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More of a warning than anything, to those who arnt getting the effect they want with gw washes


The most simple and effective way to use them i have discovered is to ALWAYS thin them down so its roughly 1 part water and 1 part wash (1:1) , although they are already very liquid it is extremely important that you do thin them down or they will often pool and create streaks which is anything from subtle!

If your wishing to create very dark shadows with washes or simply create a darker look please PLEASE just use another coat of the thinned mix over this first as this will then make the wash darker, thus making the effect much better than just putting a whole load on in one go. You also need to wait until the first layer of the wash is fully dried before adding the second or will will simply become the same as adding one thick coat. ( i often hold my model close to my painting light which emits quite a bit of heat and so greatly speeds up the drying of any wash or paint i have used)

Hope this helps anyone new to washes or having trouble with them!

Happy washing

This. Washes are very obvious to point out on a model of you don't do this or similar techniques.

Depends on what I'm going for, and what wash it is. Asurmen blue often needs to be thinned, but the rest can be applied straight for a noticeable effect. If I want to change the color, but leave the look of it alone, I'll thin them down, to about 2:1 water to wash.

Thinning is reserved for special jobs, honestly.

JESUS CHRIST! Im supposed to thin the things

Now when i apply badab black my marines don't look SUPER DIRTY.

Thank you very much.

One way to eliminate the problem of streaking and over pooling is to use matte medium or glazing medium mixed with water in a 3:1 ratio instead of straight water.

Glazing medium allows the pigment to remain suspended over the entirety of the coat and allows you to glaze the model with sheer coats of filtering color. Allowed to build up, they will subtly increase the amount of color on the areas they are applied to.

Matte medium helps maintain the same consistency of the wash, but simply dilutes the amount of color deposited the same way water would.

I just control how much wash is on my brush and the direction of my brush stroke to put the wash where i want it, I wouldn't personally thin gw washes.

It also really depends on how you are applying the washes. If you are covering a model from head to toe with Devlan Mud, you don't really need to thin them down as you shouldn't be getting lines in the wash. If you are washing specific areas only, say a cloak, then thinning down is clearly needed.

Also thinning will give you more subtle effects than using them straight of course, which is useful for doing armor shading with Badab Black.

Everytime I add water to my washes, I get a coat of white powdery stuff on the mini after it drys. Do I need to use distilled water then? I thought the washes may be hydrophobic a bit or something and not mix well with water. But this sounds like my water is bad, if the rest of you guys can thin the washes down without trouble.

Hmmm sounds like your having issues with your water, i would try using some distilled water (you can just leave some water out for about 48 hours this normally does the trick to get rid of most of the harmfull stuff) you can buy fully distilled water for very cheap too.

Or check your brush for any residue before painting and give them a good clean, and check the age of the wash also as sometimes they can go a bit off when they get very old.

hope any of this helps

Didnt thinned my badab black on my boltgun metal, was great.

Didnt tinned my badab blaxck on my skull white (what do now? repaint white all over then rewash? I am afraid to lose too many details as it is the skull mask of my Krieg Grenadiers)

So far unthinned Devlan mud on Dhened Stone is alright, but I worked badly, so I'll have to redo it properly.

Bobthehero wrote:Didnt thinned my badab black on my boltgun metal, was great.

Didnt tinned my badab blaxck on my skull white (what do now? repaint white all over then rewash? I am afraid to lose too many details as it is the skull mask of my Krieg Grenadiers)

So far unthinned Devlan mud on Dhened Stone is alright, but I worked badly, so I'll have to redo it properly.

somewhere in here is English. I just can't find it.

Aerethan wrote:

Bobthehero wrote:Didnt thinned my badab black on my boltgun metal, was great.

Didnt tinned my badab blaxck on my skull white (what do now? repaint white all over then rewash? I am afraid to lose too many details as it is the skull mask of my Krieg Grenadiers)

So far unthinned Devlan mud on Dhened Stone is alright, but I worked badly, so I'll have to redo it properly.

somewhere in here is English. I just can't find it.

Here in Canada not everyone is a native speaker of English, especially if they are from Québec.(If you read his other post's you'll find out he's from Motreal). It's not very polite to insult one's proficiency with a second language.

Aerethan wrote:

Bobthehero wrote:Didnt thinned my badab black on my boltgun metal, was great.

Didnt tinned my badab blaxck on my skull white (what do now? repaint white all over then rewash? I am afraid to lose too many details as it is the skull mask of my Krieg Grenadiers)

So far unthinned Devlan mud on Dhened Stone is alright, but I worked badly, so I'll have to redo it properly.

somewhere in here is English. I just can't find it.

@ Aerethan if you dont have anything usefull to say dont say it at all.


And @ Bob Try thinning down your skull white then giving it a realllly thin layer of white, this should hopefully make sure you dont loose any details Or you could try giving the model a drybrush of white to pick out the details but keep the dark in the recesses of the model.

Its all about experience with howmuch to wash things down i find!

Hope this helps you

I'll try that, thanks.

Ah yes, I forgot that like half of Canadia is French speaking. My apologies. No one should have to speak French.

/joking

In all seriousness, sorry about that.

buckero0 wrote:Everytime I add water to my washes, I get a coat of white powdery stuff on the mini after it drys. Do I need to use distilled water then? I thought the washes may be hydrophobic a bit or something and not mix well with water. But this sounds like my water is bad, if the rest of you guys can thin the washes down without trouble.

Thats weird, do you have extremely hard water there?

Skippy wrote:

buckero0 wrote:Everytime I add water to my washes, I get a coat of white powdery stuff on the mini after it drys. Do I need to use distilled water then? I thought the washes may be hydrophobic a bit or something and not mix well with water. But this sounds like my water is bad, if the rest of you guys can thin the washes down without trouble.

Thats weird, do you have extremely hard water there?

That was my thinking, and if that't the case, no amount of boiling or standing will help. If you want to source near pure water go to a local pet/aquarium shop and see if they supply RO (reverse osmosis) water, this is usually used as a base for mixing ocean water for marine fish. You can buy units to do it at home, but probably too expensive for these purposes. Never had need to do this myself, live in a soft water area, but should solve the problem for little cash.

Or distilled water, might be easier to get

Distilled water is like $1 for a gallon at any grocery store. More than enough to last quite a while in this hobby.

Oh yes I have had the same 16oz bottle for months and months.

Aerethan wrote:Ah yes, I forgot that like half of Canadia is French speaking. My apologies.

I'm currently in China teaching English and actually were just talking about this today. No one believed me that French is the primary language in parts of it (Right? It's just some cities, yes?) and I feel like a lot of people overlook that. Sadly you have to remember that people usually put very little thought into other countries. Canada is about beavers, maple syrup, and lumberjacks and 'Murica is about deep fried food, white trash, and country music. *edit* And Disneyland.

Aerethan wrote: No one should have to speak French.

This.


PS - A great reminder that a lot of us needed haha

about the watering down, not the Canadians >_>**

i will be re making this tutorial with a video in the near future!