What is Tone Coat?

Tone Coat is a hand-tinted pigment system designed specifically for use with gypsum finishing plaster (e.g. British Gypsum MultiFinish).

Instead of plastering a wall pink and then painting it, Tone Coat adds carefully balanced mineral pigments directly into the plaster mix. The plaster dries in colour, giving you a natural, matte, fully integrated finish straight from the trowel.

No paint.

No extra coats.

Just tinted plaster.

What’s in the bag?

Each Tone Coat pigment blend is:

• A pre-measured mix of high-quality pigments
• Designed to tint one full 25kg bag of MultiFinish plaster
• Formulated around the natural pink/peach base colour of the plaster
• Hand-weighed and blended in small batches for consistency

There are no binders, cements or fillers in the colour bags — just pure pigment, designed to work with the plaster you already use.

Why does MultiFinish need a tint system?

Standard MultiFinish has a natural pink tone that:

• Varies slightly from batch to batch
• Dries to a warm pink/peach colour
• Can show through light paints or affect paint colour

Tone Coat is designed around that reality.

Each tone:

1. Neutralises or shifts that pink base
2. Moves it toward a controlled shade (e.g. beige, greige, olive, etc.)
3. Keeps the natural, matte, plaster look

So you’re not fighting the pink — you’re using it as the base for your final colour.

How Tone Coat is used with MultiFinish

1. One pigment bag = one 25kg plaster bag

Each Tone Coat colour bag is matched to a single full 25kg bag of MultiFinish.

For consistent colour:

• Always mix a full Tone Coat bag with a full 25kg plaster bag
• Avoid “half bags” or guessing – that’s how colour differences appear
• For large jobs, use the same batch of plaster and same Tone Coat tone and batch number across the area where you want a perfectly even colour

2. Mixing method (Classic pigment-only version)

The basic method is:

1. Fill bucket with clean water
   
   Use roughly the amount of water you’d normally use for a 25kg mix.
2. Add the entire Tone Coat pigment bag to the water
   
   Sprinkle it in and whisk/mix until the water is evenly tinted.
   
   You want no clumps or dry powder sitting on the surface.
3. Add MultiFinish plaster as normal
   
   Add plaster into the pigmented water, just like your normal mixing routine.
4. Mix to your usual consistency
   
   Use your standard mixing time and technique.
   
   You’re aiming for a fully uniform colour with no streaks.
5. Apply as standard
   
   Trowel, flatten and polish in exactly the same way you normally would.

Tone Coat is designed so that your working time, set time and feel are as close as possible to your usual MultiFinish mix — just in colour.

Where can Tone Coat be used?

Tone Coat is intended for:

• Interior walls and ceilings
• Domestic and commercial spaces
• Living rooms, bedrooms, hallways, stairwells, feature walls, etc.
• Areas where normal plaster would go, but you want a finished colour instead of bare pink plaster or painted walls

For higher moisture areas or demanding environments, Tone Coat will later be paired with:

• Protected finishes (added water resistance)
• Endure finishes (heavier duty durability and protection)

For now, treat Classic Tone Coat the same way you would a normal, unpainted plaster wall in a standard room.

What does the finish look and feel like?

A Tone Coat finish is:

• Matte — no paint sheen
• Natural — you’re still seeing the real plaster texture
• Soft and tactile — not plasticky or artificial
• Subtle — tones are designed to be calm and liveable, not harsh

Depending on how you polish, you can keep it:

• A little more textured / rustic
• Or smoother and more refined

The colour runs all the way through the skim, not just on the surface.

Timing and working time

Tone Coat is designed to be as close as possible to standard MultiFinish in terms of:

• Open time
• Set time
• Trowel feel

You should:

• Work at your normal pace
• Use your standard timing between passes
• Trowel and finish as you usually do

As with any new product, it’s wise to test one small area or sample board first to get a feel for it before doing a large wall or a whole room.

Colour variation and batch consistency

Because Tone Coat works with gypsum plaster rather than replacing it, there are always natural variables:

• MultiFinish plaster can vary slightly in base colour between manufacturing batches
• Ambient conditions (temperature, humidity, drying time) can subtly affect appearance
• Trowel technique and polishing can change how light hits the surface

Tone Coat pigments are carefully balanced to keep tones within a predictable range, but:

• Minor variation across walls and between batches is normal
• This is part of the character of a real, hand-trowelled plaster finish

For best consistency:

• Use the same plaster batch for continuous areas
• Use the same Tone Coat batch number across a room
• Mix full bags, not partial mixes
• Avoid small top-ups with slightly different ratios

Safety and handling

Tone Coat pigment is a fine powder. Treat it with the same respect you’d give cement or plaster dust:

• Avoid breathing in the dust whilst mixing
• Wear a suitable dust mask and eye protection when handling pigment
• Mix in a ventilated area
• Keep bags sealed and dry until use
• Keep out of reach of children and pets

Wash hands and tools after use as normal.

Testing and samples

Before committing to a full room or project, it’s always a good idea to:

• Use Tone Coat on a sample board or small test area
• Let it fully dry so you see the true, finished colour
• View it in daylight and evening light
• Check it against your flooring, furniture, and other finishes

This helps you and your client understand the tone in context and avoid surprises.

Where Tone Coat sits in the workflow

Tone Coat is designed to slot into an existing plastering workflow with minimal changes:

1. Board and prep walls as usual
2. Mix Tone Coat pigment + MultiFinish (instead of plain MultiFinish)
3. Skim and finish as standard
4. No paint required over most internal areas if you like the raw plaster look

If the customer later wants to paint on top, they can:

• Treat it as a normal plaster finish
• Use an appropriate mist coat and paint system
• Understanding that the underlying colour may slightly influence very light paints (just as pink plaster does)

Summary: How Tone Coat works

• Tone Coat is a pigment system, not a new plaster
• It is designed for one full bag of MultiFinish per Tone Coat bag
• It shifts plaster from pink to controlled, natural tones
• It keeps the feel and behaviour of normal skim plaster
• It delivers a finished, coloured plaster surface straight from the trowel
• It embraces subtle, natural variation instead of hiding it