restore a sem-dried GW pot

[TKNY]

I\'ve had this GW paint set for about 3-4 months now, and today I opened the catchan green for the first time. It was only about 1/3 full and the paint is very thick and goopy. I assume it wasn\'t closed properly, it\'s possible that I opened it once and it\'s my fault.

Anyway, what\'s the best way to restore the paint? I was going to add some matte medium or water. Is that a good idea?

TIA

 

[supervike]

I\'ve had the same issues, and just used a bit of distilled water to thin it back to a proper look, and then shake the living bejeebus out of it.

 

[DaN]

A few drops of water and a HELL of a lot of shaking usually do the trick.

I\'ve even restored bone-dry paints to usable

 

[Gussy]

I bought a few pots that turned up that way...no wonder they were on sale! I filled it up with water and use a toothpick to stir. After a while I close the lid and shake for a few minutes. They turned out okay.

 

[Jericho]

I have a general rule or two with adding water to paint pots.

If after some general use, a pot is beginning to thicken up slightly, then add 4 drops and shake. Should be fine the next time you use it.

If a pot is thickening up significantly, then 8 drops should be groovy.

If it\'s half hard, then you\'re looking at 12 or 16 depending on how much paint is left, and all that. Might help to get a hard object of some kind to stir up the paint a bit, so you don\'t have to shake as much. This has restored many of my paint and also my friends\' paint pots that looked fit for the garbage bin back to perfectly fine painting standard with very little effort. My buddy Aaron always made be do it when his paints dried up, since he was always worried about adding too much water and ruining it

Multiples of 4 for the win

 

[Shadzar]

a few drops of water at a time and shake the heck out of it. continue process until paint is restored.

 

[TKNY]

THANKS

Thanks folk! Good to know it\'d so easy to restore these paints!!

 

[Shadzar]

seeing i bought a lot of paints back in 2002-2003 from a store going out of business i had about 400 almost a complete screw top display rack worth.

i was selling them off to friends to help get back some money and save them money as well at half cost.

well one friedn was very mad about geting a chunk of paint in a pot and demanded a refund. he wanted his dollar back for the pot. i proceeded to his kitchen sink. turn on the tap to a small drip and let drips into the chunk.

stuck my finger into and smooshed the chunk without getting paint on my finger and added some more water. screwed it up, held it tight, and shook it like the dickens while we worked on something else. when my arm got tired i sat it down. later he asked again for his dollar.

i told him he wasnt getting his dollar back when there was nothing wrong with the paint. he opened it to prove there was and found nearly new paint in the pot.

just give your arms a break if its a really bad pot, and um.... don\'t try to shake inks. one little gap in the seal and everything will be inked. just add a little water as you need to with inks and don\'t worry about shaking it.

i also add a drop of future floor wax to bad pots to help them from drying out again and to add a bit of liquid other than water to it.

thanks to the other thread for rminding me about the FFw bit to restore old paint pots.

good luck with your paints and don\'t let dried discount GW pots stop you from buying them.

 

[Jericho]

Especially if it\'s some of the fabulous old colors like Jade Green and Leprous Brown

 

[laurence]

Ahh - good old Leprous brown.

I\'ve always found, in the distant past, that water worked. I say distant past, because I store all of my GW paints in an airtight container. Drying problem solved.

 

[Jericho]

I just try to use them on a regular basis, and I always add a bit of water when they look thick. It might cost me some paint in the long run, but hopefully it means I have less bare pewter in my desk

 

[Shadzar]

this old junk?

 

[uberdark]

i put pennies into all of my paints. they say the metals in it keep the paints longer. anyhow its worked for me for two years.

 

[Shadzar]

Originally posted by uberdark
i put pennies into all of my paints. they say the metals in it keep the paints longer. anyhow its worked for me for two years.

so just copper helps extend the life of the paint?

 

[DaN]

Uber - I\'d be careful giving that tip - it depends what country you\'re from what alloys are used in coinage - the wrong metals oxidising could ruin a perfectly good paint.

Always better to use something completely inert.

I have some plastic BBs in some of my paints to help shake with.