Chalk paint comes in a variety of bold colors paired with a soft texture that can transform your grandma’s dresser into a jaw-dropping piece of art. Chalk paint is easy to work with and helps revive items into the pieces you have always wanted. 

Achieving a perfect blend of chalk paint colors on any project, big or small, can be frustrating. Keep these top tips for blending chalk paint flawlessly in mind, so you have a few tricks to achieve the most seamless blend. 

Go Easy on Prepping 

You don’t need to clean, prime, or sand before starting your project! Typically, paint guides stress the need for excessive prepping of surfaces before applying. Luckily, chalk paint does not require much effort because the paint is excellent at sticking to surfaces.

Use a Misting Bottle To Keep Paint Moving

Most chalk paints are water-based and water friendly. Using a mist bottle will allow you to move your existing paint around. This consistency means that instead of adding more paint to your project, you can work with less and let your piece dry seamlessly. Use a misting bottle instead of a regular spray bottle, as standard spray bottles deliver heavier droplets and leave water marks.

Less Is More: Don’t Use Too Much Paint

One of the most common errors when blending chalk paint is using too much color. Use only a small amount of color and water to keep your paint moveable. Your base coat is solely for coverage and your second coat is for perfecting your finish. If you use high-quality paint with excellent range, you can apply a thin second coat and still achieve a smooth, flawless look. Using too much paint can make it difficult for the piece to dry and leave behind an uneven look.

Choose Your Colors Wisely

It is best practice to select colors close to each other on the color wheel. The more your colors contrast, the harder it will be to blend successfully. You want to start with similar colors and gradually work toward heavier blending and contrasting.

When blending your chalk paints, you should choose three main colors—the body color, a highlight, and a dark tone for shading. For instance, selecting three varying shades of gray is much easier to blend than blending black into white.

Use a Drybrush Technique To Blend Top & Bottom Colors

If you want to blend your existing deeper tones with brighter colors, use should use the drybrush technique. Touch the top of your paintbrush into the chalk paint and allow it to dry for a few seconds. After the paint dries just enough, firmly brush over the area you’re working on. Since the paint is dry, it is much harder to ruin the project with too much goopy paint.

Work on Small Areas First

Focus on small areas at a time. Painting in smaller sections and polishing those areas will reduce mistakes and stress before moving on. If you are painting a large piece of furniture such as a cabinet, paint one door at a time instead of painting the entire piece in one session. Tackling smaller sections at first also helps you address any trouble areas in your paint blending before moving forward.

Easily Thin or Thicken Your Paint

Since chalk paint is water-based, it’s an easy material to thicken or thin out. Keep the lid to the color open, add a thickening agent, and then stir to thicken your paint. You can also thin your chalk paint with tiny amounts of lukewarm water. Slowly stir while adding the water to accomplish a well-mixed, thin consistency.

Use Soft Brush Strokes

When you are painting your pieces, you should use soft strokes. If you tend to be a bit heavy-handed when painting, you will struggle to blend your paints successfully. Use less paint, soft bristles, and water mist to achieve fantastic blends. When you paint softly, you will create an exquisite transition.

Your Brush Makes a Difference

Having the proper tools will make your paint job more manageable. Use a high-quality, smooth brush when blending for a flawless finish. Using an inexpensive, dense, or coarse natural brush will give you far from an ideal result. When painting, apply a thin layer of paint and feather the paint softly with the brush tips.

Brush Horizontally, Then Vertically

When blending your colors, the last thing you want is to keep your colors separate! The idea is to make the colors melt together in the final product. You did not blend your paint correctly if you can still see the color differentiation.

When blending your chalk paints, it is best to brush your colors on horizontally first, then vertically a few times until they are seamlessly smooth. You want your colors to flow into each other flawlessly. We recommend adding a tiny amount of your dark or light color at the end to add highlight and lowlight to the design.

Achieve the Best Finish by Sanding

Contrary to widespread belief, chalk ink can produce a sleek appearance for surfaces like chairs or cabinet doors! Though chalk paint is often associated with achieving textured or weathered looks, accomplishing a polished look takes a little extra work.

Chalk paint is surprisingly easy to sand down. To achieve a flawless finish, paint a thin coat with a high-quality brush, valor paint roller, or foam roller. Then, sand lightly with fine-grit sandpaper. You do not want to grind through the paint layer; Instead, the goal is to flatten the brush strokes. Paint another layer, then sand again to achieve a pristinely smooth finish.

Add Wax for a Smooth Finish

Chalk paint often feels dry and, well, chalky once it dries. Using wax will help prevent that rough consistency. For a smooth, soap-like feel, apply wax to your furniture piece using a brush or cloth once you finish painting. The wax will look white in the container but should apply and dry clear.

Blending colors with chalk paint or wet chalk markers is reasonably straightforward once you perfect the routine and use our top tips for blending chalk paints.

Chalk Ink provides wet wipe markers that can write like a pen but dry like chalk, all without the mess traditional chalk brings. Wet chalk markers, like chalk paint, are easy to blend with a small amount of mist and a good brush! Begin your next art or furniture project by checking out our wide selection of marker sets, chalkboards, and paints!