I'm looking for a black wash that will stay reasonably shiny when dry.I'm painting scale armour in gold and have a nice sheen ,but an oil wash would dry matt in the crevices, which is not what i'm after.Not knowing anything much about acrylics,i was wondering if anyone knows an acrylic wash that would accumulate in between the scales of the armour, but dry with a slight sheen,not too glossy.
Brian

Suggestion....use any black...acrylic or oils....once dry.....apply a wash of satin varnish

Ron

Maybe add a drop of Klear to the wash? .....just thinking out loud, never tried it

vallejo has an eyedropper bottle called glossy black acrylic. Perhaps thin it with water?

Gary

Yes, vallejo glossy black is a good one. To make a wash you can thin with water with a tiny amount of dishwashing soap (very very little) to break the water's surface tension.
To make the acrylic behave a bit like oils you could also mix in 20-50% of Glaze Medium. This reduces the intensity of the black and makes it dry slower, quite like oils.

Cheers,
Adrian

Hi mate, there's a few options...

* Use Black Gloss enamel (Humbrol)or semi-Matt depending on amount of sheen required. Or just add a touch of Black gloss to your oilpaint.

* Mix your Balck oilpaint with Liquin, this will give a glaze and dry glossy.

* Use any medium for the effect you need, then give thin layers of your chosen varnish.

Carlos

The thing you've got to watch is the risk of whatever you use behaving like a glaze rather than a wash.
Try Vallejo Black thinned down with any acrylic thinners, Vallejo tends towards the glossy as it dries. Citadel have a thinner called Lahmian Medium which is really just their paint carrier without the pigment. Simply mix it with your chosen black 'til you get the right ratio. Practice on something first.

The Tamiya acrylics I've found dry shiner than most, Revell did a range of gloss acrylics dunno if they still do but with a bit of experimenting with X21 you might get something that way. Never tried it myself so not 00% on it mate
Steve

You hit the nail on the head Derek regarding not wanting the wash to stain.Thanks for everyones input.All taken on board

Also as a possibility the use of Vallejo, 'Inks'. They always dry out with a 'Satin' finish! .. which is usually bloody annoying ! However, in this case they may well be something to think about.

Mark

I would suggest a diluted artist's acrylic (I use liquitex) diluted 50:50 with water and clear acrylic gloss varnish (again I use liquitex). Try it on some scrap first though.

Colin

An old Benassi trick was simply add black humbrol to varnish and apply like a wash , but might be best to seal your base coat with some sort of acrylic varnish or J clear so as not to lift the base