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Joined: 2008/11/05 00:39:17
Location: San Diego, CA USA
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EDIT!!! The store is back online. But I will leave the recipe online for the community. Thanks for the support Dakka!-Les
I'm posting this to the public to "spit" in the face of the person that reported my product. I hope my efforts in testing inspire others to find cheaper alternatives to save our community money. With the prices of models and other things not easily replaced, the hobby is expensive and we should share what we can. -Les
All I ask is give me credit where credit is due if you decide to spread the word.
All recipes use 1 oz bottles. Adjust to whatever size you decide to go with.
Preparation:
*Fill 1 filler bottle with Matte Medium, the other with a 10:1 Distilled Water and Flow Aid.
*Fill the 1oz Dropper Bottle half way with Matte Medium then fill the rest of the way with the Water/Flow Aid mix leaving a little room for the ink drops so you dont over flow.
Every bottle uses this combination to start with.
*Shake inks well before adding them to the mix.
Tailoring Washes to your liking:
-DARKEN-LIGHTEN: add or subtract drops from the recipe (duh lol)
-THICKEN WASH: Change the 1:1 medium and water mix to have more matte medium than water i.e. 60% medium 40% water
-THIN WASH: Opposite of above, more water than medium in mix.
Experimenting with MIXES and Custom Colors:
This took time and money to get things right in the recipe. The best advice I can give you is "write it down". Have a little notebook just for mixes. Write the medium/water ratios and drops of ink (each color if it's a combo). The number of colors you can come up with are limitless.
Colors:
My mixes will give you a starting point and you can customize to your liking from there.
Soft Body Black: 20 drops Black
Heavy Body Black: 60 drops Black
Parchment: 40 Drops Flesh Tint
Flesh Wash: 40 Drops Burnt Umber
Dark Sepia: 40 Drops Sepia
Blue: 40 Drops Rowney Blue
Green: 40 Drops Dark Green
Purple: 40 Drops Purple Lake
You can mix the ink colors to make infinate amounts of custom colors for your own purpose. Never buy washes with limited color choices. You now have the recipe to the most flexible wash production that you can do at home.
Well! This is a most unexpected turn of events! For, is it the fifth time, now?
"In case you ever read this, here is how the whole thing works: before civilisation, the weak and old and disabled were left out at night to feed the wolves. Civilisation basically means giving natural selection a kick in the nuts. Work out the details for yourself."
Joined: 2008/11/05 00:39:17
Location: San Diego, CA USA
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WingWong wrote:No idea what's gone on with your stuff bro but another awesomely useful guide.
I wonder what the GB equivs are? Anyone have any ideas?
Also, could you just use normal paints for this?
Normal paints are only good for simple washes as you can thin them and make transparent but only to a point. A real wash is ink or dye. So no to using paint for this. The ink you are looking for in your area should be acrylic based non-toxic and water proof. You can try it but I only know what works for me.
gretar wrote:Lbursley , i cant find the type of inks your using . So im just gonna ask , if i use any ink , is it ok aslong as it is water proof ?
Sure these are guidelines to start with. If you find an awesome ink that works for you great! I just provided the info and products I used.
LunaHound wrote:How do you get reported for making washes? whats there to report about , or to who?
I mean its not like washes are a specialty item created ONLY by GW o_o . i dont get it.
In the US if you look at the bottle of GW of Vallejo paint you will see 1 or 2 markings from ACMI and conforms to ASTDM ######. There are federal guidelines for arts and crafts products. Legal labeling etc. I cost lots of money and every product, every color, needs to be sent to a scientist to get tested. If you sell to the public without following the rules, all it takes is a phone call and you will be shut down. But there are many that do not follow, like DIDI's magic ink from the warstore, wonderwash, and my pigment supplier. NOT LEGAL. Like not paying taxes, it may take years to find you but when they do.... I was just unlucky and someone made the call on me.
