Suggestions 1-shot discontinuing Pantone formula requests

[Fozkat]

I have a small sign shop that still uses 1-Shot enamels (I know, I know) for the majority of our dimensional sign projects. For years, we've relied on their Pantone formulas page, which is normally a great tool for providing mixing ratios to get us close to our customers' brand colours. Often, the Pantones we plug in don't have a formula on this page, but there has been a Request Formula form which we would submit and receive the ratios a couple of days later. Earlier this week, I plugged in a new Pantone that didn't have a formula, but the request form was missing. A quick call to 1-Shot confirmed that they were doing away with this service.

This has been a service that we've relied on for years, and now that it's gone, we've decided to look around for another paint brand that provides Pantone matching services. I took over running our company just a few years ago after working here for nearly a decade, and only know as much as I've been taught by the previous owner. The original owner had built signs in our area for 40+ years and swore by 1-Shot, but browsing this forum shows that they might not be the standard anymore. I am a bit nervous about switching away from what we know works well with the extreme weather we get in our area, the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

I guess my questions to the Signs101 community would be: What paints are you using for dimensional signage (we mostly build cedar and MDX exterior signs), and how are you matching your customers' Pantones?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Gino]

Normally, by eye.

 

[Fozkat]

Normally, by eye.

Thanks for your reply, Gino!

Mixing by eye is what we're going to have to do for our next few projects until we can figure something else out.

Do you have any tricks for getting to a starting point other than relying on your many years of paint mixing expertise? I don't have the best eye for mixing paints and ended up wasting more paint than I care to admit, even when using the 1-Shot provided formulas.

 

[Johnny Best]

Take a pms color swach and go to Home Depot. There is blue in Oneshot white so it is hard to get exact matches with certain colors.

 

[Fozkat]

Take a pms color swach and go to Home Depot. There is blue in Oneshot white so it is hard to get exact matches with certain colors.

Hey Johnny! Thanks for the reply!

I've had better results using 1-Shots tinting white when it calls for white to be mixed in.
Which paints are you using from Home Depot for your exterior signage?

 

[Gino]

1shot paints don't mix all that well to begin with. Their colors are what I call somewhat muddy. It's not like using the color wheel, but ya need to know your color wheel and how to get to certain colors in a round-about way. The best greens come from their yellow and black. There's lotsa good colors there, but the paint itself isn't all the good anymore. The quality is lacking. Luckily for us, I have a room of their old paint with all the goodies still in it. It'll outlast my needs.

 

[Johnny Best]

Hey Johnny! Thanks for the reply!

I've had better results using 1-Shots tinting white when it calls for white to be mixed in.
Which paints are you using from Home Depot for your exterior signage?

Home Depot Bairs exterior latex paints. Also Sherwin Williams mixes colors in their Latex brands.

 

[JBurton]

Matthews provides pms formula equivalents, but I'm uncertain if it's exclusive to shot paints vs brush.

 

[VizualVoice]

Don't forget you don't have to mix up a large batch initially when doing a color match. When I'm doing a custom color of gunkote, I'll start my mixing sometimes in drops, occasionally in milliliters using pipettes. Find your ratio and then upscale it. May occasionally need slight tweaking at larger scale, but it wastes a LOT less material trying to get the initial close color down.

 

[Johnny Best]

I take a small piece of white paper and dip the the tip of my finger in paint and rub it on paper. Clean off the tip of your finger and repeat with another color till you get the desired match. Then you are ready to mix a larger formula you achived with the small mix from paper.

 

[Mike Paul]

You should invest in a Mathew’s paint system.

 

[Johnny Best]

You should invest in a Mathew’s paint system.

My days of "investing" are long gone.

 

[Krissy Louderback]

I just learned at the sign show that Sherwin Williams has a "sign paint" division. They can PMS match.

 

[visual800]

I dont concern myself with pms colors, I always mix by eye and use latex paints because one shot sucks as far as longevity. I tell clinets that i can get on it or come close. If they argue it HAS to be a certain pms color I tell them to look at eveything they order and tell me if eveything matches...letterhead business cards etc. Too many people get caught up on pms

 

[JBurton]

Too many people get caught up on pms

"Yeah, print to match, hold on, let me check my notes, here it is, '8 yellow, 4 red, 6 green, 17 white, clear to taste.' Ya get that?"