Randy Charles is the owner of PaintCentric.com, a website dedicated to providing information, tips, tricks, and news about all things paint. With over 10 years...Read more
If youre wondering what does base 1 paint mean and how understanding it can help you make informed painting decisions, then this guide is exactly what you need.
What Exactly Is Base 1 Painting?
Base 1 painting is the painting of pastels. This is a painting of lighter tones that will never produce dark tones. The outcome of base 1 painting is always brighter shades, no matter the amount of colorants added to the base. Base 1 paint means a clear base.
You must have been to a paint store to get great colours for your remodelling project. Coming across various options, making it difficult to make a preference on which paint to use. You must have also noticed some labels on the paint such as base, primer, tint, oil-based, water-based, and many more.
The Importance of Base 1 Painting
Base paints are not just conventional paint, they are specifically designed for the mixing of colours. Base paints give a variety of colours to the paint, making it darker or lighter. Base 1 paint means a paint with a large amount of white pigment that is there is a large quantity of titanium dioxide (TiO2).
Base 1 paint is mostly used for light pastel and it gives lighter tones. In this piece, we would explore the base paint world. Just like an expert, you will be able to tell when to use Base 1 paint.
What Does Base 1 Paint Mean?
The base paint is not complete yet, it needs to be tinted. It is the foundation used to create coloured paints by using colorants. Base paint makes the paint opaque, firmer, and prevents cracks. A base paint contains white pigment as a result of the quantity of titanium dioxide. A base paint is different from a primer because, unlike the primer, base paint is not used as a base coat. A primer is simply used for better adherence, whereas a base paint is used to mix colours.
Thus, base 1 paint is used for white and light pastels. It has a large amount of titanium dioxide (white pigment). Base 1 paint gives you lighter tones and colours because of the large quantity of white pigment. Hence, mixing colorants with base 1 paint will only give you lighter colours. You cannot get deep tones from base 1 paint.
Due to the severity of the white pigmentation in Base 1 paint, it is a base used to create light colours only. You cannot get vibrant colours from base 1 because of the high percentage of titanium dioxide. Base 1 paint means the whitest base that can be used as white paint without being tinted sometimes.
What Are the Different Paint Bases?
A paint base is a vital component of conventional paint. The base paint is the starting point of the work to create a particular colour of the tint. Before a base paint can be used, a colorant needs to be added to it. This gives you your preferred solid tint. The white pigment in the paint base is because of the presence of titanium dioxide. There are four kinds of paint bases. They are displayed as Base 1, Base 2, Base 3, and Base 4.
- Base 1: Generally, base paint is mainly for the process of mixing your favourite colours. This forms the foundation of colour mixing ( tinting). Base 1 paint is one of the types of base paints. It contains the highest percentage of white pigmentation (titanium dioxide). It is suitable for white colour and lighter tones. Base 1 accepts a large amount of colorant but still results in light colours and pastel shades. Base 1 paint cannot give you intense colours because of the level of titanium dioxide it contains.
- Base 2: This is another type of base paint that contains a high quantity of titanium dioxide but not up to the percentage in base 1 paint. Base 2 paint can be used for minor darker hues. This gives shades that are a little bit darker than the result of base 1. The results of tinting of base 2 still lean towards the light tones because of the significant level of the white pigment.
- Base 3: This is used for mid-toned and average-toned paints. It has a reduced quantity of white pigmentation when compared with base 1 or base 2. Base 3 gives solid and intense colours when mixed with colorants. It results in dark shades and tones. This base paint gives deep and rich colours because of the low level of titanium dioxide.
- Base 4: Base 4 has the lowest level of white pigmentation. It has a meagre amount of titanium dioxide. It creates the richest and darkest tones. When a colorant is added to base 4, it results in intense and solid shades. Base 4 is called the dark base because it gives the darkest tones.
Read Also:What Does Base 1 Paint Mean?
What Does It Mean to Tint Paint?
Tinting is the process of mixing colorants with base paints to get the desired colour. Adding a small amount of colorant to base paint makes a great significance because colorant is a concentrated paint pigment. Although, there are some machines that can be used to tint base paints. These kinds of machines add a reasonable amount of colorants to produce your desired hue. This machine automatically tints the paints.
Paint tinting can also be done manually. This means that you can tint your paint on your own without the machine. This involves mixing of two conventional paints together, in this process you dont need base paint. Technically, you can tint paint by adding two different paint till you get your desired result.
For instance, if you have a very deep red and you would like to use an orange paint. You can mix a little amount of white paint with your deep red paint. This will produce an amazing orange shade. It is better to always tint your paint in a paint store automatically using the machine and not manually. This makes the tinting process easy.
Can I Use Base 1 Paint without Tint?
Yes, you can use a base 1 paint without tint because it is a lighter base. Although, the result might not be concentrated or as expected. But you have to consider the base paint you have? And what colour are you painting over? If you have a white wall, and you are painting over it in other to refresh the previous paint. You can use an untainted base 1 paint. The outcome will be okay. But it might not give you the shade you expected.
However, if you are painting over a darker toned wall, you cannot use an untainted base 1 paint. This is because the shade underneath might bleed and the outcome will be disastrous if you use an untainted base. Due to the transparent nature of base 1 paint, it needs an additional colorants when painting over a darker shaded wall.
Sometimes, it might be hard to get your preferred outcomes when you use an untainted base paint and the result might be patchy. Also using an untainted paint might cause colour bleeding making the outcome a mess.
Hence, it is advised that you should add colorants to base 1 paint to get your desire shades and tones. But using base 1 paint without tint could be a good option only when you are trying to refresh an existing paint or making a touch up on a similar shade.
Steps for Painting with a Base Paint without Tint
- Step One: You need to choose preferred base colour from a paint store. Get a reasonable amount that will be enough for the job.
- Step Two: Wash and gather your painting tool like painting brushes, gloves and others.
- Step Three: Start painting. But make sure the surface you are painting over is similar with your base colour to avoid a patchy outcome.
Final Thoughts
What does base 1 paint mean should be a question of the past if you took time to read through this informative guide. Mixing your colorants with base paints is a beautiful thing because it gives your brilliant colours. Base 1 paint means a base that has a higher percentage of titanium dioxide and it is mostly used for lighter shades and other bright tones. Base paint is a starting point for mixing of colorants. It is simple, mixing colorants with base 1 paint will produce an amazing outcome and make your painting job beautiful.

Randy Charles is the owner of PaintCentric.com, a website dedicated to providing information, tips, tricks, and news about all things paint. With over 10 years of experience in the painting industry, Randy has become an expert in the field and is passionate about helping others learn more about painting. He has written numerous articles on the subject and is committed to providing accurate and up-to-date information to his readers.
- Latest Posts by Randy Charles
-
Can you Paint Over Stain? – Answer Is Here
- -
How to Paint Clouds? – Learn Now
- -
How to Dispose of Paint?
- All Posts