Theatrical Paint vs. Hardware store paint

[JChenault]

venuetech did a good job of explaining what the binder in latex is and what it does. Some additional things that the lack of binder in Scene paint does for us.

The reflective quality of scene paint is better than latex. This flatter look means that any imperfections in the surface do not show up as much. If you hinge two flats together and put a dutchman over them - with Latex you will usually see the hinges. With scene paint you will usually not see it.

Scene paint can be thinned down quite far and still be useful. You can get a very transparent look with scene paint. Not so with latex.

(as mentioned by venutech) Scene paint is more flexible that hardware store paint, so drops painted with hardware store will hold wrinkles, flake off, etc.

Scene paint is designed to be mixed in the shop, not in the hardware store. You have a set of colors that you combine to get the color you want. With Latex you go to the store, take a gallon or so of paint, and add a tinting agent to the base color.

The base color in latex is usually white. This makes it virtually impossible to get really deep intense colors.

Per gallon, Scene paint costs more for the amount of area you can cover. It is usually harder to get than Latex from the home depot.

(I've been waiting all week to be able to put my two cents in )

 

[gafftaper]

Finally back to my hint above about black paint from the hardware store turning blue. Scenic paint uses true pigments where hardware store uses a mix of pigments. If you buy black scenic paint it's going to be made from all black pigment. The hardware stores often cheat and use a lot of very dark blue both in the base and in the pigment. If you are buying at the hardware store ask them what the recipe is for the color you want to buy. The black may be 30 squirts of black or it may be 15 black and 15 blue. If all you want to do is use the base color then a little blue is no big deal. BUT if you want to mix in a little white be careful.

In general I use mostly hardware store paint. It's just so expensive to use the theater paint. I have a painter who donates his spare white-ish paint to me. I do buy the theater paint to tint my white paint whatever color I'm looking for. It generally works but you can still get into trouble with odd colors of pigment in the hardware store paint.

 

[Dover]

Most big box hardware stores sell a premixed flat black that is an actual black paint and will tint correctly. Often times they put it next to the primer, you just have to go look for it.

 

[WooferHound]

It's interesting that in the hardware store, if you want Black, they will mix Black into a White base.

 

[venuetech]

way back in high school we did not buy scenic paint in a can, we bought scenic pigment in 1lb paper bags. Then mixed this powered pigment into a thinned white glue. there was a hot plate/glue-pot there for working with casein (powdered) but we never used it. (it had a been well used in past years) We also used a lot of the "newer" water based paints that had recently come into common use.