Description

What is Faber Colouring Paste?

Faber Colouring Paste is a range of concentrated universal tinting pigments made to colour Faber GL 88 polyester mastic. Straight from the tin, GL 88 comes in a handful of base colours – but real stone rarely matches a standard colour. These pastes let you tint the mastic to the actual slab in front of you, whether that’s warming a straw fill to match a darker travertine, greying off white for a veined marble, or building a full custom colour from scratch.

The Eight Colours

Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Orange, True Red, White and Yellow. All eight intermix freely, which covers far more ground than it sounds – brown, white and yellow handle most travertines and beige limestones; black and white give you the full grey scale for granites and terrazzo; green and blue earth off warm mixes for serpentines and slates; orange and red warm up terracotta and rosso marbles. A basic set of black, white, brown and yellow covers the majority of UK stone repair work.

How to Use It

Always tint before adding the catalyst. Work the paste into the uncatalyzed GL 88 a little at a time until the colour is even and slightly lighter than the target – polyester fills tend to read marginally darker once cured and polished. Test the match against an offcut or an unexposed area, adjust, and only then catalyse and fill. Once the catalyst is in you’re working against a roughly 35-minute cure at 22°C, which is no time to be colour matching.

A little goes a long way – these are concentrated pigments, and overloading a mix with paste can affect the cure and final hardness of the mastic. Build the colour gradually.

Tinting the Transparent Grades

The pastes also work with GL 88 Transparent Liquid and Transparent Solid, where a light addition gives a translucent tinted fill rather than an opaque one. On veined and figured stone this often gives a better match than a solid colour, because the fill keeps some of the stone’s natural depth.

Practical Notes

Shake the bottle well before use – pigment settles in storage. The pastes contain 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one, which may produce an allergic reaction in sensitised individuals, so wear gloves and follow the safety data sheet, available on request. 50ml bottles.

Technical Data

Frequently Asked Questions

When do I add the colouring paste to GL 88?

Always before the catalyst. Tint the mastic, check the match against an offcut, then add the catalyst at 2% and fill. Once catalysed you have around 35 minutes of working and cure time at 22°C.

Can I mix the colours together?

Yes, all eight colours intermix freely. Most stone shades can be built from black, white, brown and yellow, with the remaining colours for adjusting tone.

How much paste can I add to the mastic?

Add gradually – these are concentrated pigments and a little goes a long way. Overloading the mix with paste can interfere with the cure of the polyester, so build the colour in small additions.

Will the tinted fill dry the same colour as the wet mix?

Slightly darker, as a rule, once cured and polished. Aim marginally lighter than the target and always test on an offcut before filling the repair.

Do the pastes work with the transparent GL 88 grades?

Yes. A small addition to Transparent Liquid or Transparent Solid gives a translucent tinted fill, which often matches veined stone better than an opaque colour.