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I enjoy painting all sorts but find oil based exterior wood paints such as white gloss either hard to find in a colour I want, or else it's rather expensive.
I often buy tins of white at the car boot sales for a pound or two and thought about adding dyes/pigments etc to get the colours I want ..often yellows and turquoises but am unsure what to use.
I have googled it but not found no definitive info so does anyone know where and what to source ..what works well etc.
I had thought about buying tubes of artists oil paints and adding them but unsure if it's all compatible.
Thanks in advance.
The white pigment itself is titanium dioxide, I think if you added other pigments to it you'd just get lighter colours (pink rather than red, sky blue rather than navy etc).
Think the OP wants to know where to get such pigments. Good question though, I dunno, what do they use to tint the paint at the paint shop with the the big vibrating machine? You could get a few small pots of coloured gloss; a black, blue, red etc. Then get mixing, What are you painting?
I used to mix paint at my old job, all I will say is there are a lot of different colours in a 'nice' colour, and when customers asked us to 'put a bit more blue/red/green/whatever in' it almost always reverted to a sludgy beige!
Good luck 🙂
Tinas makes a good point. Starting with white you will be very limited. There are different base colours depending on the end colour requirement. Often a deep, medium and light. Sometimes a yellow.
The colourants are predispersed pigments so contain resin/carrier, solvent, dispersants and other additives. The base paints compensate for this so the overall final mixed formulation works. With a 1k gloss you aren't likely to have problems with drying but you may see problems with sagging/runs and film build if you mix your own the way you describe.
You need to use a predispersed readily mixed liquid. You'll not manage to get the sheer to disperse a powder properly.
You might be able to find tint, colourants etc. On Google. Stuff for mixing into epoxies and the like. The other option would be to find a similar dark paint colour if you wanted to go lighter. As long as it's the same type it should work. I'll dare say that as long as it's solvent/solvent it will work at the level you are looking at.
I don't have a source. I honestly can't remember the suppliers I used to work with. But I'd search for pre-dispersed colourants, tinting systems, colour concentrates, stainers and similar.
hat do they use to tint the paint at the paint shop with the the big vibrating machine?
Theres  probably nothing worth knowing that Smith and Rodger don't know about paint - they can sell you the tints that paint mixing machines use. I've not used it myself but the film and theatre scenics I work with buy the tints from them (although their work will all be water or spirt/shallac based paints. I can't remember exactly what they use but its probably something on this page  - if you gave them a call they're very helpful I'm sure they'd point you in the right direction.
As above its worth noting that when paint is being mixed like that the start point isn't necessarily 'white' - the base paint paint shops mix with might look white but it won't have a great deal of white pigment in it, so adding tints to white paint rather than 'base' will probably result in pastel-y colours. Paint shops use different bases for darker and lighter colours.
EDIT - typed while Jonba was typing faster and with greater eloquence
Mixol.
https://www.mixol.com/products-overview/74.html
Its cheap in small quantities which is good to try out for small projects, but it is a professional product.
I've used it for tinting french polish from transparent to full blooded red. I originally bought it from Smith and Rodger. I'm not sure if they do the small 20ml size though, I think its only 200ml's from them. But probably the same product maccruiskeen is referring to.
But also available on ebay in 20ml size.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313&_nkw=mixol&_sacat=0
Mix well, a little goes a very very long way. Measure it out using a syringe. Possibly a bit advanced stuff, but if you follow the instructions and do some research on you tube you should get the effects you want, and you can always experiment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBjV13iaIP4
Even making white paint the right colour is hard, and consistent and well mixed coloured paints is a dark art.
Even for simple titanium dioxide white, there are dozens of different grades of both anatase and rutile TiO2 pigment, which can have visibly different "whiteness" as well as the other properties that matter such as opacity. The grades vary in the molecular level, particle size and surface coating. In addition to affecting the colour the particle and coatings affect the reactivity / durability.
You also get different white pigments which are used in coloured paints, such ass barium sulphate / zinc sulphide. From memory most coloured paints have a decent chunk of TiO2 or anther white (even the dark colours) as it's needed to give the right opacity.
I think you could almost certainly make a pot up of a colour you like but what you won't know is the coverage, opacity and durability particularly in outdoor conditions. Artist oil paints are astronomically expensive for the quantities you need as the pigments are specially manufactured for that application. It'd be like using finest furniture grade hardwood to mend a fence.
Basically, have a bash but don't expect good, consistent or cheap results.
I thought you always went for rutile in a finish as it was more UV stable. Barium sulphate was typically a filler. It didn't add whiteness but did improve opacity.
But I agree it is complex. Many of the other materials in paint lend it to being off-white and it is a challenge to get it pure white. The grind can have an effect too. Colour is very complex.
Tom, do you work in coatings?