April 3, 2008
Red Polymer Clay Color Mixing Tips - A Riveting Story About Saturation
Vid #21: Not all Red's Are Created Equal:
Wow! You must really be a fanatic to click on a headline that promises to share riveting stories about Mixing Red Polymer Clay :-). Don't worry though. I'm crazy about clay too so we're in the same boat.
Today's tip is about how some shades of a particular color are more dominant than others. This is especially true with red polymer clay. For example, I once mixed 2 shades of red Fimo together to come up with a new, warmer tone about half way between the original two. I was surprised to discover that the required mix ratio ended up being 6 to 1 instead of 50:50 as I had initially thought it would be.
When you are experimenting with your own custom color combinations, it's best to add small amounts of the stronger color of polymer clay to the weaker one, until you get the desired result. If you mix from the other way around, you'll probably end up making more of the new color than you need.
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The full version of the "Color Saturation" preview video shown above, is included in my Polymer Clay Bead Making Fundamentals Course [SEE Video #17 of 39]. In this video I show how two quite similar looking red colors can have very different properties.
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Filed under 08: Color Theory by Cindy Lietz
Comments on Red Polymer Clay Color Mixing Tips - A Riveting Story About Saturation »
Unfortunately the video camera does not pick up the color differences as well as your own eyes will. But practice the techniques and tips I discussed with some of your colors, and you'll see what I mean.
Watch out for those powerful reds, especially Alizarin Crimson. Always add just a small amount to start so you don't end up with way more than you need. Black is also a powerful color. Yellow, however, is much more forgiving and you'll always need more of it than the other colors you are mixing it with.
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Would you consider ALL the deep reds, oranges and pinks to be "powerful"? I know when I'm painting it's harder to cover some deeper shades that have red in them.
If I decide to add a really light color, like white or ivory, does it decrease the powerfulness of the original color?
Has anyone out there tried this?
No Katina. With clay some colors that look about the same can have completely different saturations of pigments.Because of these differences it can be tricky when first learning about polymer clay color mixing. I show how to test this in a video in my Bead Making Beginner's Course.
White polymer clay does have a high opacity to it and will 'weaken' the color dramatically.