in the Paris Grey
 I poured Chateau Grey right on top of it.
Then I stirred it all up creating my own recipe.
The wall in progress with my recipe color.
I will be sharing more custom color recipes and techniques
with you right here on the blog.  I hope this inspires you
to think outside the box and get mixing up your colors~
and visit AnnieSloan.com for all kinds of color ranges
by clicking on the color swatch you like.
Annie shows how it looks mixed up with whites
and gives tips on complementary colors as well.





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