Reducing or thinning paint for use in your
airbrush
Written with help from
Doug Probst airscapes
The general rule of thumb
with most Acrylic Colors is reducing it with distilled water until it flows
like milk.
Please understand here that it depends on how much air
pressure you are running and the type of airbrush you are using.
Over
reducing some paints might have an adverse effect and the paints might not
adhere as well. Always check the product tech sheets if available.
Key
to this is experimenting to find what reduction works best for you and you
situation.
Beware that there is a difference with paints made to use in
an airbrush and craft type paints, the pigments are ground finer in paint made
to use in an airbrush they generally will flow much better being less hassle to
spray thru your airbrush.
The amount or reduction also depends on the
size of the nozzle in your airbrush a 0.5 mm nozzle will spray much thicker
paint than a 0.2 given the correct air pressue is being used.
Extenders
that the paint companies make more often than not do not make the color thinner
but do make it more transparent.
Below is some information I have
put together for several different products I hope you find it
helpful.
Auto Air: Reducing or
thinning.
Auto Air: 0.3mm
needle, nozzle size: Transparent Colors thinned with Auto Air Reducer
approx 300% or more (3 Reducer : 1 color)
0.2mm needle, nozzle size:Transparent Colors thinned with
Auto Air Reducer approx. 500% or more (5 Reducer : 1 color)
***To improving
atomization when using an airbrush, Auto Air Reducer may be used to thin
paints. Often, colors are reduced up to 400% (Auto Air Reducer 4:1 Auto Air
Color) when using an airbrush. Mix ratios may vary per color and Color Series.
Exact ratios are not required
Createx Colors thinning
or reducing:Airbrush Extender a transparent medium which will dilute the
color to a lighter value. Will increase transparency in opaque and pearlized
airbrush colors. Add until desired transparency or color shade is achieved.You
can us distilled water to further reduce as needed.
Createx Acrylic
Colors:Multi Surface Acrylics may be thinned with water or extended with
Createx Mediums
GOLDEN Airbrush
Colors are formulated from a safe and archival1 100% water-based acrylic
emulsion, incorporating only the most lightfast pigments available.Viscosity
ready to use, no dilution required as they are finely ground, they easily spray
through the smallest orifices available for airbrushes.GOLDEN Airbrush
Transparent Extender can be added to the Airbrush colors to yield more
transparent colors without jeopardizing the film integrity and permanency. In
fact, lowering the pigment load by adding the Extender will actually increase
the film's durability and frisket performance.
Doc PH
Martins-- Ready-Tex Ultra Ready to use Fabric Paint no dilution or
filtering necessary.
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SOLVENT BASED COLORS
|
Solvent based paint isa hard one as
there are
Solvent based paints are a hard one
to discuss as there are so many different systems out there on the
market.
By solvent based I'm referring to the automotive paints we use
for airbrushing murals, flames, graphics on bikes, cars, trucks, etc. With
these the best thing to do is to get to know your local paint jobber REAL
well.
Most if not all the tech sheets put on these products relate to
painting cars and not to applying these products thru an airbrush, please keep
that in mind when reviewing tech sheets.
Most often when used in an
airbrush you must over reduce the products beyond what the tech sheets say to
get them to flow correctly thru an airbrush.
Some products like Dupont
Chroma Base use what's called a Base Maker instead of a Reducer like House of
Kolor. Base makers will in most cases not make the color thinner allowing it to
easily flow thru your airbrush in fact some make the paint thicker. With
products that do use a reducer thinning or reducing the paint for use in an
airbrush is best accomplished with medium or slow temp reducers.
Thinning solvent based paints is a very personal choice as to how much
you thin or reduce it, this will take some experimenting on your part I'm
afraid.
With the house of Kolor paints I use I generally reduce it with
slow reducer at about 50% paint 50% reducer depending on the color maybe a bit
more reducer. The tech sheet calls for two parts paint one part reducer for
spray gun applications on most House of Kolor products so you can see I do over
reduce it according to what the tech sheet says. Again a good starting point
might be to get it to flow like milk.
Beware of using a solvent based
product in your airbrush that requires adding a catalyst.
I will add
more to this page as time allows please book mark this page and come back
often. |
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I hope you
found this article helpful.
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fun.
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