"Dipping" is Dead

It has been for a while now actually, only we just got the memo about a month ago.

When GW came out with their washes, I remember a lot of enthusiasm and proud pictures going up, of people using them on basecoated figures. The results looked nice and we tried duplicating them, but to no effect.

We then left them aside and didn't think anything of it till Jason Bickford asked us to use some Devlan Mud on his Skaven, rather than dipping them. Here are the results:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105582963113829861589/JasonBickfordSkavenAndLizardmen#5737805490949723522

I fell out of my chair, and promptly stole the idea. It was quite simple really, and something I'm sure everyone else has been doing for a while now - just a 1:1 mix of the wash, and water. That's it. A single coat, and your done.

In our earlier tests we had tried doing multiple thin coats, and that just didn't gave us anywhere near these results.

We did a few tests after that, but the definite one was these that we did for Kevin Worden using a mix of Badab Black and Gryphone Sepia:

These are much cleaner and easier to do than regular, polyurethane dipping like the Army Painter series. They dry matte, and they dry quick -- especially given the tropical climate out here, drying time for polyurethane has never been something I've been fond of.

It's a little pricier per figure to use the Washes - or rather the "Shades" as GW has rebranded them, but I think it's completely worth it. You get a much better look, for far less time, and its much easier to clean up if you make any mistakes.

So that's our big secret for how we're doing "dipping" from now on. We're really just using the GW Shades, and yes, I think we really have been the last people to have figured this out!

Cheers and be well, 

Navin

"Dipped" Chaos Daemons

Here are some Chaos Daemons we just finished for Max Niven. They're dipped -- or are they?

Dipping is a messy, costly, time-consuming process that you have to work really hard at to make work. It also only comes in shades of brown.

We did something different here, that we've been planning and building up to for a while. It's the same price as our other dipping, and as you can see, looks better and cleaner. It will also work in other shades than brown, which should make for much better appearance.

We have a large set of Undead that we're putting up next that I think puts the final nail in the coffin of the old method. Once those are ready, we're going to tell you all how we did this, and how we're doing "Dipping" from now on.