Nuln Oil - White Frosting

[MagicMan]

Not the cake kind.

 

Id been using nuln oil no problems, but recently have been getting a white frosted effect in the recesses, which is the opposite of good.

 

Anyone else had this problem/knows a workaround beyond repainting the whole thing?

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2016/11/11/837736_md-.jpg

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2016/11/11/837735_md-.jpg

 

Super demoralising. Its actually more noticeable IRL than in the pictures.

[Atia]

This is weird indeed. Try to layer some lahmian medium over it - that usually helps for frost effects (f.e. against purity seal frost)

[Grotsmasha]

I've not seen it on a model before, but noticed it in the pot, a good shake has always sorted it for me.

[MagicMan]

This is weird indeed. Try to layer some lahmian medium over it - that usually helps for frost effects (f.e. against purity seal frost)

 

I don't have any Lahmian. Maybe i should pick some up if it works, like you say. Thanks for the tip.

 

I tried running the model under the tap, the frost dissapears when wet, but reappears when its dry. Strange.

 

I've not seen it on a model before, but noticed it in the pot, a good shake has always sorted it for me.

Yeah i shook the pot like a newborn baby i hated, but still frosted.

[Kierdale]

I've had that happen when I diluted the Shade with water, if I remember correctly.

 

I too would give Lamian Medium a try :tu:

[MagicMan]

I've had that happen when I diluted the Shade with water, if I remember correctly.

I too would give Lamian Medium a try

I did dilute it with water, I didn't realise that was a no-no? Thanks for the comment, maybe that is why it went all weird.

[Major_Gilbear]

This happens with the matte washes, and sometimes with matt varnishes too; this is because the matting agent they use is essentially very fine talc.

 

If you do not shake them enough, and regularly enough, it settles out a bit over time. Even in a new pot that's been standing for a day or so, the agent will start to sink to the bottom of the pot; thus the proportional amount of matting agent left in the bottle increases as you gradually use the wash.

 

The way matting agents usually work is to make the surface slightly and evenly rough in order to scatter light. If you get some cloudiness, applying a layer or two of gloss varnish over the area have help "fill in" the roughness a bit and therefore help to "clear" the cloudiness a bit. When the gloss is dry, go over the area a gain with a thin matte finish to regain the desired original finish.

 

Another reason for the cloudiness could be either a small amount of air or still-wet wash trapped deeper into the recess. If it's air, you can carefully poke through with the tip of a new scalpel blade, and then re-wash and/or use the gloss varnish trick. If the wash is still wet, you can try poking through with the tip of a new scalpel blade and putting it somewhere warm to fully dry.

 

Finally, the matting agent sometimes gathers in a recess (think of it as clumping together) and this cannot be fixed with gloss varnish or with poking through with a scalpel. In this case, you can really only strip/scrape/overpaint the affected area to fix it.

[Major_Gilbear]

I've had that happen when I diluted the Shade with water, if I remember correctly.

 

This is because the acrylic binder (which is usually quite weak in a wash) breaks down when thinned, and it cannot "carry" the matting agent (i.e. talc) in the body of the wash any more. If you thin at least partly with acrylic medium, this helps to keep enough body to carry the matting agent when you apply it.

[MagicMan]

Thanks for the information, Gilbear, I appreciate that.


So if I've mixed a small amount of water into my Nuln Oil pot, its essentially messed up'd now? Unless i want to shade things with a white frosted effect. Like if im painting cupcakes, or snowmen.

[Major_Gilbear]

So if I've mixed a small amount of water into my Nuln Oil pot, its essentially messed up'd now? Unless i want to shade things with a white frosted effect. Like if im painting cupcakes, or snowmen.

 

No, it can still be rescued.

 

I would let it settle and then take off the top 80% of the pot in to a new container. The bottom 20% of the wash mostly has the flocculated matting agent, and is to be chucked away. The rest that you drew off can have a little matte medium added to it (a drop or two), and shaken up again - that should then work okay for you, as the matte medium adds both new acrylic medium and matting agent to the wash-water mix.

 

Matte medium can be bought from GW (Lahmian Medium), or from Vallejo, or from a decent art shop. The stuff from the art shop might cost you a tenner, but you get about a half a pint! Good brands to look our for are Golden and Liquitex.

 

If you need your wash to be more runny, rather than adding water try a flow aid (sometimes called a flow improver).

 

Finally, if you are mucking about with matte medium, you may want to consider making your own washes. ;)

[MagicMan]

Hats off to you Gilbear, informative and helpful as always. Thank you.

[MagicMan]

Update incase anyone else has this problem.

 

I tried watered down paint, no luck.

 

I tried a different wash, seemed to semi work. Still there if you look closely but much less noticeable. Another coat, or Lahmian medium would probs work.

[K0rtmer]

I never knew all the detail shared in this thread, but had the same issue a few years back. I learned it means I'm not shaking the pot well enough and/or I'm using too much wash.

 

All the above advice sounds legit. Let us know how you get on.

[Xenith]

Similar stuff if you use too much, the pool of wash 'settles' and segregates instead of drying homogenously. It's happened with Agrax to me also. 

 

I don't thin washes with water anymore, usually 1:1 with Lahmian medium and use them more sparingly, and I haven't had any more problems. 

[Bryan Blaire]

Flow improver can help with washes/shades tremendously.

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Major_Gilbear!

[ApeFace]

I've had this happen before. Just a good reminder to not let your washes pool. To fix it, I did a very light re-wash over the affected area and it went away.

[Freakiq]

I've noticed it tends to happen more at my new apartment which has harder water than my old place.

After switching to using bottled water for painting this hasn't happened to me.

 

Maybe it has something to do with the chalk and limestone in the water?

[Gorthaur]

I have only had this happen with the nuln oil from years ago, recently i've had it work like a charm every time. Then again I rarely dilute it with water and wash a large area... I tend to just paint in directly into the recesses then touch up. But I definitely had this happen and I remember being irked and washing thinned abaddon black or whatever to cover it in the recesses.