Mix Classic 1870’s Color Combinations
This guide below is reproduced from Dicks Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes by William B. Dick and is out of print.
We have found this chart useful as a guide in color mixing. Hopefully you will too.
Find out more about painting techniques with our painting resources section.
Color Mixing
In mixing different colored paints to produce a more desired tint, it is best to have the principal ingredient thick, and then add to it the other paints thinner.
The following table shows the combination of colors required to produce the listed tints. The first named color is the principal ingredient. The additional colors follow in order of their importance. Thus, in mixing a limestone tint; white is the principal ingredient and red is the color of which least is needed.
The exact proportions of each depend on the shade of color desired. Have fun experimenting and creating different shades of nontoxic baby safe wood paint, Real Milk Paint.
DESIRED TINT
Color Combination
BUFF
White, Yellow Ochre, Red
CHESTNUT
Red, Black, Yellow
CHOCOLATE
Raw Umber, Red, Black
CLARET
Red, Umber, Black
COPPER
Red, Yellow, and Black
DOVE
White, Vermilion, Blue, Yellow
DRAB
White, Yellow Ochre, Red, Black
FAWN
White, Yellow, Red
FLESH
White, Yellow Ochre, Vermilion*
FREESTONE
Red, Black, Yellow Ochre, White
FRENCH GRAY
White, Blue, Lake**
GRAY
White Lead, Black
GOLD
White, Stone Ochre, Red
GREEN BRONZE
Chrome Green, Black, Yellow
DO PEA
White, Chrome Green
LEMON
White, Chrome Yellow
LIMESTONE
White, Yellow Ochre, Black, Red
OLIVE
Yellow, Blue, Black, White
ORANGE
Yellow, Red
PEACH
White, Vermilion*
PEARL
White, Black, Blue
PINK
White, Vermilion*, Lake
PURPLE
Violet, with more Red and White
ROSE
White, Madder Lake***
SANDSTONE
White, Yellow Ochre, Black, Red
SNUFF
Yellow, Van Dyke Brown
VIOLET
* Use Bright Red
** Hard to say what this was as lake refers to natural dyestuff – probably a red color
*** Also known as Alizarin – source of the dye color Turkey Red