Additional Resources domestika.

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Course by En•Concreto

COLOR APPLIED TO
CONCRETE
In this document, you’ll find some tips on using color in your pieces and we’ll answer
some frequently asked questions on how to use it.
Additional Resources – En•Concreto
To make concrete a specific color you need to
use special pigments for cement. These pigments
are insoluble substances that give concrete color
when added to it. They’re sold in specialized
construction stores.
Here we’ll answer some frequently asked
questions on color use:
domestika.org
WHAT COLORS ARE THERE?
There are a wide variety of tones. Each brand has
different options that range from pastels to black.
HOW DO YOU USE THEM PROPERLY?
We use 5% of the amount of cement used. For
example, if we used 1 kg of white cement, we’d add
5 gm of pigment. It’s best to do it by weight with
the help of a scale
Additional Resources – En•Concreto
CAN I MIX COLORS I BUY TO MAKE A
NEW COLOR?
Yes, you can mix different pigments to
make the shade you’re looking for. Try
to make sure it’s the same brand and
chemical composition to avoid binding
problems or pigment separation.
HOW CAN I ACHIEVE DIFFERENT
INTENSITIES WITH THE SAME COLOR?
By adding less than 5%. For example, if
you have an indigo blue pigment and
you’re working with white concrete and
you want a pastel blue, what you should
do is slowly add the pigment until you
reach your desired intensity. It’s
important to mention that when
concrete is moist its color is more
intense. This means you need to
calculate the intensity it’ll lose when it
dries. (You can recover this using the
sealer which we’ll explain later on).
domestika.org
IF I ADD TOO MUCH PIGMENT COULD
IT WEAKEN THE MIX?
No, the pigment doesn’t change the
strength of the mix. You should just
know that pigments have a maximum
saturation point. Even if you add the
whole box of color, there will be a point
when you can’t increase the color’s
intensity. Using the right amount has
more to do with making the most of the
material than weakening the mix.
Additional Resources – En•Concreto
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
USING WHITE OR GRAY CEMENT FOR
COLOR?
Using white cement as a base for your
mix makes it much easier achieve the
shade of color you want. This doesn't
mean you can’t add pigment to gray
cement, it has the same characteristics
regarding pigmentation, but the result
will be much opaquer. We recommend
using gray as a base when you want to
make oxford gray or black for example.
You could achieve this with light white
cement too, but the advantage of using
portland gray is that it’s much more
cost-friendly than portland white
cement.
domestika.org
HOW CAN I INTENSIFY THE COLOR OF HOW DO I USE THE SEALER?
MY CONCRETE PIECE ONCE IT’S
TOTALLY CURED AND DRY?
Just like you sealed your pot in exercise
As you may have noticed, the color of 1. You can apply it with a sponge or roller
moist concrete is different than that of or if there are several pieces you can
dry concrete. So, if you want to intensify even use a pressure sprayer as if it were
the color of your piece and keep the paint.
same appearance as if it were moist,
you can achieve this using acrylic or
polyurethane-based sealers. These
sealers (that I’ll give links for at the end
of this file) are even designed to give
the piece a wet finish look. So, for
example, if you made a red pot, but
when it dries the color seems very light
to you, apply the sealer and you’ll notice
the difference!
Additional Resources – En•Concreto domestika.org

• This is what the powdered pigments will look like. There are also liquid pigments, we don’t
work with them... we still haven’t tried them yet: )... there are other pigments you just add to
the the surface of the already cast piece. We haven’t worked with these because of the type
of molds that we use, we prefer the color to be mixed in and not just on the surface.

• This photo shows a color saturation exercise. It’s the same shade of green but in different
proportions and even adding a little black to darken the color for the shade that we needed
to achieve.

• This photo shows the color matching process using a sample given to us by our client. Their
sample is metallic and the colors available for painting metal and concrete aren't the same.
Which is why we mixed the pigments manually (yellow, red, pink and brown) to achieve the
most similar shade.
Additional Resources – En•Concreto domestika.org

• Pot sealing process with a pressure sprayer. Since there were several pieces, to save time,
we decided to use this application technique

• Color difference between sealed and unsealed pieces. The sealed piece is on the left side of
the photo and the untouched one is on the right.
Additional Resources – En•Concreto domestika.org

PIGMENTS

SAYER UNIBLOCK ACUARIO REYCOX PERDURA

Here are the high-quality pigments we’ve used
and the sealer to give your pieces a wet finish:
(If you aren’t in Mexico, you’re sure to find many
other great options)
SEALERS

SAYER BEHR SEAL KRETE POLYFORM PERDURA