Color Corral FAQ's Center

Welcome! If you have questions, there is a good chance that the answer are in here. This is not a static list but an ever expanding library. Each time when we receive a relevant question that is not covered within the support pages, we will add it here. Thank you for checking this page first!

Shipping and handling questions:

• How much do you charge for shipping paint?
  • Shipping and handling information and details are handled in our web store. We always ship best-rate, fastest delivery, normally priority mail and one-rate when possible. Our web store uses secure socket layers (SSL) for the web-store checkout. Paypal is very secure. Refer to paypals internet site for additional information regarding their security. We are known for effective, efficient speedy delivery. We take great pride in our shipping performance and customer service. The United States Postal Service delivers on Saturday at no extra change. All our other shipping providers have a service charge for Saturday delivery.
• Help! I live in Europe, Canada, Australia or on the moon. Where do I order?
  • If you live in Europe, Canada or Australia you are gently reminded to use our distributors/retailers within that area. We will refer your orders back to those most closest to you for economical purposes and speedier service. E'TAC EUROPE is our mirror company and provides all of Europe the same quality services you will find here with a strong emphasis on art appreciation and eduction as a teaching institute. Please visit www.etac-europe.com for more in-depth information as well as for ordering, regarding E'TAC Europe. For other Countries such as Canada and Australia please use our live links to your nearest source in those Countries or contact us for more information. Always contact us if you have questions that are not answered here. ColorCorral@etac-airbrush.com
• Is Paypal and your web store safe and secure?
  • Of course you can order any way you like through our SSL secure socket layer checkout in our web store. We can arrange payments through bank transfers, credit card processing that works for you should our internet services not be for you. We do not offer C.O.D. Shipping or any deferred payments. Our distributors handle retail stores for their regions separately and are capable of setting up retail locations, they remain responsible for their accounts and stock supplies. Their payment requirement may differ from ours. Our payment methods are easy to follow in our web-store Center.
• I don't want to use Paypal. Can I still place an order?
  • Yes you may always place your orders with us if you are not covered by a distributor for your location. We will be happy to work with anyone to determine the best method for prompt, quick service as direct marketing company. If you don't want to use paypal we can arrange many methods for making payments. Just give us a call. However, TNT products for the meet or beat pricing must be placed on-line only or otherwise the standard retail rate applies to this Eco.nomical Solution.
• I don't like postal services. Is there another service I can use?
  • We normally ship via USPS, The United States Postal Service due to their ease of use and low competitive rates for domestic and small international one-rate packaging orders under 20 US Pounds and great competitive rates for packages up to 70 pounds for standard shipment. We can ship DHL, FedEx, Freight-liner and UPS for special consideration when and where needed. Over many years of shipping, we have found our method to be most effective and cost saving to our customers and the United States Postal Service delivers on Saturdays at NO EXTRA CHARGE. Relax, you don't have to drive, no waiting in line and our web-store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

General questions:

• What is E'TAC?
  • E'TAC LLC is the name of our business, not really the name of our products. However the name caught on and simply is an acronym for Edwards Technical Acrylic Color, occasionally also referred to as E'TAC Color Systems.
• I don't live in Europe, Canada, Australia or the US. Where can I order E'TAC products?
  • You order directly through our web-store unless we have a retailer in your location. If you live in Europe, Canada or Australia, you will be re-directed back to their business sites. If you need to contact us in regards to a distributor issue or service, we encourage you to do so by emailing our contacts list with your inquiry. These great distributors/retailers were put into place for their experience and quality service for a reason.
• I would like to become an E'TAC retailer. What do I need to do?
  • Becoming an E'TAC LLC retailer usually means you are asking for a distributorship as we are a market direct company. We selectively place distributors based on regions and areas where our distributors can set up their selective retailers that are well trained and highly qualified in doing direct artist to artist business. If you are interested in being a distributor/retailer, please email us and we'll take it from there. We look for highly qualified individuals/groups who are willing to provide a service beyond the sale. Our goal is to help you with experienced delivery or information as well as products.
• Can I submit my work for publication in your gallery?
  • We encourage you to send us good quality photos of your work. We rotate our galleries and have specific galleries set up for various types and styles of art. We do everything we can to prevent copyright infringement but by submitting art you must know that we cannot be held responsible for on-line thieving and internet abuse. Please contact us via our ColorCorral@etac-airbrush.com and we will provide you a unique email account to handle large files if needed. Again, you are always invited to send us photos of your work done with our products.

