Best wash brand?

[GTTechnics]

I normally tend to primarily use oil washes, but more and more I've been finding myself needing acrylic based washes for little details. I've been making due by mixing inks, water and surfactant, but I think I might just make my life easier and buy some washes. So far I've read generally bad thing about the VGC washes, as supposedly they have a tendency to deposit white spots onto the model. The new Vallejo Model Wash line looks pretty good, and the 20 minute dry time seems interesting, but reviews are difficult to come by. Many people like GW, but it's expensive, and people describe it as a "soft" wash. The Secret Weapon/Les Bursley mix seems like a pretty good option as well.
What brand washes do you guys like and why?
Thanks

 

[brib4169]

I use Les's recipe to pretty good effect

 

[Zab]

I like GW (just don't thin with water use a medium), recently tried Secret weapon. They are somewhere between a wash and an ink. Very good coverage, but again don't over thin or let pool or they will leave interesting marks and colors as they dry and separate. Army painter has a nice brown and black that are on par with the old GW Devlun mud and Baddab black.

 

[Wyrmypops]

My least favourite are the current GW ones. If I wanted only soft washes I could dilute a normal one, but not having the option for a stronger tone is limiting.
Hunted down some Cote D'Arms washes as they produced the old GW range. Was mostly after the strong brown wash the ancient GW ink set supplied - Cote D'Arms didn't have that anymore, but a few promising things in super shader and super wash variants. I have enjoyed the Super Wash ones. Does the job.
A mate chucked me the army painter range of inks. Seem alright, haven't tried them exhaustively but the washes that mimic their quickshade tones are pleasant for a bit of grungyfying. Used them a lot on the zombicide stuff.
Only have one p3 wash, but it's a ruddy good one. The brown, it's quite a reddish brown, excellent for dried blood. Also used a lot on zombicide stuff, topped with some Tamiya Red for fresh blood. I would pick up more p3 washes if our paths crossed.

 

[gohkm]

I still have some very old Citadel inks - you know, the ones that will turn everything the colour of the ink if left undiluted (even black!). I really love those.

Army Painter also has some very nice inks, also very highly pigmented - they need some seriously diluting, though. But I admit I do really miss the GW Devlan Mud, Gryphonne Sepia, and Ogryn Flesh - for sheer convenience, they worked very well, ready diluted, high pigmentation.

 

[Zab]

Hey gohkm Army Painter strong tone and Dark tone are pretty much spot on replacements for Devlun Mud and Badad Black:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.ca/2012/05/devlan-mud-and-badab-black-wash.html

 

[MAXXxxx]

Hey gohkm Army Painter strong tone and Dark tone are pretty much spot on replacements for Devlun Mud and Badad Black:
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.ca/2012/05/devlan-mud-and-badab-black-wash.html

and that's why I bought them.

They are really good. For the little washing I do with official products they are enough for me. The other colors I need I dilute from paints I have.

 

[gohkm]

Hey gohkm Army Painter strong tone and Dark tone are pretty much spot on replacements for Devlun Mud and Badad Black:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.ca/2012/05/devlan-mud-and-badab-black-wash.html

Yes, I do have them. I'm still up for a Gryphonne Sepia replacement, though. The issue I have with Army Painter is that they need diluting, often to a 5:1 ratio, otherwise, the tints are far too strong.

I do admit I'm a lazy bugger, though .

 

[RuneBrush]

I'm pretty similar to most. I've got quite a few of the old GW inks which occasionally get used, all of the previous GW washes (Devlen Mud era) and a good selection of the current GW washes (Nuln Oil era), with a couple of the Army Painter "inks" (don't let the name confuse you - they're just thick washes).

Personally it depends entirely on what you want. I've a dropper bottle of acrylic medium (the GW one as I can buy it locally), mixed with water and regularly use that to mix my own washes using regular acrylic paint, however there is a certain convenience with being able to just use wash straight out of the pot. The Army Painter "inks" are really good but as has been mentioned are pretty thick straight out of the pot. I've been tempted a couple of times to use Les' wash recipe and mix my own, but I don't use enough wash in my painting to justify getting all of the bits do it.

 

[mjs101]

I had a similar question:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?55131-Looking-for-help-with-pin-washes

and I got some good advice and I did a lot of tests of different washes on pennies. You can see some really bad washes on pennies in that thread.

