Colour mixing experiments

After reading about colour mixing with polymer clay, I decided to make some sample colour wheels. I was particularly interested to see the difference in secondary and tertiary colours produced by using the primary colours of light as well as of paint.

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1. The left hand colour wheel has been made using the primary colours of light: magenta, yellow and cyan (using Premo polymer clay the colours were Fuschia, Cadmium Yellow and Turquoise). I was amazed that a better 'true' red could be created with the Fuschia and Cadmium Yellow than the Premo reds available in ready mixed packets.

2. The central colour wheel has been made using the primary colours of paint: red, yellow and blue (using Premo polymer clay the colours were Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine Blue). [Note: it would have been better to have used Zinc Yellow but I did not have enough of this at the time].

I definately agree with what I have read, that the primary colours of light rather than of paint give a brighter, better range of colurs with polymer clay. If I decide to buy larger bricks of polymer clay in a limited range of colours, I will definitely go for the primary colours of light.

3. The right hand colour wheel has also been made using the primary colours of paint: red, yellow and blue (using Premo polymer clay the colours were Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and Cobalt Blue). This shows the difference in colours created by, in this case, using a cooler rather than a warmer blue.

My experiments stopped here as I felt I was using up too much of my precious polymer clay. It is obvious that the warmth or coolness of a colour can have an effect on the final colour mix and I have also learnt that some colours are more intensive than others, so it is not necessarily a simple equal quantities of two primary colours = the expected secondary colour. I understand now why the books suggest making colour chips and recording the quantities of the various colours mixed. This could be a very time consuming exercise but one day I would like to create a comprehensive colour chart, showing all the colour combinations.

Experiments with colour mixing

This weekend gone, I started on a colour mixing exercise, which I thought would be a useful visual aid not only for my own use but if I do any teaching/workshops in the future. I did not realise how long it was going to take.

I am quite familiar with the concepts of colour theory from many years of painting, however I have read that it is different with polymer clay. Using Magenta, Lemon Yellow and Turquoise as my primary colours (as they are meant to create purer colours with polymer clay, than the traditional red, yellow and blue in paints), I mixed equal proportions to make the secondary and tertiary colours, resulting in the twelve standard colours on a Colour Wheel. I cut a square from each of the twelve colours as my starting point and when baked, laid them out as a central column.

To the left I made squares mixing white with each of the colours in turn, in the following proportions: 25% white + 75% colour, 50% white + 50% colour, 75% white + 25% colour and also 87.5% white + 12.5% colour. To the right, I made squares mixing black with each of the colours in turn, in the following proportions: 25% black + 75% colour, 50% black + 50% colour, 75% black + 25% colour and also 87.5% black + 12.5% colour.

Here is a photo of the finished results. It shows quite clearly (as I read after I had started this exercise) that you do not need to add as much black to change a colour as you do white. There is nothing like learning the hard way!

I had planned to repeat this exercise, using the more traditional red, yellow and blue primary colours, to compare the difference and also to show the variations you get when adding brown or grey and pearl or translucent clay to the twelve colours. I will do this at some stage but as it takes so long to mix all the samples, cut and bake and uses up quite a lot of clay, it will have to be resumed at a later date.