Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive

by Ron Joseph

April, 2004

Waterbase Emulsion Paint

Q. have stopped using Createx Airbrush Paints and have been airbrushing with Latex Emulsion Paint that I buy from the local hardware store. It is cheaper, and I have personally found no difference. Is there anything such as coarse paint pigments and fine paint pigments? Everybody who sells paint for airbrushing would boast about their brand being made from the finest paint pigment.

A. All paint pigments have what is called a particle size. Latex wall paint consists of coarse, large particle sized pigments in the range of 20 to 30 microns. An automotive paint has very fine, small particles from 2 microns to 10 microns in size.

The difference is the gloss of the paint, latex wall paint is very flat with <10% sheen. Automotive paint is high gloss with a >95% sheen. Another measure is the cost of processing, latex wall paint is mixed with high speed mixers. A rule of thumb for wall paint is 90% mixing and 10% pigment dispersion. Automotive paint is the opposite; 10% mixing and 90% dispersion.

Pigment dispersion is costly and time consuming. It takes considerable energy and is accomplished in much smaller batch sizes volume than wall paint that is mixed in 2,000 gallons and 3,000 gallons batches. Low gloss and flat paint use coarse particles, high gloss paint requires very fine pigment particles.

Low gloss and flat paint use coarse particles, high gloss paint requires very fine pigment particles.