An Open Letter to a Color Blind Paint Manufacturer, or How I Mixed Bronze-Colored Paint

By DIY Maven

On a recent trip to my local craft store, while trying to find bronze-colored acrylic paint, I was shocked to discover that you and your competitors are color blind. Yes, you offer something called "bronze", but it’s nothing other than dark gold.

I apologize if you don’t know what bronze actually looks like. For edification, perhaps you should open one of the dozen Pottery Barn catalogs you receive throughout the year. (Check page 102, top left corner, of the winter 2007 addition. See? That’s bronze.)

In the meantime, I will continue to mix my own bronze-colored paint. The recipe is as follows:

One part Delta Ceramcoat Black + One Part Delta Ceramcoat Kim Gold = Bronze.

If you should decide to concoct this particular color, which I encourage you to do, perhaps you could name it for me. Maven Bronze has a nice ring to it.

Thank you.

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bronze acrylic paint color blind

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January 03, 2007

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Ken Hoyt

March 28, 2008

I'm with you Maven, when I'm thinking bronze I want a warm deep tone (sort of brown meets metallic).

To get my version of bronze on a giant scale (a big event I was styling) I used a three layers of floral spray paint on urns. Gold topped with a light dusting of Copper finished with Glossy Wood Tone...

Allsunday

February 04, 2007

Um, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but polished bronze is actually a dark gold color. Yes, it can be a darker color, especially if unfinished, but when most people say "bronze," they don't mean "distressed, unpolished bronze". Here's an example, using bells:

Polished, well-kept bronze bell: http://www.vallejogallery.com/pics/9_1000%20dpi%20front.jpg

Antique bronze bell: http://images.oneofakindantiques.com/4693_asian_bronze_bell_1.jpg

Yet another antique: http://rki.kbs.co.kr/images/img_history/3-4bronze-bell.jpg

And a very, very old one: http://www.mdc.hr/virovitica/media/kulturno-povijesna/3-01.gif

As you can see, bronze can come in many different "colors" depending on how old it is, how well-kept it is, and how much it's been polished. It can even look green. So while you may tend to think of bronze as a darker, almost black color, you're in the minority - just like anyone who thinks of bronze as a green color. When most people think of bronze, they think of new, polished bronze, which is exactly like that little paint swatch up there you're criticizing so harshly.

sparkie

January 07, 2007

ROFLOL!

evrtstudio

January 04, 2007

Actually, the natural color of bronze metal IS more of a gold color, like the middle color above. The darker version you are used to seeing has a patina. Plus, don't rely on some metal products in Pottery Barn to tell you what Bronze looks like. A lot of companies just name the colors based on what they think they look like.

CasaHartman

January 03, 2007

Heh... most regular people are surprised to see that bronze is a really dark color, but you'd think a company in the business of making colors would be smarter than that. Though, in their defense, they're probably just giving the masses what they expect.

For small crafty projects I've had good success with DecoArt's No Prep Metal Paints, but even they have problems identifying colors correctly. Their bright bronze is more like a very red copper.