Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Tutorial: Mixing your own washes.. APJ Guide.

I spotted this guide on the net, done by the talented Mr Lester Bursley, of Awsome Paint Job, Commission painting service. He has a fair few videos up on his you tube page and guides to painting space marines of various chapters.

In addition he also has a few guides.. one on cleaning brushes and its nice to see, he like me uses The Masters Brush Soap.

Any.. given the rising costs of washes, the fact that GW are now charging silly money and keep changing their washes, I decided it was time to look at getting better results from my washes and getting some consistency.

So was pleased to see this guide there is more info and photos of various ink effects;

http://www.awesomepaintjob.com/index.cfm/resources.recipes




Well worth a look.

I have in the past, just used artist ink mixed with de-ionized water (prevents minerals  that you can get in tap water, changing the colour when dry) and a tiny drop of washing up liquid to thin it. The result is ok. But it tends to be quite shiny, and you run the risk of bubbling and bubble marks with the detergent.

So having see the how Lesley does, I am going to keep an eye out for some of the Acrylic Medium and give it a try. As I still have a fair few zombies in my horde to paint, they are good test subjects for a few wash shades.. so time to experiment. I will try and update you on how it turns out and if it is a cost effective solution here in the UK.. I think the acrylic medium is a fair bit cheaper over in the USA.. so will be interesting to see.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheers mate, washing has always been a problem for me. This was great.

Goose on the loose said...

The real thanks should go to the Lester.
He obviously put some time and effort into doing the sample photos and video.

On the matter of washes, I have for many years got away with simple - de-ionized water, ink or paint and that was it. It works ok, but if you are in a heavy water area you can get the water failing to carry down into the detail and sort of sitting on top. I presume due to the surface tension. Hence the use of flow aid/ dish washer rinse aid/ fairy liquid (in the uk) etc.. to lower the surface tension.

The problem with pure water though, and more so when using paint as a wash, the particulates don't like to remain evenly distributed in suspension in the liquid. So you get settling out, and having to shake. This gives you inconsistant depth of colour/shading and makes figures look grim.

Had it happen a few times when not paying attention.

Though I am not a majorly gifted painter, I am going to give this recipe a try.

GW washes are pricy! And you are stuck with the one set of shades, diluting GW washes down, due to their carrier liquid they use, can on occasions give you a streaky finish.

So, when i ge some time and can a reasonable price for the liquitex medium, will give it a try.