Technical questions:

• Where can I find more information about E'TAC products?
  • We often publish various manuals and you can follow up by reading our product literature as well as using our FAQs Color Corral information center where we store pertinent files for public. Some files, such as pigment portal and color charts require you to sign in so we can better serve those who are seeking highly specific or complex information and to reduce internet infringement of copying protected web content. The Share-Air FREE Stock Design gallery and the HOW 2 Gallery are free so you can right click to save, then print to letter size. The balance of our galleries are copyright protected. Please respect our complete websites www.etac-airbrush.com and www.usairbrush.com copyrights, logos, banner and that of contributing artists within the copyrighted galleries. If you want to use something from either of our sites that is not designated as a free download area, call us, we will do our best to provide you 'right of use' if and when possible. You can link back to us and we will provide a beautiful banner which you may customize to suit your business with a png file for our logo design, Its the right thing to do for everyone involved!
• What is the difference between Private Stock, EFX and TNT?

  • Edwards FX Series, Private Stock,and TNT differ greatly for specific end-user demands made for color, techniques used and media/substrate of choice. EFX for example is not a thermo-plastic heat initiated system although it is pliable and heat will harden it, Edwards FX Series is a open film modified product that will form a film through oxidation yet remain re-soluble, meaning exposure to UV light and time makes it harder. This open film allows for a long period re-workability, re-wetting and color management by remaining re-soluble instead of fixed allowing for extended working conditions till you are ready to finalize your projects. This is a fine art product that utilizes high performance pigment often considered very similar to a premium tube colorant and a gouache making it ideal for water colorist professionals as well as micron airbrush artists. EFX Series provides you a fine art product for photo-realistic rendering on metals or board and canvas etc.

    Private Stock is cured by time and heat and is a self cross-linking film former that can be altered with our modifiers/additives or inter-mixed with our other products for artist controlled change that differs from artist to artist. Private Stock is a hybridized product using water based acrylic/urethane nano-technology without solvents or free diisocyanates. Most all acrylic responds to heat, so this does not suggest it is a textile grade product. Heat simply does what time does and does it faster. Physical heat initiates curing much like chemicals in 2 part coatings where one part initiates the curing when added to another part. The elastomeric function group is what determines laundry-fastness regarding 'type of acrylic'. Acrylic are multi-functional and are in use throughout all house-holds in some format such as floor waxes, TV's, certain plastics etc. These are each determined by their selective end use. Private Stock utilizes highly specialized acrylics and blends to obtain some of its performance, while other ingredients are added which aid or promote very definitive performance values. This makes Private Stock a superior multi-use product where high performance and DPP pigment are used. See our Pigment Portal for more information on which pigments we use and for what lines they are used in. A very short list of acrylic are Pure Acrylic, PVA Acrylic, Styrene Acrylic. From the sample list just spoke of, each of these have thousands of variants in tensile strengths and types and are made to perform by modification prior to final manufacturing as a finished product. Private Stock is made in such as way that E'daptive change can be made by the user to increase the likelihood of success by the most demanding of artists. Additional performance agents add highly specific and targeted results for ease of use and responsiveness when applied to a substrate. A substrate is the surface in which color and base will decorate. See technical terms in our FAQs section to learn more about technical jargon and how it is properly used when speaking the language of color and performance. An artist colorant is just that, meant to be used artistically, where as a solvent based coating is considered a protective, industrial coating which of course can contain color as well. The main different is a solvent based coating systems cannot obtain a Non-Toxic ASTM D 4246 conformance standard and will have a listing of ingredients with pre-cautionary statements for safe use and handling. Water based coatings do no obtain the level of hardness a solvent system can provide or a partial solvent system this is why many use water based color coats and art graphics then apply a solvent over-coat for industrial protection using quality uv clear coat solvent systems. We suggest a clear final coat or finish coat to help protect the naturally more softer acrylic by clear-coating with a good quality UV added clear for exterior applications and where sustained marring or abrasion might be expected such as in high traffic areas.

    TNT The Eco.nomical Solution is a textile geared acrylic using a variety of quality pigment that are well suited for laundry-fastness. Soft surface absorbs UV light therefore decreasing pigment damage from short and long light wave lengths. The colors are just as effective but more specific in their duties which is based on textile chemistry but not fully defined as that because TNT works well for craft projects and license plates and lower cost value items that do not require the same ingredients for performance as an HPP/DPP high performance product would. The elastomeric actions are soft, yet pliable. Suggested heat-setting is 350 degree's for 20 seconds or hard iron as hot as possible without scorching up to 3-5 minutes while making sure all areas receive equal heat treatment if you do not own a heat press. These are vivid colors with a wide range. These specific color were produced by years of collaboratively dealing with professional textile artists in the retail market. Obviously we are not running a race on making 1000's of useless colors so we pulled the best of the best to take center stage. Each of these colors are just as manageable for mixtures if you need an odd-ball color to finalize your palette that we might not offer. Discerning and wise artists in the textiles business, choose TNT because the price can't be beat and the quality is un-surpassed.

