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.

Rather unfortunate incident happened...a box of about 80 citadel paints had been left in a car in 22 degree weather for two weeks straight. When I finally found them, they were frozen. After thawing them out and mixing them rigorously, it seems most are quite fluid and salvageable. However, many of the paints became very thick, and I'm skeptical that water alone will rejuvenate them to their original state. These paints had just been bought in December, so very new.

Common sense tells me if the water in acrylics freezes, there should be contraction drying of the pigment. So I'm concerned about permanent damage.

Anyone have experience with frozen paints? Do they flow and act as normal once thawed?

I think they will be fine if they spread out on the palette as normal. I believe that frozen acrylic paint will tend to have fine grits of dried paint in the mix that make it horrible. If you can mix and paint them on, they should be fine after conventional drying.

Maybe try restoring any of the ones that are too thick with some lahmian medium or equivalent?

I've found using acrylic medium to restore overly-thick paints works better than water.