I've been very happy with Brightsides, but I understand the color choice issue. I've not used Wet Edge. Here are some reviews of the product  https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=64351#MyReviewHeader .

Cheers,

Dick

BTW: Rge right mix of Brightsides Largo Blue and White should get you pretty close to French Blue. I had pretty good luck lightening a gray with white on the interior of my boat.

+1 for Dick's suggestion of mixing colors to get a custom one. I did that for the interior of my Brand X sailing dinghy with S3 paint and it turned out great. I mixed small amounts in carefully measured proportions and painted scrap wood with the results until I got the color I wanted. Just be sure to write down the proportions that you use for future touch-ups.

Good luck,

Laszlo 

   Thanks to all for the replies. I was hesitant to try my hand ( and eye ) at mixing but I like your suggestions so perhaps its time to learn a new skill, especially as I know what to expect from brightside. And I really can't find my 'french blue' in any of the usual marine topside suspects.

Dick - do you by chance have any photos of your 'french blue' mix results? And about what sort of ratio of white to Key largo? I rather like this blue here:

   and here:

Petersont,

I did not mix a French Blue, I mixed a light gray for the interior of my Peeler skiff (see below). Gray is not very exciting. Lazlo, in a previous response, describes thr process.

Cheers,

Dick

Dick -

OK, got it thanks. I posted the boat pictures just to show what I had in mind when I said 'french blue', as surely there are more than a few shades that come may come to mind...

Anyway, not knowing a thing about color mixing, I'll ask again to double check before I order: after seeing the blue color I posted above, do you still think that Largo Blue is the best blue to start with? And you mean the regular Brightside white, right? 

Thanks again for all the advice - Peter

Peter,

That blue lloks like a mix of blue and gray on my uncalibrated monitor. Looks to me that it'd be doable with medium blue, white and black. Keep in mind that not only is my monitor uncalibrated, but that your photos were taken on an overcast day, do I'm NOT guaranteeing anything.

The proportions are something you'll have to figure out on your own, but that's part of the fun.

Laszlo

   Thanks Lazlo

   I had a thought -- that's what that burning smell is -- that one might cozy up to a paint counter person at Lowe's or a local hardware store, give them a quart of basic white, and have them use their tint-o-magic color dispenser robot to produce the color one wanted on a reproduceable basis.  Question arises are the tints used in "house paint" compatible with the various marine paints mentioned above? I bet they are but I don't really know.

Just an idea, worth exactly what it costs....

DGates  - its a great idea but I did a search previously and the few hits I got - most of them referring back to Interlux itself - spoke against the idea. But then again Interlux plays it very straight and narrow - their thinner, their this & that only - but it might be just fine. I'll post some more queries and follow up back here -

cheers

Petersont,

Personally, I'd buy a quart of White and a quart of Largo Blue and experiment starting with 50ml of the blue in a container. Add 5ml of white at a time, carefully recording the ratio and mixing well. When the color looks about right to you, paint a scrap piece of wood with it and let it dry. If it looks good, you're done and now know the proper ratio to mix. If not, repeat the process with more or less white until you get a mix you like. Keep in mind that you might want to use start with Ocean Blue rather that Largo Blue and Seattle or Dusk Gray instead of White. You'll need to pick a starting point based upon what's closest to your wishes. Here are the Brightsides choices.

There is no perfect way to get to your objective. It's all trial and error with a bit of guesswork. Starting with 2 quarts (a light and a dark) will keep the cost of the experiment down.

Cheers,

Dick

Coming from a background where color management / reproduction earned me a good living, this thread caught my interest.

(That my Waterlust Canoe kit shipped last Friday adds a bit of spice as well!)

Dick's Interlux link is very helpful if next you take a look at this one giving a nice description of just what French Blue actually looks like!

Keep in mind too that blue - in all its subtleties - is probably the hardest color range in which to get an exact match for. And that the light you use to do your comparisons under is as important as what your choices are for colors to begin blending!

