My attempt at the dipping technique

[Kris]

I didn't clean the excess off good enough either and it left too much on parts, globs of dark stain.

Yeah, if you are going to dip them then you really need to shake the excess off... and then shake some more

In addition, I found this site a while ago where they are actually selling stuff especially for miniatures:
http://armypainter.fanatic.dk

I'm not sure how much better it would be (considering how much more expensive it is ) - but there is a little introductory video on the home page and quite a lot of examples to look at (which is nice).

If anyone has used it, it would be good to hear your opinion on the stuff (though I think I'll stick to the stuff that costs me less than £3 rather than something that costs around £20 ...but that's just me being cheap )

I use a brush too...

I think if I do any more I'll try the brush-on method and see how it turns out. It should be less messy at least

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I use a brush too, but one of the articles on dipping talks about spinning the excess off. He secures the figure on the end of a "dipping stick" and after dipping spins the figure back and forth in an empty paint can or box to rid it of the excess stain.

I tried the spin. I had a flat head screw glued to the base for the dip and I spun that in the front yard to get off the excess. I just didn't do enough I think. A nice soft brush will work better methinks.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I've never actually dipped, I've always brushed. I need to get pics of those minis and post them...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Wow, what a great thread.

(Come on, pogre, you should point me to these when they come up.)

I am not a painter anywhere in the mold of pogre. I paint to play, which means I paint for speed. I consider myself a very good speed painter. (I can typically paint a 1500-point army in two weekends.)

In the evolution of my painting I started with GW's Chestnut Wash and I have probably gone through more bottles of that than even White or Black base coat. (Considering how I clean my brushes that probably means I've ingested an ounce or two of ink...)

I discovered very early on that Chestnut Wash improves almost any figure, which I think is confirmed somewhat by the brown stains being suggested in this thread.

I used the GW inks in general with a very heavy brush to cheat all my shadows, and a really amateur drybrush afterwards (usually just with white) to pick out highlights.

A few years ago (back when I was still painting regularly) I discovered WonderWash which is also a really great cheat. It's just black ink, water, and a drop of dish detergent, if I am not mistaken. (The detergent helps the water dry evenly without puddling-- in theory. I think. The detergent changes the cohesive properties of the mix, somehow.)

I used a really heavy brush with WonderWash and went through bottles and bottles of it-- so much so that if I had been thinking I could have very well combined them all in a single container and gone straight to dipping.

Which brings me to a few questions for folks who know a bit more about the chemistry behind the washes and the stains.

1) Would a water-based stain dry more evenly (with fewer puddles)?

2) Would a water-based stain with a mixture of detergent in the vein of WonderWash work better?

3) Even just using the basic stains folks have been using here, do you recommend picking out details like eyes, claws, and teeth after the dip-- or will the stain repel the paint? Or do you not really need to do eyes at all? I have to imagine that the eye sockets will pretty much suck the stain right in.

This thread actually has me itching to paint again! I have a box of 20 or 30 mummies that's been sitting around for ages unpainted, I bet I could get them all done in an hour. =)

EDIT
Interesting:
http://armypainter.fanatic.dk/

All of the links under the Union Jack open PDF files like this one:
http://armypainter.fanatic.dk/UserFiles/File/UK_Q&A.pdf

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I found that where I didn't let it puddle too much the stain did not overpower the small details. I want it to puddle in the creases but not in the small details like teeth and claws. On mine the excess was on the arms and boots, the teeth and claws were fine.


On another non-related note. Man I Hate priming figs here in St. Louis in the summer. The humidity is always through the roof and the spray primer f'ing clumps too much! I have to strip the group of Empire Greatswords I primed last night. Too much "fuzz" on the finish. Grr!!!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I emailed the maker of that mini stain to see if they sell anywhere in the US. I figured the rate of the cans in dollars and with the sad state of the dollar its about 42 bucks a can. Jeez!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I emailed the maker of that mini stain to see if they sell anywhere in the US. I figured the rate of the cans in dollars and with the sad state of the dollar its about 42 bucks a can. Jeez!

Yeah, and I thought the WonderWash guy was making a killing on mark-up!

The secret really is finding the right stuff that goes into your mix (ie, ink, water, and Future floor polish for WonderWash) and making your own mix, instead of paying some internet entrepreneur a huge markup to do the mixing for you. (God bless 'em, don't get me wrong.)

 

[Kris]

...Which brings me to a few questions...

1) Would a water-based stain dry more evenly (with fewer puddles)?

The stuff I have been using is water-based - but I haven't tried anything else to compare it to (I didn't even realise it was water-based when I purchased it).

2) Would a water-based stain with a mixture of detergent in the vein of WonderWash work better?

Hmm... I might give that a try and see how it works out.

3) Even just using the basic stains folks have been using here, do you recommend picking out details like eyes, claws, and teeth after the dip...

The only thing I have touched up after the dip are the horns and claws of the brown dragon-thing I posted on the first page, and that seemed to cover fine... though maybe that is because I am using water-based stain?

With regard to eyes (before dipping) ...on the human figures I just painted the whole face one flat colour. On some of the orcs and stuff I have painted a simple red dot and left it at that.

Interesting:
http://armypainter.fanatic.dk/

All of the links under the Union Jack open PDF files like this one:
http://armypainter.fanatic.dk/UserFiles/File/UK_Q&A.pdf

I think the pirate looking guys in the 'features archive' look about the best of what he has done to date, and the LotR uruk-hai look pretty good too for such a simple base-coat.

I emailed the maker of that mini stain to see if they sell anywhere in the US. I figured the rate of the cans in dollars and with the sad state of the dollar its about 42 bucks a can. Jeez!

Yeah it does seem quite expensive

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

After more searching the only place that sells Tudor around his is the big cans for about 17 bucks. I'm going to buy one though.

 

[Doug Sundseth]

A few years ago (back when I was still painting regularly) I discovered WonderWash which is also a really great cheat. It's just black ink, water, and a drop of dish detergent, if I am not mistaken. (The detergent helps the water dry evenly without puddling-- in theory. I think. The detergent changes the cohesive properties of the mix, somehow.)

...

1) Would a water-based stain dry more evenly (with fewer puddles)?

No. Water has a higher surface tension than most other solvents used for painting. High surface tension means beading/puddles.

2) Would a water-based stain with a mixture of detergent in the vein of WonderWash work better?

Yes. Detergent is a surfactant (it reduces the surface tension of the water). Adding a little bit of detergent allows the stain or paint to flow more easily, which means it is more likely to settle into the places you'd like it to.

Various alcohols (propylene glycol is popular among paint formulators) can do much the same thing. In fact, you're usually better off using something other than straight water as a thinner for paint in all cases.

3) Even just using the basic stains folks have been using here, do you recommend picking out details like eyes, claws, and teeth after the dip-- or will the stain repel the paint? Or do you not really need to do eyes at all? I have to imagine that the eye sockets will pretty much suck the stain right in.

If you're dipping, you might want to (I would) clean up some details after the dip is finished. It depends on how much you care about precision in your painting. For bulk painting, it's not particularly necessary. As to eyes, you can make a cogent argument that eyes should not be painted (especially on 15mm or smaller figures), since the eyes of a human are only seen as shadows at a distance. (FWIW, I still paint eyes, but I do lots of silly things. I've used 15 colors of paint on a single 6mm figure, for instance. 8-/ )