Mixol Universal Tints, Black (01) 20ml

Last a long time, mix with almost any medium

I purchased these tints so that I could either adjust a color of wood stain or glaze for either woodworking with oil and water based products or for faux finishing on my walls. These are the most versatile tinting mediums because they can be mixed with either water based products or oil based ones. I like them for faux finishing on my walls since I like to mix my colors from scratch, but I also use them for adjusting a color or value of a premixed glaze or paint. I recently used them for wood finishing and found the tints great when I mixed them with an oil based stain to do the woodworking in my new home since many of the 25 doors and door frames were unfinished. I purchased a wood gel stain called Java from General Finishes and I mixed it with the color "black" from my Mixol tint set. It turned into a beautiful ebony color and I'm thrilled with the results. I even had to mix the colors in batches since I had to use several cans of stain, and the results looked perfect. I started with trying to calculate a ratio, but I realized that all I had to do was to compare the colors between one batch and another. I did the comparison on a white background so that I could see the true value. Q-tips on white paper are great for this job.The Mixol tints are considered to be the best in the world. They are made by a company in Germany so all the color names are written in German. They have a chart with English translations but I find I don't even use them since I use color recognition mostly when I tint colors. There are also a number of oxide colors which are so great to use since they use tones that are inherent to earth colors. I like doing Tuscan colors and these tints are perfect when you want to get a warm glow like "yellow ochre." I went to many classes years ago for faux finishing and my instructor used Mixol tints exclusively, mixing all her glazes from scratch. I never forgot that lesson and still practice those time worn lessons of success. You can find endless videos to learn how to begin.You cannot use these tints as stand-alone color mediums since they contain only pigment and no binders, but that is the beauty of them. There are other products like those made by "Golden" which sell the binders alone so that you can control the thickness, translucency, texture, sheen and open times of your paint or glaze. These are described as the most potent tints in the world so a little goes a long way, and they never dry out.If you are somewhat adventurous or creative, you will really enjoy using these tints. You can tint just about anything used in construction although it is almost unnecessary since there are already many premixed colors like grout, cement, etc. However, it is far more cost effective to mix your own. It is much cheaper to purchase a can of translucent glaze or wood stain which are void of color. I especially like to mix small batches when I want some randomness to my wall or wood piece (and I don't just use wood tone colors for my furniture!) I never paint a wall anymore using one color. My first coat is considered my base coat which I put on with a roller over the entire wall surface. After that I begin to layer color on using either a faux finishing brush, sponge, rag, etc. and may have on average, four different colors in varying intensity. This kind of faux finishing is what adds depth to a design and why our eyes find beauty in a painted work of art on canvas. When you look at a wall that is painted without a pattern, your eyes will always enjoy looking at that finished wall. Depending on your color choices, you can create a very restful or exhilarating space. Wallpaper companies get big bucks by selling you designs which mimic a faux finish. However, they cannot create a random pattern, and I find it unappealing to notice the short repeats.I am not a born artist. I just like color and enjoy working with my hands. So you don't need to be an expert to achieve pleasing results. Practice does make success though!

I bought some deeply discounted gallon cans of white paint. Needing black paint for our basement ceiling joists, I thought I had the great idea of self dying gallons of white paint with this. I was extremely naïve to the volume of dye needed. I am sure I was a google search away from reasonable expectations but alas I am only a man. Not sure how many of these you would need to get a gallon of white paint to a gallon of black paint, but one little bottle will get you from white to slightly grayer white.

This ink is the best, it dissolves well with any type of paint, you can make a tone from the lightest to the strongest, it is of excellent quality

Doesn’t mix with alcohol but good in water

Used this to tone down the red hue in a stain I purchased for fir doors. Did not blend well and absorbed unevenly into the wood causing a blotchy/ dirty look. (The same unadulterated stain worked great in comparison). Description indicated it would mix well, but sadly it looks terrible…pigment settled to bottom and suspended in oil-based stain despite extra mixing.

Just what I needed to darken tile red oil-based deck stain to color I wanted,

This comes with many concerning precautions, which includes cancer warnings when you are exposed to it over time.