looking for mat magic paint D. Pierce has vanished

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burtons

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
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Loc
minneapolis, MN
I've been searching for mat magic paints or that magic ingredient in the paint that causes it not to soak into matboard like regular paint. I tried to reach the original guy that manufactured it (D. Pierce of Dahl or abatron or something) and his web address does not work anymore. Also a grumble person called Rick Bergeron had some paint, but can't figure out how to contact him( I am in training and still a grumble idiot). I saw somewhere that united supposedly carried a sort of mat magic, but can't find it in their catalog ???
Thank you , Suzanne
 
I use acrylic gouache (aka airbrush color) for lettering and other pen work on mats, and it works great. Traditional gouache (opaque watercolor) and watercolors may be as close as you'll get to Mat Magic paints today.

Unlike watercolors, which are intended to soak into the paper, gouache before thinning tends to rest on the surface, more like paint. I particularly like the acrylic gouache because it handles very well, intermixes easily, may be thinned and cleaned up with water. But when it dries it is waterproof, and that means you can add washes of watercolor between the lines without them bleeding.
 
JFeig said:
Mat Magic has been out of production for several years. Don is happily retired.
Click to expand...

A few years ago I talked with Don about buying the patents from him and resurrecting the Mat Magic products. He said he'd think about it, but that's as far as we got. As far as I know, he still owns it all.

Is it time to bring Mat Magic back to the marketplace?
 
Hi Suzanne.

I've got a box of Mat Magic paints that has sat in my cabinet for 2 1/2 years. I took it out once to look at it. 24 little bottles of powder. Make me an offer.

Rick is just up the road in Idaho. I'm sure he'll chime in at some point.
 
Jim,
How do you keep the Gouache from drying out when using it for ruled lines. I've tried using it and find that it will dry in the pen before I can complete even one line. I have been experimenting with acrylics for this purpose. Am getting close to a ratio of pigment, liquid medium, and flow agent...Just wish there was a way to keep the pigment in suspension. I have projects that require lots of mixed color, and repeating that is difficult at best.
 
Traditional gouache is usually sold in tubes and has the consistency of toothpaste. I suggest thinning with water to the consistency of whole milk. Other additives make it perform differently. Gum arabic is a popular binder in tube gouache (and watercolors), and adding more of it makes the paint "puddle" better -- reduces flow and bleeding. Ox gall has the opposite effect of increasing the flow, which also makes the paint run and bleed more readliy. Play with these additives, 1/2 drop at a time in a few tablespoons of paint, until you are pleased with the flow through your pen, which is largely a matter of personal preference.

Since traditional gouache is basically pigment and binder, it remains water soluble after drying. That means if you put a watercolor wash between two lines of it, the lines will probably bleed.

Acrylic gouache, aka airbrush color, handles similarly, but it is generally sold in liquid form. It is too thick to run through a pen without thinning first with water, but I would advise against putting anything else in it. A very small amout of added water makes it run much better. Again, experiment until you are happy with the flow characteristics.

Acrylic gouache is water soluble when wet, but not when dry. So, when you put a watercolor wash betwen two penned lines, it will not bleed.

Wally, if acrylic gouache is properly thinned, you should be able to run a large-reservoir ruling pen dry without clogging. That's several feet of ink line on a mat. Do you thinning in a smaller, separate container, not the whole bottle. If the color is no longer opaque, then you've added too much water.
 
I get very good results with acrylic ink. Daler-Rowney makes a large range of color. It flows through a pen without needing additives. They are called FW Inks. (and yeah, I just get to take them off the shelf. I LOOOVE owning an art supplies store!)
 
Suzanne,

I have a large, tacklebox full of matmagic paints, powders etc somewhere in the back storeroom. Thanks for reminding me, because I promised Deaconsbench quite a while back to find it and let him know the particulars. He has first rights, but you're certainly welcome to the box if he has changed his mind since it has been quite a while.

As others have said, there are alternatives to the products. Those that I have are new, never opened with maybe one or two exceptions.
 
Jim, we needed Mat Magic back on the market ever since it left the market. We also need more classes on how to properly use the products.

Ink lines, and panels are great ways to inhance a piece of art. You can make it look traditional, or modern. Subtle, or brilliant.

But we need the good quality supplies to do the good work. As any GOOD artist will tell you, "You are only as good as your tools."

Try cutting a mat with a dull blade, it will look as bad as a line drawn with ink that bleeds.
 
mat magic

Val, Sue and others

I looked into reviving the product, and did not see it an economical venture in todays market. It is simple too small a market(picture frame industry) to restart production from scratch as from what it used to be when the product was first introduced. If someone was already producing custom coatings and had the intra structure to produce a product already, thats a different story.
 
Rick Bergeron - CPF said:
Suzanne,

I have a large, tacklebox full of matmagic paints, powders etc somewhere in the back storeroom. Thanks for reminding me, because I promised Deaconsbench quite a while back to find it and let him know the particulars. He has first rights, but you're certainly welcome to the box if he has changed his mind since it has been quite a while.

As others have said, there are alternatives to the products. Those that I have are new, never opened with maybe one or two exceptions.
Click to expand...

Rick, I sent you a PM. Thanks, David.
 
Sorry I haven't been visiting for quite a long time. Did Deaconsbench take all the mat magic you had? Sniff. Let me know. Someone get that patent, OK??
 
Jim Miller said:
I use acrylic gouache (aka airbrush color) for lettering and other pen work on mats, and it works great.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried acrylic gouache, but I do use Golden's Heavy Body Acrylics. I thin them with water, (and /or acrylic mat medium) to get the consistency I like, and they work well with my different ruling pens. My biggest problem was getting the right consistency, but I now pick up a small glop with a Popsicle stick, and then use approximately two 1/2 of an eye dropper of water. I mix in a small glass jar. If I'm going to use quite a bit, so it does not dry out so fast, I adjust the formula with the mat medium to extend the life.

After it dries, it is waterproof.
 
Grey Owl said:
I haven't tried acrylic gouache, but I do use Golden's Heavy Body Acrylics....After it dries, it is waterproof.
Click to expand...

That's the same stuff, Russ. It goes under several names, including gouache and airbrush color. Essentially, it is water-borne acrylic paint that is water soluble until dry, then it is solid plastic. That plastic medium is what keeps it from soaking into matboard.

You can use traditional watercolor gouache for matwork, too. To keep it from soaking in, add a little gum arabic powder. But not too much, because that makes it puddle, and would keep it from flowing from some pens.
 
All the previous paint suggestions are good. We use watercolor mixed with a little guache or tempera to add body. Works great, it's all about the consistency which takes practice.

Don't discount your pen in the equation. A good quality pen with a generous reservoir can make all the difference, no matter what it's filled with.
 
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