twjolson Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much soap to add to water; say for a cup of water or a liter or whatever? And yes I know about other things other then soap to do this job, but I'm not asking about those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkstar Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 For water to soap ratio...to prevent splotchiness... Just a minute amount should do the trick. Try this experiment to help "wrap your mind" around the concept. Once you see this in effect, then you might understand. Take a brushfull of raw acrylic paint. Lay it down on your palette from your brush. Now, take 5 brushfulls of water and add them to your paint on the palette. You should have a nice, milky paint puddle. Now, dip a #1 brush into a drop of dish soap. Place that amount of soap into your paint mix. Marvel as the paint flows and is moved by the molecular change. If you really want your surface tension to go away, try yoga...I hear that's great for tension! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe the Painter Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 1 part future floor finish to 3-4 parts water works well too, as does retarder. Never had luck with soap. I can use much thinner washes as well. A new favorite retarder is Createx Airbrush retarder. Works like a charm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastman Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much soap to add to water; say for a cup of water or a liter or whatever? And yes I know about other things other then soap to do this job, but I'm not asking about those. depends on what you are trying to clean. Simple Green has nice dilution ratios for all kinds of things - carpet cleaning, glass, etc. As for something to add to paint or inks (especially for washes) buy some acrylic flow release. It is available at art supply stores and some craft supply stores as well (I found some in my local Michael's while looking for Pink Soap brush cleaner, but no one there could find it when I was there actually trying to buy some a few months earlier. There are several brands to choose from - W&N, Golden, liquitex, etc. Soap is not made to go into paint, and therefore will probably have all kinds of unintended side effects - the severity of which will be directly proportional to how satified you were with the paint job up until that moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted December 13, 2004 Reaper User Share Posted December 13, 2004 This is beyond weird, because I was just doing some research for the Reaper Painting Guide (it's only a rumor, mind you, might not happen at all, but if it does happen it might be showing up sometime toward the end of 2005...but you didn't hear me say that, can't prove a thing, really.), and I came across this weird fact... Actually, soap *is* meant to go into paint. Well, okay, not really. But (here's your useless trivia fact for the day), surfactants (which are a major ingrediant in soaps and cleansers) are what are used to get pigments with different chemical properties to bind together--like, if two different minerals and an organic compound make artists' Prussian Blue, surfactants are what make those compounds play nicely instead of resisting contact. So it's not surprising, in that light, that dish soap makes an okay flow improver if you can't get the other stuff--it's the surfactants in it that break the surface tension. Flow improvers, I suspect, are surfactants without all the additional junk that goes into dish soap added. It's the additional junk (colorants, sudsing agents, perfumes) that go into dish soap that keep it from being ideal, but okay in a pinch. My brain is full, I'm gonna stop now, it's too early in the morning for chemistry on the Painting forum. --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastman Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 Before I learned about the wonders of Simple Green, I used to use Dawn dishwashing liquid to strip acrylic paint. Based on the way that turned the paint into a gummy mess, I wouldn't want it in the paint to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted December 14, 2004 Reaper User Share Posted December 14, 2004 Heh, I wouldn't want it directly in my paint, either...usually a drop or three in the paint water will suffice. --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwawl Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 Flow improvers, I suspect, are surfactants without all the additional junk that goes into dish soap added. It's the additional junk (colorants, sudsing agents, perfumes) that go into dish soap that keep it from being ideal, Flow Aids are indeed surfactants without all the extra junk you find in soaps and detergents. I never could figure why people are so rersistant to using products specifically designed for painting. I'd rather use Flow Aid than dishsoap and Glossy/Matte Medium than Future. Strange, eh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Porsenna Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 What's wrong with Future? Its an acrylic clearcoat. It doesn't matter if you put it on your floors or your mini, it still does the same job. Besides, some of the top modellers in the plastic model hobby use Future in their projects. UNless you're talking about using Future as an additive to washes or paints, at which point I agree. Damon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cade Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 UNless you're talking about using Future as an additive to washes or paints, at which point I agree. I think he was. For awhile, it became very popular to add a little future to your thinning mixture and for washes to help reduce surface tension. It acted very much like a flow improver, but not as good are a real flow improver, IMO. Why do people do this? I guess it would be to save money. Future is very cheap. Dish Soap is cheap too and most people already have it in there house, so they don't have to go out and buy. I understand saving money when and where you can, but at the same time many flow improvers are pretty cheap. I think you can pick up a Folk Art flow improver for like $1. I can't really comment on how effective Future is as a top coat. As a floor shine and protectant, I'm not sure it was designed to be permanent, but maybe. My only issue is it is may to shiny. I'd have to spend a lot of time putting Dull Cote on to get it flat. Since I don't have an airbrush, I'd have to hand paint the future. It's just easier for me to use sprays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Porsenna Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 I can't really comment on how effective Future is as a top coat. As a floor shine and protectant, I'm not sure it was designed to be permanent, but maybe. My only issue is it is may to shiny. I'd have to spend a lot of time putting Dull Cote on to get it flat. Since I don't have an airbrush, I'd have to hand paint the future. It's just easier for me to use sprays. Future can be removed using Ammonia. Unfortunately, that'll probably remove the paint too, or do bad things to it (like react with the pigments, etc). As far as permanency goes, its an Acrylic clearcoat...it's about as permanent as such products from Polly Scale, Testors, GW, Reaper, etc. Since I switched from using Testors Glosscote in the can to Future I find less instances of paint rubbing off...very tough stuff! Very airbrush friendly too, which was a major factor for me. I personally use the shinyness to my advantage, leaving things such as plate armor and metals glossy while dulling other areas. Plus it provides a visual reference so I know the figure is fully coated or not. Finally, if you use decals they should always be applied over a glossy surface. Damon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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