Les's washes are OK, but I've turned away from using them lately. I'd hoped increasing the water to matt medium ratio would make his mix better for pin washed, but found the opposite: more water made worse washes. I also tried oils, but found it generally frustrating.


For me, I use Vallajo Game Color most of the time for ease. I've just started Vallajo's Smoke, which is I believe supposed to be a bit blotchy.

If I am going to mix a lot, or I really want to control the density of pigments, I use magic mix (20% Future Floor polish, 80%) water with a one to three drops of the same ink from Les's wash. (Daler Rowney Acrylic Artist ink). I find Magic Mix to be a better medium than Les's mix. In particular, I use 2ml (one disposable eye dropper) of Magic Mix, one drop of little drop of black ink and one big drop of sepia ink for pin-washes.

 

[Demihuman]

Acrylic artist inks and matte medium work really nicely for doing fast big gradients with smooth transitions. Doesn't work good fro flowing into cracks. I really want to try oil washes for tight detail "pin washes." In this thread he uses oil based pin washes http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?55205-Dust-Tactics-Flamm-Luther

OP, what are trying to accomplish with your washes?

 

[1972Lt1]

I have GW's inks and the washes (Ddvlan Mud era), a few of the new ones, P3 inks (Armor Wash kicks ass), Vallejo inks and wash and Secret Weapon washes. GW inks are the most pigmented, P3 are close. GW's old washes were great, the new ones are pretty good ( they get a bad rap because they are a different shade) Secret Weapon are good, they provide a larger range of washes than GW. So, all of that said, it's up to you. I would recommend you look at all of the mediums in the Vallejo model color range. Matte and Gloss medium, Metal medium( my favorite), matte, satin and gloss varnish, glaze medium and crackel medium. Which one is best? The one you make yourself. Experiment.

 

[GTTechnics]

OP, what are trying to accomplish with your washes?

Typically I do my washes with oil and my blends with vallejo glaze medium. Therefore, I'd be using my washes for odds and ends. Mostly they would be used to shade a few detail recesses when going through the whole oil wash process again would be too much trouble. I'd likely also use them over my vallejo liquid gold paints since varnish really knocks down their brilliance. The idea of a soft body wash sounds interesting, as oil washes tend to make pretty stark lines, so I may find new (to me) uses for that. Right now I've been mixing ink with a water/liquitex flow aid mix and the results are okay.

 

[Demihuman]

Typically I do my washes with oil and my blends with vallejo glaze medium. Therefore, I'd be using my washes for odds and ends. Mostly they would be used to shade a few detail recesses when going through the whole oil wash process again would be too much trouble. I'd likely also use them over my vallejo liquid gold paints since varnish really knocks down their brilliance. The idea of a soft body wash sounds interesting, as oil washes tend to make pretty stark lines, so I may find new (to me) uses for that. Right now I've been mixing ink with a water/liquitex flow aid mix and the results are okay.

Huh, kinda sounds like water and paint are the answer. I use a #2 or #3 round or a #2 filbert and thin my paint about 2 parts water to 1 part paint for dark colors, less for light colors. Then load up your brush, wipe off the excess on a damp paper towel and go to town.

I get pretty mixed results with the GW washes. I am glad I own them though.

 

[Revelen]

I have to admit, I'm primarily a paint-and-water washer. I've used the GW inks, washes, shades, or whatever they're called now, and a variety of other stuff. My entire family is visual artists, so I've played with a pretty big variety of mediums/mixes over the past 13-14 years. I like paint and water! You can control the ratio for the flow, you can control pooling/tide marks with careful washing(s). I'm not a superb painter, but for me, it's now paint and water all the way...

 

[paul222]

I will share with you some tips...
1.Buy acrylic paint with a low viscosity or labeled fluid acrylic or soft body
2.Dilute the low or high viscosity acrylic paint with water or an acrylic liquid medium to resemble a watercolor painting
and i share you more tips

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

I concur with the water or medium mixed with your normal acrylic. Especially if you are simply smoothing blends out. I posted something awhile ago where I talked about my trash wash. Say you are painting a blue cape. You base coat it, and use 3 or 4 highlights colors and 3 or 4 shading colors. Well, as you rinse your brush off you will do so in just a couple/few ounces of water (too little is better). Now you are done with the cape, but you need to either tone down some glaring highlights AND/OR you need to smooth some of your blends out. You take your rinse water, adding some medium or more water if it's too thick, and apply on the cape like a wash. Tuh-duh! Trash wash!!!