PAINT DRYING TIMES AND COLOR COMPARISONS
Test Goals - In the palette that Jim currently uses, some colors
and color combinations take a long time to dry. Cobra brand
WMOs are new to the US and Royal Talens notes a uniform
drying time as one of their benefits. In these tests a number of
Cobra paint colors were compared to those currently in Jim's
palette and some of the others that he has worked with in the
past. There were two goals; identify relative drying times and
to see how the Cobra colors might fit with his current palette.
Procedure and Caveats - Paint was applied to boards, pairing
colors with the same/similar names; Cobra against Artisan or
Duo Aqua or H2Oils, if on hand. Swatch areas were skipped
where comparable paint names were missing. As can be seen
in the images below, the paints did not go on uniformly. This
accounts for inconsistencies in some of the test results; one part
of a swath being dry one day, another part not dry the following
day. Pure tube colors were applied to one row and the same
colors with white added to the row immediately below it.
Click on image for larger view of chart.
On Jim's computer monitor, the above images' colors are a surprisingly close match to those of the actual test boards.
Cobra Titanium White was used where white was added to
Cobra colors. For all other brands, the whitening was carried
out using Artisan Titanium White. The amounts of white were "eyeballed" and in a few cases adjusted to get closer in value to another whitened swatch. This was another area of potential inconsistencies. Finally, it must be admitted that occasional errors could have occurred (big smilely here). Remembering to use Cobra white with Cobra colors and vice versa are potential candidates for this.
PURE COLOR TESTS: Here is a quick summary of dry-to-light-touch times for these tests:
Cobra Brand: 21 colors; average 2.4 days.
Artisan Brand: 9 colors; average 3.2 days
(two others not dry after 4 days).
Duo Aqua Brand: 3 colors; average 3 days
(three others not dry after 4 days).
H2Oils Brand: 1 color; 4 days
(two others not dry after 4 days).
It appears that Cobra colors dry significantly more quickly than
like Artisan colors for those tested. For Duo Aqua and H2Oils
the test numbers are too small for conclusions.
COLOR MIXED WITH WHITE TESTS: These were primarily
tests of the affects on drying times of adding Cobra Titanium
White to the Cobra colors and adding Artisan Titanium White
to all the other brands.
With Cobra paints, adding white on average lengthens drying
time a bit more than half a day. Results for individual colors
were not consistent when white was added:
- 1 color exhibited a decrease in drying time,
- 8 colors exhibited no difference in drying time, and
- 11 colors exhibited increased drying times.
With the other paint brands, adding Artisan white on average
did not appreciably affect drying times. Again, results for
individual colors were not consistent when white was added:
- 9 colors exhibited a decrease in drying time,
- 4 colors exhibited no difference in drying time, and
- 4 colors exhibited increased drying times.
The individual color tests would have to be repeated a number
of times before results for each color could be considered to be
statistically valid. However, subject to the caveats mentioned,
the above summaries should at least be correct in the trends that they indicate.
Day-by-day test results for all colors and a pure-color versus
white-mixture detail can be viewed by clicking on the links below:
(Pure Tube Color Test Details )
(Color With White Test Details )
(Pure Versus Mixture Recap )
After a bit the test details can be wearing. So to provide relief
we couldn't resist adding this. In our defense, it was taken
after-hours on a restaurant deck during a workshop where Jim
first tried a Cobra sample. Good food and a fun get-together,
but it got breezy later. The little sign at the bottom of the photo
says "New and Improved Happy Hour". Need we say more?
Test Goals - In the palette that Jim currently uses, some colors
and color combinations take a long time to dry. Cobra brand
WMOs are new to the US and Royal Talens notes a uniform
drying time as one of their benefits. In these tests a number of
Cobra paint colors were compared to those currently in Jim's
palette and some of the others that he has worked with in the
past. There were two goals; identify relative drying times and
to see how the Cobra colors might fit with his current palette.
Procedure and Caveats - Paint was applied to boards, pairing
colors with the same/similar names; Cobra against Artisan or
Duo Aqua or H2Oils, if on hand. Swatch areas were skipped
where comparable paint names were missing. As can be seen
in the images below, the paints did not go on uniformly. This
accounts for inconsistencies in some of the test results; one part
of a swath being dry one day, another part not dry the following
day. Pure tube colors were applied to one row and the same
colors with white added to the row immediately below it.
Click on image for larger view of chart.
On Jim's computer monitor, the above images' colors are a surprisingly close match to those of the actual test boards.
Cobra Titanium White was used where white was added to
Cobra colors. For all other brands, the whitening was carried
out using Artisan Titanium White. The amounts of white were "eyeballed" and in a few cases adjusted to get closer in value to another whitened swatch. This was another area of potential inconsistencies. Finally, it must be admitted that occasional errors could have occurred (big smilely here). Remembering to use Cobra white with Cobra colors and vice versa are potential candidates for this.
PURE COLOR TESTS: Here is a quick summary of dry-to-light-touch times for these tests:
Cobra Brand: 21 colors; average 2.4 days.
Artisan Brand: 9 colors; average 3.2 days
(two others not dry after 4 days).
Duo Aqua Brand: 3 colors; average 3 days
(three others not dry after 4 days).
H2Oils Brand: 1 color; 4 days
(two others not dry after 4 days).
It appears that Cobra colors dry significantly more quickly than
like Artisan colors for those tested. For Duo Aqua and H2Oils
the test numbers are too small for conclusions.
COLOR MIXED WITH WHITE TESTS: These were primarily
tests of the affects on drying times of adding Cobra Titanium
White to the Cobra colors and adding Artisan Titanium White
to all the other brands.
With Cobra paints, adding white on average lengthens drying
time a bit more than half a day. Results for individual colors
were not consistent when white was added:
- 1 color exhibited a decrease in drying time,
- 8 colors exhibited no difference in drying time, and
- 11 colors exhibited increased drying times.
With the other paint brands, adding Artisan white on average
did not appreciably affect drying times. Again, results for
individual colors were not consistent when white was added:
- 9 colors exhibited a decrease in drying time,
- 4 colors exhibited no difference in drying time, and
- 4 colors exhibited increased drying times.
The individual color tests would have to be repeated a number
of times before results for each color could be considered to be
statistically valid. However, subject to the caveats mentioned,
the above summaries should at least be correct in the trends that they indicate.
Day-by-day test results for all colors and a pure-color versus
white-mixture detail can be viewed by clicking on the links below:
(
(
(
After a bit the test details can be wearing. So to provide relief
we couldn't resist adding this. In our defense, it was taken
after-hours on a restaurant deck during a workshop where Jim
first tried a Cobra sample. Good food and a fun get-together,
but it got breezy later. The little sign at the bottom of the photo
says "New and Improved Happy Hour". Need we say more?
A Cool Jim & Kate
Photo courtesy of Ann Gores