Paint is the coloring material used to beautify homes, crafts and artworks. In addition, it provides a protective coating to the things that it colors. Paint is pretty abundant, given its numerous uses. You can find a good can of paint at a hardware store, art supply shops and even stores for collectibles.
If you are looking for house paint, your local paint store is probably the best place to look for indoor or outdoor exterior paint. Major brands such as Sherwin Williams paint, Behr paint and Benjamin Moore paint are very recognizable brands that will surely make any house interior or exterior beautifiul.
Using a paint visualizer or color visualizer, you can get an idea of what the paint will look like in or out of your house. If you are making your own paint, using a paint color chart will also help you to create colors that resemble the colors that you can buy from the major brands. You can help be environmentally friendly and save on your budget by making paint yourself.
Types of Paint
Paint is made from a variety of materials. Different base ingredients are used to fit the various fields where the substance is used. Each ingredient carries distinct properties, making paint the most versatile among all coloring materials. Here are the different types of paint available:
Oil paint
Water-based paint
Watercolor
Face paint
Spray paint
You can use more than one type of paint for most applications. Try creating at least two types and see which looks better for your desired applications. Paint is not hard to make, so creating multiple types shouldn’t give you any problems. You can even combine some of the recipes to create your own concoction.
Paint Binders and Painting Media
Paint binders are responsible for the giving paints their adhesion, durability, flexibility, and glossiness. They also hold all the components of paint together. Binders vary, depending on the painting application. Here the most common paint binders with the corresponding painting mediums formed.
acrylic emulsion – acrylic paint
mixed polymer emulsion – latex paint (latex paints don’t contain actual latex)
polyurethane solution – polyurethane paint
polyester solution – polyester paint
egg yolk – egg tempera
epoxy – epoxy coats
oil – oil paint
Some of the painting mediums are formed using harsh chemicals and complex processes. In fact, people normally depend on industrial machines to create paint. It is more convenient to simply purchase polymer-based paints like acrylic paint and latex paint.
Let’s just do the different types of paint based on the simpler media. Besides, you can actually create great substitute products using readily available items.
Oil Paint
Oil paint is a popular medium for art. It produces robust colors that remain vibrant for decades. Remarkably, some of the world’s most famous paintings were made using oil paint. This type of paint is the sentimental choice of artists.
Materials Used:
30 grams powdered pigment
1 – 2 tsp linseed oil
palette knife
plastic wrap
airtight container
paint binder (acrylic, latex, egg tempera, etc)
Procedure:
Tear out a sheet of plastic wrap, then place a mound of powdered pigment.
Use a palette knife to form a crater at the center of the mound.
Pour a small amount of linseed oil in the crater.
Using the palette knife, push the sides of the mound onto the oil crater. Stir the oil and pigment until a mixture is formed.
Apply pressure downward, while mixing, to collect the paint that sticks to the plastic wrap.
Flatten the paint with your palette knife.
Scrape it off the plastic wrap and place it inside an airtight container. If you find the paint too thick, add more linseed oil to the mixture. Thin paints, on the other hand, can be thickened by adding more powdered pigment.
Store at a cool dry place and keep the container’s lid shut, when you won’t use the paint.
When oil paint is ready, make sure that your painting skills are ready as well. Such a fine coat only deserves masterpieces.
Water-Based Paint
Many painting applications use water-based paint. The versatile coloring solution can act as a base for other painting media such as egg tempera, watercolor, acrylic and latex. You can make any type of paint with water, since it is not as reactive as oil when mixed with polymers. Water-based paint is clearly the most versatile item among all of your options.
Materials Used:
30 grams powdered pigment
palette knife
water
paint binder (acrylic, tempera, latex, etc)
cookie tray
mixing bowl
plastic wrap
airtight container
Procedure:
Spread a sheet of plastic wrap on the cookie tray.
Place the powdered pigment on plastic wrap. Arrange the powder to form a mound.
Press the center of the mound with your palette knife. The mound of powder should look like a tiny volcano after.
Pour a small amount of water inside the ‘crater’ at the center of the mound.
Blend the water with the powder until they form a mixture. Add more powder if the mixture’s consistency is too thin.
Place the solution in a mixing bowl.
Think of a good medium for the paint, then add the corresponding paint binder to the solution.
Mix the solution thoroughly.
Transfer the paint to an airtight container.
Water-based paint is a good starting point for making a coloring solution. The processes are easy to follow, plus you can create various types of paint, depending on the material that you will use in step 7 (refer to the procedure).
Watercolor
One of the simplest form of paint is watercolor. It comes as a solid colored layer that turns into paint, when mixed with water. Forming the solid layer seems complicated, but the truth is, you can just powdered juice to produce a similar product.
Materials Used:
packs of powdered juice (different colors)
1 cup water
plastic cups
pot
oven
Procedure:
Decide on the colors that you will use for your painting.
Check your cupboard and get several packs of powdered juice. The packs’ contents should vary in color.
Place the powdered juice in the plastic cups. Each cup should contain only one color, unless you want to experiment with color mixtures.
Pour water in the pot and heat it until it becomes warm.
Put two teaspoons of water into each cup.
Now, you can start painting. Get a sheet of bond paper and create your powdered juice-based masterpiece. If you need a color that is not covered by your packs of juice, you can always mix different juice packs to form color combinations.
Face Paint
Enthralled by your favorite superheroes and wrestlers? You can paint their masks on your face by using face paint. Since the face is particularly sensitive, you will use skin-friendly items such as cold cream and food color to create face paint.
Materials Used:
cold cream
food coloring
egg carton
Procedure:
Place a small amount of cold cream into the pockets of the egg carton. The amount of cold cream to be used depends on the amount of paint you need for each color.
Add two drops of food coloring to each pocket. Ideally, you should have all the basic colors, so you could create many color combinations.
Stir the contents of each pocket thoroughly.
Before you start painting patterns on people’s faces, practice first on a sheet of paper. Errors aren’t easy to undo if they are already painted on skin.
Spray Paint
Graffiti art is slowly gaining popularity. People are starting to place artistic impressions on what started as forms of vandalism. As a budding artist, you can get your quick fix of graffiti art if you have several cans of spray paint. Spray paint is so easy to create. You just have to get all the necessary ingredients from your kitchen, mix them, and place them in a spray can.
Materials Used:
water
food coloring
spray can
Procedure:
Pour water in a spray can. Add the food coloring.
Mix them until the color settles.
Close the spray can.
Just repeat the procedure for all the colors that you need. If you don’t have enough spray cans, you can use an empty perfume bottle or any container that has a spray applicator.
Paint provides beauty in art, carpentry and interior design. You can use it to create a pretty picture or to craft an elegant theme for your room. Learn how to create the basic types of paint and you will either paint the town red or make your friends green with envy.
Making your own paint is great, but it’ll be useless if you don’t put it to good use. Be an artist with a paintbrush and learn techniques on how to paint.