ACMI Controls it all and are backed by Federal Law
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/10/19 00:38:22
Joined: 2008/12/09 02:54:51
Location: Where Angels fear to tread
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LBursley wrote:
In the US if you look at the bottle of GW of Vallejo paint you will see 1 or 2 markings from ACMI and conforms to ASTDM ######. There are federal guidelines for arts and crafts products. Legal labeling etc. I cost lots of money and every product, every color, needs to be sent to a scientist to get tested. If you sell to the public without following the rules, all it takes is a phone call and you will be shut down. But there are many that do not follow, like DIDI's magic ink from the warstore, wonderwash, and my pigment supplier. NOT LEGAL. Like not paying taxes, it may take years to find you but when they do.... I was just unlucky and someone made the call on me.
ACMI Controls it all and are backed by Federal Law
Is this something to do with toxic stuff in paints for example , and us licking our paint brush xD
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/10/19 00:50:09
Joined: 2008/11/05 00:39:17
Location: San Diego, CA USA
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yeah.. I understand the reason ACMI exists. To protect the public. But as someone who makes washes in a garage, the buy-in for becoming a member is high. $500 to start, minimum $750 annual dues which may rise if you sell a lot, and each color and product has to be sent in for testing at a rate of $225 per hour. yeah....
My biggest question would be how many drops are in each bottle of ink? I'd like to give this a try and would like to figure out how much money will make X number of washes.
Quick math gave me an estimated cost of $.80 US per unit of any soft body wash if you make them in batches of 50 at a time, and the initial startup cost would be around $42 which would include the first 50 units. If people want to do this, I'd recommend getting together with your gaming groups to pool money for it, which will bring individual cost way down and will prevent you from having boat loads of overstock.
There are 38 colors of that particular acrylic ink, and just by looking at them I can see tons of options in colors that are not available from anyone out there right now.
Les you are a god among gamers.
Here's my summary of costs:
32oz Liquitex Matte Medium $13.78
4oz Liquitex FLow Aid $4.23
4oz Plastic Filler Bottles x2 $1.62
Daler Rowney Acrylic Inks $3.99 ea
1oz Dropper Bottle $.17
dropper spout $.11
dropper cap$.09
Each 1oz Bottle Costs $.37
32oz of medium will make 64 units
1 bottle of ink will make ~50 units
50 bottles will cost $18.5
Cost is ~ $.80 per bottle of finished product
full inkset makes 1900 units
cost of full inkset $151.62
1900 dropper bottles $627
15 gallons of Medium $536.55
95 oz of Flow Aid $101.52
15 gallons Diluted Water $15
8oz Filler bottle x2 $2.86
Initial Overhead pre labelling $1434.55
Cost per unit of soft body washes $.76
So many edits.
A note that 20 drops of ink is ~ $.05 so heavy body washes would add another $.10 to their cost making them $.90 per finished unit.
Blizzard charges $3.70 for .4 oz. Les was charging what? $2 for more than twice the product.
Whoever reported him is a douchebag and it only hurts the community as a whole. The products are clearly made with items that are all approved by ACMI or whoever. It's not like he was adding lead dust or radioactive waste into them.
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2009/10/19 05:20:23
LBursley wrote:yeah.. I understand the reason ACMI exists. To protect the public. But as someone who makes washes in a garage, the buy-in for becoming a member is high. $500 to start, minimum $750 annual dues which may rise if you sell a lot, and each color and product has to be sent in for testing at a rate of $225 per hour. yeah....
Blah, 10 seconds of research told me these guys aren't even a Federal bureau. That's a shame that a trade group is expected to know what'll protect the public, but what can you do? I guess it does explain why most washes are about $3.70 a bottle, though, doesn't it?
Thanks for the recipe; I'll be sure to give it a try (and check out your website a good bit)
Thank You for sharing Les. I've been needing some serious work on my washes. I've been mixing acrylic paint and water and just recently tried mixing with glazing medium, it works okay.
I'd still buy the pre-mixed stuff from you. Technically the stuff you use to mix your product had been approved previously for the public. So the combination of said ingredients do not constitute a danger, IMO.
