Handling GW paint, and wet-palette usage.

[J2FcM]

Hello,

I am still trying to improve my painting system for efficiency and ease. I use GW paints, and am wondering, what the best way is to maximize their useful lives.
Currently, I shake them before each use, and thats about it. I dilute them on my palette with future\\water mix. I was told that I should put a few drops of water on the surface of the paint for storage, to sort of make a \"blockade\" against air drying the paint... How often should I do this? every day? once a week? Also, can I do it with future\\water mix?

Finally, I just made a wet palette today, and just plopped some paint on it to test it out. It seemed to thin the paint slightly on its own... Will I need to use less dilution on my paint, if its on a wet palette? How else are the properties of the paint changed? It would seem I should make my very thin washes (1:20 paint:thinner) on a solid palette instead...

anywho, thanks for any advice!

 

[green stuff]

Message original : J2FcM
I use GW paints, and am wondering, what the best way is to maximize their useful lives.

I might be reading this wrong. Do you mean the life time of your paint in the pots or on your palette?

If you mean in the pots, store them upside down and make sure to close them well so they don\'t dry. All the rest is probably good, but too time consuming .

If you mean on a palette ... a lot of people praise their wet palettes and fluid extenders, but ... how to say this ... it\'s acrylics!!! They were designed to dry fast. If you want something that dries longer, use oil paints, some people do wonderful things here with them .

 

[J2FcM]

I meant in the pot, hehe. I dont think the water drop idea will work if they\'re upside down though... does anyone know which is the prefered method!

oh and before my comp dies.

what do ppl here think of GW brushes!?

heh, thanks!

 

[krom1415]

For brushes I use Windsor & newton series 7, I find they keep their point well.
hope this helps

 

[Bobbo]

I hate GW brushes, I use a brand that I can get localy at my Ben Franklin Craft Store called, Leow-Cornell. However, I will most likely be ordering a few windsor newtons because everyone rants and raves about them. A plus to the Leow-Cornell brushes is they cost about 5-7 bucks each so you don\'t have to be extremely careful when using them in fear of messing up a 12 dollar brush that you have to order online ( at least for me ) to replace.

But IMO, brush choice is more of a person to person issue depending on painting style and how well you care for your brushes.

 

[ZeCorto]

As Krom and Bobbo said, forget the GW brushes and go to your local arts shop, anything you get there will be better value for money. Windsor & Newton seris 7 mini is the reference but rather pricey, so you might prefer to just ask the staff for brushes that keep a good point.

 

[james sequeira]

there are some less well known brands of brushes out there that are around gw\'s pricing and alot better as soon as you use them you will notice a huge difference.kolinsky sable series 7 are great although i dont buy windor and newtons i get mine from

link

 

[MathewBaich]

go to dickblick.com and look up winsor &newton series 7. i got three of them for about 28 bucks, an increadible deal. For keeping your paint useable, I would reccommend picking up some vallejo or reaper dropper bottles(I prefer reaper as they come with an adjitator skull)

 

[J2FcM]

So just getting a bunch of dropper bottles and funneling the GW paint into them will do a better job of keeping them fresh? I\'m worried about opening some of my new colors just to test out, that I won\'t use them again for a long time and they\'ll dry out.

Also, what makes the Windsor Series7 so superior to the GW brushes? Im currently using a GW brush that has a straight tip.... is there a difference in strokes or something so that the paint is applied more smooth?
When shopping for brushes can I just search for whatever has a straight tip? Ive read about wetting each brush to eliminate factory applied soap for one, but I\'m still unsure how quality differs except for point retention.

 

[james sequeira]

if you queez the bottle and put it into a gw pot then let the paint transfer its self.some of my valllejo have clear whole tops and some have white tipped ones which come off they might be best if you want to transfer paint

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by MathewBaich
.... For keeping your paint useable, I would reccommend picking up some vallejo or reaper dropper bottles(I prefer reaper as they come with an adjitator skull)

If you are looking to do a full set of GW paints, contact Western Plastics and order a set of dropper bottles from them.

GW\'s are a pretty good set of paints, but the packaging is terrible. Much better with the flip tops than the previous incarnation.

If you LGS has Reaper products, try the Reaper black handled (master series) brushes. I like them almost as much as my W&N S7\'s.

W&N S7\'s are the top of the line as far as most here are concerned. But you have to learn proper brush care before you shuck out that kind of money on brushes.

Wet Pallets: I used to use one, but have given it up for a cheap white ceramic tile (less than a dollar at the home centers) and a good reducer/retarder. There are lots of formulas for magic wash (almost as many formulas as there are users) but a good starting point is:

4 oz. distilled water
1 oz. flow aid
1 oz. retarder
2 oz. airbrush media

mix up and put a bit in one of your empty dropper bottles as you need it. Winsor & Newton, Golden or Liquitex are all good brands.

 

[J2FcM]

Originally posted by airhead

Originally posted by MathewBaich
W&N S7\'s are the top of the line as far as most here are concerned. But you have to learn proper brush care before you shuck out that kind of money on brushes.

