More
and more often we are asked to make up a colour in a half strength version. The
story normally goes something like this; cabinet makers client can’t quite find
the exact colour they want, they like a certain colour but it feels a little
darker than they want, they ask the cabinet maker to prepare a sample in a half
strength version.
All
good so far, we just add 50% of white base to the formula and hey presto you
have a half strength version. Basically, by adding 50% white you have halved
the quantity of tinter by 50% so you have a half strength version.
Well
not so long ago we had a cabinet maker come to us asking for a white sample,
nothing complicated, their client just wanted to see what our standard, off the
shelf white looked like when sprayed out.
We
prepared a standard white sample for the cabinet maker who in turn gave it to
their client. A couple of days later we received a call from the client direct
to us saying the colour was a little heavy and could we make it half strength.
Craig explained that there is no such thing as half strength white. You can’t
take a white paint, add 50% white to it and get a lighter version.
Well
it turned out that the client would not be educated. She insisted that adding
50% extra white paint to white paint would give a half strength version. So,
adamant was she that she insisted in coming down to our factory and watching as
Craig took 1 litre of white paint and proceeded to add another 1 litre of white
paint to create what she insisted would be a half strength version.
The
client then insisted on watching whilst we sprayed the paint onto a sample
board. We gave her the sample and she took it home to have a look at the new
sample in her house so as to get a truer comparison.
She
called back the next day and insisted that the new sample with extra white
paint added to white paint was a lighter version and she was happy to sign off
the new sample as the correct colour. She also insisted on keeping the original
white sample so that she could check when the kitchen was installed that it
matched the half strength white sample and not the full strength white sample.
