Each week when I share our Mixology Monday© recipe of the week, I have followed the same steps to formulate the recipe. First I gather my supplies: scale, container to mix in, CeCe Caldwell’s Natural Chalk + Clay Paints, spoons, stirring sticks and the stir stick that I paint the new color on. Nearby, I also have a paintbrush, scrap piece of paper, a marker and a pen.
When I write my recipes, I indicate how many parts of each color to use. For example, the recipe for Chalkhill is 6 parts Vintage White to 1 part New Buffalo. To mix the recipe, you will use 6 of your units of measure of Vintage White and 1 unit of measure of New Buffalo. You may ask what a unit of measure is. It can be anything you like: tablespoons, cups, yogurt containers, CC’s, ounces, grams… whatever. You can mix by weight or volume. I mix by weight, not volume. Either is fine, however they will produce slightly different results. That is okay! The important thing is if you want to replicate a color that you custom mixed that you know if it was by volume or weight. The density of each of color of paint is slightly different from the other 35 colors. I am sure we all remember our elementary math classes when they did the feather and rocks comparisons.
I channel my frugal mother when I am playing with mixes working on a new recipe. She was one of those who saved used aluminum foil, every plastic container, newspapers, the rubber bands from the newspaper…. I save cat food cans to mix in. I have a never-ending supply (since we have three felines! =^..^= ) and I have found they make a great vessel to mix small amounts in. I put the can on the scale and press the tare button (marked ZERO on my set of kitchen scales). That returns the displayed weight to zero, so the weight of the can is not included in the readout. I have gotten into the habit of using 5 grams as my unit of measure. If you are mixing by volume, you simply add your unit size to your mixing container. 
Each time I add 5 grams of paint to the can, I put a tick mark on the piece of scrap paper, beside the name of the color I added. I stir the colors to mix them into a new color. When doing this, you have to keep in mind that the dry color is different from the wet color. I continue adding to the mix until I get to a color I think I want. Then I smear a little on a craft stick and let it dry. If it is the color I am looking for, I then paint it on the paint stir stick. I add up the tick marks to find the ratio of units of measure. Once the paint on the front of stir stick is dry, I write the recipe on the back of stick.
There are times when I don’t have a clue to what color I want to mix. Such was the case when I developed Blue Ridge. All I knew was I wanted to use Smoky Mountain Gray. In those instances, I will use a piece of parchment paper and apply a thick smear of a paint color on it. Then I will use my finger to mix other colors into the smear. This blending process often produces a color that gives me direction.
I hope you enjoy mixing up new colors as much as I do. This evening, after my workday is complete, I plan to mix up a color to use to paint our master bathroom. I think I am going to start with Nantucket Spray, Chesapeake Blue and Destin Gulf Green. Do you have a project that you have mixed a custom color for? Have you developed your own signature color? If so, please share it with us on our Facebook page.
Peace,
CeCe