How to choose a paint for a baby’s mural
September 9, 2009 by Victoria
Filed under How to commission a mural, Painting
When choosing a paint for your baby’s mural, you will find two type of paints at your hardware store: oil based and water based. Oil based paints are used to paint furniture and wood. To paint a mural in the wall, we use water based paint.
We will also find two types of water based paint: acrylic and latex, we will use latex, unless you are allergic to latex. Latex is a low odor paint, it is safe to be use indoors and the utensil can be clean with soap and water.
You can have your paints mixed in an endless variety of colors. If you need very small quantities, you can buy artist’s acrylics or oil paints in a craft store. Never use watercolors or gouaches because they are not permanent.
We also need to define what kind of sheen we want. Most manufactures have four categories, but they may name them with different labels:
Flat or matte is non-reflective, satin has more sheen, semi-gloss has a higher sheen and gloss is a highly reflective. Flat paint covers more the imperfections and needs less coats. Gloss paint has a plastic look, but it is more resistant to dirt and stains.
For children’s murals I prefer to use satin, its not as dull as a flat, but it has a moderate sheen that makes the mural pop. It is easier to maintain than a flat paint, especially when the little hands tend to leave their marks on the walls.
For any question or information please contact me: Victoria@FunMurals.com
Tags: baby, How to commission a mural, Paint, painting, Painting, techniques