You buggers were right!!!

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donga666

Guest
Well! After ages of reading articles about using differant media with your paints. I finally got off my back-side and went to my local Art shop (The Art Shop, York - good name:rolleyes: ) and spent some of my precious pennies on some:

Windsor & Newton- Flow improver

Windsor & Newton- Drying Retarder

The WN Flow improver is great! It even makes GW paint easy to use and makes surface coverage ALOT better. A recommended buy (Dragonsreach: It does taste HORRIBLE, for those \'paintbrush suckers\' out there).

BUT it pales in comparison to WN Drying Retarder, it makes blending SO easy and it takes SO long to dry. So you need very little (my tube will maybe last as long as my stockpile of Mini\'s:rolleyes: ). It has revolutionised my flat blending/layering/feathering (whatever!), its always workable!! The only downside to it is is that it is a little \'gloopy\' (technical term lol ) but this is sorted out by WN Flow improver ! Ta Da!!!

So thank you! It\'s taken me a long time to take any notice, but it got there in the end.

Andy :D
 

Ritual

New member
Told you so...

Better late than never, huh? :duh: And don\'t worry about the foul taste... you\'ll learn to savour it!! :D It\'s an aquired taste! I use Liquitex equivalents, and they taste just as horribly, but I don\'t mind anymore! :innocent:
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
donga666
(Dragonsreach: It does taste HORRIBLE, for those \'paintbrush suckers\' out there).
Well I did warn you...
...However nothing, and I mean Nothing has ever tasted quite so horrible as when my mother washed out my vacuum flask with Domestos (Bleach) as there was a slight tinge to the inside.

She forgot to rinse it properly and also didn\'t tell me she\'d done it.

Black coffee and bleach don\'t mix, but I did have the whitest teeth in the office.
 

frenchkid

New member
I have both liquitex drying retarder and flow improver, but I usually shy away from using them since they tast so horrible :p
Plus I haven\'t figured out a good way to use them, how do you do it ? put some drops on the pallet and use it pure in the undiluted paints ? (that\'s what I try to do, seems to work with the flow improver but I\'m having trouble making the retarder work )
 

Ritual

New member
Originally posted by frenchkid
I have both liquitex drying retarder and flow improver, but I usually shy away from using them since they tast so horrible :p
Sissy!! :p ;)
Originally posted by frenchkid
Plus I haven\'t figured out a good way to use them, how do you do it ? put some drops on the pallet and use it pure in the undiluted paints ? (that\'s what I try to do, seems to work with the flow improver but I\'m having trouble making the retarder work )
I usually put the retarder straight into the paint on my pallette. About 1 drop for each 5 drops of paint. A pipette is very useful for this. Don\'t overdose the retarder, though, because then the paint won\'t dry ever!

The flow improver is different. I prepare some in a little pot next to my pallette. 1 drop of flow improver and 20 drops of water. I then use this to dilute my paint.

HTH
 

Ebonbuddha

Active member
Wow. I have to get some of this stuff. Looks like I\'m doing mail order. Does anyone know a Canadian, or British art store that I can order it from?



Originally posted by donga666
Well! After ages of reading articles about using differant media with your paints. I finally got off my back-side and went to my local Art shop (The Art Shop, York - good name:rolleyes: ) and spent some of my precious pennies on some:

Windsor & Newton- Flow improver

Windsor & Newton- Drying Retarder

The WN Flow improver is great! It even makes GW paint easy to use and makes surface coverage ALOT better. A recommended buy (Dragonsreach: It does taste HORRIBLE, for those \'paintbrush suckers\' out there).

BUT it pales in comparison to WN Drying Retarder, it makes blending SO easy and it takes SO long to dry. So you need very little (my tube will maybe last as long as my stockpile of Mini\'s:rolleyes: ). It has revolutionised my flat blending/layering/feathering (whatever!), its always workable!! The only downside to it is is that it is a little \'gloopy\' (technical term lol ) but this is sorted out by WN Flow improver ! Ta Da!!!

So thank you! It\'s taken me a long time to take any notice, but it got there in the end.

Andy :D
 
D

donga666

Guest
Originally posted by Ebonbuddha
Wow. I have to get some of this stuff. Looks like I\'m doing mail order. Does anyone know a Canadian, or British art store that I can order it from?

The easy way is to type in \'art supplies\' into Google (I found a Dull-cote supplier in the UK that way :cool: ) or any other search engine. I can\'t recommend any cos\' there\'s a WN dealer 20 mins walk from my house :bouncy: But look locally first, there WILL be equivalents. Any where that sells Artists Acrylics (don\'t matter about manufacturer) OR Vallejo do a drying retarder (same i think, Model colour range).

Dragonsreach: :|~ Nasty!
 

nir200

New member
Does anyone know if there is a good equivalent from Folk Arts? I just can\'t get anything else around here except GW paints, and it sounds like it can really help my blending...
 
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donga666

Guest
Originally posted by nir200
Does anyone know if there is a good equivalent from Folk Arts? I just can\'t get anything else around here except GW paints, and it sounds like it can really help my blending...

Don\'t know who Folk Arts are, but if they produce Artists Quality Acrylics they should do an equivalent. But have a look at your local Arts & Crafts store (NOT games store, unless they sell Vallejo Model colour).

Use the force ;)
 

supervike

Super Moderator
yup!

Originally posted by nir200
Does anyone know if there is a good equivalent from Folk Arts? I just can\'t get anything else around here except GW paints, and it sounds like it can really help my blending...

I think this will help....It is called Folk Art Extender.

http://www.plaidonline.com/productDetail.asp?itemID=947&productName=FolkArt+%AE+Mediums&Cat1ID=&Cat2ID=&Cat3ID=&brandID=&keywords=&New=False&Closeout=False&HotDeal=False&page=1


I bought some at the local \"Michaels\" and it is very cheap.

I don\'t know how it compares to the W&N stuff (since I\'ve never used that), but the Folk Art stuff does help smooth the paints a bit better and makes it dry much much slower.

I use it similar to how Ritual uses his stuff, put a drop or two in a bit of water and then thin my paints with that.

For the extremely economical cost, it is hard to not at least give it a go.
 

nir200

New member
Thanks for the link...I really think this kind of thing can really save my blending attempts...and with a bit of luck, I might just post a mini I tried this on. Wish me good luck!:rolleyes:

Use force: blend. I said blend! blend, I tell you, blend!...ha...there is an extended disturbance in the force.:(

By the way, while we are on this whole subject, do you have any other products you find useful?
 
D

donga666

Guest
The best \'product\' is patients, resist the urge to throw mini\'s against walls!
Difficult I know :mad:

But, \'stay on target\' even when there\'s Tie Fighters on your tail ???
 
A
you know what guys, all ive ever used practically is the GW piants straight out of the pot, obviously watered down but even so, ill pick up some of that W&N stuff this weekend when i go to my local hobby craft super store :D

thanks for the recomendations

ill let you know how i get on with it

- gez
 
I have found the Vallejo drying retarder to be pretty nice, I am able to get better blends(at least for me :D) and it keeps longer in my pallet. I have been using the same paint for about a week now with out doing anything to it. Other than mixxing it. WOW I am a real slow painter!
 

Dr.Morbius

New member
I\'m opening myself up on this one, but what the heck. A cheap medium for extending acrylic paints is KY Jelly. It works pretty well and can be found in most drugstores and department stores. While I\'ve used this on miniatures, I generally use this stuff on other kinds of art projects.

There. I said it. Let the hijacking of the thread commence.
 
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