Hey friends,

I have lots of trouble with using oils. Nearly threw the model I'm working on at the wall because of this.

I'm wetting the surface with white spirit before using oils.

I mix artist oils with white spirit to make an oil (pin) wash.

Then I start dabbing my small brush at places where I want my wash.

But it ends up looking very messy and pigment-ish. Also, I can't seem to be able to blend it afterwards so that it doesn't suddenly end, but has at least a gradient opacity. At some places it doesn't even reach the corners/nooks.

Here are some pictures:






Please help, friends! What am I doing wrong?

Thank you very much.

White spirit is pretty harsh and usually used to clean brushes rather than thin paint. Try some mineral spirit instead. There are special odorless spirits for arts oil that you can buy at various art and crafts stores.
Second, what oils are you using? Make sure they are of good quality and not of the water soluble kind, the better the quality the finer the pigments.

Also, if you have problems with the wash spreading out on your model you can try to gloss coat it before applying the wash. This helps it run better.

Hey, I have a gloss coat on the model, so I have that one covered.

As for oils, I use Daler Rowney Akademie and Royal Langnickel.

I always thought white spirit and mineral spirit are the same thing but called a different name in Europe and the USA? The label says "Mild, aromatics-free solvent for use with brush in 1-component paints and varnishes".

Hi,
Try without wetting the base. Just prepare your mix (and experiment with different rates of thinner/paint), and touch the corners and areas with the loaded brush.

Later on use a clean brush with a bit of thinner to clean any area you do not want to be painted, or blend it as you wish.

Hope this helps,

Carlos

Work in smaller areas and blend and feather the edges of the washes as you go. The key is patience.

If you wait until the washes are dry before you try to blend and feather the edges, you will get tide marks and sharp edges.

Mineral spirits should work just fine for your washes. That's what I use, and I have no problems.

Scroll down to the 5th post on this page for a description of what I do:

Amorama::Riich Universal Carrier Build Blog::Page 10

Take you time and use a brush damp with thinners to feather the edges of your washes before they set up and dry. Work in smaller areas so that you can work all the washes you've just applied before the first ones start to dry.

Tedious? Yes. Slow? Yes. But you'll get much nicer results.

HTH,

Hmm, you're right. I have a bottle of "white spirit" which is extremely harsh on my paints but reading up it seems to be just different names (wonder if the differencein how it attacks the paint is in who makes it and how its blended?). Either way, I would go with one of the artists thinners

Thanks Mike, I'll certainly read your post!