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I know some artists that were up cramming projects and ran out of ink. While brewing a pot of coffee and chewing their nails the recalled hearing about boiling coffee down to get an ink, so it was tried and much relief was had. Similarity, we don't decorate our Easter eggs, we just take a fine net, flatten a leaf into it, press an egg on, wrap it tight in the net, and throw it to boil in a pot of onion peels, and the eggs come out dyed a lovely shade of brown-orange.

Now, I'm just wondering, has anyone tried using this stuff on models? Am I completely insane for wanting to do this? I've got this kaladrax jerk that needs to be painted, and I just don't have that kind of volume of ink/washes.... I'm open to ideas here.

There are a lot of dyes which you can make from raw materials. I have a ton of books on the matter (some might say I am preparing for the collapse of civilization to rebuild...but whatever).

The thing is though - most of them are a lot of work. With the exception of Lamp Black - most the DIY pigments are not very strong to start with. In order to get a color that is deep enough to use for an ink - you will need to refine it a good bit. Things like tannin and coffee are not horribly stable either. They fade with time much faster than modern inorganic pigments.

You can pick up excellent quality stains for cheap from DIY stores. While the Minwax dip is pretty popular - you can achieve less jarring results using stains and wood dyes. Artist's inks are pretty cheap too. I like Bombay Inks - though the Liquitex Acrylic inks are more forgiving. You can get 1 ounce containers of either for relatively little.

If you really want to mix up your own - you can also get pigment concentrates. I picked up a set of MIXOL tints years ago, and am still using all of the same set. They are pure pigment, so just a drop or two added to a binder of choice (Future Floor Polish for the budget conscious) will make an ink that will go a long way. In addition to MIXOL (and related solids) you can get actual liquid dyes like ColorTone. Again, a small amount added to a binder of choice and you have a strong ink.

You will still normally want a binder of sorts (gum Arabic being the traditional binder used for a lot of inks). The egg shells were porous and could absorb the stain directly. Big K isn't too porous, and I don't think you will want to toss it into a pot of boiling water once painted.

I notice that the water turns color, and while not an ideal ink, artists seem to have had an interest in it as a wash. I figured mixing it with a bit of coffee would get the right hue, though you do make a point of the porous nature of the material. I already use spent grinds as basing material, figured I could get some extra mileage...

I'm not even sure I want strong tones. I've got Nethyrmaul I'm going to do first as a test. Never done stuff on this scale before--terrain does not count, because I put no thought into painting soil and concrete--and I'm a bit baffled by it. All I. Know is using some kind of wash is going to help keep my sanity.

Actually, would it be advisable to apply some mist to a model, and then hit it with a wash via airbrush?

Kind of depends on what you are looking to achieve.

You may want to go ahead and block out colors and then using a wood stain give it a good soaking. Most retail stains have a binder in them - so you can use them over paint to some extent (they still like to soak into wood...so...there is that). After that - come back and refine it with the airbrush and finally pick out the details by hand.

That is more or less how I did mine anyway. I painted the bones, wings, base and the rib gaps. Mixed up a bottle of ink (would probably be about equivalent to Minwax Special Walnut) and sponged it on - wiping off the excess with a clean rag. After that had dried, I moved on to touch up some bits here and there with the airbrush.

The figure is so large and details are rather heavy that a lot of shading and highlighting are done by the light itself (those wings cast their own shadows).

Nethyrmaul was a lot more work. More skin left on those bones.