Polymer clay

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

beadme — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:52:35 GMT

Jecru - Love it!

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

dressagewoman — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:10:49 GMT

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

jilla — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:12:21 GMT

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

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

jules22 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:37:13 GMT

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. ;)

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

beadme — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:09:25 GMT

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.

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

beadworx — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:13:22 GMT

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

cya soon

Bettina

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

jules22 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:05:50 GMT

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!

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

beadworx — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:16:44 GMT

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.

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

PenguinTrax — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:38:52 GMT

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.

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

Linelle — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:23:18 GMT

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.

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

dressagewoman — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:33:59 GMT

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!

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

jilla — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:38:57 GMT

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!).

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

dressagewoman — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:35:42 GMT

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!

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

Raven815 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:45:49 GMT

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

Re: What is the best way to tone down colors?

jilla — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:52:22 GMT

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.