Small quantities of paint - where to buy

The need comes up occasionally to buy small quantities of paint tinted to my own requirements.

I’m after high gloss oil based enamel.

The quantity that I actually use can be from a teaspoon to about 100ml. Naturally I don’t want to buy 1ltr or 500ml cans because of the waste and cost.

It must be self-levelling.

Bunnings told me today they can’t tint anything under 1 litre, except sample pots which are flat acrylic - shame, because they would otherwise be perfect.

Does anyone have any ideas where I can get what I need.

Cheers
Arron

For that sort of small quantity, perhaps you need to visit an art's supply store.

My son recommends these two
https://www.parkersartsupplies.com/ located in Sydney's Rocks, Darlinghurst and Redfern

https://www.thesydneyartstore.com.au/ in Zetland

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ian

For that sort of small quantity, perhaps you need to visit an art's supply store.

My son recommends these two
https://www.parkersartsupplies.com/ located in Sydney's Rocks, Darlinghurst and Redfern

https://www.thesydneyartstore.com.au/ in Zetland

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Most artist paints are not self levelling - because an artist usually wants a paint to stay where it is put, rather then to flow out. I have heaps of watercolour, acrylic and oil based art paints, as well as airbrush stuff, but none is self levelling. I want a deep, mirror gloss that withstands close inspection.

Of course there might be something I’ve overlooked - so anything suggested will be followed up.

I did ask at Art Scene, and drew a blank.

Cheers
Arron

I should point out, the nearest I’ve thought of is Humbrol paints, which are usually sold in model stores. They have a oil based gloss. It’s in small 14mm pots but I could live with that. Not tintable but a very wide range of colours some of which are quite usable.

Anyone used it ?

Hi Arron,

The reason why Bunnings and most paint stores won't tint you anything less than 1L is because tint formula's are based on a certain amount of tint per 4L of paint. So they basically scale the amount of tint based off the number of litres you buy. The smaller the quantity of paint the more noticeable the colour discrepancy from what its supposed to be. Hence why sample pots come tinted from factory as they'd make the paint in larger batches to match the exact color as per formula.

Try your local paint specialist store, eg inspirations paint, solver etc. They may be able to sort you out

Alternatively, buy a 1l un-tinted tin of paint and experiment with dyes to DIY your own tint? Might result in some very unusual and wacky colors.

Actually the sample pots are tinted while you wait, so obviously they have the capacity to tint down to 250ml.

Like for like paints can be mixed I would suggest that you buy some pipets and mix your own measuring as you go. Not an exact way but at least it is as close as you are going to get at home. Like many I have used the model enamels as well as many of the artistic paint including airbrush paints.

Spray cans come in a fair variety of colours and price points. Perhaps you could disgorge the spray into a container and brush on from that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arron

Most artist paints are not self levelling - because an artist usually wants a paint to stay where it is put, rather then to flow out. I have heaps of watercolour, acrylic and oil based art paints, as well as airbrush stuff, but none is self levelling. I want a deep, mirror gloss that withstands close inspection.

Of course there might be something I’ve overlooked - so anything suggested will be followed up.

I did ask at Art Scene, and drew a blank.

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Hi Arron, my son and I talked about your need on today's drive into school.

The first question he asked was -- what are you trying to achieve?

His other comments were:
artists paints can be "thinned" with the appropriate medium and will usually stay true to the intended colour. For oil based paints artists typically use raw linseed oil as the medium, but as far as he knows you could also use BLO or an oil with metallic dryers.

there are tricks to using artists' paint -- one of which is using denatured alcohol as the medium.

artists often use a varnish to achieve the desired gloss level.

you should be able to get then outcome you want with a artists' acrylic.

in principle, you should be able to buy a litre of white base paint (or the appropriate base for the colour you want) and add the appropriate pigment yourself. i.e. get Bunnings to decant the appropriate pigments into a cup, which you dip into to mix a small quantity at home. You should be able to store the base long term if you fill the mostly full can with something like nitrogen to displace the oxygen.

cost wise, it's probably cheaper to buy 0.5 litre from Bunnings and throw 90% of it away than it is to buy the paint artists use.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ian

Hi Arron, my son and I talked about your need on today's drive into school.

The first question he asked was -- what are you trying to achieve?

His other comments were:
artists paints can be "thinned" with the appropriate medium and will usually stay true to the intended colour. For oil based paints artists typically use raw linseed oil as the medium, but as far as he knows you could also use BLO or an oil with metallic dryers.

there are tricks to using artists' paint -- one of which is using denatured alcohol as the medium.

artists often use a varnish to achieve the desired gloss level.

you should be able to get then outcome you want with a artists' acrylic.

in principle, you should be able to buy a litre of white base paint (or the appropriate base for the colour you want) and add the appropriate pigment yourself. i.e. get Bunnings to decant the appropriate pigments into a cup, which you dip into to mix a small quantity at home. You should be able to store the base long term if you fill the mostly full can with something like nitrogen to displace the oxygen.

cost wise, it's probably cheaper to buy 0.5 litre from Bunnings and throw 90% of it away than it is to buy the paint artists use.

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Part 1 of your response, about the artists paints, I’m going to leave alone for now.

Part 2 got me so excited I stopped what I was doing and immediately drove to Bunnings. And yep, I think it’s the solution. The Bunnings guy said they sell little pots of tint for $7.50. Either one colour tint or multiple in the same pot. All I would have to do is find a colour, look the formula up, drive to bunnies and get a little pot of the tints, then pull some white enamel from the useless paint-mountain in my garage, and carefully mix the right quantities of both. Total cost probably well under $8. Repurposed paint.

I will need a can of deep tone base too I expect. No problem.

Fortunately I can get all the formulas I need here The Flood Company Australia » D.I.Y. Paints » handycan. (See the sidebar on the right).

Thanks Ian, I think thats probably the best solution out there.

Typically, I have a vague recollection of seeing people buying little pots of tint at bunnies in the past, but it just didn’t click.

Cheers
Arron

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arron

Part 2 got me so excited I stopped what I was doing and immediately drove to Bunnings. And yep, I think it’s the solution. The Bunnings guy said they sell little pots of tint for $7.50. Either one colour tint or multiple in the same pot. All I would have to do is find a colour, look the formula up, drive to bunnies and get a little pot of the tints, then pull some white enamel from the useless paint-mountain in my garage, and carefully mix the right quantities of both. Total cost probably well under $8. Repurposed paint.

I will need a can of deep tone base too I expect. No problem.

Fortunately I can get all the formulas I need here The Flood Company Australia » D.I.Y. Paints » handycan. (See the sidebar on the right).

Thanks Ian, I think thats probably the best solution out there.

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glad Will and I could help

Thanks ian and Arron for the information about Bunnings selling tinters. I have a set of Universal Stainers ( the pure pigments used for tinting any type of paint, water-based or oil-based, which I brought from overseas, but couldn't find here.) I need to replace a couple so will check out Bunnings. They are great to use as the tiniest amount will colour a large amount of paint.