What to use to apply weathering powder

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

What’s available to apply weathering powder ?

[JayeL]

Paint brushes . It's what I use to apply weathering powders, just not the ones I use for painting minis, I have a second cheap set for powders.

[PeteySödes]

I use a ancient up old citadel round drybrush for messy applications and and old size 3 for the finer applying fixer and blending with a 0. So far so good with that method, nothing fancy.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Do you use anything to seal it as well ?

[Arkhanist]

Pigment fixer. It smells and goes on like white spirit (mineral spirit) but there's other stuff in there that glues the pigment in place. You use a clean brush and just touch it by the applied pigments so it wicks into them. It doesn't fade them out like a varnish coat does.

[m0nolith]

Vallejo Pigment Binder, I used it just last night.

Its a little bit stronger than Pigment Fixer I hear, but you use it directly from the pot.

It leaves a nice, matt finish, and it does take a while to dry so it gives you plenty of time to spread the pigment around.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

That looks fantastic - thanks !

[MegaVolt87]

I imagine you could use cotton ear buds if you don't want to use a brush? 

[Son of Sacrifice]

Be aware that Vallejo pigments are acrylic, but MiG and AK are enamel. You can fix Vallejo with their airbrush thinner, for the others you will need fixed.

 

I actually mix PVA glue with water into a plant spray bottle and spray a fine mist of that from a distance, it works especially well for getting a dusty finish. For heavier applications I still use pigment fixer.

[PeteySödes]

Be aware that Vallejo pigments are acrylic, but MiG and AK are enamel. You can fix Vallejo with their airbrush thinner, for the others you will need fixed.

 

I actually mix PVA glue with water into a plant spray bottle and spray a fine mist of that from a distance, it works especially well for getting a dusty finish. For heavier applications I still use pigment fixer.

Interesting, I’ve been using Vallejo pigments with the AK fixer. Is that going to cause me issues?

[Magos Takatus]

What’s available to apply weathering powder ?

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/inicio/771-set-6x-blending-stumps-pigments-charcoal-pencil.html

 

http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/weathering-brushes/616-weathering-sticks-foam-sponge-brushes-8mm.html

 

I spotted these recently. You could use these if you don't already have a stock of pre-ruined brushes like many of us have.

[Arkhanist]

 

Be aware that Vallejo pigments are acrylic, but MiG and AK are enamel. You can fix Vallejo with their airbrush thinner, for the others you will need fixed.

 

I actually mix PVA glue with water into a plant spray bottle and spray a fine mist of that from a distance, it works especially well for getting a dusty finish. For heavier applications I still use pigment fixer.

Interesting, I’ve been using Vallejo pigments with the AK fixer. Is that going to cause me issues?

 

 

 As long as it's dry pigment, there's no difference. Pigments come in different particle size and from different mineral and organic sources - the more expensive ones are finer ground and have more intense colours, but thee's no such thing as acrylic or oil dry pigment. The difference between oil and acrylics is what is used to carry and bind the pigment in paint. Oils obviously use an oil base (often linseed) which dries solid with the pigment, but can be reactivated with more oil or mineral spirit. Acrylics use an acrylic polymer that stays in solution in water, but when the water dries out, chemically binds the pigment to the surface permanently. Enamels usually use alkyd resin as at least part of the carrying agent, so work quite similarly to oils, but I'm less familiar with them.

 

So when you're fixing pigments, you're effectively recreating a form of very pigment dense paint! I believe MIG pigment fixer uses a mix of mineral spirits and alkyd resin, so are basically a type of enamel. Vallejo acrylic pigment binder is mostly acrylic medium with some additional stuff to make it stick on stronger.

 

Since our primary precending step is acrylics and/or polyurethene varnish, which can't be reactivated, it doesn't particularly matter which we use.

 

Acrylic fixer is less toxic and potentially less strong (depends upon the chemistry), oil/enamel fixer wicks better and stays active longer so you have more time to rearrange the pigments if you choose, but smell bad and are more toxic. If your last coat is an oil-based one (such as weathering streaks) you don't want to be using oil/enamel based fixer, as that will reactivate the previous layer - which is why it's conventional to varnish after weathering with oils but before pigments.