Organic Base Durability Experiment

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Shadzar

Guest
Dried green spices do seem to continue to fade over time as the chlorophyll loses its stuff.

Good luck trying to get natural flock to fade or not.
 

Masuuruhiito

New member
In some cases I have used tobacco from cigarettes to represent dried leaves (not maple leaves of courselol). Cigarette tobacco is nice imho because it doesn\'t change with time and its already dry and cut to shape that reminds leaves. I haven\'t used any kind of spice up till now since I wouldn\'t risk my orcs smell like cinammon lol.

Oi, dem ponsy elves make me choppa smell like parfume!! BLYAGHHH!!!
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
March update! Er, sort of.

Why?

Damn thing looks the same as it did six months ago. No fading on any of the paints, and all the materials still look like they should.

Guess this means I\'ll see things again in June.
 

Gilvan Blight

New member
Just wondering what you used to stick the stuff down with? There is a chance whatever that is could turn yellow or fade or something. I know it\'s way too late now but if you do another of these (or if someone else does) I would do at least one row with a different material just to see if there is a difference.
 
Reminds me of an experiment I had done the other day... I planned to do my last Leonardo Dio with... Muffin Dough...^-^...

Turned out construction Foam would deliver the far better result...:)... And Smell...
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Originally posted by Gilvan Blight
Just wondering what you used to stick the stuff down with? There is a chance whatever that is could turn yellow or fade or something. I know it\'s way too late now but if you do another of these (or if someone else does) I would do at least one row with a different material just to see if there is a difference.
That\'s probably a good idea. Suppose I could always set up another experiment where it would be just the adhesive. I\'ll have to see what I\'ve got around. Don\'t suppose Wal-Mart would get upset if I came in and \"sampled\" their glues? :D
 

QuietiManes

New member
I wont tell if you don\'t.

If any of the staff get \"upitty\" just tell them you\'re from head office doing quality assurance or testing for rodents or following up on customer complaints/legal issues. Then tell them to go get you a coffee. lol
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Okay, I\'ve actually got the glue sheet started. Actually, did it back on the 22nd. Pulled every glue I had in the house except fabric glue. I\'m not sure people actually use a couple of them, but oh well, we\'ll see what happens. The glues are, from left to right:

Harbor Freight\'s 5 minute 2-part epoxy
Elmer\'s wood glue (interior)
Elmer\'s Glue-All (PVA)
Elmer\'s washable School Glue (PVA)
Elmer\'s washable School Glue Stick
The Original Super Glue\'s Future Glue (cyanoacrylate)
Adhesive Tech\'s Mini Glue Stick (hot glue)

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Now obviously, both the wood glue and the glue stick are very unsuited, IMO, simply because of their \"dry\" colors of yellow and purple. We\'ll see what happens to the rest.
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Quite remiss in not updating this, so I'll post a quick note that the glue experiment has been very interesting. I'll try to get a picture up within the week. Anyway, the 2 part epoxy (far left column) has browned horribly.
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Wow. Nearly two years since I last promised a picture? I really failed this. However, I've got the final update in work! Woo hoo!

Over all, most of the materials performed as expected but others held a few surprises. I'll do the paint and glue in separate posts.

First up, Baby Powder, Cinnamon, Coffee and Corn Meal. Only the corn meal really faded badly, while the cinnamon and coffee really were rather color fast.

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Now we continue to part two: Cotton, Dill Seed, Green Flock, and Yellow Flock

Here I was surprised that the flocking didn't fade. I would have imagined that it would have faded at least a little bit. But it still looks good. The dill faded, but wasn't exactly unexpected.

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Part Three: Flour, Leaves, Nutmeg and Oregano!

The already dried leaves didn't fade, which is probably expected, as was the fading on the nutmeg and oregano.

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On to Part Four: Paprika, Pepper, Poppy Seeds, and Kosher Salt!

Here's a surprise for you. The pepper, for lack of a better phrase, unfaded! It went from a white color, to a light brown. Rather than put the picture of it up, you can click on it here. That wasn't expected for me, so that was fun to find. And while the poppy seeds look like they faded, they started out that color. Wonder if that just meant that our spice drawer needed a little refreshing before I started this.

