“I want to add some sparkle or glitter here but what kind of painting materials should I use?”

I’m sure some of you may have this kind of idea or problem.

Although there are many ways to make your artworks sparkle, such as using glitter paints, metal leaf, metallic items, and so on, one of them is to use effect pigments.

Effect pigments are also called "sparkle pigments" because they produce a variety of expressions under the effect of light.

In this article, I would like to introduce "Chromashine", we provide over 20 types of effect pigments at PIGMENT TOKYO and this is one of them.

■ Chromashine (11 colors)

Effect pigments are pigments made from a core of Mica (雲母, also known as Unmo or Kira), aluminum, and glass. In fact, this material is also used for painting cars and cell phone covers. It is so common that we all have been using it in our daily life without even noticing or knowing it.

How do you differentiate which effect paints are "Chromashine"?They are the one that appears to change color depending on the angle of view, just like a jewel beetle.

Chromashine is a new type of polarizing colored aluminum pigment that uses aluminum flakes as the base material, coated with a silica layer on the surface, and further covered with metallic particles.

The colors that change depending on the angle of view are called interference colors and appear as shiny streaks of color. Chromashine also has excellent hiding power and low transparency, so it won’t be affected by the underlying color easily than other effect pigments.

The following charts summarize the characteristics of Chromashine and other effect pigments.

Moreover, on our effect pigment product page, there are a few examples for you to see how the color variations of the effect pigments differ depending on the base or underlying colors.

The small images from the left below show the effect pigments applied to a black and white paper, respectively, and when you select any thumbnail, it will be enlarged for viewing.

Effect pigments with high transparency appear to change their respective colors under the influence of the underlying color, however, please note that each pigment comes with different transparency and color change.

Feel free to use this information for comparing the pigments you are interested in.

The color and brilliance will vary depending on the substrate and the thickness of the coating.

The chart below shows the same effect pigment painted on three different types of paper. Depending on the paper types and quality, the way paint stretches will change the effect of the pigments.

This is a drawing that is drawn with Saiboku (colored inkstick) then added some details with Chromashine.

Paper: Bamboo Washi / For Sumi-ink Painting

Coloring: Saiboku (colored inksticks), Gansai (Watercolor), etc.

Effect pigment: Chromashine TGR20X

Medium: Gum Arabic

You can try on using several combinations of supports, base treatments and mediums to achieve the "sparkling effects" you want!

Here is a video from our Instagram IGTV to show you how Chromashine pigments are applied.

【Instagram IGTV】「Chromashine」

　https://www.instagram.com/tv/CB5Ax5onQa1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Chromashine is now also available in acrylic resin paints.

The 10 colors set comes in small tubes of 5ml, however, the single color that comes in a larger size of 30ml is available too.

IRIDESCENCE (all kinds)

https://pigment.tokyo/en/search?q=%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AA%E3%83%87%E3%83%83%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9

Effect pigments offer a unique imaginative effect from the pigments we usually see.

PIGMENT TOKYO invites you to experience with your own eyes the synergy between support materials and colors!