Wet Pallets: I used to use one, but have given it up for a cheap white ceramic tile (less than a dollar at the home centers) and a good reducer/retarder. There are lots of formulas for magic wash (almost as many formulas as there are users) but a good starting point is:

4 oz. distilled water
1 oz. flow aid
1 oz. retarder
2 oz. airbrush media

mix up and put a bit in one of your empty dropper bottles as you need it. Winsor & Newton, Golden or Liquitex are all good brands.

Proper brush care can be achieved by making a mix of dishwashing soap and conditioner, and applied to the brush after painting, and left on the brush until its next use (at which time its removed)... or at least thats what I thought... oh and wipe the brush off in smooth strokes, don\'t twist it... I can\'t think of anything else.

Also, the:
4 oz. distilled water
1 oz. flow aid
1 oz. retarder
2 oz. airbrush media

That mix would then serve as a replacement for my Future Floor Finish with Water mix, and my wet palette, correct?

I\'d be fine with a wet palette, at least for now, but I\'m still unsure and haven\'t tested out its properties yet... I just dumped some paint into it to make sure it stays wet... ooo, and it worked!
thanks for the advice so far guys\\gals

 

[J2FcM]

Originally posted by Bobbo
I hate GW brushes, I use a brand that I can get localy at my Ben Franklin Craft Store called, Leow-Cornell. However, I will most likely be ordering a few windsor newtons because everyone rants and raves about them. A plus to the Leow-Cornell brushes is they cost about 5-7 bucks each so you don\'t have to be extremely careful when using them in fear of messing up a 12 dollar brush that you have to order online ( at least for me ) to replace.

But IMO, brush choice is more of a person to person issue depending on painting style and how well you care for your brushes.

How have those Leow-Cornell brushes handled compared to the Series 7

 

[Onis Lair]

Windsor & Newton series 7 is a superior brush. I’ve used one and found it a completely different animal to handle and applied the paint so much better. However I can\'t afford the price, as I have to online order to get them locally. Mostly I use Leow-Cornell brushes, more affordable and it\'s what I’ve used since day one so I’ve adapted to how they handle. Plus I don\'t really care for my brushes as well as I should so I tend to burn through them rather quickly.

Recently I have taken to using the Cirrus line from Winsor & Newton. They bill them as the affordable Kolinsky Sable, a step below the Series 7 line. Some people hate them, I rather like them allot.

As to GW paints, the pots are just utter shit. The screw on lid is horrid and the new flips better but not great. I always added a few drops of water once a week to the pots and stored them upside down. The bad thing of this is paint can and will eventually get into the threads, almost gluing the lid to the pot.

A couple of months ago I ordered a ton of 15ml dropper bottles from Western Plastics and spent a few days using a craft syringe to transfer the paint form the pots to the bottles. Since then I have no problem with the GW paint drying in the bottles and in fact have the reverse problem. Since I don\'t have any drying in the bottle they have stayed very wet so the water and paint tends to separate and need a really good shake to mix up again.

The downside to Western Plastics bottles is that when you shake the paint it tends to bubble out of the nozzle and allot of the dropper tips are to small for the thickness of paint and you need to poke a needle in the tip to enlarge the dropper holes.

In the end, brushes are a personal preference but Kolinsky sable brushes tend to be the better, if more expensive, choice. GW paint I HIGHLY recommends transferring to dropper bottles to extend their life span, ease of use and more control with amount you want to use. But then again, at best I’m a table top quality painter so what do I really know?

 

[Bobbo]

I have actually never used a Windsor Newton brush yet but I will be placing an order for about 2 of them. In order for me to switch completely to Windsor Newton they have to be absolutly incredible because of the price and the hassle of ordering brushes online. What is the best site to order them from that ships to the US ?

 

[J2FcM]

So, I would assume its best to use and practice with one type of brush just so you are developed in how it handles, as oppossed to say learning basics with a GW brush, getting a Loew-Cornell to get better, then finally Series 7 when ya feel like you can layer like a pro?

Also, a basic quality guideline then would look like this?
GW - crap, Loew-Cornell - Good, Cirrus - better, Series 7 - BEST? I see many W&N\'s at my craft shop, but none are specifically called series 7, and looking at individual brushes I could only find series 233, etc...

but really, back to the first part of my post...
Would it then make sense for me to go out and buy a Cornell that I could find, or should I just do the online thing for a Series 7?
thanks

 

[lahatiel]

Originally posted by Bobbo
What is the best site to order them from that ships to the US ?

http://www.dickblick.com/zz058/87/

 

[faulkns]

Some good stuff above.

I use Windsor & Newton Cotman\'s usually along with their inks and flow enhancer.

Love the idea about transferingGW paints. Gonna have to try that as GW pots are c**p.

Definitely go to art store for brushes and pay as much as you can budget - don\'t skimp. Make sure you wet tips in shop and check closely to light for stray hairs and a good sharp point - especially when you\'re looking at O and smaller

 

[airhead]

W&N has 2 types of brushes in the blue handled series (Series 5) - Cirrus is sable & Cotman is synthetic.

I use them for painting classes and find that they do not hold a point as well as the S7\'s.

http://www.winsornewton.com/leafletsbrushEN.php

 

[J2FcM]

when people here are buying the S7\'s, is it the miniature version? What sizes should be bought (for detail and just for painting a regular ol GW mini)?