The paprika completely collapsed from a bright earthy red to the desert like tones below. Not sure what I was expecting from the salt, but there it is.

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And finally Part Five! Thyme, Wood Chips, and Wax! Wax? What was I thinking on that? Anyway...

The green in the thyme faded, as all those plants with green did. The wood chip did fade a bit, but not as much as I'd expect. And the wax was unchanged.

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So, 3 years and 26 days (minus visits from guests when I took them down from the east facing window in the guest room), and there are the results. Now a new post for the glues.
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
On to the glues. The first image is the glue that was out in the light for more than two years. The two-part epoxy changed colors a lot. The wood glue faded into something that I'd actually want it to look like, but the hot glue discolored. So, no unpainted two-part epoxy or hot glue on any of my bases.

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And here's the strip of glue that I just uncovered. I find it odd that the two-part epoxy went ahead and changed colors, while the wood glue and hot glue tended to stay their original colors. Quite possibly just the tape's doing and the different glues reacted differently to whatever light passed through.

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PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Now here's the one that I found the most interesting. The paints. I surely expected some fading, but over all, all three brands of paint did really well. I realized that I could take all the paints and apply a fresh streak of paint going across the old paint. The vertical stripes have been in the sun for 3 years or so, while the horizontal stripes were painted on yesterday.

First up, the Americana paints. Cheap craft paint, and would fade horribly, right? Er, no. I couldn't really see much of anything different between the two stripes. Win.

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Now for the Games Workshop colors. They'd be fine, they're meant to take harsh treatment. So, while it appears the red may have faded, I think it was just the harsh lights playing against the brush strokes, making the them look different. But, judge for yourself. I think I can see a little change in their colors, but I really couldn't say it faded.

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And finally, Reaper Pro. Again, no real signs of fading or discoloring to me.

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So end result for me is to not worry at all about having the paint fade if I put them in a display case, or any place that bright sunlight might occasionally shine on them. But was there anything else I took away from this? Oh there is.

After starting this experiment, I went and bought a full set of Reaper Master series paints. The three paint brands above more or less sat on a shelf in a cabinet above the desk. No sense using my "old" paints when I needed to justify the cost of the "new" paints, so I'll just use the "new" ones. Unopened for three years until yesterday. The Americana and Reaper were just as fresh (at least to me) as the day I put them on the board. But when I dipped the brush into the flip-top GW paints, I ran into a little resistance. Well, quite a bit. Had to puncture through a thick skin of nearly dried paint on top of the bottle. Mixed in a little water on a palette and was able to get the paint back into working condition. Before putting them back on the shelf, I did add a dropper full of water to the top of each one in the hopes that it'll preserve it a bit better.

I believe that the general consensus is that the flip-top bottles are horrible for long term storage and sparse painting sessions. But that'll definitely be in my mind any time I go to buy any paint. And it's not like my new dropper bottles don't wind up clogged with dried paint now and then. But with them, the lost paint is usually a small amount while the flip-tops would be a lot more lost, assuming the water I added doesn't bring them back up to usefulness.

So there it is. Three years of my wife putting up with my little intrusion into her guest room. And before anybody asks for a follow up: NO! This was a large mental burden not updating. Guilted me into not painting a lot, as I should update this first. So with this now out of the way and wrapped up, I think I'm ready to go tackle that pile waiting for paint!

Thank you! Good night! Don't forget to tip your wait staff!
 

Mallows

New member
Really sweet experiment!! I am very pleased that the flocking was able to keep their brilliant colors, I would of thought it would of dulled a bit... I guess one of the key things I will h ave to keep in mind... most spices will change color!
This will be a big help when doing bases. Thanks for your years of dedication (and thanks to your wife for not tossing it!)
 

me_in_japan

New member
Really, really useful! Thank you very much for putting all this time into the project. It's very interesting to see what happens to the glues, and also extremely reassuring to see that the standard paints we all use dont fade over time. I wouldnt have guessed that. With regards to the paint drying out, Ive found that more recent GW paints do dry out horribly (anything from the screw tops onward) but the original ones from e.g. the citadel paint set are still actually OK. I have a hawk turquoise from yeeaaaars ago that is still fine and dandy, and it spent at least a decade sitting on a shelf.
 
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