Saturday, 29 January 2011
Exploring Vallejo 'Black Glaze'
It will soon be time to paint my 'entry' in the You Tube community project ~ Adeptus Astartes, and I am trying out some new materials/techniques, for painting black.
My technique is this:
(1) Black primer (my 'stock', paint-on, primer ... GW Chaos Black:water, 1:1 ... plus 15 drops of Winsor and Newton Acrylic Flow Improver, in 20 ml). 2 coats, sometimes 3 (hair-dryer-assisted).
(2) Base coat GW Deadly Nightshade (OOP, but available from Coat D'arms), darkened, slightly, with GW Chaos Black.
(3) Glaze shadows etc. with black glaze.
(4) Highlight (to follow).
Normally, for the glaze, I would use Chaos Black:Vallejo Glaze Medium (VGM) (1:1, at least, sometimes some water). By my judgement, VGM includes retarder, matt medium and a little flow agent, too. The retarding can be useful, but not necessarily, for repeated, thin, glazing.
I thought I would see how Vallejo Black Glaze (VBG) compared ...
(A) Top row; 1:1 VBG:water.
(B) Middle row; VBG:VGM ... most of the 1:2 was used.
(C) Bottom spot; Neat VBG.
The colour balance is off, here, but it helps illustrate the points. BTW, the base coat on 'Testy-Bob' is somewhat lighter, than that described, above.
The boots were washed (2 or 3 passes, not shadow-glazed) with (B), 1:2. The border with the base coat is apparent (it appears brown, but it is black IRL).
The cannon was treated the same, with (B), the barrel with 1:2 and the end with 1:1. The end has more obvious pigment, on the raised areas, but the recesses are the same, in both cases.
In all (B) mixes, the initial glossy effect completely turns matt as the acyclic fully dries.
The arm was treated the same, with (A), it drying more quickly than (B), leaving a nice, flat, matt black finish.
Conclusion
It appears that VBG is, apparently, similar to 'my mix', as described above. For repeated, thin, glazing, it should be out of the pot and then diluted with water (1:1 at the very least), or it will be too intense for controlled glazing. Retarding will decrease as dilution increases.
Postscript
Neat GW Badab Black and VBG, on tile, then diluted with water, on tile and paper (2:1, water:paint).
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