Is there a site that has a color chart for resin tints? I can sample or come up with any color with Photoshop or Painter 8, and can get RGB percent numbers on colors and even the color “numbers” but what I want to know is if there is a site that has a tint wheel that deals specifically with resins. Also, best way to deal with this issue for a conveying specific colors to a laminator? Cheers! Birdie
good question. I have not seen one. I use a trusty old color wheel to help with mixing colors! The best way to convey a color to a lamainator is o be as specific as possible. First off do you want an opaque tint or a transparent tint? Opaques are easier to get a specific color so you can pretty much bring in a color chip from a paint store and pray that they will try to get as close as possible. Tranaparent tints are a differnet beast., You are dealing not only with color but also with transluceny. Just using the same color, you have a full variety of hues avalable to you hen you factor in the traslucency. You could have a tranparent blue that is lighter or depending on how much tint you add to the resin, it could come out being darker. Best bet is to meet face to face with examples of what you want and reach an understanding with the laminator about the specifics Drew
I’m actually going through this right now as I’m getting a custom board glassed. The one thing to keep in mind is that pigments are inconsistent by nature. They are made using raw elements and can sometimes vary from batch to batch. What I would do is experiment with paints. Find a paint color that resembles the tint colors after they are mixed in resin and work in percentages. Color is all about ratios and it’s an additive process that is irreversible. If you are doing the glassing yourself, experiement like crazy and keep track of how you do things. For my painting and what not I keep a sketch book of color swatches and how I mixed them. For resin you could do the same thing. You could also go to the glassing factory and try and find boards there or in past photographs that have the colors you are looking for. If you can find something there in the tone and/or shade in which you are looking, it will be a bit easier. Photoshop helps, but it’s a different color creation process as real world color mixing doesn’t really work with RGB, RGB is an additive process specific to the digital medium. If anything, pick up a pantone swatch book on process color that provides you with percentage values for CMYK. Again though, different animal but more standard in the printing industry.
Here is a color chart that might be helpful. It isn’t a pigment chart - just colors. A problem many have is interpretation of a specific color requested like “turquoise blue” - everybody has a different take on that one. Maybe better to be able to point to a color chip and indicate, “something like THIS.” Using a few pigments (i.e. red, yellow, blue, white and black) and mixing combinations, you should be able to come up with something very close to any of the chips. 
Might be a screwball idea, but… Go to your local hardware store- the one that will do custom blended paint colors. They have tint base, clear base and so on; find a color on their color cards that you like . Get a batch of pigments mixed in the same ratios that that color you like has - it’l be on the card someplace. Mix a little of it with catalysed resin, laminate a little scrap cloth and see how it looks when it’s dried. Adjust as desired. While I haven’t done this mix/blend thing, as I generally use straight pigments with resin when doing repairs, I do know that the hardware store paint pigments work very well indeed with epoxy or polyester resins. I’ve been using them for years for repairs and such. And usually it costs no more than a sixpack to the hardware store guy. worth a try doc…
Ooo, that was loads of help, thanks everyone… I am having a multi-color tigerstripe done on a kneeboard, all translucent hues… The chart really helped as it has the same numbers I am working with, but I can point out a variable - darker to lighter or green to more blue and what the boundries are or 2nd choices with the chart, as it shows the shades closest to the desired colour…and as tints can go as tints can go, this is a good thing… The most help of all is that I am having it done with my fave colors of the year. You know, in so cal, when you are sitting out there in the autumn, and a fire breaks out in malibu, simi valley, san diego, etc…as the sun goes down, the water turns indigo and brilliant burnt orange, a deep slightly purple red, and you turn and the smoke lifts for a spell and you see bright new green on the hill and the sun shines yellow for a wee bit, before the smoke comes back… So, it’s all indigo, burnt orange, red, fresh green grass green, and a little yellow…with some skinny black lines …tigerstriped…It’s… The Verdant Autumn Quest (Dean Cleary “Quest” quad kneeboard)…saturated hues… Anyone who has been out on the water in the autumn with fires around knows exactly the magic color spell it casts…and you can’t beat fresh green grass for a color description! Oh, and I found out today that the new Speeedfin Carbon Fiber Fins will be available in 3 weeks! I’m getting them! Cheers Birdie
just mix mix mix and you will get it. mix slowly however and always go from lighter to darker. resin tints are fun. http://members.cox.net/austinsurfboards/redmarble.html