Has anyone else had the social media advertising pop up about one of the blackest-black paints available? I have! On the daily. It seems it's been popping up on my brothers feed too, because for my birthday, guess what he bought me? BLK 3.0 - the acrylic and the ink.
This product claims to be the second blackest black pigment paint in the world. The first, developed by Anish Kapoor and patented so only he can use it. Selfish much? Well, BLK 3.0 is for everyone (except Anish.... you have to confirm you are not him to purchase). Culture Hustle (the company behind BLK 3.0) has created a new resin that holds more pigment and is capable of absorbing up to 99% of visible light. But lets test it...
I used a couple of different brands of black acrylic paint: A2 and Eraldo Di Paolo (formerly Global). Then I tested the BLK 3.0 acrylic and the ink. I painted a small swatch of each paint on the back of a shoe box (because recycling ya'll). Initially when I painted the swatches and the paint was still wet, there was no noticeable difference between the paint.
The A2, Eraldo and Ink seemed 'wetter' when applying the swatches. The BLK 3.0 acrylic was dry and chalky feeling, but still reasonably smooth. This could be due to the 'Black Magick' pigment that is entirely matte, as opposed to other black pigments which have a slight sheen to them.
Once the paint swatches had dried there was a very noticeable difference between the BLK 3.0 branded acrylic paint and the other brands. This stood out as clearly 'blacker' than the rest. So I painted a small cross with the BLK 3.0 acrylic on each of the swatched to see if it stood out on top of the black. I also watered down the BLK 3.0 and painted another swatch to see how the water affected the outcome. You can't even see the cross on top of the BLK 3.0 swatch! So black!
The black on black is very clear. The brand doesn't lie - it's is an insanely black black! So I had a thought... let's try a black on black artwork! Why not?
The result is below. The background is neon MTN94 spray paint, painted over with Global Acrylic Black paint. Then the top layer (the lady) is painted with BLK 3.0 acrylic. Please note, this artwork isn't complete... it needs another layer as the black didn't enjoy being painted onto the spray paint (normal for acrylics).
PROS
It's so black you can't see your questionable brush strokes
You only need one coat
Once dried, its so black it's mesmerising
It can be thinned with water and sprayed
It paints on to most surfaces (wood, paper, metal, plastic, canvas etc)
It is archival (meaning it will last for aaaaaaaages)
Black over black acrylic looks rad!
CONS
You can't just pop down to the art shop to pick it up (must order directly from Culture Hustle)
It's more expensive than regular black acrylic (understandable - it it better!) $183AUD for 1L of BLK 3.0, as opposed to $29.99 for Eraldo Di Paolo
Smells different - more chemical-like
Sucks if you are Anish Kapoor
I must say, I'm super impressed and will be ordering this paint myself. Thanks little bro for the gift.
What do you think about BLK 3.0?
You can do your own research and purchase BLK 3.0 here.
This is not a paid sponsorship, just a little curiosity spurred on by a gift from my brother.