Mixing very small quantities of paint

[Arron]

Hi.
I'm wondering how people mix their colours. I need a lot of very small quantities of different colours. Currently I mix them in little shot glasses and pour them into the airbrush. The problem is I need only a tiny amount but have to mix up enough to make stirring and pouring practical, and about 95% is wasted each time.

This is getting expensive.

I'm using opaque paints exclusively. I'm guessing things would be different if I was using transparent, but I'm not that advanced.

cheers
Arron

 

[musicmacd]

I use shot glasses and you only need a few drops to mix properly. I use cocktail sticks to put tiny amounts of colour in.
When im learning to do certain colours I have wasted tons of paint to the point I buy 8oZ bottles of white

 

[Squishy]

I mix directly in the airbrush paint cup, I used to write a little recipe in case I had to match the colour again later, but I don't need to now. I use the tip of a fine paintbrush to stir in teeny amounts of colour, back flush to mix, et voila

 

[markjthomson]

I use a small plastic artist pallette and mix it in there. Depends what you mean by small amounts. I've never mixed more than 10ml at once...

 

[basepaint]

You can mix your paints in the cup,or you can mix up enough in small resealable cup you can get at most arts/craft stores then just seal up what you don't use till you need it

 

[twood]

I use little glass bottles I find at the dollar store. $1.25 for 8 of them. They come with little cork stoppers so I can seal it and save the paint for awhile. I soak and clean them when done, so they are re-usable. I use craft sticks to stir the paint when mixing
.

 

[Gareth White]

[ use tattoo ink potsQUOTE="Arron, post: 247227, member: 10037"]Hi.
I'm wondering how people mix their colours. I need a lot of very small quantities of different colours. Currently I mix them in little shot glasses and pour them into the airbrush. The problem is I need only a tiny amount but have to mix up enough to make stirring and pouring practical, and about 95% is wasted each time.

This is getting expensive.

I'm using opaque paints exclusively. I'm guessing things would be different if I was using transparent, but I'm not that advanced.

cheers
Arron[/QUOTE]
I

Hi.
I'm wondering how people mix their colours. I need a lot of very small quantities of different colours. Currently I mix them in little shot glasses and pour them into the airbrush. The problem is I need only a tiny amount but have to mix up enough to make stirring and pouring practical, and about 95% is wasted each time.

This is getting expensive.

I'm using opaque paints exclusively. I'm guessing things would be different if I was using transparent, but I'm not that advanced.

cheers
Arron

I use tattoo ink pots. Have a look on Amazon. You can get them in small, medium and large, with and without caps and they are very cheap. I also made a little holder out of some scrap wood, just drilled holes in in to fit the cups.

 

[Arron]

I hadn't heard of tattoo cups but I found them on eBay - amazingly cheap - like 1 or 2 cents each. Great tip, thanks.

Made me wonder if you could adapt them for a side feed or suction air gun. Just pick up, attach, use, then seal up for later if any paint left or dispose if not. No pouring, no cleaning.

Of course you could clean and reuse if you wanted to be environmentally responsible but I haven't had much success cleaning little plastic containers to airbrush standards.

Cheers
Arron

 

[Arron]

I hadn't heard of tattoo cups but I found them on eBay - amazingly cheap - like 1 or 2 cents each. Great tip, thanks.

Made me wonder if you could adapt them for a side feed or suction airbrush. Just pick up, attach, use, then seal up for later if any paint left or dispose if not. No pouring, no cleaning.

Of course you could clean and reuse if you wanted to be environmentally responsible but I haven't had much success cleaning little plastic containers to airbrush standards.

Cheers
Arron

 

[Phaze]

For small amounts I just mix in the airbrush cup. For larger amounts I buy bottles of hand sanitizer. They are 2 for $1.25 and they have a cap with a drip hole. I just straight dump them out and wash. Cheap cheap

 

[tucky]

I was having this thought myself, I have found that is more difficult to get accurate matches with small batches of paint. The process is the same as mixing larger amounts of paint, the only difference is that you have to add tiny amount of paint to get an accurate match, which seems to be more difficult to me. Adding to much of one color may overpower the small batch, which will lead to add more paint to correct.

 

[Skellington]

I use miniature jam jars to keep colour if i mixed too much by accident, but I'm learning to avoid that now.
I usually mix them straight into the airbrush but find that if it's a really pale colour I want this can sometime be difficult and end up using a ton of White, as musicmacd said further up! I am definitely gonna try the cocktail stick thing for a tiny tint of colour into white going forward!

@Squishy

back flush to mix

- Can I ask, how do you do this? I've seen Mitch do it on his tutorials but I'm not getting it. This is probably a ridiculously obvious answer but I've tried this trick and failed.

 

[Squishy]

Nothing is obvious until you know what it is - believe me I know. I have had more than a few facepalm moments.

Basically you're just pressing for air, but stopping the air coming out of the brush and therefore forcing it to bubble back up into the cup. I don't paint with the protective cap on, so just pinch the end of the brush and needle to block it, but you could use a cloth or something. You don't want bubbles in the cup while painting, but making the air bubble back while mixing really helps it all come together well.

 

[Skellington]

Hmm, thanks for this, but I feel like that's what I already tried. I've had the protective cap off, and also the paint cup cap off so I could see the paint, but it just starts to feel like my airbrush is going to explode, and no paint appears to move at all. :timid: Maybe I need to be a bit firmer! Perhaps I'm over-cautious of damaging my air-brush.
Thanks for the explanation, I'm off to try again!

 

[Skellington]

I'm off to try again!

Got it now. Much easier to block the air with the protective cap on. Think that was my problem.
Thanks Squishy.

 

[Malky]

Got it now. Much easier to block the air with the protective cap on. Think that was my problem.
Thanks Squishy.

Safer too, you're far less likely to stab yourself, like what I do but at least if I didn't feel any pain I know my needle is still good

 

[Squishy]

Got it now. Much easier to block the air with the protective cap on. Think that was my problem.
Thanks Squishy.

No worries, glad it's working for you

Safer too, you're far less likely to stab yourself, like what I do but at least if I didn't feel any pain I know my needle is still good

What you mean that isn't how you're supposed to test them. People think I'm some kind of addict with all my needle marks.

 

[jord001]

I use tattoo cups too or mix in the cup depends on my mood to be honest. I also use a cocktail stick or the end of a paintbrush for adding a speck of paint. I also buy small 1oz or 30ml hdpe bottles (ebay) with needle caps if i mix a colour i want to keep. The needle has a rubber cap so paint stays good in the bottles.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15-50ml-E...hash=item2105e87ee7:m:ma0tB8ILjnfK1RbFJfBHcgw

Lee

 

[JackEb]

Got it now. Much easier to block the air with the protective cap on. Think that was my problem.
Thanks Squishy.

I find it easier (and safer if you go capless )to use thin latex make up sponge (pick a pack up from the dollar store) use that on the end, pinch that together with your fingers, hit the trigger and you should have a spa bath happening in the cup, don't go to heavy with the trigger or you wind up with splatters over you work (don't ask )