What Is Colour Mixing?
Primary Colours.
- Red: Will lighten very dark colours while also changing the tone of the colour
- Blue: Will darken light colours while also changing the tone of the colour
- Yellow: Will lighten semi dark colours to dark colours while changing the tone of the colour
- Green: This is the only primary colour that can be made from mixing other primary colours together, this will darken light colours while changing the tone of the colour as well.
Shade Colours.
- Black: This will always darken any colour, but also kills the brightness of a colours tone, not always the best choice to darken a colour if you do not wish to change the tone
- White: This will always lighten any colour, can give a milky look to colours also, will not in most cases change a colours brightness drastically
- Grey: mixing this is 50% black – 50% white. The shade of grey will be governed by the amounts of black and white that have been used to mix your colour.
More white will lighten it and more black will darken it.
Will kill brightness in most cases of a colour
Can be used to control the shade of a colour
Tone.
- Dominant primary colour:
This is determined by the comparisons of primary colours, Tone may at times consist of two different primary colours example: red / yellow will equal Orange.
Shade.
- This is the lightness or darkness of any colour:
This can be controlled by white and black in most cases.
Matching the colour Shake all the bottles of colour and tints very well.
Pour some of the base colour into the small mixing cup. Fill it about quarter of the way (5ml). Then dip a cotton wool bud into the colour and apply a tiny amount to a hidden part of the leather. Dry with a hair drier or let it dry naturally for 5 minutes. Once dry, if it doesn’t match the colour of your leather follow the instructions to either lighten or darken the colour so that it is a perfect match.
How this system works is, you will add (as instructed) a small quantity of the tint(s) to the base colour and mix it together. You then re-apply a small amount of colour with a cotton wool bud to the leather and let it dry. If it matches, use this colour to make the repair, if it doesn’t, keep following the colour matching instructions and re-apply the new colour to the leather until it matches. Also, see the heading ‘adjusting the sheen’ to help match the sheen of the leather as well as the colour.
Follow the instructions for your leather colour as shown below. Once you have matched the colour, proceed to step two.
CREAM – light-dark, yellow cream -peach cream
To lighten: Add white in small amounts to make the colour paler or yellow to lighten with a yellow tone. To Darken: Add umber in small amounts to darken the colour. If you add too much, the colour may go slightly green, this can be corrected by adding a drop of red. Black can be used to make a very dark cream, only add a small amount. To make more Red/Peachy: Add small amounts of red or orange. To make more golden: Slowly mix in oxide yellow to add a golden tone.
IVORY – light-dark
To lighten: Add white to make the colour paler or yellow to lighten with a yellow tone. To Darken: Add umber in small amounts to darken the colour. Black can be used to make a very dark ivory, only add a small amount. Small amounts of blue can be added to add a slight greenish tint.
MEDIUM BROWN – light brown, dark brown -maroon brown
To lighten: Add yellow, this will lighten the colour but may take the red tone away. Add red to correct this. Adding white will also lighten but may create a more pale dusty colour if too much is added. To Darken: Add black this may add a slight green tone, adding red will return the red tone. For darker browns, the colour can be darkened by adding violet.
RED – light red, dark red – maroon
To lighten: Add yellow, this will give a more orange tone. Adding white will also lighten, but will make the colour more pink. Often a combination of both colours added together is best. To Darken: Add black, this may add a brown tone so combat this with magenta. Violet can also be used to darken the colour to give it a more purple tone. Adding blue will also darken without adding a brown tone to the colour, but will also give it a purple tone if too much is added.
TAN – light tan, yellow tan – red tan
To lighten: Add white a little at a time or yellow to add a golden tone to the tan.
To Darken: Add black. To darken and retain a red tone: Add violet. To make a golden orange tan: Add blue in small amounts this will also darken the colour and when added with yellow will give a more orange tan.
BEIGE – light-dark
To lighten: Add white or yellow a drop at a time. These may add a creamy tone and this can be corrected with a small drop of red oxide. To Darken: Add umber to the colour but too much will add a greenish tone this can be rectified with a drop of red or red oxide.
BLUE – light -dark, purple blue
To lighten: Add white to make a pale blue or a small amount of yellow to just lighten the blue, too much Yellow will make a green, so adding a drop of red will help remove the green tint. To Darken: Add small drops of black or umber. These may add a slight green tint, adding magenta or red will help combat this. To make Purple: Add red, magenta or violet with black if a darker purple is required
DARK BROWN
To Lighten: Add yellow and red in equal quantities. This lightens keeping the brown tone. Adding yellow on its own kills the red tone of the brown. To Darken: Add black with magenta or black with violet in equal quantities. This keeps the brown tone and darkens the colour. Black and violet will make a darker brown than black and magenta.