Varnishing/Sealing Pigments

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**Brother Heinrich**

Hey all,
I'm looking at starting to use Vallejo's line of pigments to do dust effects on my minis, I'm not sure however how to go about sealing the pigments in to protect them from handling during gaming. I've read conflicting things on the matter saying that I have to use a fixer and that if I try to directly varnish them it will greatly diminish the effect or create a white 'haze' on the area.

My question to the painting/modeling community is this: What is the proper way to go about using pigments to create dust effects and then protect said effects while maintaining the majority of the color/look.

This is what I'm trying to achieve:

**ScootyPuffJunior**

You can use isopropyl alcohol to seal them. I often don't seal them at all (most of my models will probably never see a gaming table). I have had luck with putting them on, gloss coating the model (for an oils wash), then spraying dullcoat on. It didn't really seem to change the look I was going for.

If I had to guess, however, the model in the picture probably did not have the pigment secured because it looks more like a display piece.

**Brother Heinrich**

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:You can use isopropyl alcohol to seal them. I often don't seal them at all (most of my models will probably never see a gaming table). I have had luck with putting them on, gloss coating the model (for an oils wash), then spraying dullcoat on. It didn't really seem to change the look I was going for.

If I had to guess, however, the model in the picture probably did not have the pigment secured because it looks more like a display piece.

Gotcha, I was watching a few Les Bursley vids and he seemed to be using that method of gloss coat followed by dull coat. I'll try out both methods and see how the results come out, depending on the outcome I'll try to put up a tutorial of some kind.

**oadie**

Varnishing does dull the effect, slightly (appears less dusty and darker in color, usually), but nothing will protect the pigments better. I use rubbing (70% isopropyl) alcohol to set my pigments, then gloss and Dullcote over the top. The results look good, to my eye, and are damned near bulletproof. Rubbing alcohol alone is surprisingly strong, but not enough to withstand even moderately cautious gaming wear and tear.

The example you posted may have been varnished skillfully, but I'm inclined to think ScootyPuff is right in assuming that it's a display model and that those pigments are unsealed.

**Brother Heinrich**

oadie wrote:Varnishing does dull the effect, slightly (appears less dusty and darker in color, usually), but nothing will protect the pigments better. I use rubbing (70% isopropyl) alcohol to set my pigments, then gloss and Dullcote over the top. The results look good, to my eye, and are damned near bulletproof. Rubbing alcohol alone is surprisingly strong, but not enough to withstand even moderately cautious gaming wear and tear.

The example you posted may have been varnished skillfully, but I'm inclined to think ScootyPuff is right in assuming that it's a display model and that those pigments are unsealed.

Excellent! thanks for the info man, my new airbrush comes in tomorrow and my pigments/paints should be here soon after i'll be sure to try out your method and post the results!