Shaking Paints

[Evilbob 67]

So, yeah. I haven't had a chance to paint in... According to my last forum post about 3 years. I want to say it can't possibly have been that long, but I know I haven't painted since we moved to Portland, and that's coming up on almost 2 years ago.

 

That brings me to my big question.

 

How many millions of hours do you think I'm going to have to shake my MSPs to get them remixed?

 

They have probably gotten both too hot & too cold in the tie they have been neglected so I am hoping they are still useable. Since one upon a time it was a full set.

[Bruunwald 3602]

I have paints far more ancient than that, that are still completely useable. I also have some that are fairly new and already headed to the trash.

 

If you say they have been exposed to too many elements... well, that could be bad.

 

Have any bbs or other tiny bits of metal? Putting them into the containers can really help the shaking process. Plus... you know, water or medium.

[Glitterwolf 207709]

Only way to know is to try. I think shaking and squeezing the bottle a bit. Maybe unclog the tip with a paperclip or something.

See what happens.

 

I have some ancient paint pots from citadel, some are still ok.

 

Now start painting and show your work.

Have you read up on the new Houses thing?

 

My guess is you make a perfect candidate for House Procastius

Edited September 27, 2015 by Xherman1964

[Kheprera 36863]

Don't worry.  I hadn't painted in about 8 or so years and my MSPs are totally usable.  Shake them well, though, and you might need to unclog.  Because of how the bottles are made, the MSPs haven't required a lot of work to get to flow.  Might get some distilled water just to add a drop or two, if needed.

 

My Reaper Pro Paints, however, are another story, and have required the purchase of a mortar and pestle.  So far I've managed to get this to work for me and am transferring them to dropper bottles as I get them usable again, but the paint-pots are now anathema to me.  From now on when I buy paint, if they aren't in dropper bottles they will be as soon as I get home.

[Wren 8381]

When you're shaking paints that have been sitting for quite a while, you might actually want to stir instead of just shake. Look for long plastic toothpicks at the grocery store, or swipe a bunch of plastic coffee stir sticks. (Do those still exist?) The green plastic plugs that Starbucks has to plug the hole in their to-go cups also work.

Carefully pry the dropper nib of the bottle upwards. Look in the dropper nib side. It is not uncommon for a glob of paint to get stuck up there. That smaller glob will dry out quicker than the main body of paint. If it's solidified, pry it out and discard it. If it's just goopy, you can scoop it out with your stirrer back into the main bottle area. Stir the paint in the bottle. I have been experimenting with making sure I can see that the hole in the dropper is open and all the paint has fallen back down before I recap a bottle to see if that helps prevent the gloopy glob problem. I probably need to experiment more scientifically to figure that out. ;->

If the paint in the bottle feels thick or is noticeably goopy, add water. Use an empty dropper bottle or an eyedropper or something. I use distilled water for this purpose because I have notably hard water in my area and I don't want to add gunk to my paint. Stir, then check the consistency again to see if you need more water.

You'll often need to add more drops of water than you think, but you don't want to add so much you want the paint to be runny. You want it to have a nice flow when you pick the bottle up and shake. If you have a store or want to buy a new bottle, compare the feel and aim for that when you resuscitate your paints. This is something you might need to do now and then even if you use your paints actively and store them well.

You'll also want to have something to unclog the dropper tips. Paint often dries over the tip. This isn't a bad thing, it will have helped the paint in your bottles keep fresher, but they won't work without unclogging. T-pins work well, or small diameter paperclips.

This is a messy job. You'll get paint on your hands, and you'll want to put something down on your table surface if you don't want paint on it, and you'll go through some paper towels. Once the paint is dry on your stirrers, you can reuse them easily.

If the bottles have been in cold enough that the paint froze, it may have curdled and I don't think there's any coming back from that. Also, you might want to buy a bottle or two of fresh paint so you can compare to your current paint and decide whether an older paint is working well enough to keep.

[ShadowRaven 56071]

Just to add to Wren. Yes, frozen paint is unrecoverable anything else, well according to the resident Goblin and hoarder of old paints, even if it is slightly liquidy still, you have a chance of survival. 

[Pingo 109316]

Buglips claims to have had success revivifying paint that had reached the "cheesecake" texture.

 

It appears that so long as they haven't been frozen and still have some moisture, many acrylic paints can be returned to a usable consistency.

[Dilvish the Deliverer 51282]

If you have bad wrists, you may want to try some kind of mechanical assist to your shaking.  I've got a Robart paint shaker which works ok.  Not long ago, someone, (Smokingwreckage perhaps?) was talking about repurposing a reciprocating saw as one.  Dull the blade and eith strap the bottle or a basket of bottles on the blade and shake away.

 

At the last NEMPA paint day, knarthax brought in so rigs for a drill to shake the bottle with.  He gave me one, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

 

I'll second the advice of adding water and giving it a try.  I've got some of the original batch of MSPs that are still going strong.  All I've done is add water when they start getting thick and shake the dickens out of them.

 

Good luck and happy painting!

[Qwyksilver 16622]

More importantly...

 

WELCOME BACK EVILBOB!!!

[knarthex 62054]

Yes welcome back!

 

But NO BBs!!!!!

 

They can react with the paint!

 

Thread here on agitators...

 

And I have a bunch of Polly S paints from the 80s and 90s that are still in use!

(They are in the safe to protect them from Little Orange paint hoarders...

 

8)

George

[Evilbob 67]

Everyone:

So I do have one bad wrist (stupid ice skating) so that's part of why I was wondering about how much I was going to have to shake. The stirring idea is awesome, and getting paint on me/things has never been a deterrent.

 

I don't think they ever got cold enough to freeze but I'm not positive. The paints I tested with last night seem to have survived. I need to find my 'tool' for unplugging bottles I got a zillion years ago from... Um... One of the forum guys at GenCon. The headpin I was using last night isn't quite thick enough for a good clean.

 

Xerman, is it really that obvious I belong in House Procrastius?

 

Qwyk, thanks. Hopefully it sticks this time. I have a friend who just moved up here who also like painting so we're going to try and have date-nights with minis and painting.

[Evilbob 67]

I did not know that about bbs, but it makes sense. I think a fair amount of my MSPs have little skulls in them.

[Laoke 3667]

There's been a couple of threads made around agitators and paint shakers over the past couple of years:

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/63492-agitators-for-paints/is the more recent of the agitator threads.  TLDR version:  6-8mm beads, ideally non-reactive:  I use hematite, others use glass, ceramic, lead, pewter, or lava beads.  All work fine.  Stay the hell away from reactive metals like steel, even stainless  will discolor paint eventually.

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/61284-shaking-bottles-of-paint/is the more recent of the paint shaker threads, but from the sound of it you've already got a shaker lined up.

 

3 years shouldn't be a problem assuming that the paint bottles are tightly sealed.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Laoke