Mixing Green, Orange and Purple from Primary Polymer Clay Colors
When you experiment with color blends, you quickly find that large amounts of yellow are needed to produce lighter colors in the secondary range.
Secondary colors are mixed from any two of the three primary colors. As in the rest of these color blend samples I am using Premo! polymer clay in Cadmium Red, Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow to mix the colors in the photographs. You can use any three primary colors from a different clay to create similar blends.
Basic Orange The top line of blends in the photo shows shades of orange. The first blend shows the true secondary orange mixed from equal amounts of cadmium red and zinc yellow.
This is a very dark orange, in fact in some lights it looks red (until you try to mix it with blue and get brown instead of purple!) A pure secondary orange looks more like a shade of red than orange if you are planning on using it for miniatures.
Obvious Orange A far more obviously orange shade occurs when you mix two equal amounts of yellow with one amount of red. This produces a color which we easily recognise as orange. To make an orange peel color, in many clays you need to add a further equal amount of orange (1 part red to three parts yellow).
Dark Green Dark green is the secondary color that comes from equal amounts of cobalt blue and zinc yellow. The dark green shown in the center of the photo comes from mixing the equal amounts of blue and yellow shown to one side of it. This is a very dark forest green. To be useful for making plant leaves or vegetables it will need more yellow added to it.
Dark Leaf Green Mixing a second amount of yellow to the dark green will produce a dark leaf green.
From your original primary colors this mix is one part cobalt blue to two parts of zinc yellow.
Purple, Violet and Magenta Purple is made by mixing one part Cobalt Blue to an equal part of Cadmium Red. This produces a very dark, almost brown, shade of purple. This is a useful color if you add white or translucent to turn it into a purple tint, something where the purple color becomes more visible than in its very dark secondary form. In the photo above, adding equal amounts of red and blue results in the dark purple directly beside the blue sample.
Violet Violet is one part blue added to basic purple. From the basic colors mix two parts blue to one part red. It is the color beside the basic purple.
Magenta is a purple with extra red added to it. If you add an extra amount of red to your basic purple you will get the first grade of magenta, which is shown in the photo on the far right of the three purples. This color is made of two parts red to one part blue.
Secondary colors are mixed from any two of the three primary colors. As in the rest of these color blend samples I am using Premo! polymer clay in Cadmium Red, Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow to mix the colors in the photographs. You can use any three primary colors from a different clay to create similar blends.
Basic Orange The top line of blends in the photo shows shades of orange. The first blend shows the true secondary orange mixed from equal amounts of cadmium red and zinc yellow.
This is a very dark orange, in fact in some lights it looks red (until you try to mix it with blue and get brown instead of purple!) A pure secondary orange looks more like a shade of red than orange if you are planning on using it for miniatures.
Obvious Orange A far more obviously orange shade occurs when you mix two equal amounts of yellow with one amount of red. This produces a color which we easily recognise as orange. To make an orange peel color, in many clays you need to add a further equal amount of orange (1 part red to three parts yellow).
Dark Green Dark green is the secondary color that comes from equal amounts of cobalt blue and zinc yellow. The dark green shown in the center of the photo comes from mixing the equal amounts of blue and yellow shown to one side of it. This is a very dark forest green. To be useful for making plant leaves or vegetables it will need more yellow added to it.
Dark Leaf Green Mixing a second amount of yellow to the dark green will produce a dark leaf green.
From your original primary colors this mix is one part cobalt blue to two parts of zinc yellow.
Purple, Violet and Magenta Purple is made by mixing one part Cobalt Blue to an equal part of Cadmium Red. This produces a very dark, almost brown, shade of purple. This is a useful color if you add white or translucent to turn it into a purple tint, something where the purple color becomes more visible than in its very dark secondary form. In the photo above, adding equal amounts of red and blue results in the dark purple directly beside the blue sample.
Violet Violet is one part blue added to basic purple. From the basic colors mix two parts blue to one part red. It is the color beside the basic purple.
Magenta is a purple with extra red added to it. If you add an extra amount of red to your basic purple you will get the first grade of magenta, which is shown in the photo on the far right of the three purples. This color is made of two parts red to one part blue.
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