" Dish Soap " to make washes..

S

Stilton

New member
Sorry to all the painting masters out there who are rolling there eyes mumbling 'Dis noooooob....'


But... I've read so many times people advising to add a bit of 'dish soap' to a mix to create washes that flow better into recesses...


Being that we're quite low-tech here in my house and we do the dishes the old fashioned way -- in the sink...
..
Not one of these new-fangled dish-washerat0r machines...




My question is, are we talking about fairy-liquid washing-up-liquid...
Or are you peeps referring to something used in an electric dish-washer.



I could just experiment but i am loathe to mix up a strange paint-fairy substance that sits there smelling lovely but is totally useless :D
Cheers!
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
Here it is Dawn or Palmolove (liquid dish soap). But liquid hand soap would also work (more perfumes). Anything to help break surface tension.

A drop or two to a half liter (pint) should be enough. We're not making a bubble bath, just need a bit of surfactant.
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

New member
airhead said:
Here it is Dawn or Palmolove (liquid dish soap). But liquid hand soap would also work (more perfumes). Anything to help break surface tension.

A drop or two to a half liter (pint) should be enough. We're not making a bubble bath, just need a bit of surfactant.
Click to expand...


Wouldn't dishwasher rinse agent work better than soap, or they about the same?
View attachment 18701
 
Einion

Einion

New member
Stilton said:
My question is, are we talking about fairy-liquid washing-up-liquid...
Click to expand...
Yes. If you're going by a formula you've gotten online you shouldn't go too far wrong but you do want to be careful not to add too much as this can interfere with proper drying. As Fairy is a little more concentrated than many competitors you may need to add a smidge less.

Einion
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

New member
airhead said:
I've never seen it tried. Try a bit and let us know how it works. Personally I use W&N Flow Improver.
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Only reason I mentioned this is that Bruce Hirst recommends it to make "Wet Water" to help plaster flow into molds (http://www.hirstarts.com/casting/advanced.html#wet). Since it was specifically designed to help reduce the surface tension of the water I am not sure if it is better than soap at doing this or not.

For my washes I used Les Bursley's recipe which uses a mix of Liquitex flow improver and water, matte medium and artist's inks. so it could be some time before I have to mix up a new batch of washes :smile:
 
Einion

Einion

New member
Bloodhowl said:
Only reason I mentioned this is that Bruce Hirst recommends it to make "Wet Water" to help plaster flow into molds (http://www.hirstarts.com/casting/advanced.html#wet). Since it was specifically designed to help reduce the surface tension of the water I am not sure if it is better than soap at doing this or not.
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My guess is there won't be much in it. Commercial tension breakers can be a specific type of chemical and not detergent, but in some a detergent is the main active ingredient*.

Einion

*With the bulk of the product consisting of water, in case that's not obvious.
 
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