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.

Hey all,

Well, I have been looking into buying a set of Vallejo Pigments, as I am really wanting to get into serious, detailed weathering effects. What I have not found anywhere is, what are the safety protocols to observe when using said pigments?

I am asking, as, in the course of a conversation with an artist friend of mine. I asked him if he had any experience with pigments before, as I was looking to get into them for weathering my beloved toy soldiers. He simply looked at my like I was crazy, and told me bluntly that dry pigment is so dangerous that even he won't use it, and he works with cadmium-laced paints! When I told him that they are non-toxic, he said that he wouldn't trust them to be non-toxic. He also said that standard protocol for using dry pigment was to use a glass box, with big thick gloves built into the sides of the box. He also said that these same boxes are also hooked up to a special exhaust system that sucks up any loose powder!

So, should I be worried? Or is he just being really weird?

_Tim?

I think he's thinking of a different kind of pigment. Vallejo and Mig pigments are just ground up pastels.

If they were such a hazard, they would be much harder to acquire.

That being said, you shouldn't snort pigments like a line of cocaine.

aerethan wrote:I think he's thinking of a different kind of pigment. Vallejo and Mig pigments are just ground up pastels.

If they were such a hazard, they would be much harder to acquire.

That being said, you shouldn't snort pigments like a line of cocaine.

\

Wasn't planning on snorting the stuff! Thanks for the clarification; I was worried for a minute there that I might have to steal my way into a nuclear plant to get my hands on a airtight, exhaust enabled, box.

_Tim?

I'll second aerethan. My painting instructor loved to regail us with stories of how toxic the pigments we were working with were. Some pretty nasty things are used to make actual paint pigments. Vallejo probably don't actually sell real pigments, if for no other reason than that they would be incredibly expensive.

I agree - if they would be THAT dangerous, you just couldn't get a hold of them so easily.

Maybe your friend was too cheap and made his own pigments out of depleted uranium? ;-)

Cheers,


IK-Painter