Subscribe to
this blog

This is the first in a series of blog posts that will probably only be remotely related to color, so bear with me. I'm sure this is somewhat related to my reaction to the BP oil spill in the Gulf, and wanting to do something, anything, to be helpful to others. The reality that the Gulf is likely going to be dead for the extent of my lifetime has really put things in perspective. My altruistic roots run deep. I can't help but to seek the good in people, offer to help, and be willing to do the hard work when it's needed. Okay, so enough ranting for now...Onto the topic of my post for the day.

I regularly receive calls from customers looking for help in areas in which I'm not very skilled. Let's be honest - There's only so much information I can fit in my brain. I'd be doing a disservice to try to field all questions myself, especially if I know of someone who could be of better help. Sometimes, that person is here in our office, but not always. A recent question, for example, came from one of our applicators in Oregon. He wanted to know how I priced out stencils when I was working as an applicator (prior to my days at American Clay). With very little experience in that area, I referred him to a friend of mine in the decorative painting industry who's really savvy at marketing and business, AND she happens to be one of the best decorative painters around.

Depending on your question, don't be surprised if I encourage you to network with other applicators or experts in a related industry. It benefits all of us to help one another. Be proactive - Seek out professionals with skills in areas you want to know more about. I'm famous for calling strangers and asking for favors, and, you know what? They usually help me. Why? Because I'm genuinely interested in them as people, and I often return the favor in-kind. This has resulted in friendships and opportunities I'd have never had if I didn't just take the chance to reach out to someone for help. My best friend, Jim, marvels at how complete strangers are willing to give me just about anything I ask for. I've done it for years. I think it comes down to human nature. We want to be helpful to others.

If there's anything you need, even if it isn't directly related to American Clay, we'll do what we can to connect you with a resource  that might be useful. Just let us know how we can help.

I'm so psyched to write about this week's color. The request came from my friend, Betsy, on the east coast. When I mixed it, I was scratching my head trying to come up with a visual example that would demonstrate what this might look like in a space. Pretty quickly, I remembered that my friend Cindy, Eco-Broker extraordinaire from Richmond, VA, has a gorgeous, eclectic, mid-century modern, green home that would show off this color beautifully. You see, Cindy has a pink living room. Yes, pink! Not only that, but it was featured by Young House Love a ways back, so there are some great photos and commentary that help paint a full picture of just how creative Cindy was when it came to decorating her home.

Okay, so here's the color of the week - It combines one color pack of Sugarloaf White and one color pack of Sanibel Sunset into one 50-lb bag of American Clay plaster. I guess technically, it isn't a pink, more of a peach, but it dances in between these two colors a bit. I'll let you be the judge.

Thanks to not-so-great-lighting and my amateur photography skills, I'll provide a paint reference so you can better understand what this color really looks like. It's very close to Benjamin Moore's Apricot Beige 1205. I think Cindy's living room might be a bit more of a vivid, true pink, but I still think this is a great example of what one might expect if they used this color in a room.

Image credit: Young House Love

For the full post on Cindy's very cool house, drop in on Young House Love here. If you have some American Clay standard colors you'd like me to blend together, let me know! Hope you all have a great week!

Earlier this week I put out the word on Facebook that I wanted your input for my next blog post. I asked what 2 standard colors you'd like to see combined, and one of our east coast dealers responded right away. He's looking for ways to warm up Wild Horse Smoke, and he asked about possibly combining it with Sanibel Sunset. For those of you that have a gram scale and can weigh your pigments, I'd suggest adding a small amount of this (or any of our yellow or orange standard colors) to shift the blue undertone of Wild Horse Smoke to something warmer. Keep track of your quantities so that, in the event that you do use this color in an American Clay job, you can duplicate it later if the need arises.

For the purposes of this blog, though, I'm seeking ways to share colors that are easy to duplicate in the field without the use of a gram scale. The color featured in this blog entry was mixed using a 1-to-1 ratio (1 color pack of each per bucket of clay). If you would like a free sample tile of this color, please call or email me.

Sanibel Sunset is a tangerine-ish orange, and Wild Horse Smoke is a blue-toned gray. Together, they create a taupe that would coordinate beautifully with dark wood furniture, a bright white, and a punch of color (for an example, see my designer-friend Kelly Brown's office in this article. FYI - The Heather Heights paint color on the wall is a shade lighter than the tile below).

