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Hi there,

Wondering if anyone else has had this and if there's anyway to prevent/fix/avoid it.

Some of my old shade bottles, which were unused for a few years, started leaving white specs on my models when I went back to using them. The specs are like grains of sugar. At first I thought somehow dust was very quickly getting trapped as the shade dried but I eventually realized it was caused by the shade itself.

Purchasing new bottles of the same shades (Athonian camoshade, Coelia greenshade, now Waywatcher green) seems to have stopped the problem. But I'm wondering if it's a matter of time before it starts up again with the newer bottles, or if this is a result of bottles laying stationary for long periods of time, or possibly there is something in my method of using them that's causing it.

Anyone know? Thanks in advance.

Any pictures?

Sounds like you might have got some white or more likely, metallic paint in your washes. Make sure you thoroughly clean your brush before putting it into the wash's pot, or better yet, use a separate brush for applying washes. Once a pot has been contaminated like that, there's no real way to reverse it, so just be careful not to let it happen in the first place.

If it's not external contamination, then I'm betting that it's the matting agent separating out.

The reason GW washes have a matte finish is because they have a white powdery substance added in to them so that when they dry they have a rough surface, which is what makes them looks dull rather than shiny.

There might be too much matting agent or may not be mixed in properly or it may be separating for some reason. You have to make sure you mix washes good and proper before you use them, and it's possible if you have a bottle that you used for a while without shaking it then it may now have too much matting agent in it because it wasn't mixed in properly as you were using it now the concentration is too high. If you are mixing it enough before use and have been doing so on previous uses, maybe you just have a bad bottle.

One way of possibly fixing it (depends how bad it is and how easily the matting agent in the paint is willing to dissolve again) is to apply a gloss varnish. The gloss varnish will dissolve the matting agent that is forming grains on the model. Then apply a matte varnish to bring back the dull finish (though remember matte varnishes are matte because of a similar matting agent used in washes as well, so matte varnishes also need to be shaken up before use).

+1 for covering the "stains" with varnish.

I had a similar issue with GW shades and applying Vallejo varnish with a brush to the bad spots fixed it.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
If it's not external contamination, then I'm betting that it's the matting agent separating out.

The reason GW washes have a matte finish is because they have a white powdery substance added in to them so that when they dry they have a rough surface, which is what makes them looks dull rather than shiny.

There might be too much matting agent or may not be mixed in properly or it may be separating for some reason. You have to make sure you mix washes good and proper before you use them, and it's possible if you have a bottle that you used for a while without shaking it then it may now have too much matting agent in it because it wasn't mixed in properly as you were using it now the concentration is too high. If you are mixing it enough before use and have been doing so on previous uses, maybe you just have a bad bottle.

One way of possibly fixing it (depends how bad it is and how easily the matting agent in the paint is willing to dissolve again) is to apply a gloss varnish. The gloss varnish will dissolve the matting agent that is forming grains on the model. Then apply a matte varnish to bring back the dull finish (though remember matte varnishes are matte because of a similar matting agent used in washes as well, so matte varnishes also need to be shaken up before use).

Very enlightening. Thanks all for the advice. Will post a photo at some point and going to try applying varnish. It sounds like exactly what you're describing, like the white powder that got added is clumping up/separating in the bottle. Always just gave the bottles a light shake before use but sounds like I need to do more.