Bones Rats and Mummies - Varnishing Experimental Subjects

[Pingo]

On 8/7/2017 at 2:32 AM, Grumpy Cave Bear said:

It's been about five months since this experiment was started, and I'm curious to know how it's going.

 

In fact, I had almost completely forgotten about it until now.  I just had a bad experience with using watered-down Liquitex airbrush medium as a wash medium on a Bones mini.  One piece of a multi part figure had a wash finish using the Liquitex medium, and had issues with tackiness and the paint rubbing off.  The other part was unwashed and had a bulletproof primer/paint finish.  I was looking up any references to Liquitex mediums giving problems with Reaper Bones minis, and came across this thread again.

 

So...  What's the prognosis so far, Pingo?

 

Actually it had been about seventeen months, cough.

 

The first combination I tried worked really well.  It was:

 

1. An isolation coat of Golden Self Leveling Clear Gel, thinned with about 25-35% water, brushed on very thinly with a medium round sable-type brush, any pooling excess wicked away with a clean just-damp brush and allowed to dry for one day. This layer should not be put on thickly and when dry the finish should be glossy and thin.

 

2. A varnish coat of Golden Polymer Varnish With UVLS (Matte). I cannot say for absolute certain how to thin it down, as my bottle is more than 20 years old and has acquired a thick texture. I have thinned it down just enough to brush easily, really a very small amount of water. The varnish is applied generously with a large round sable-type brush; it tends to foam if it is too watered down or laid on too meagerly. Any bits that have foamed can then be stroked out of cracks and crannies with a clean damp brush.  After about half an hour it should be obvious if any spots have been missed or need another layer. This dries, not quite to a dead matte, but to a velvety matte.

 

The combo worked so well I didn't end up trying other products.

 

These are the varnished Bones.  They do not feel sticky or waxy to the touch, which has happened with some other finishes. I used a flash on the photographs so you can see the lack of shine:

 

 

(Yes, I lost one rat at some point. It is still in my studio ... somewhere.   )

[Dr.Bedlam]

Wul, hell, looks like I need to see about some Golden Polymer Varnish With UVLS (Matte).

[Pingo]

14 hours ago, Dr.Bedlam said:

Wul, hell, looks like I need to see about some Golden Polymer Varnish With UVLS (Matte).

 

When I inquired at Golden about specialty painting media they sent me some tiny sample bottles. You might want to see if a small sample size is available to try before committing yourself too much.

[Dr.Bedlam]

54 minutes ago, Pingo said:

 

When I inquired at Golden about specialty painting media they sent me some tiny sample bottles. You might want to see if a small sample size is available to try before committing yourself too much.

 

Does one have to order the stuff, or is't available at craft stores and like that?

[Pingo]

6 minutes ago, Dr.Bedlam said:

 

Does one have to order the stuff, or is't available at craft stores and like that?

 

I know the big art supply houses carry it. The matte varnish is a little harder to find than the gloss, but Blick and Utrecht do have it. Michaels carries Golden’s general acrylic paints, but I am not certain it has their varnishes.