But with that said, we have had a really good time, my trainee Bob is really catching on like a natural. Like I’ve said before he’s not afraid to ask questions which is great and has even given me some great ideas in some of my repairs. It’s actually been nice having someone there to talk with and swap ideas considering I’ve always been by myself.

Today I gave him a little more hands on training. The first few days I wanted to make sure he knew what products worked where and what they all did. I also have been working with him on color matching, which is one of the biggest priorities in this business. Even if your repair looks good, if your color doesn’t match then the whole job looks bad. I had him mixing colors today and even applying the dyes. He’s still pretty green with the paint gun, but this is something that definitely takes a lot of practice, I stress to him on almost every job about “gun control”. What I mean by this is knowing how to apply the dye to the exact area your wanting to without getting the dye all over the car or on pieces that don’t need to be dyed.

We’ve also had some really good examples the past 2 days of substandard work. Yesterday we had a cigarette burn in a Dodge Neon that had been done by someone else and it was a burn hole all the way through the fabric into the foam. The burn hole was filled with glue and then flock was applied over, but what was wrong with this is the glue had settled and basically what was left was a colored crater. What should have been done instead was the hole should had been filled first with batting then the glue and then the flock. What the batting helps to do is to keep the repair flush with no settling, which is what you want.

The next vehicle was a Chevy Impala. Now this one really surprised me, not really sure what this person was thinking when they did this repair, but I guess it’s either the wrong kind of training or someone trying to make a quick buck. This one had scratches in both the lean back and the lean back bolster and they had filled the scratches with what had looked like a water based filler then applied a solvent based paint over the top, which not only didn’t match, but the solvent based paint had reacted to with the water based filler and spider cracked all over. It took me longer to remove the gooped up gobbed up mess then it would have taken me to do it in the first place. Once I got the stuff off I was able to see what they were trying to repair and it really surprised me that they hadn’t even tried to sand the scratches out but instead just filled over them. Which had probably been another reason for the spider web looking cracks, just way to much compound. All this person had to do was to sand the scratches out as much as they could and fill with minimal amount of filler then dye with a water based leather dye, not a solvent based, this would have made their repair look, feel, and last a whole lot longer. But that’s what happens in this industry more then not… pretty sad

Well tomorrow is gonna be another busy day of repairs, we have 4 different lots to go to and I’m really looking forward to showing him more ways to make these car’s look like new with guaranteed repairs.

If your looking to either better yourself in this industry or would like to learn the craft of Automotive Interior Restoration from a professional with over a decade of experience then don’t hesitate to contact me, I would love to have you as my trainee.

Lately I’ve been getting calls and emails from people wanting to know how to mix a color, what colors do what, and what colors they need to have with them.

As far as color matching, I match all my dyes by eye, meaning I use no formula, no mixing chart, just knowledge of colors and what they can do. So if your looking for a formula for how I mix my colors your looking in the wrong place.

What I’m going to do is give you the basics of colors and what colors will do when mixed together. The rest is up to you to learn and take mental note of how to achieve the color your looking for. I learned something from an Art teacher of mine in High School, she said that art is a learned behavior, yes one has to have talent, but the techniques of painting, drawing, and color mixing are learned. If you were to stop drawing at say 12 years old and never picked up a pencil to draw again until you were 30, you would draw like a 12 year old, it’s a learned behavior.

So with that said, lets get onto some learning…

Primary Colors

There are 3 colors that are the Primary Colors, Red, Blue, and Yellow and all colors vary from just these 3 colors in either hues or shade. A hue is a variance in any one color and a shade is the intensity of a color.

Secondary Colors

These are colors that come from mixing 2 primary colors together. For example if you mix Red + Blue = Purple, Yellow + Blue = Green, Red + Yellow = Orange. So Purple, Green, and Orange are your secondary colors.

Complementary Colors

This is something I use a lot when mixing my colors. The reason for this is if I go to far with one color I use it’s compliment to counteract or cancel out that color. If you don’t have a color wheel then here’s a great tool that will help, it’s called the “Color Triangle” . Draw a triangle, put one of each of the primary colors at the corners and one of each of the secondary colors on each side in mixing order. Now with the colors in place pick a color… lets say Red, when you look directly across the triangle what do you see, Green, that’s Red’s complimentary color, same goes for a color wheel. They call it a compliment because when you put the two together they make the other seem more intense or vibrant. When a color your mixing is lets say too yellow, add it’s compliment which is purple to cancel the yellow out.

