Fighting the paint

[Lord Wehrmacht]

Is there any way to determine, easily without borking up a mini etc.. what is bad paint and what is not.

 

The reason I ask is that I seem to spend more of my time fighting the graininess of my paints than I do actually doing any sort of technique. Its getting to the point where I am seriously considering scrapping the whole damn thing till after the holiday and look to another vendor for paints. Im at the point where I cant tell from pot to pot if, when I put it on the mini, its going to grain up on me or not. Its not as though I have no idea how to thin paints. I can put down a very nice skin tone, wash the palette out, and try to put down a yellow or a green and BAM its a POS, which does me no good at all. The ONLY clue I get is that if it comes out thicker than other paints, in a glop say... then I might be fubar'd, until I put it on the mini its never a sure bet.

 

And god help me if I attempt to mix paint before testing out each bottle.

 

Honestly Im about to hang it up and go back to First person shooters... at least if I got someone dead center the bullet will hit.

[Joe Kutz]

Not sure what exactly is the cause of the graininess that you are dealing with, but if it is heat/cold related...thin a drop or two of paint out till it is nearly clear and you should see the grains (sometimes it is very obvious and you won't need to thin that much). No grains, good to go. Grainy, buy a new pot.

 

If it is a chemical reaction with an additive (kind of like milk curdling with the addition of vinegar), see whether or not you can figure out a cause of the graininess by painting it out on something fast and easy like some scrap plastic/metal. You can go through each additive one at a time to see if anyone is causing the problems (sometimes it ends up being two additives interacting and causing the problem and the paint is just fine).

 

One thing that I do with my big stuff paints (furniture/cabinet stains, varnishes, car paints...) is stick my finger in it after it is mixed up and rub it between two fingers. When the paint has turned on me, I can feel a bit of grit even when it is very fine. You might want to give that a go. Be aware that touching paints can cause bad stuff to happen (kids with three heads and what not ).

[Przemas]

what paints do you use?

guess you`ve tried watering them down on the palette?

addding soem glaze medium into the mix often helps.

if you use paints with eydropper bottles remove the dropper end, clean it, pluck it into the bottle again and shake the bottle for a minute. often a tad dried paint builds up in a dropper. each time you squeeze the bottle you don`t get fresh paint but the dried up one. if that`s the case cleaning should help.

[twjolson]

If you quit painting all together, can I have your unpainted mini's?

[Wren]

Is it possible that you're getting grittiness added from somewhere other than the paint? I had similar problems a few years back when I was experimenting with a wet palette and finally realized that it was partly dust/hair and partly me stirring up fibers from the palette sheet because I stirred mixed with a toothpick. I'm not saying that's the cause, just wondering if it's worth exploring if something outside of the paint is contributing to the problem.

[fieldarchy]

And he does have a wet palette, that may explain it Wren. I just stick with my ceramic flowers. They work just fine. Have to keep adding water to them if they start drying out but I haven't had any problems.

 

Try a dry palette if you haven't already. That may be part of the problem.

[Jubilee]

I find I have to be very, very careful about overthinning when I use a wet pallete, and too thin paint can look grainy, too..

[fieldarchy]

yes it can look very grainy. Heck, even using a dry palette if you add one more drop of water than what is needed it can get that grainy chalky look to it. I had that happen last night.

 

L-dub, just try using a dry palette for a bit if you have one. See if it's the amount of water you've been adding on the wet palette.

[Wren]

I know a lot of people love wet palettes and get great effects with them, but even after I figured out the toothpick thing I never did figure out how to get the paint to consistencies that worked for me. I'm a fan of ceramic palettes also.

[Angorak]

First of all...

If you're using a wet pallette NEVER use the pallette paper "designed" for them such as the Masterson's.

I started using the paper but switched really quick to a Reynolds Parchment paper. It maintains a surface the doesn't shed fibers.

Use a old brush instead of a toothpick...the rounded end of the handle works well and won't rough-up the pallette paper.

I'll never go back to using a non wet pallette.

[orcsoul]

I tried using parchment paper in my wet pallete but had a horrible time of a single air bubble that i couldn't for the life of me eliminate drying out, and bubbling up, and slowly but surely the majority of the parchment paper would become dried out and brittle.

[Angorak]

Ok orcsoul...that happened to me also and it was solved by soaking the sponge till it was just past saturated. The air bubbles are eliminated by using a pallette knife and working them out. If you cut the parchment paper and soak it in hot water first it lays flatter than if you just apply it dry to the wet pallette.

[Jubilee]

When I apply parchment paper to my pallete, I am too impatient to soak it first, so I usually end up 'flipping' it on the sponge about 3 times. I lay it flat, it curls up, I straighten and turn, it curls, repeat.. until it lays flat. Then I swipe the surface with a paper towel so the water drops don't interfere with my intended thinning.. :)

 

I have had the same problem with actual wet pallete paper as Angorak describes. I use baker's parchment paper instead. I use an old synthetic brush for mixing

 

/ali

[fieldarchy]

L-dub I talked to Anne at paint club yesterday about your paint issues. She said that it's really humid enough in Missouri that a wet palette isn't necessary and you should be fine with the ceramic flowers. Usually people use the wet palettes in really dry climates I guess. Though I never used one in AZ though it was dry.

[Vaitalla]

To somewhat correct Meg...she brought up your issue and I said, "Wow, why do they even need a wet palette?" I am not a proponent of them but of course to keep paint wet for long periods of time or if you get pulled away from your painting table a lot they are very useful.

 

I am with the people who say try a dry palette for a bit, *just* so you can see if it's actually the paint. If you thin the paint in a , clean, dry palette and have the same issues with graining, chances are you may have gotten a frozen or bad-batch bottle. If it's several bottles it could still be a freezing issue if they were ordered all at the same time.

 

Anyhoo, please update and let us know how your experiments are progressing, because of course if you have bad paint Reaper will replace it.

 

--Anne