Standard practice is to start with a base color closest to the value (shade of grey) as the color you wish to match, then add darker pigment(s) to alter the hue. Looking at both of those web pages side-by-side on my monitor, were I taking on this endeavor I'd start with #4353 Medium Blue (already pretty darn close!) then add very small amounts of #4100 Largio Blue to bring the value down a little. Adding grey instead would reduce the saturation (color intensity) and black is too hard to control given the minor value shift needed.

I constructed this from screen-grabs off the websites those links are for; French Blue overlaps the left & center swatches.

The blue at far right is what CLC uses to the left of this forum window; it's pretty close too but less saturated than the others.

Let's try that image again:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6oZKv_ATziRZFZBM1dZRm1Jekk/view?usp=sharing

Guys,

I would caution you that we are not adding pigment to a base, We are mixing two (or more) colors of paint together. It's not the same thing. The pigment in each is already mixed with a base.

Cheers,

Dick

Dick's correct there, I used the word <pigment>  perhaps not best suited to my meaning. (Another instance where I wish this forum permitted one to edit one's posts!) Pigment in the literal sense are the color-bearing elements exclusive of other chemicals that make up ready-to-use paints.

We're not using tinting colorants here (pigments + vehicles in which they're suspended) as is done in commercial color-mixing operations at big box & paint or hardware stores, we're discussing selecting an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use retail product line then mixing one or more avialable colors together to achieve something 'in-between".

I e-mailed Interlux earlier this afternoon to see if their color gurus might have a suggestion for which of their Brightsides colors, in what proportions, might be best selected to make up a French Blue as described by that website I gave a lnk to. If I get a reply I'll post it here.

   Thanks again to all - above and beyond, very much appreciated.

A while ago I did some due diligence by trying to find real world examples of the Interlux blues actually painted on something. So while the largo blue paint card initially attracted me as 'pretty close', when I saw pics of them on boats I was surprised by how far off the colors were from what I am looking for.

For example, here are a couple of photos of boats stating they used Interlux Brightside Largo Blue: 

Maybe its the high gloss or the lighting, maybe its just me  but these boats above do not look like the Largo Blue paint card to me at all.

And here's one of Interlux Brightside Medium Blue, closer to the paint card imo but still not it: 

All of this is to say I am totally lost here as to how or why the paint cards seem so different to my eyes. Am I alone here? Is it just a matter of a flatter color?

Petersont I can only add that what you're experiencing is a common frustration when dealing with color: what you think you see is a result of many factors you may or may not be aware of, much less able to control.

Those two boats' blues appear to me to be different in the same way the relevant color chips appear on my monitor. Whether the boats 'in reality' do for you is another case entirely. Given different settings with different lighting I can guarantee you'd probably see them differently too! (There's a word for this: metamerism.)

If your heart's set on something you call French Blue, buy a couple quarts of Brightside paint & a measuring spoon set and get to it making up small samples to test view until either you're satisfied or grow tired of the effort.

Keep good notes, view your samples under various kinds of light outdoors, find some pleasure in your efforts to realize your ultimate goal.

Got a call back from Interlux today!!!

All the fellow could tell me is that at the present time they don't offer custom color formulas for Brightsides users looking for colors in-between their current line.

They DO however have plans to do exactly that but as for just when? No answer to that.

Feel free to call if you wish: +1 (631) 655-9901; the guy who called name's Glenn.

   Thanks SP, wish I could wait but...  Someone just  mentioned that Kirby's Paints glad to do custom colors. Never used them but they have a one part that seems to have a lot of fans. I'll drop them a line with some color samples and see what they say. They also offer a lower gloss which I rather like.

Petersont,

Please bear in mind that the Kirby Topside paint is not a one-part polyurethane like Brightsides. It is a traditional alkyd enamel. Do not expect it to be as hard or durable as Brightsides.

By the way, Interlux sells a flattening agent for Brightsides. I used it on the interior of my Peeler Skiff.

Regards,

Dick