Dip Help

[chriscoz]

I've been a fan of the dip method for quite a while and never had a problem. I dipped figures yesterday and they are way too dark. Never had this problem before. Other than highlighting all the figures to brighten, any suggestions?

[David Kuijt]

I've been a fan of the dip method for quite a while and never had a problem. I dipped figures yesterday and they are way too dark. Never had this problem before. Other than highlighting all the figures to brighten, any suggestions?

Hm. I've never had that experience, so I'm not sure what happened. I'm careful about color changes -- I don't dip figures where I paint fire or lava (which needs to be bright in the crannies, not dark), but I do dip Teutonic Knights (who have white barding). Sometimes I have a soft wide brush with turpentine beside my dip process to brush on the highlights and white them up a bit. But only on the whites, or Aztec/Mixtec bright feather costumes, that sort of thing. That won't solve anything once the dip is dry, though.

[chriscoz]

The skin tone is the biggest issue. They went from Vikings to coal miners. I watered down some flesh paint and am reworking all the faces. By watering down, it is sinking in and the facial hair is still visible. Then heavy dry brushing capes and hair and such that are way too dark.

[David Kuijt]

The skin tone is the biggest issue. They went from Vikings to coal miners. I watered down some flesh paint and am reworking all the faces. By watering down, it is sinking in and the facial hair is still visible. Then heavy dry brushing capes and hair and such that are way too dark.

Is your dip getting old? When it gets old, the polyurethane gets thicker and there is more pigment density (because of evaporation of the medium). I dilute with paint thinner when that happens. Extends the life of the jar for six months or so. Sooner or later dip goes to a jelly state from which there is no recovery.