Tide marks

[mutantpotato]

Hey.

I have a problem. When I wash, ink or glaze a mini (especially the metals), I get tide marks. This is marks where the ink/paint has dried. This looks really bad, and I don't know how to wash a mini without getting tide marks.

So how do you avoid getting tide marks?

Cheers

- Mikkel

[matty1001]

Add a tiny amount of dishwashing soap, this will break the surface tension of the paint and allow it to flow more easily.

[jabberwocky]

Ohh....these are the bane of my painting existance! I get these on most every miniature and have been trying to figure out how to go about eliminating them. The physiologic reason for them is that the paint tends to dry from the "outside-in". Water has a tendency to want to "bubble up" due to water surface tension, so the center of a drop of water will have relatively more volume then the edges and as it evaporates paint will be left along the edges, leaving a ring. The masters here will probably have their own methods, but from what I have read, there are a couple of options. First, adding "gunk" to your water mix to try and get the water to not behave normally. Flow improver is probably your best bet here; as Matty indicated, dish soap works well also (as is considerably cheaper in the long run). The second option (in actuality probably used in conjuction with #1 as opposed to instead of) is to wick away the paint/water mix before it can dry naturally. EricJ prefers this and does so with amazing results. He posted an article over at Wyrd Games on the topic here wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?t=92. Hope this helps!

[Tim C]

I find that keeping an eye on it as it drys and as soon as you see the tide mark appear then you can brush it out using a damp clean brush.

[mutantpotato]

Thanks guys.

I have tried using dish soap. It has helped me a bit, but I still get tide marks.

Thanks Jabber, the link was great, and is the exact answer to my problem I wanted ;D And I had never heard of flow improver either, and I will try that.

And thanks Tim. I have actually thought of trying that before, but I have been too lazy to do it. I just splash an inkwash on the metals and wait to see what happens ,lol. I have learned my lesson now, keep an eye on the paint while it dries ;D

[matty1001]

I suppose, you could just try watering them down alot more as well, Tooshy at CMoN told me the other day that you wants inks watered down enough that if you brush them onto newspaper you can still clearly read the print underneath. It will require more layers but will save the hassle of water marks.

[menace]

When i'm doing ultra thin glazes i use a thing from golden called 'Acrylic Flow Release'. It is basically a flow tension breaker, however, like all else it is not perfect, so i always keep a damp brush nearby to 'feather the edges' this eliminates any chance of tide marks. U can get the flow enhancer at KEM in Oslo

[mutantpotato]

Thanks Matty. I will try to thin the inkwashes even more

Thanks Dennis. I will buy a can when I am in Oslo.