• Can I use E'TAC products for custom painting?
  • E'TAC LLC products for professional custom painting is exactly the point we have tried to make. Customization comes in all type and styles and changes with each individual as well as their surrounding conditions. We didn't just want to add another something to the market but more-so, provide a very advanced set of products that were synergistic and user friendly capable of changing when you need to adapt or change styles or techniques. This helps new artists remain engaged and prevents seasoned artists from having to deal with constant tip problems or associated paint problems. Sorry, we do not make the airbrushes and other equipment yet, so we cannot always control some of the under-lying problems that are not always the paints fault. Please consider you choices of equipment and keep it in good working order. Bent needles or oil leaking compressors are often the first thing we have found to create problems. Bad paint selection in the past does not represent today's technological advances. Try and keep your paints fresh and clean by not freezing them or exposing them to long enclosed hot house situations. Use good hygienic practices. Its no different than with any other product, you can expect failure if you do not follow the directives on any product you use or if you use if improperly. You would not paint a car at 40 degree's with a urethane, why would you expect to do so with a water based product?
• Can I use E'TAC products straight out of the bottle?
  • You sure can. Many use all our colorants without ever doing anything what so ever to them. Well tought out and safe alternatives are provided with our suggestions and adaptive modifiers within our lines for those with highly specific or specialized needs.
• Can I use E;TAC products together with solvent based paints?
  • You shouldn't mix a solvent based paint with a water based paint wet on wet or together, this can lead to bleeding or other issues due to incompatible conditions between property types. Private Stock, Edwards FX and even TNT can handle the majority of solvent put over them once the water is driven off mechanically by drying with heat or allowed to dry by air. Nitro-cellulosic solvents which are more rare and illegal to use now in many countries have been used with success with Private Stock when additions of Condition-Air was added, but as a general rule, nitrocellulose solvent systems are out-dated and toxic. Urethane's, enamels and so forth usually work just fine and is the groups/types of clears we consider when producing our products. Always do a small test to determine compatibility with solvents as there are thousand and thousands of them and each have different working properties. Actually there are many solvents that are incompatible with other solvents that causes problems, the same can be said for adding things to paint, any paint, without knowing the chemistry you have no way of knowing how reactive a substance is or what toxin you might have created when adding over the counter products.
• I've been told that E'TAC products works better if I add alcohol or other additives. Is this true?
  • Alcohols are very varied and come if different proofs as well as types. When you add alcohol to an ASTM D 4236 certified product, you have changed that designation standard which is defined by a toxicological expert or group. This is not to say you cannot do it but you must assume a responsible role because children, pets and often challenged adults do not read nor would suspect a contaminated product you might have changed by altering its contents, therefore putting those groups at risk. We never advocate people just throwing something out there on the web or anywhere else for that matter, without making it a clear point by disclaiming that the alterations should be well marked on the bottles if they add these chemicals and even with that, keep out of reach of children. It is our role as adults and professionals to take responsibility in doing what we know is right instead of sending out poorly formed and mis-guided information and asserting it to be truthful although it might work for you, its not always the right thing for others. While the intentions might be good, this way of thinking is dangerous to those who are not aware or told of the potential risks involved. Only a qualified toxicologist can make assertions whether or not a product poses a health threat based on very stringent governance with many years of skilled training. So no, you don't add anything like alcohol to our product unless you are responsible and take the time to lock away your concoctions to prevent children, animals or challenged adults from accidentally being poisoned or sickened. Help make awareness part of a safe relationship when working with any products.
• What do I use to thin E'TAC products if I need to?
  • Filtered bottled water or Pol'E TAC. Adding over the counter remedies is of course your ultimate and personal choice which can easily lead to early failure or damage to any product or potentially off-set the safety protocol where toxicological evaluations have been accredited and certified such as ASTM D 4236 non-toxic conformance standards used to make expert determinations for labeling a product for safe use and handling requirements. Pre-cautionary labeling applies to products that are known to contain ingredients that pose a risk for acute or chronic toxicity or known adverse reactions.
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