07-19-2002, 06:28 PM
I don't know what Jasper used, but I can answer your question about water based paints:<br>
<br>
A wash is just what it sounds like, really: you wash the figure, or parts of it, in solvent tinted with a SMALL amount of paint or pigment, applied with a brush. It usually takes numerous applications of a wash, allowing drying time between each, to achieve the desired effect.<br>
<br>
If you use aqueous paints to paint the figure, it is easiest to use an oil-solvent based system for washes, since the wash solvent -usually mineral spirits- will not affect the underlying paint. the obverse is also true but with a caveat: aqueous solutions may bead up on a solvent-oil system, so the wash should be "doped" with a wetting agent. Some use soap, I prefer to use one of the surfactant cleaners such as "Fantastic" or "409."<br>
<br>
That being said, there are ways to use the same resin-solvent system for both base and wash:<br>
<br>
1. Use a sprayed on barrier coat. Commercial artists fixatives work well for this. So does *Future* acrylic floor "wax" (not a wax, at all, but rather a very strong, tough, crystal clear acrylic resin.) Both of these options are compatible with either an aqueous or a solvent based system.<br>
<br>
2. For aqueous washes on aqueous paint, mix ethyl or isopropyl alcohol with your wash water, somewhere in the range of 30 to 70 percent water, depending on the paints and the relative humidity. The idea, here, is to get the wash to dry rapidly, before it starts to dissolve the underlying paint. You will have to experiment with your particular paints, and vary the alcohol proportion depending on the humidity. Also, it is critical to allow the base paint to cure thoroughly using this technique. My wife has a "forced warm air" food desiccator that she allows me to use to speed the cure time from several days to one day or less.<br>
<br>
3. Use a dry wash made from artists pastels. This is by far the hardest and most labor intensive method, and it does not work well for figures smaller than 54 mm.<br>
<br>
<p>Salve,<br>
Triarius<br>
One of the pack, maybe. One of the herd, <i>NEVER!</I></p><i></i>
<br>
A wash is just what it sounds like, really: you wash the figure, or parts of it, in solvent tinted with a SMALL amount of paint or pigment, applied with a brush. It usually takes numerous applications of a wash, allowing drying time between each, to achieve the desired effect.<br>
<br>
If you use aqueous paints to paint the figure, it is easiest to use an oil-solvent based system for washes, since the wash solvent -usually mineral spirits- will not affect the underlying paint. the obverse is also true but with a caveat: aqueous solutions may bead up on a solvent-oil system, so the wash should be "doped" with a wetting agent. Some use soap, I prefer to use one of the surfactant cleaners such as "Fantastic" or "409."<br>
<br>
That being said, there are ways to use the same resin-solvent system for both base and wash:<br>
<br>
1. Use a sprayed on barrier coat. Commercial artists fixatives work well for this. So does *Future* acrylic floor "wax" (not a wax, at all, but rather a very strong, tough, crystal clear acrylic resin.) Both of these options are compatible with either an aqueous or a solvent based system.<br>
<br>
2. For aqueous washes on aqueous paint, mix ethyl or isopropyl alcohol with your wash water, somewhere in the range of 30 to 70 percent water, depending on the paints and the relative humidity. The idea, here, is to get the wash to dry rapidly, before it starts to dissolve the underlying paint. You will have to experiment with your particular paints, and vary the alcohol proportion depending on the humidity. Also, it is critical to allow the base paint to cure thoroughly using this technique. My wife has a "forced warm air" food desiccator that she allows me to use to speed the cure time from several days to one day or less.<br>
<br>
3. Use a dry wash made from artists pastels. This is by far the hardest and most labor intensive method, and it does not work well for figures smaller than 54 mm.<br>
<br>
<p>Salve,<br>
Triarius<br>
One of the pack, maybe. One of the herd, <i>NEVER!</I></p><i></i>
