Friend quit painting and gave me his two and a half year old paints that he hasn't used in as long.

[hoary egret]

They all sound good when I shake them. Being this old would they still be good to paint with?

[cobalt rose]

If they were stored over freezing temperature ,they should be good

[floral plover]

Maybe not the citadel paints, but the rest should be fine.

[warm wedge]

If they're liquid they'll be fine.
If they've been damaged through bad storage or unsealed containers you'll instantly know.

[hoary egret]

They sound good when I shake em and I don't see any hard stuff

[floral plover]

Just as an anecdote, I had most of the paints I bought 25+ years ago still OK after storage in a garage and 4 house moves. And when I say most it means 5 bad pots completely dried out of 63.

[hoary egret]

Holy cow

Thanks for all the advice. Really appreciate it.

[fervent raft]

Hi, what color is that?

I have a lot of paints here that have been on my counter since the 90s and dry firm and strong, but I have lost some, especially Citadel, which always had bad bottles, they don't seal properly, and some colors tend to dry more easily than others, especially light colors that contain a lot of white (white, light gray, ivory, ochre, yellow and sand). I have bought paints of these colors from Citadel that were clumpy, with lumps or even dry.

[wraith magnet]

I been gifted a few years old GW pots too. A few were instant loss due to clumping and simply not mixing well anymore or simply rock hard. Some were clumpy but good enough for terrain still atleast. But most when being sealed propperly I just added an agitator ball in and shook till my arm nearly fell off and work perfectly. I did remove the rim of dried paint at the top first though. Think they did secure the tight seal and preserved the paint. Hate the GW pots. The paint is good though. If smooth and fluid they are still good to go.

My vallejo paints in dropper bottles untouched for 15 years were all good after a good shake though.

Oh and maybe when a paint smells really funky/wierd toss it too. Could be bacteria or whatever. I only had that once and tossed that just to be sure.

[long sparrow]

Obv wait for op to be sure, but that could be rakarth flesh (or similar color) in need of some shaking.

[stiff dirge]

I had some paints in storage for ~18 months until recently and just threw a bearing in there and put them on the vortex and they were gtg. It really depends on how often they were left open I think

[floral plover]

I hope it's some stainless steel bearings, otherwise your paint will be a nice brown in a few months.

[stiff dirge]

Glass. So if they rust it'll be interesting lol

[hoary egret]

Hey sorry just saw your question. https://www.amazon.com/Games-Workshop-Citadel-Base-Rakarth/dp/B007SBB3K0

Looks like it might be dead

[fervent raft]

That was the impression I got from the picture, it even happened to me in this color. Now my Citadel are all in eyedrop bottles.

[hushed arrow]

It might not be. Take some form of flowaid or acrylic medium and drop several drops in and then shake it to shit. I've brought a lot of citadel colors back like that

[hoary egret]

I put a few mixing balls in it then tossed it in the ultrasonic machine and it looks good as new

[hushed arrow]

I've got citadel paints from when I started 9 years ago that revived as soon as I added a few drops of medium and shook the shit outta them

[hoary egret]

nice

now when you say medium what product is that?

[hushed arrow]

I've used Liquitex flowaid, and citadel lahmian medium, both work

[hoary egret]

awesome thank you

[long sparrow]

Guessed it! I've clearly shaken separated rakarth enough times..