Behr paint silver screen blackout cloth white opal pearl paint sherwin williams silver screen white pearlescent paint

Alternative to Behr Silver Screen/White Opal Pearl using Sherwin Williams color match and WASCO brand Sparkling White pearl.
The results were compared side by side with triple pass blackout cloth!

I don't have a Home Depot (the only store that carries Behr paint) within 150 miles of where I live , I had to come up with an alternative mix for painting my projection screen for viewing movies.I am testing Sherwin Williams color matched to Behr Silver Screen. On Behr's website you can order an 8oz sample of Silver Screen #770e-2 in Interior "FLAT ENAMEL" not "SATIN LATEX" like most of the DIY Forums suggest using. Along with the paint sample they send a color swatch of the color you order. However, they don't sell samples of their White Opal pearlescent paint on the site. Soooo, I decided to order the 8 oz sample of Silver Screen and then I could take the color swatch to paint stores in my area and have them match the paint. I still had to find a white pearlescent paint to use that would achieve the same results. I didn't realize how hard it is to find paint in some type of white pearlescent. Went to the local Wal-Mart Super center, Kmart and the local craft stores, no luck. Ace hardware and Sherwin Williams didn't have it in white. I searched the web and was not having much luck until I came across a Taxidermy supplier Wasco that sells two shades of white pearlescent in an Acrylic Water base, just like the Behr white is . They had "Satin White Pearl" and "Sparkling White Pearl". I didn't realize fish had so many different shades of white on their bellies. I didn't know which one would be best so I ordered 4oz bottles of each shade.
After receiving the Behr sample paint and the swatch I went to Sherwin Williams and had them mix a quart of the color in Flat and one in Satin. I didn't know how the White Pearl colors I ordered would react in this new mix so I wanted to test both Pearls mixed in Flat and Satin.

The Test!
The Sherwin Williams/ Wasco white pearl test panels were compared side to side with each other and triple pass blackout cloth. The second part of the test compares the Sherwin William/ Wasco panels to the Behr paint /Wasco Panel.
Click here for Wascos website and the pearlescent paints

I painted 5 standard pieces of white foam board with Kilz spray primer. I then painted the five boards with 3 coats "rolled on" of the Sherwin Williams/Wasco alternative paint mix and one with the Behr paint sample in the following manner.

NOTE: The paint needs to dry for a good 24hrs before the sheens start to become visible

behr paint silver screen
Behr paint swatch - silver screen
Actual scan of the swatch with some of the Sherwin Williams paint match brushed on in the corner

Sherwin Williams- formula
"Super Paint" brand
Base- Extra White
Bac Colorant OZ 32 64 128
B1-Black          -    3    -      -
R4-New Red      -    -     1     1
Y1-Yellow        -     -      -        1

The Sherwin Williams formula was taken from the quarts
they mixed for me after color matching
the Behr Silver Screen paint swatch

    The test is no way scientific. The pictures were taken with a Canon 35mm SLR set at 1 second exposure using 800 speed film. The room lighting was at dusk with the shades pulled down. The image was projected using a Goodmans 14" LCD panel on a 5000 lumen Da-Lite overhead projector. The LCD is 300:1 contrast ratio. The pictures were not retouched in any way except for adjusting the sharpness in the scanner to compensate for the little blur you get when a scene is paused.

    My wife and I very early in the test determined that Panel "C" gave the best results. This mix is the Sherwin Williams Satin with 25% Wasco Sparkling white pearlescent. Your feelings might be different.

   Sorry, no pictures of Nemo, Lord of the Rings, StarWars or The Fifth Element. This test was not about showing how colorful my set up is. I wanted to see how the painted panels performed on some of the tougher scenes in everyday movie viewing like bright sun, deserts , dark and fog scenes etc. As we all know not all movies we watch are highly colorful and perfectly lit, unfortunately. Those damn directors always have to try and get creative or artistic with lighting and colors or lack of.

The movies I used were not full of brilliant color. They were Syriana( lots of desert scenes ), Narnia( 1st half of movies is bland color for effect I guess) and Madea. If the paint performed well in these scenes then it definitely would look good in very colorful, well lit scenes.

