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Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





United Kingdom

Hi guys,

This is my first time using bicarbonate of soda/PVA/white paint as snow, and it occured to me as i was basing my minis that i hadn't given them a varnish yet. Which leads me to two questions:

1) It is possible to gloss / matt varnish the snow mix without any problems?

2) How long should i wait, untill i varnish it, to allow it to dry?

Cheers guys

   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran






Using the soda/PVA mix (there's no real point in adding white paint, it's already white) you should wait an hour and a half or more until you varnish it. I wouldn't use gloss varnish, since that'll make it shiny and more like a white blob instead of snow. But otherwise it can be varnished fine.
   
Made in gb
Steady Space Marine Vet Sergeant





United Kingdom

 Deunstephe wrote:
Using the soda/PVA mix (there's no real point in adding white paint, it's already white) you should wait an hour and a half or more until you varnish it. I wouldn't use gloss varnish, since that'll make it shiny and more like a white blob instead of snow. But otherwise it can be varnished fine.


Thanks alot

...And i heard that it turns yellowish after a while, hence a drop of white paint, just to keep it snow like.

   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran






If you're using store-brand PVA then it'll probably turn yellow, but that's probably only going to happen if it's unvarnished anyway.

Plus it adds a bit of realism. Don't eat the yellow snow!
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






The yellowing is normally caused by the soda being an excellent material to absorb impurities from the air. All sorts of junk that is floating around sticks to it, and depending on the environment...it can go 'yellow' very fast.

PVA is generally UV stable, so provided that it isn't kept in an exceptionally wet location...it should stay white (or any other color you might mix in with it).

On to the two questions...

1) Yes...though you might want to try out diffenent sheens to see what you like best. Depending on how you mixed your base material and applied it, you may get best results from gloss, matte or satin. Depending on what type of snow I am making, I will use one or more of those varnishes.

2) Quite awhile...though in the end it will depend on how thick you applied it. You want to ensure the glue is completely dry, and thick coatings...even when mixed with baking soda...can take a long time to dry. If it was really thin, it might be ready overnight. If it was a good thickness (say knee high) you might be looking at over a week).
   
Made in de
Dogged Kum






 Sean_OBrien wrote:
PVA is generally UV stable, so provided that it isn't kept in an exceptionally wet location...it should stay white (or any other color you might mix in with it).
There are a couple of PVA glues that dry out transparent. You should try to find one of these because they are easier to "hide" - and are also useful to create/support water effects! This is also one of the reasons why I always add white colour to the mix, myself.

As Sean rightly said, you should a) try around with different effects (maybe even do a sort of "reference catalogue" on a piece of cardboard or plywood, so that you can always get it right the next time) and b) give it really enough time to dry. Also, high snow should be done in layers to avoid trapping humidity and to avoid deformations.

Currently playing: Infinity, SW Legion 
   
Made in gb
Blood Angel Terminator with Lightning Claws





terra

It doesn't matter about using cheap pva,that wont make the snow yellow.Make sure to use bi carb and not plain baking soda(which has turned yellow in my experience).Pva and bi carb tends to dry with a little shine too.just check my recent work to see bi carb snow in full effect.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/04/02 11:44:53



 
   
 
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