A VALUE SCALE YOU CAN PAINT ON. A good arrangement of lights and darks makes a painting,design, or quilt compositionally sound and visually interesting. Every colour has a particular light/dark level, called its value. A value scale, also called a grey scale, moves in small steps from black through dark greys, middle greys, light greys and finally to white. The colours in a value scale are all neutral greys, with no hue or chroma. The scale offered here shows seventeen evenly spaced shades of grey, allowing for fine distinctions. The greys have been measured with a spectrophotometer, to insure that they agree with the Munsell system, and the Munsell values appear on the scale.  (For those interested further in the Munsell system, a complete book  of 1500 colours is also available for sale on Ebay, with item #223007471679.)

     To make side-by-side value comparisons, paint can be applied directly to the scale's laminated surface, and then wiped off. One of the pictures shows three flecks of cadmium red oil paint, applied to Munsell values 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5. When the red paint vibrates visually against a grey square, a value match has occurred.  In this case, vibration occurs on the middle square, so the cadmium red has value 4.0. After wiping the red off with a rag, values can be found for further colours. Values can also be found by placing the scale directly on a quilting fabric or painting, as shown in the images.

     Any painter, quilter, or designer will find this 5” by 7” (or sometimes 4.6" by 6.5") laminated scale to be a handy, portable aid for using lights and darks effectively.

     (Domestic shipping note: the default shipping method, which is included for free, is a first-class letter via the US Post Office.  While fairly reliable, this method has no tracking number associated with it.  If you'd like a tracking number, the scale can be shipped via US Post Office Media Mail for an extra $5.00, which includes tracking.  Expedited service via UPS or FedEx (two-day shipping, possibly arriving three business days after the order date) is also available, though expensive.)