If a color is about where you want it but too garish, what is the best way to tone it down a bit without shifting it?  A little brown, or will that shift it too far towards the warm end?  In this case it was two parts blue to one part green and I tried to vein in some translucent, but overblended it so it completely disappeared.

Also, can one successfully make a Skinner blend without a pasta machine?  I tried, for fun, when I was mixing my green and blue initially, but it only blended a little bit in the middle, the ends stayed solid most of the way in, and it got too thin quickly.

 I certainly think it depends on what you are trying to do as to what you would mix it with. sometimes vutting it with translucent works. sometimes adding a bit of gold or silver. sometimes black. it really depends. also, I think it would be terribly hard to do a Skinner blend w/o a pasta machine but I am sure it can be done.

DW, nice breaking down the topics BTW. It sounds like maybe you don't yet have a pasta machine. I would say that, while you can condition and mix clay without one, it's just so fundamentally necessary in the long run, that I can't imagine working without one. Lord knows that my work doesn't aim to be just-so perfect, but it would look totally Neanderthal without a PM. It's simply essential.

If you google polymer clay and color, you should come up with plenty of color theory and mixing advice. There are specific strategies for toning down color. Maybe adding a bit of a color's complement? 

To tone it down, try a touch of ecru in the mix.  That usually works well  with just about any color.

Eventually you will want some color mixing charts and formulas.  For starters, most of the clay manufacturers have color mixing charts at their own web sites, and then you will collect others along the way. 

  The "queen" is www.maggiemaggio.com for all clay things color.

Keep an eye on the ads from Joanne.  The periodically run a pasta machine on sale for $10 and they are about due within the next few weeks or so. 

I got my pasta machine at Michael's for about 12.50.  I used a 50% off coupon that was in the Sunday newspaper.  They always have a 40% off coupon, almost every Sunday.

Laura

OK, OK, I have one on order!  :-)

 In reference to my initial question, I do have some art class background and I understand the basics of the color wheel, but it seems there are multiple ways to de-saturate a color, wondered what people found best in practice.

 But as with many of my overly thinky questions, the answer is probably get your hands dirty and figure out what works for me!
 

Yes, dirty hands will help!  What's nice about varius charts around and about is that they will give you actual formulas -- 3 parts of this to 4 parts of that.  It really speeds up the process of getting directly to the color you want, especially since mixing clay takes a lot longer than mixing paint!  (Even WITH a pasta machine!).

jilla:

It really speeds up the process of getting directly to the color you want, especially since mixing clay takes a lot longer than mixing paint!  (Even WITH a pasta machine!).

Yah, I have to admit my hands are still tender from my weekend exploits.  Although "playing" with color and color-texture, if that's a real concept, are a lot of what appeals to me with the clay.  I guess it's not really "cheating" to use a published starting point.  Or use a machine.  It wouldn't occur to me to try to make a round loop in wire without pliers, don't know why a pasta machine seems somehow like taking my hands out of it... anyway, I haven't had this much fun in decades, so it must be a good thing! 

DW, the pasta machine is like having a washing machine instead of beating your clothes on rocks along the river bank. It will alleviate much of the toil, but none of the fun. 

You can add a bit of 'mud' clay to the mix to desat color, too. Mud is usually just a bunch of well blended scrap clay bits.

As far as a Skinner Blend goes, you can try the 'old fashioned' way of doing a color gradiation (stacking layers of clay with increasing or decreasing amounts of a single color) but to get a really fine blend, you'll need a pasta machine.

I often tone down with the complementary color on the color wheel. First add just a tiny little bit and work your way through mixing until your desired tone-down is reached.

As Barbara said - scrap muddy clay works fine as well but tends to darken the original color a bit more.

I add an ecru/trans/pearl blend with almost every color I mix.  Adding white will brighten and black will darken, but ecru "mutes" the colors instead.  You can develop truly luscious (and often surprising!) color palettes with ecru. If you are a Kato rather than Premo gal, mix 4 parts Kato White, 2 parts Kato Brown and 1 1/2 parts Kato Yellow to get to an Ecru equivalent.  Have fun!

thanks for that great piece of advice Julie. I will sure try this....

cya soon

Bettina

Julie - If you're not a Kato girl, what amounts do you use with ecru to tone down colors. I love your colors and the ones from people who've taken your classes.

I typically start with my ecru/trans/pearl blend (I don't measure, but I'd estimate about a 1:1 ratio for ecru & trans and plus enough pearl to add a bit of a shimmer).  Someone in a workshop coined the term "jecru" for Julie's Ecru - funny, yes?!!!

Anyway, to the "jecru" blend I will add a small amount of the saturated color that I want to tone down.  I just keep adding a little of it until I get to a shade that I want to eat...that's when I know to stop :GRIN:  Just an FYI - I find it best to work with small amounts of clay while I'm color mixing, at least at first.  ;)

Jecru - cool!  First there was the Skinner Blend, and now we have jecru. 

Jecru - Love it!