Special Gray Primer & Manufacturers

Special Gray Primers

I thought about this analogy after I wrote my column about the new special gray primers: If you are above the age of 50, you very likely are somewhat familiar with black and white photography. Think about it, many younger people have never really seen black and white photos! Color photos today are as common as just about anything routine in your life. I can remember years ago when color photos from the drug store were special. But think about black and white photos - say ones you might see in the newspaper. The objects in the photos were a variety of colors, yet in the photos they come out various shades of gray. In modern computer graphics and television production, this is called gray-scale. There is a complimentary shade of gray for each and every unique color on the color palette.

It then goes without saying that if you determine the complimentary gray color for each color, then that color of gray will act as a unique and powerful primer that will not affect the final finish color that is applied over the special gray tone. This is the basic technology or thinking behind this new system. It works and it works well. I actually viewed test panels that were painted with the gray primers and the final color. They actually looked better than test panels that had two or three coats of just the colored paint!

You may get weird looks when you walk into a paint store and talk about these primers. This is cutting edge technology in the paint industry even though the concept behind it has been around for years. It simply was not applied to the paint industry. The two places where you should be welcomed if you ask about the special gray primers are listed below:

Sears Stores

Simply go to their paint department and ask about the new Bob Vila line of paints. Look at the brochures describing this new paint system.

Sherwin Williams Paint Stores

They also offer the new gray primer system. They may only offer several shades of gray, but that's OK. The shades they offer work with every color that you will find on their paint chips.

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