Match for old GW "Sky Blue Ink"?

[nic-e]

vermis, it's not just your shop, winsor and newton are very much a pricey brand (although whether it's worth it depends on what it is you're buying from them.I'm looking at you "watercolour" sketchbooks and winton oil colors!!)

Generally tho, W&N specialist or artit grade stuff is of a high quality and very long lasting,after all, it's in their interest to make  materials that last a long time so that works produced with them don't degrade before they can get their name associated with the artist.

i keep my miniatures on my windowsill and my painting desk and easel both face the window, and i haven't had any issue with W&N or gw inks & paints fading.

[Vermis]

vermis, it's not just your shop, winsor and newton are very much a pricey brand (although whether it's worth it depends on what it is you're buying from them.I'm looking at you "watercolour" sketchbooks and winton oil colors!!)

Heh. I looked at the W&N watercolour field box in the same shop, last week. (Looks a bit more portable than the one I got cheap) Wasn't prepared for the price! Though that is only the 'budget' cotman set, not the professional artist's quality one.

That said...

Generally tho, W&N specialist or artit grade stuff is of a high quality and very long lasting,after all, it's in their interest to make  materials that last a long time so that works produced with them don't degrade before they can get their name associated with the artist.

Them and Michael Harding oil colours are what I stock up on. I really should try to use them some time...

[Major_Gilbear]

On the subject of lightfastness; I agree that it's not normally an issue, and less still for me since the varnish I use is UV-resistant. However, I was hoping to avoid varnishing the metals on these figures in order to avoid them either going dull or looking wet. Looks like I will just varnish as normal and the re-do a final highlight at the end. 

As far as colours go, it's interesting to note how coy some of the descriptions are when describing the transparency of the different colours.

So far, I feel that FW Acrylic Inks Turquoise might be a reasonable bet if I keep the layers thin (which I usually do), and the price seems acceptable for 30ml (which is probably enough for the army, and I can buy more if I need it anyway).

Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue looks too dark for my purposes, but it's hard to tell. I think it would offer the best translucency though.

Liquitex offer Ink! in turquoise which looks promising, but I am concerned about how opaque it may be.

...I never thought it would be so hard to match an ink! 

[Dolmot]

A small update: What I'm using is actually VMC 938 Tranparent Blue. It's...well, thin and partially transparent, but for ink-like behaviour I thin it down even more with mediums. If a mid-turquoise tone is needed, I mix it with the P3 ink. This may sound tricky but I sort of enjoy experimenting and ending up with slightly varying tones, which in many cases add realism. If every mini is a little bit different, there's no harm done if one specific colour is discontinued.

[Major_Gilbear]

A small update: What I'm using is actually VMC 938 Tranparent Blue. It's...well, thin and partially transparent, but for ink-like behaviour I thin it down even more with mediums. If a mid-turquoise tone is needed, I mix it with the P3 ink. This may sound tricky but I sort of enjoy experimenting and ending up with slightly varying tones, which in many cases add realism. If every mini is a little bit different, there's no harm done if one specific colour is discontinued.

Since I have that blue, and my friend has the P3 ink, I might try that! Thanks.

My main concern here is that I am block-painting 20 models at a time, and I would prefer that the colours do match well - it's otherwise a fairly monochrome scheme, so small differences do unfortunately jump out more. For similar reasons, I want a colour straight-from-pot or a simple 50:50 ratio mix for speed. Normally though, I'm not this picky or colour-mixing adverse!

[Vermis]

Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue looks too dark for my purposes, but it's hard to tell. I think it would offer the best translucency though.

W&N's own swatch looks even darker, but the inks thin down or spread nicely from dark to light. Here's another bit of a swatch:



White primer (gesso) half painted over with CDA enchanted silver (their lightest silver, = GW's old mithril silver). Top two bars: heavily washed blue and thinned blue. Bottom two: heavily washed cobalt blue and thinned cobalt blue. Both thinned with water and a drop of flow aid. (ye olde Klear floor polish, which was probably unnecessary anyway.)
In practise the cobalt blue was cooler, and both seemed a bit cooler still over the metallic paint. I think I used about 1:1 water when thinning, but I don't think they need thinning even that much: just avoiding an overloaded brush and brushing it on steadily could work, although thinning will be useful if you want to slap on a wash. (I had to reapply the thinned blue over the metallic half too, to make it show up better)
It goes on nice 'n' even too, which is why there were comparisons to GW washes. Any blotching and pooling there is due to me reapplying and 'puddling about' too much.

[warburton]

I use the W&N inks, mostly for mixing into paints rather than washes. I would have thought that Cobalt Blue would be a good match, though my Sky Blue was used up years ago so I can't directly compare. I do vote for the usefulness of the W&N inks though! They are worth the price.

[Major_Gilbear]

Quick thread-necro with an update (since the info may be of use to others!)

I ended up buying FW Acrylic Inks Turquoise, and transferred it to a plastic dropper bottle.

Whilst it was a good colour, the opacity was a bit too much for going over metal paints.

However, I came to use it again recently, and found that it had settled in the bottle. Rather than shaking it up, I just used the clear ink off the top. Success! It was the correct colour and perfectly translucent just like the other inks we're all familiar with (and it mixes just as well with other inks and paints too).

So, if you need a colour-fast acrylic ink, consider the FW acrylics and just let them settle first to result in a clear tinted ink that you can use.