As seems to always be the case, this color may not be perfectly accurate on your computer screen, so for another reference, have a look at Sherwin-Williams 6045, Emerging Taupe. I love Sherwin-Williams' Color Visualizer. It makes my job so much easier...

If there's a combination of our standard hues that you'd like me to blend and feature on the blog, contact me at 866.404.1634, or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

...Is worth a pound of cure. Or so I hope.

In recent weeks, I've received a handful of calls and emails from people who were struggling to match the existing color of the American Clay on their walls. A typical scenario is: Customer didn't purchase enough material and had to buy extra that was from a different lot number to finish the job. This situation is frustrating for all of us here at American Clay. We want to ensure that finished walls look seamless, without color variation, but there are circumstances that make this difficult.

In this blog post, I'm going to offer a scenario that resulted in mismatched clay colors on the same wall, and I'll troubleshoot it in hopes that it may help prevent this problem for others in the future.

The above photograph was emailed to me from one of our clients in Iowa. The wall has been finished in Amber Grain Loma. The applicator ran out of material when she was nearing the end of the job, and she decided to purchase some 5-lb premixed sample bags to help her finish the job. As you can see from the photo, the colors don't match. I'll list out some potential reasons why the colors don't match, the ideas I suggested for fixing it, as well as how to prevent this from happening in the future.

POSSIBLE REASONS WHY THE COLORS DON'T MATCH

1. Shifts in mineral pigments - As I've described in previous posts, our natural mineral pigments change sometimes, which results in a necessary reformulation of some of our standard colors. We have years' worth of sample tiles that allow us to monitor shifts and changes in pigments. Most of the time, we can reformulate a color so that the difference is negligible. Occasionally, though, pigments change so noticeably that it can be quite difficult to match the formulas exactly. (This week, for instance, a reformulation of Bluefield has become a bit of a headache.)
2. Shifts in the color of the plaster - While we have some control over the color of our pigments, we do not have control over the color of the clay in our plasters. It's a natural material that does have shifts and changes that range from more white to more gray. This definitely affects the way your pigmented clay plaster will look on a wall.
3. Application method - I don't think it's the case in this example, but sometimes, when an applicator patches an area, the color will differ from the rest of the wall once it's dry. An area must be re-wet and re-worked in order to integrate the colors seamlessly. A good quality repair can be integrated using a barely, barely damp sponge (no water should be able to be squeezed from it) to buff the patch and the surrounding area.
4. (This is a combination of numbers 1 and 2.) Different lot numbers - By purchasing a small bag of premixed material separate from the rest of her American Clay supplies, I can almost guarantee that this clay plaster was manufactured at a different time than the material already on the walls. It is likely that both the pigment and the clay content in the plaster had experienced some sort of a shift.

WAYS TO FIX THE PROBLEM

1. Re-wet and Re-work - Before trying something more intensive, I'd suggest using a barely damp sponge to integrate these areas and allow to dry. Then look to see how different the two colors are.
2. Contact American Clay with your lot numbers - We keep samples from our quality control tests, and can compare your color lot numbers to determine the differences in the colors, and how best to get you matching material.
3. Skim coat the walls with another layer of clay - While this step is one we all hope to avoid, this will ensure an evenly colored wall. It will help to do a sample test first to ensure the material is the color you want.

HOW TO AVOID THE PROBLEM ALTOGETHER

1. Purchase materials marked with the same lot numbers - Because of the nature of our materials, shifts in color are normal and expected. My job is to minimize this drift to the best of my abilities. To prevent any problems, make sure that your materials were manufactured at the same time. If your dealer doesn't have enough material on-hand for this, they can order it from us, or...
2. Batch your materials together to ensure consistency - If you realize your materials reflect several different lot numbers, it's a good idea to mix them in larger quantities so that any color differentiation will be minimized (i.e. mixing 4 bags of clay and 4 bags of color together in one container versus mixing 1 bag of clay and color at a time). Where are lot numbers located on our packages? Look for the UPC bar code. It's near it, or often on the other side of the tag. See the photos below...
3. Prepare a sample of the material before you apply it to the wall - Sometimes, even with the best planning, you could end up needing to purchase extra material once the walls are nearly completed. Do yourself a huge favor and make a sample first, using the same methods as were used on the wall. Then compare it to your wall. If the samples match, it's safe to proceed. If they don't, call me and I'll walk you through how best to approach your next step.

I know this was a lengthy post. I appreciate you taking time to read it. I hope this information will prevent some headaches in the future!