The 4 Sherwin Williams panels hung on top of the Blackout cloth. in ambient light with shades down .Blackout cloth is 70" diagonal	One of the problems with the OHP is the bottom of the screen is lighter in dark scenes. All the panels seem to correct that. Whites are a little darker on the panels but, decent looking
D - SW Satin/ Satin White Pearl A - SW Flat/ Satin White Pearl	B - SW Flat / Sparkling white pearl C - SW Satin / Sparkling white pearl
Although the colors are darker compared to the blackout cloth. They were not as dark as the picture shows. The blues were actually very good	Panel "C" compared to "B" has more natural color."C" has more definition compared to the cloth. D and A - no visible difference
D - SW Satin/ Satin White Pearl A - SW Flat/ Satin White Pearl	B - SW Flat / Sparkling white pearl C - SW Satin / Sparkling white pearl
Panel "C" add some definition and deeper color to his pants and jacket without sacrificing too much loss of brightness compared to the Blackout cloth. Again, not much difference between D and A	All the panels seem to improve the contrast and the colors are not as washed out as they are in the blackout cloth in this bright desert scene. Not much difference so again, I will have to chose "C"
D - SW Satin/ Satin White Pearl A - SW Flat/ Satin White Pearl	B - SW Flat / Sparkling white pearl C - SW Satin / Sparkling white pearl
Movie Narnia opening scenes when they are being bombed at night in a house with no lights on and dust from the bombs. Panel "C" has my vote. Good skin tone and definition in her sweater. Panel D and A don't look too bad either.	Overall skin tones don't look too bad with the painted panels. All the panels add deepness of color. "C" is my pick again. When compared to "B" , "C" increases the definition with not much loss of light.
D - SW Satin/ Satin White Pearl A - SW Flat/ Satin White Pearl	B - SW Flat / Sparkling white pearl C - SW Satin / Sparkling white pearl
There is a definate improvement in the definition of the flowers in panel "C" without a loss of brightness	Panel "C" add definition to the dwarfs coat and beard but, does not darken the image as much as "B". Scene is snow in hazy lighting
D - SW Satin/ Satin White Pearl A - SW Flat/ Satin White Pearl	B - SW Flat / Sparkling white pearl C - SW Satin / Sparkling white pearl

I decided to add some pictures from movies with high color and some shots in ambient light.
The movie "The Producer" really sucks but, it is very colorful.

Panel "C" still is outperforming the other panels- better color,blacks brightness	All the panels seem to perform well in this scene
All the panels have good brightness here but better definition compared to the blackout cloth- Picture is out of focus. My bad!	Took the picture before I noticed that the word "Columbia" hadn't appeared yet
You can see the difference in brightness on the letters a and l between panel "C" and "B"- Again , I wasn't quite focused with the camera	Better definition on the grey panels
Better contrast with the painted panels	This was taken in ambient light at about 45-55 degrees to the side- Panel "C" definitely improves brightness and contrast

This next part of the test I added the panel (E) which is painted with the Behr flat enamel sample I ordered with 25% Wasco Sparkling white pearl mixed in. Since I already decided "C" , the Sherwin Williams Satin / Sparkling white pearl panel was the better performer, I wanted to compare the Behr mixture panel to panel "c"
Click here for Wascos website and the pearlescent paints

The following pictures now have Panel "E" Behr paint mixture added.

The movies I used were not full of brilliant color. They were Syriana( lots of desert scenes) , Narnia( 1st half of movies is bland color for effect I guess) and Madea. If the paint performed well in these scenes then it definitely would look good in very colorful, well lit scenes.

As you can tell, panel "E" and "C" are almost identical. I think "C" improved the color definition more if you look at the edge of his jacket in "C" . This was not a high color scene.

Again "C" outperforms the Behr paint "E" panel. More definition
without sacrificing brightness.

"C" panel the Sherwin Williams far exceeds the Behr paint. Look at the definition in her hair in "C" compared to "E" the Behr paint.

The Sherwin Williams "C" and Behr "E" are identical

"C" out performs "E" again. Look at the better contrast in the white area

This picture was taken at about a 60 degree angle. The viewing cone was not a problem with any of the paints so I didn't take any pictures from the side

Conclusion!
We have a Winnah!!!
Click here for Wascos website and the pearlescent paints

The Sherwin Williams Satin Interior color matched to Behr Silver Screen with Wasco brand Sparkling White Pearlescent mixed at 25% (Panel C) is very comparable to using original Behr paint (Panel E). The better definition in colors and blacks makes the painted screen more acceptable over the blackout cloth in almost all instances. The mix could probably be increased to 30% of the pearl and get even better results

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