#Thinning paints when transferring from pots to bottle

15 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

fierce knoll
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I read that using an airbrush thinner is a big no if you're gonna use those paints on a wet palette since it contains alcohol which will cause problems when coming in contact with wet palette's water. What do you guys use? I used water in the past but I wasn't very happy with the result especially on citadel layers which sadly I ended up thinning too much.

flat vigil
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I know this isn’t helpful, but in my experience trying to make the colors a perfect consistency in the bottle is a losing battle. Give yourself a chance to do it on the palette instead. Gives you a bit more flexibility since sometimes, gasp, you want a thicker consistency. Just transfer the paints and deal with it on the palette. Unless they are like real thick bois in which case water is better imo

fierce knoll
tiny blaze
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or water. But mostly flow improver.

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but yeah, on the pallet, not in the bottle.

fierce knoll
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Just to clarify: I’m not asking what’s the best way to thin paints in general. My question was about what people use, if anything, to facilitate paint transferring from pots to bottles, without compromising the paint properties.

stoic axle
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I used just a little bit of water to get the last paint out, but also acknowledged there'd be no way to get it all.

cold basin
fluid ocean
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I used a bit of acrylic medium. It is, imo, the best if you don't want to alter the behaviour of the paint. Liquitex, I think I used. Just to get more out of the bottle rather than to thin it to perfection. However, in retrospect.. it's fine for most paints, but some metal paints can easily be over-thinned.

Lately, I've decided that for any citadel paints, I'll just use an old beaten brush to get as much paint out as I can. Only using medium for paints that have dried a little. If I lose a ml here or there, I'll cope.

tiny blaze
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So since you like to use acrylic medium, there is also metallic medium, which can help thin metallics a bit thinner.

gusty spade
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I did this using distilled water and in some cases acrylic medium.

tiny blaze
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Nice. Honestly, if I didn't already have a ton of paints. I'd just buy two thin coats, since they are all basically 3rd party versions of Citadel colors.

crisp bridge
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I have used both my standard painting water (1:1:2 retarder, flow aid, and distilled water) and Lahmian medium when transferring in the past. However the last few batches I’ve used Blick’s Acrylic Extender which is sort of like a flow aid and retarder in one (it also acts somewhat similar to a glaze medium when used for thinning by itself on a pallet). I also top the dropper bottle off afterwards, you aren’t adding much to the paint overall. Comparing the total amount of liquid you’re adding from full pots to full dropper bottles it’s still drastically less than you’re adding when using it on the pallet so over thinning isn’t really an issue if you’re using standard sized dropper bottles. And an added advantage if using any of these three is they will not cause any negative reactions with a wet pallet. The acrylic extender goes for around $9 plus shipping from Dick Blick’s for an 8oz bottle and is completely clear unlike most mediums so it won’t change the color of the paint inside the bottle like a white medium such as matte medium. It also doesn’t increase transparency as much as matte/gloss mediums when used this way (used straight it doesn’t increase transparency so much as thins it without breaking it apart, that’s why I say “somewhat similar”). I’ve used it as a direct replacement for Lahmian Medium many times, and when used on a pallet it isn’t a direct 1 to 1 they are very similar.