M: "You are the universe, alpha and omega, the beast with a thousand young, do what thou whilt shall be the whole of the law. NOW GO FORTH AND MUTILATE!!"
"Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the Death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw upon your bones. Look out! Samus is here."
Joined: 2005/10/31 03:37:43
Location: Chicago, IL
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Any recommendation to make the wash "stickier"? The example photos show how the wash can line and evenly tint the figures. I would like to seen an uneven tint, with the recesses broadly shading the area on the figure.
aerethan wrote:
Blizzard charges $3.70 for .4 oz. Les was charging what? $2 for more than twice the product.
I think you're confusing your gigantic, market cornering corporations here. Unless Blizz got in on the acrylic paints scene recently while they continue to push back their computer game release dates.
Blarglord wrote:Technically the stuff you use to mix your product had been approved previously for the public. So the combination of said ingredients do not constitute a danger, IMO.
That's actually a point of contention by ACMI. I was talking with Les about this and we went over much the same, their claim is that you might unwittingly combine benign ingredients that could potentially become caustic or toxic and that without scientific evaluation you can't legally say they are safe.
While much of ACMI sounds 'gotcha', I completely understand the need, though think it's a bit overstepping itself when it comes to selling materials with labeling that would say it's not been tested and is not for use by children.
@ grey_death
The products he uses are already made to mix together, that is the point of buying paint additives in the first place.
I believe it even states on the additives that they are able to mix with other additives and acrylics safely.
IMO, I think another company sent a spy out and a little small biz espionage took place.
M: "You are the universe, alpha and omega, the beast with a thousand young, do what thou whilt shall be the whole of the law. NOW GO FORTH AND MUTILATE!!"
"Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the Death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw upon your bones. Look out! Samus is here."
aerethan wrote:
Blizzard charges $3.70 for .4 oz. Les was charging what? $2 for more than twice the product.
I think you're confusing your gigantic, market cornering corporations here. Unless Blizz got in on the acrylic paints scene recently while they continue to push back their computer game release dates.
I was totally playing World of Warcraft when I wrote that.
Joined: 2007/06/17 06:02:28
Location: Allentown, PA or Herndon, VA
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Thanks for sharing these recipes man. This is a really great resource for people looking to experiment with their own colors and mixes.
On the theory of government side, the only reason these industry groups exist is to pay off the government to make them the official regulatory group, from which point they can prevent competition from small upstarts like Mr Bursley here. The root of the problem is that we (in the big, collective, none of us were likely alive then sense) decided at some point that we needed the government to protect us from buying products we might misuse and hurt ourselves with. The government has sold that power, and it is now used to keep those who can't afford ~3000$ per product from offering any sort of inexpensive products unless they can expect to sell enough volume to cover those barriers. Just so some idiot will be less likely to give their kids paint to drink instead of Kool-Aid.
Come on now, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Woad on Celts blog "I'm sick of auto-penetrating attacks against my behind!" - Kungfuhustler
I'd blame the rent-seekers and politicians who made it a law in the first place.
The Emperor doesn't seem to do much for you but you sure are expected to be mutilated, suffer, and die to make him happy. And is he dead or what? If he's entombed that would mean he's dead as a doornail, right? So, how can he be happy about anything you do, or even give orders to anyone? Are you worshipping the dead now? Is that something you'd really want to do? Because it sounds freaking creepy to me.
Joined: 2008/11/05 00:39:17
Location: San Diego, CA USA
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TempusCorvus wrote:Can you use these washes without priming the model, or is the primer necessary? And if so, will it work with black primer, or is white preferable?
-Wash without primer might be hard.
- The purpose of wash is to shade details and black is as dark as it gets so...
M: "You are the universe, alpha and omega, the beast with a thousand young, do what thou whilt shall be the whole of the law. NOW GO FORTH AND MUTILATE!!" 
:3000 +
Fantasy: Gettin Started 
Unless Blizz got in on the acrylic paints scene recently while they continue to push back their computer game release dates.
9000+
2000+
2400+ 