If you have run out of a color part-way through a Ledgebay kit, there is a matched Extra Paint set for every design — the same numbered pots that came in the box, in the same colors, so you do not have to mix anything or guess at a match. You can find the set for your design here.
The rest of this guide covers why one color always runs out first, what to do if your kit came from somewhere else, and how to apply replacement paint so the join does not show.
Why you run out of one color
It is almost never the fiddly detail colors. It is the sky, the water, or whichever mid-tone the background is built from — the color covering the largest area of canvas. A kit is packed with roughly equal amounts of each color, so the one doing the most work empties first.
Three things make it happen sooner:
- Pale colors needing a second coat. Creams, yellows and pale blues often do not cover the printed numbers in one pass, which doubles what you use.
- Paint loaded too thickly. A heavy coat uses two or three times what a thin one does and does not look better.
- Paint left drying on the palette or in an open pot. This is the biggest waste of all, and the easiest to avoid.
The matched set
There are 39 Extra Paint sets, one for each design in the catalog. Each is the complete numbered paint set that ships inside that kit — not a generic assortment — so pot 14 in the replacement set is the same color as pot 14 on your canvas. They arrive vacuum-sealed, which is what keeps them moist in storage.
Buying the matched set is the only way to get an exact match without mixing. Two acrylics that look identical in the pot can dry to visibly different shades, and on a flat area of sky that difference shows.
People also buy a spare set alongside a kit for a different reason: it removes the worry about running low on a large background, which is the most common thing that stalls a canvas half-finished.
If your kit is not a Ledgebay kit
Most manufacturers do not sell matched replacements, so you will be mixing a match yourself. It is doable, with some care.
- Work out what you actually need. Check the canvas for which numbers are still unpainted and note only those colors. It is usually one or two, not a whole set.
- Use soft body acrylic. That is the consistency kit paints are, and it is what levels out flat and covers the printed numbers. Heavy body holds brush marks; fluid acrylic runs across the printed lines.
- Mix more than you think you need. Re-mixing an exact match a second time is far harder than mixing extra now. Store the surplus in a small airtight pot.
- Test it before it goes near the canvas. Paint a patch on scrap paper and let it dry. Acrylic dries slightly darker than it looks wet, so judging a match while wet will fool you every time.
- Match against the painted canvas, not the pot. The color you are matching is the dried color already on the artwork.
Our guide to the color wheel covers mixing if you are trying to hit a specific shade.
If the paint dried out rather than ran out
These are different problems with different fixes, and thickened paint is usually rescuable.
A pot that has gone stiff but is still soft underneath will often come back with one or two drops of water, stirred in thoroughly and left a few minutes. Add water a drop at a time — too much and the paint goes transparent and stops covering the numbers. Our guide to reviving dried paint in a kit goes through it properly, and fixing lumpy acrylic covers the case where it has gone gritty rather than stiff.
A pot that has set solid all the way through is finished. Acrylic cures irreversibly, and no amount of water brings it back.
Applying replacement paint so it does not show
- Repaint the whole section, not the gap. A section painted half in the old paint and half in the new will show a line at the join even with a good match. Cover the section completely.
- Keep the coat as thin as the original. A thicker patch catches the light differently, which is visible from across a room even when the color is right.
- Let it dry fully before judging it. Wet acrylic looks wrong. Give it an hour before deciding whether the match works.
- Match the sheen. If most of the canvas has dried matte and one patch is glossy, a coat of varnish over the whole finished painting will even it out.
Making the paint you have last
- Close each pot the moment you finish with it. This alone prevents most waste.
- Take paint out onto a palette rather than dipping the brush in the pot — it keeps water and other colors out of the supply.
- Thin coats. Two thin ones cover better than one thick one and use less paint overall.
- Store pots upright somewhere cool and out of direct sun.
In short
Running out of one color is normal and it is not a fault in the kit — it is what happens when a single color covers most of the canvas. For a Ledgebay design, the matched Extra Paint set is the straightforward answer. For anything else, mix a match with soft body acrylic, test it dry, and repaint the whole section rather than patching it.
You can see the full range of designs in the shop, or look through the customer gallery to see how they come out.