Tertiary Colors

Tertiary Colors are your browns and grays. These are the colors that we deal with mostly in today’s vehicles. They’re created by mixing either all three primary colors or a primary and secondary color (secondary colors of course being made from two primaries). By varying the proportions of the colors you’re mixing, you create the different tertiary colors.

Black and White

Black and white are colors you would think would be part of the primary colors or even the secondary colors but they leave them out due to the fact that you they can’t be mixed by using the other colors. Most artist’s don’t even use black or white but in the automotive world it’s used more then none. When adding white you will loose intensity in the color and when adding black the color will mud. I do use a lot of white and black to lighten or darken a colors but I will have to add a little more color for intensity, if not the color will have a milky look to it. I call this “milking the color”. You’ll notice this in your tans mostly, you’ll get the shade right but the color has a white look to it, if you add little more color to it you should keep the shade but loose the milky look.

We have an unlimited pallet of colors to choose from, yes you could sit down with the 3 primary colors with black and white and get the colors you desire, but we have choices of pre-mixed colors that will get you there a little quicker. Here’s an example of some of the colors I carry on board with me that I use to mix the automotive interior colors. You’ll notice I use a red and a yellow oxide, these are hues of yellow and red with a brown shade added. Most of the colors used in today’s auto’s are a hues and shades of brown, even your gray’s.

Main Colors -

• Black
• White
• Dark Brown
• Yellow Oxide
• Red Oxide

3 Primary Colors -

• Red
• Blue
• Yellow

Secondary Color -

• Green
• Violet

Metallics

• Silver
• Gold

Now I don’t usually carry an orange, the reason for this is that almost every color I am mixing is a shade of brown or gray which IS a hue of orange and the yellow and red oxides work better for this.

One hint on mixing your leather dyes. Keep a selection of pigments to go along with your premixed dyes. I mix all my dyes in two ounce jars, which is plenty of dye for just about any job your doing. I’ll mix about 1 and 3/4 of an ounce of my premixed dyes and get the color as close as I can get it, then to finalize the color off I’ll use my pigments to get me there quicker. You kinda have to experiment a little with this, the pigments will get you there really quick so very small amounts. I use this when I get a color say a little dark and I’m running out of room in the jar, I’ll grab the white pigment to lighten it up or a color pigment to intensify the color instead of using my premixed which could cause me to have to mix more then I would need. Theres no need to waste dye, dye is money.

By the way, I have some people asking about keeping your dyes and some that have said they just dump the excess when their done. I keep all my dyes and use them over and over. I do this by not mixing to many different colors, what I mean by this is I will have around 10 jars of grays and 10 jars of browns with a few reds and blues and just tweek them for each individual job. I also use a crosslinker which enables me to keep my dyes up to six weeks before they start to gel up, which by that time I’ve already used it on something else by just tinting it to match. Why throw away usable dye, that’s money your pouring down the drain!

Color matching is something you just have to play with. Start with your basics like is it dark or light? If its dark start with a dark brown or a black, if it’s a light color then start with white or the lighter color in the mix as your main color and tint from there. Your blues and reds you’ll start with the primary color and tint from there by adding in small amounts, and I do mean small, it doesn’t take much to make red into pink.

One thing you might try is to go to your nearest upholstery shop and get some scrap peices of the most recent colors and take them home and just sit down and mix. Just play with the colors and see what they do. Remember its a learned behavior and you have to learn what each color will do before you can mix your colors to match.

Well guys I hope this answered some of your questions on mixing your colors to match. It’s something that takes practice, patience, and knowledge just like anything in the automotive interior repair business. I gave you some knowledge so let’s give it some practice and be patient, it took me some time to pick it up too.

Talk to you soon,

Mike “TIG”

p.s. don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter!

Good lighting does help and pretty much a necessity. Natural lighting is better but in the garages we get stuck in the winter months it doesn’t help much, but what do you do, you improvise as my wife says. I use a dent light, which works pretty good, but I have also have used a under the hood light bar then hooking inside the car that stretches the width of the car and hooks on the door jams, they work great. Shorter light bars are great for light in a small places. Be careful with using florescence they sometimes throw your tinting off, if you can get some natural light to your project then great. The customer sees the the car in natural light mostly anyways so your color needs to be spot on.

