Tips for making my own washes? (Vallejo matt medium or glaze medium?)

[Charlie_]

I stick to a pretty limited palette of colours and paints, and use a very few washes/glazes quite often.

- Citadel Nuln Oil  (used to use Army Painter dark tone)
- Vallejo Umber Wash
- Vallejo Flesh Wash
- a 50/50 mix of Nuln Oil and Umber Wash

I also rather frequently mix up a some dark red, blue or green washes as required - for this I take my dark paint, water it down and mix it with Nuln Oil. Works a treat, but I'm thinking it's worth having some ready-mixed in bottles.

To do it properly I understand I should really use some sort of medium.

Browsing around I see Vallejo 'matt medium' and 'glaze medium'. Which do I use?

Should my mix be paint + glaze medium + nuln oil?

Or paint + matt medium + water + nuln oil?

Any advice appreciated!

[2010sunburst]

Hi Charlie
I have all the Vallejo wash colours and mix them to get what I want.  However, I occasionally make my own, and use dark coloured paint, water, flow aid, and glaze medium.  The water dilutes the paint.  The flow aid breaks down surface tension so the mix acts as a wash, and the glaze medium stops the paint from breaking down and not adhering as required……
Flow aid can also be really useful if you want to paint thin lines as it makes the paint flow off the brush more reliably.  I find it great for black lining and eyeballs. Matt medium is good for layer work, and glaze medium is good for glazes (natch), making the paint more transparent. 

[Charlie_]

Thank you, that's very helpful.

[Vanth]

My personal sauce is made with Vallejo Matt Medium, Liquitex Flow Aid and Demineralized Water, which I tint using inks according to the necessity. This allows for a wide range of washes of different intensity according to the necessity

[Aethelwulf]

I have made a black wash using acrylic black Vallejo, tap water and a spot of dishwashing soap, and it does actually work.

[Codsticker]

I've been modifying Contrast Paints to make my own washes. It's kind of ad hoc but generally a couple drops of whatever CP I wish to use with 2 drops of Golden Matte Medium (almost identical to Liquitex's product) and a drop of Flow Aid. Sometimes I may add drop Army Painter Strong Tone to darken it. I would rather have them a bit thin and apply two coats if necessary. I like using the CP's as a base as they are quite matte and have a variety of colours (as opposed to just green, blue, etc.). Although I have Glaze Medium from Golden I find it a bit too glossy for my liking but a good quality matte spray does get rid of it.

[Fitz]

Acrylic inks can't be beat for pigment intensity, but their colour range tends to be pretty limited, and intermixability can have unexpected results. An alternative, especially for relatively small quantities of wash, is a good quality artist grade watercolour. Pan or tube, it makes no real difference to the outcome, though tubes are easier to handle if you need a lot of paint.

Just mix the watercolour wash to the intensity you want, add some liquid matte medium (I use Golden) and a drop or two of flow-aid, and you have a wash of any colour you like.

If you want a supremely "fast" wash with zero surface tension that will wick right into seams and creases, you can use a 50/50 water/alcohol mix (either meths or iso, either is fine). Be cautious with an alcohol wash though, as it can soften underlying acrylic paint, so it's safer for a pin-washing technique than for slathering on in large quantities.

Watercolours are usually pretty transparent, as the whole point of watercolour painting is to allow light to penetrate through the paint and then reflect back off the white paper beneath. This is the quality that gives good watercolour paintings their vivacity, and is the reason why it's so important not to over-work your watercolours.

[ced1106]

Les' Wash recipe: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/261541.page

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

I have made a black wash using acrylic black Vallejo, tap water and a spot of dishwashing soap, and it does actually work.

I do the same but not even with Vallejo, just common craft paint.  Cheap is amazingly adequate in all thing paint, except brushes.

I do use a nice expensive acrylic ink for red.  None of my craft reds are quite intensely red.

[Aethelwulf]

I do the same but not even with Vallejo, just common craft paint.  Cheap is amazingly adequate in all thing paint, except brushes.

I do use a nice expensive acrylic ink for red.  None of my craft reds are quite intensely red.

I'll have to try that.