Inking masters for photography

[Silent Invader]

Fellow LAFers,

Not something I've done before and so I would appreciate some advice.

I have some masters to photograph and want to bring out the detail. So, please, what's the best technique and product for inking unprimed metal?

For example, would I be better off using a Daler & Rowney black ink, or a GW or Vallejo black wash?  Also, is there anything I need to do to the miniatures first, like a wash with some detergent?  Is there anything I do after, like a coat of matte or gloss varnish?

Cheers 

[Vern]

I've read (somewhere!), that shoe polish is good for that sort of thing

[Svennn]

Liquid shoe polish is a favourite although I prefer the traditional stuff and a rag. Throw it on and leave a short while before wiping down with a clean(er) cloth.  Gives that pewter jewellery look in seconds and photographs well.

[OSHIROmodels]

Wash em first as well mate, there'll be release agent on them.

I use GW inks and it works fine 

cheers

James

[Zafarelli]

I'd go with black/white priming. First, spray the miniatures completely black, and then follow up with a light spray of white. Shows the details quite nicely, I think. Examples can be found in my current WIP thread here

[Andrew Rae]

I've never been able to get satisfactory results with an ink wash on metal and I don't have the patience to do the boot polish technique that Sally White uses. I prefer a grey primer (I use Tamiya Fine Surface Prime) with a strong over head light and a dark background to give contrast and definition.

[FramFramson]

I do a lot of inking on unprimed metal - it's how I do all my metals, where possible (i.e. the figure has to be metal!) and is my main stock-in-trade for minis painting.

Usually using GW inks directly over polished metal, but I'm sure other inks would suffice if they're close enough. I do it in two stages. First I burnish the metal using a wirehead brush with my dremel. You have to be very gentle and not apply much pressure, because it's way too easy to just sand off all the detail on a figure. There's no need to really force the brush into deep cracks, because you'll get ink pooling in those anyway - it's the convex surfaces that you really want with that metallic gleam.

Typically I use Devlan Mud for average metals, Gryphon Sepia for golds, and sometimes Azuremen Blue for a "cold steel: type of effect. I've also managed to get a really cool damasked effect with layered Devlan Mud and Azuremen Blue, but it's difficult for me to pull off. I will also layer multiple washes to get other effects (like many layers of Devlan Mud and Gryphonne Sepia for a coppery effect). In some cases, I do lightly drybrush with a metallic paint to put some coloured gleam on edges. This is usually the case when I need a nice bright/shining or a deep rich gold (I would use Burnished Gold and Shining Gold, respectively).

The main drawback is that the wash scratches fairly easily, so you have to be a dab hand with varnish (I'm not), or just learn to be really careful, which is obviously not for everybody. But if you're doing this for set-piece photos, it's probably just fine.

Here are some examples:

Regular metal



Copper (helmet), Brass (shoulder), Regular (chainmail), Cold Steel (sword blade), rust (light dabs of watery red ochre)



Various golds (armour bits), Damask (sword)



Closeup of regular metal on a stripped & repainted mini, which made the metal slightly pitted (closeup of breastplate)



And an older mini (sorry for the crummy photo) where I gave him a green wash for a lacquered or enamelled look, scratching the ink off the raised parts of the plate armour pattern. Also his swords were a hamhanded attempt at some sort of "blueing".

[Sangennaru]

I'd say oil colours. I did it sometimes and the result is simply awesome. Just take some black oil colour, thin it with white spirit, and put on the model. when dry (half an hour for the white spirit) whipe the not-dry oil, and the result is perfect.

Shoe polish has the same effect, but takes more to dry, it doesn't dry completely and... it smells quite bad, IMHO