Test a spot with a dab of leather dye on your finger, wipe a spot in the area to be repaired, dry it, and if it disappears, bingo. Otherwise tint it.

Most of the colors we encounter in todays cars are tans, grays, blacks of course, some blues, burgundy, not many reds, but I have seen on Mustangs red bolsters, whites in some, and in the custom world, Wow look out. A lot of tricks I would love to learn in doing real custom work like custom airbrushing in the interiors of vehicles, anyways..

The colors I use the most in my leather repair dyes are Black, White, Yellow oxide, Red oxide, and Brown. I also use on occasion Green, Blue, and Purple, rarely Yellow and Red, Silver and Gold for metallics with Pearl white to offset the side tones, and growing everyday, with the growing automotive industry. Colors and more colors, fun, fun, fun…

Of course white and black make gray, and brown and white make tan, so, add a little black to go grayer with tan or darker with both, white to lighten, yellow oxide or red oxide to richen the color or to give the yellow or red tints you see in todays autos, brown works good sometimes but the browns seem to be on the red side, if it’s too red add green to tone it down. BMWs have a blueish tint to their dyes add a little blue or purple to the grays, Dodge add a little red oxide to the dye to give a reddish tone, Infinity’s light tan has just a hint of green to it, Chevy’s have a little bit more of a yellow-brown look to them in the darker dashes adding a little yellow oxide gives you that tone. Ford has a pretty true grey with a little yellow oxide though in some cases even add a little brown, this is for both the dark and light. Ford trucks tan has kinda a pink look to it, in some older models, add red oxide but they do have a lot of yellow to them too. Cadillac is pretty easy white and brown with a hint of yellow oxide and a bit if black, just a little though. With black tone it down for a duller look with a little bit of white, add your duller and you have flat black sometimes a little brown too for and older Dodge steering wheel but eliminate the duller save that for like BMW dash pieces. Dodge light gray seats add a little purple. Whew..that wore me out. You get the picture I hope, colors are just one of those things either you get it or you don’t.

Just test each time you add a color and look at it and see what color it’s missing. I use my pigments sometimes to get there a little faster. If it looks like it needs a color…add it a little at a time and dab another spot, dry it, then check again. You want it to disappear. If it does then your ready to go. Add your flex, cross-linker, strain your paint with a paper paint strainer into the cup and spray away with your leather dyes on you leather repair. If I left something out and your having problems with a color let me know maybe I can help you figure it out.

I’ve never really sat down and counted the amount of cars that I have done in my 10 years in the automotive reconditioning business so theres been a lot of colors fly in front of my face, the only one that has ever kicked my butt was teal, wow I spent all day when I first started on a boat seat that was teal, holy crap, that was back when I used the lacquer based systems, bad move, I had to give up. With the water based it is so much better. I found with the water based mix that green, blue and a touch of white, I got it, I think I added a little yellow too, I try not to do to many teals, that color and me just don’t get along.

Thats kinda the way I look at it when I go to mixing colors, which I do all by eye, God help me if I go color blind. I just look at the work and see the colors. It’s pretty cool. Each and every car is different no matter if they are the same identical vehicles, each one as been exposed to completely different elements. Every color is different I promise you, premixed dyes are fine to get you there quicker, but check a spot first before you go hog wild and just start dyeing. So tint your dyes, tweak them until they disappear. The color wheel does help, I find myself every once in a while having a brain fart and can’t get a color right so I pull out the old stand by, if it’s the color your trying to get rid of use it’s opposite to get rid of it. Look on the wheel and the color on the opposite side of the wheel, thats it’s opposite. I know that’s not the correct word for that but it sounds good. But I never start my repair until my color matching is right. If you don’t think you can match it, don’t do it. The customer will respect you more for your honesty. If your color doesn’t match then the ending result won’t be perfect, and that’s what the customer wants is perfection in leather repair, or any repair…Right.

Make sure to apply your conditioner after your repair is done on your leather repairs. It will make your ending result look and feel better. Top coat all your repairs with a clear topcoat, it only adds more resistance to the wear and tear and abuse that the vehicles will encounter instead of just the dye.

If you have anything to add to this article I would love to hear from you, these tips can be used with all your color matching needs not just dyeing leather. So please jump on board and lets help all the techs out there and lend a helping hand so that we can ALL get one more step closer to perfection in our leather and vinyl repairs, plastic repairs, velour repairs, and carpet dyeing.