Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

A few weeks ago I read somewhere in the forums a guy having problems with the smell of his GW washes. I thought "Hey, mine smells okay. Maybe that person's just sensitive to certain kinds of smell." Fast forward to last week: I stocked up on Devlan Mud, Gryphonne Sepia and Badab Black even though I still have some of my old washes. I opened them up and it was like... WHOA. How can I describe it? It smells like cat pee mixed with cat poo and cat vomit, with extra amounts of beer barf and hellfire. I can almost hear the whispers of dying children while the fumes filled my painting room. It smells like rotting soul. The man who cleans sewers for a living will be forever haunted by the smell of my new washes. If the tears of the damned has a scent, this would be it.

So if there are chemistry buffs out there, do you have an idea what ingredients GW uses for their washes or if they have changed some part of the recipe? I compared the scent of the new and old and they are vastly different. My theory is that they are using a new pigment: powdered charred bones of serial killers or hair of hellhounds. I don't know. It's bothering if your studio is an enclosed space and... well, you get the idea.

I bought badab black about a month ago and it kinda smells like mashed up peanuts, really bloody odd. Doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as your wash...

I spray deodorant inside the bottle, it doesn't affect the wash at all, if that is what your looking for...

My friend commisioned me to paint his SM captain, I used quite alot of washes, after handing it back to him I dared him to smell it. He did. He then placed the model on the desk and took a step back! I said the good old (and not to mention childish) "no Givesies Backsies"

I installed an automatic air freshener to stop the smell of glue and washes, it is awesome!!

I am saving onto my last of Black Ink, yes, that's right, the old GW ink.

The new washes stink worse then...the dead cat that was at the bottom of someones pool I cleaned once.
What is with GW and smells? The glue, the washes...their price rises...

The smells vary I think.

Local GW Store once found a pot of Badab Black.

We opened it.

Half the store left to vomit. The thing was...my god. We had to convince the manager to known loss a new one simply because using that was a punishment!

That's what I'm curious about: why do the smells vary?

I think it depends on the batch or possibly even the age of the pot.

Perhaps they go off or something?

Some of my washes I have actually smell nice, but the new Devlan mud and Badab black I bought a couple days ago smell really bad. I have no Idea how the smells can vary so much. I'm curious too.

My red is the one that always makes me feel like I am painting in a toilet.

I think they go off. My washes smelled great when I bought them, the weekend they came out. The ones I still have now stink like stangnant pond water.

Yukkers.

Badab black is awful, expecially if old or mixed with water.

My gryphonne sephia smells like coffee mixed with peanuts, not bad!

I quite like the smell of the washes.

None of my washes smell...I hope I don't get a bad pot, because I paint in a corner of my basement, not exactly well ventilated

I've had a set of washes for over a year, used them alot, never noticed a smell...

Mine usually smell like peanuts and coffee - while not the most decent smell, it's not too bad. And it's still better than the turpentine I use for the big brushes in the garage

Well, as a Fine Arts graduate I have spent years indirectly smelling different painting mediums: turpentine, acrylics that for some reasons smell like the plagues, what resin smells like when you don't have a mask on, what superlue would smell like if it dropped INSIDE your nose, etc.

The pots I've got are the worse ones by far. You are lucky if you don't get those foul-smelling ones.

I have an old flesh wash that smells pretty awful. Nothing like the OP said (that was hilarious btw) but still, bad enough if I use it, Ive got both windows open, the ceiling fan on and it still is a full arms reach away. Its not pleasant

My delvin mud... more like butt mud...
Haven't opened this pot of badab black yet

I've only used Devlan Mud, Gryphonne Sepia, Asurmen Blue and Badab Black, and out of those 4 only Devlan borders on funky. Asurmen smells chemical, like you'd expect paint to smell, but my Devlan smells a bit like soy beans. Maybe it is some form of soy ink? Particularly smelly pots might be the result of some residual organic matter not being filtered away and left to ferment?

My calthan brown foundation smells like walnut puree concentrate, slightly odd, not terrible. My thraka green wash smells like overpowering mint licorice for some reason. Black and mud have no scent in my pots.

My local painting expert/store owner mentioned that there had been a bad batch of washes. at first i thought my dog had craped under my desk, turned out ot be my devlan mud. they are not suposed to smell like that and so far from the local experiances goes away once the wash dries.

i now paint in my priming booth the fans suck the smell away right quick

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

I actually logged on to D.D. this evening to search out a thread from ages ago about stinky washes! Then saw this new thread. . .

My Thraka Green has "turned." I opened it this evening and got the horrible smell. It was OK about 2 months ago, but my Devlan Mirickle smelt bad then. Had 2 batches of smelly Devlan Mirikle, but not black yet. . .

Acrylic paints, depending on what's used for pigment, can start growing things. The requirement that they not poison us has the unfortunate side effect that it also no longer poisons a lot of other things. Nothing ever grew in a nice cadmium yellow lacquer.

I work in a theatre, and on a fairly regular basis we'll open some old can of paint and be faced with a sanity-crushing smell. You think a two ounce pot is bad, try to imagine a 5-gallon bucket going off. The worst I saw was a 5-gallon bucket of black that had a 1/4" thick mat of mold on top. The head scenic artist just told me to stir it "extra thoroughly" and get to work.

So they turn.... like ZOMBIES???