Holes in my chain mail/maille

[72moonglum]

Hello all you talented Reaper painters! A question:  when you're painting chain mail and you think you'd gotten all those teeny weeny holes filled in, only to take pictures and find that after you think you've totally finished those holes still show up, what do you do? Do you get frustrated? Do you keep painting?  Or do you just accept it and move on?  I'm painting Lord Soth, foot and mounted and the chainmail that the horse is using as armor feels like there's lots of holes still, but I don't know, especially now if I can really fill them without having to do it all over again.

 

 

Not the greatest of pictures, but this will definitely give you an idea. Is this good enough?  my though it to actually put this one out on Ebay to sell raising more money for Michael Noe's wife.

 

When I look at it too, after I've reduced the photo, it doesn't look quite as bad as its original two thousand something by two thousand something pixels. And of course the miniature itself is even harder to notices minuscule little holes.   

 

Please let me know what you think on the subject of holes!

[Inarah]

This is where a wash or an ink can really come in handy.  When I am painting something like this I use a slightly thinned paint at first, to get into all the tiny holes.  A little more water on the brush is usually enough.  After you've brushed on the silver, a wash with black ink can help cover any places where it got obscured. 

 

[R2ED]

@72moonglumI hate chainmail too. Hate it. 

 

I've tried washes and inks. 

drybrush.

Painting in, then highlighting. 

 

There is no hope for chain mail.  It is the devils work.

[72moonglum]

4 hours ago, Inarah said:

This is where a wash or an ink can really come in handy.  When I am painting something like this I use a slightly thinned paint at first, to get into all the tiny holes.  A little more water on the brush is usually enough.  After you've brushed on the silver, a wash with black ink can help cover any places where it got obscured. 

 

I’ve used a lot of washes on this figure, plus the base coat of everything to start out was more black paint, but there just seems to be something that makes it so hard to get paint, no matter how thin, into those itty bitty holes.

2 hours ago, R2ED said:

@72moonglumI hate chainmail too. Hate it. 

 

I've tried washes and inks. 

drybrush.

Painting in, then highlighting. 

 

There is no hope for chain mail.  It is the devils work.

Good to know I’m not the only one….

[Mad Jack]

 

 Micron pen, maybe? I dunno, how small do those pens go?

 

[alchemist]

For this sort of thing I have found that adding some flow aid to your wash in order to reduce surface tension can be helpful in getting it into the holes.

[TaleSpinner]

I paint them with thinned MSP Liner and a fine point brush, poking in one hole at a time.  Almost any other method will cause an air bubble to form in the holes as the brush passes over the top of the hole, keeping the paint out.  The other method that works is careful, straight on airbrush application, using light 10-25% spray, but you are beyond that on this piece.

 

[72moonglum]

5 hours ago, Mad Jack said:

 

 Micron pen, maybe? I dunno, how small do those pens go?

 

Don't know if they'd be small enough to fit in those holes and I'd hope there would be a better solution than poking them one by one.

3 hours ago, alchemist said:

For this sort of thing I have found that adding some flow aid to your wash in order to reduce surface tension can be helpful in getting it into the holes.

Might have to invest in some flow aid, only thing I've ever used until now is just water.

2 hours ago, TaleSpinner said:

I paint them with thinned MSP Liner and a fine point brush, poking in one hole at a time.  Almost any other method will cause an air bubble to form in the holes as the brush passes over the top of the hole, keeping the paint out.  The other method that works is careful, straight on airbrush application, using light 10-25% spray, but you are beyond that on this piece.

 

That and I don't have an airbrush!

 

I was trying to get some really thinned down black paint and forcing it into the holes, but htat seemingly had pretty limited results as well.

[chaosscorpion]

I can see what your concern is for the piece.

 

My method for chain mail is to base coat in a tan. Wash it all with black, and then dry brush it with silver or steel.   But as TaleSpinner pointed out you are beyond this now.  I'd take a fine pointed brush and dot the holes with thinned dark paint.

 

Good luck Moonglum can't wait to see the finished pieces.

[MojoBob]

A spirit-based black or sepia oil wash (white spirit or turpentine if it's going on over acrylics; don't use alcohol) flooded on rather than brushed, will flow into all those little holes. Just put the tip of a loaded brush against the surface somewhere about the middle of the area you want to wash, and let it all flow off the brush. Then, if need be, you can move the wash around a bit with the tip of the brush — don't drag the brush around. You want the wash to flow into the holes pretty much of its own accord; if you drag the brush over the surface, it will tend to create bubbles in the holes and you're back where you started.

 

When the wash has dried a bit, you can wipe off any excess with a cotton bud slightly dampened with the spirit. There should be just enough spirit on it so that it's not completely dry; you just want to be taking excess paint off the highlights, not reactivating the wash as a whole.

 

You can probably over-varnish with an acrylic clear-coat after leaving the wash to dry properly for a day or two, but it probably wouldn't be completely necessary.

 

AK Interactive (and various other modeling paint manufacturers) make ready-made enamel washes, but it's very easy to make your own with oil paint and a thinning spirit.

Edited February 24 by MojoBob

[72moonglum]

9 hours ago, chaosscorpion said:

I can see what your concern is for the piece.

 

My method for chain mail is to base coat in a tan. Wash it all with black, and then dry brush it with silver or steel.   But as TaleSpinner pointed out you are beyond this now.  I'd take a fine pointed brush and dot the holes with thinned dark paint.

 

Good luck Moonglum can't wait to see the finished pieces.

I’m thinking they are almost finished. I think I’m going to see if there is something I can try again tomorrow with the holes and if not, I’m done

[72moonglum]

So I worked about two hours this morning with a black wash (mix of water and Reaper Pure Black) and with the smallest paint brush I own started filling holes, hole by hole. I think I’m going to do it again tomorrow as well for a few hours and then give up. We’ll see how it turns out and if there is any improvement!

Edited February 25 by 72moonglum

[Glitterwolf]

Step 1- basecoat in black

Step 2 - paint metallics

Step 3 - was with armor wash

Touching up with black ink

[cmorse]

Tamiya panel liner would make short work of it.

[DocPiske]

You could try a thinned oil paint wash. "Paint" a light layer of odorless spirits over the are first, and then apply the black oil wash. Once it has cured for 20-30 minutes you can go back in with a cotton swab or a clean brush dipped in spirits to tidy up. Acrylic paints should not be reactivated by the spirits if they are fully cured, but if you used an enamel clear top coat it might.