Having troubles with paint thinning.

[Markk]

Hello, my name is Mark & I'm having a heck of a time thinning paint as a newbie. Have a Vega 2000 airbrush using the .3mm tip & needle using various air pressures to try to make it work. I first tried Spectra Tex opaque jet black thinning with distilled water (2oz with .6oz distilled water). I got somewhere with it but tip dry became a factor due to what I'm guessing comes from living in the southwest part of America where it's dry. I then started looking at Createx paint & it's additives due to seeing them on AirBrush.com. So I tried transparent black with illustration base at approx 50/50 mix & it clumped up after a couple of moments of thinking this stuff is great. When ordering the paint & illustration base there was another option also ordered of retarder which might help but I have not touched it so it's still an option. The illustration base is the constancy of milk & Createx claims there are no issues when the paints are thinned to "skim mild" consistency. The illustration base is already the constancy recommended. So how do you thin paint with it? Thanks to anyone for posting after reading this, Mark.

 

[Mr.Micron]

illustration base is paint with out pigment and not a reducer..
75% water 25% Alcohol and 1 drop glycerin per ounce is a great home made reducer for Createx Wicked ,
Standard Createx is a thicker paint made for T-shirt and textiles.
Spectra tex whould not have to be reduced unless you are going for a wash or are building the color at a low PSI.

What are you running your air pressure at with the air one?

 

[Markk]

I've tried from 20psi to 40psi & thank you for the response! I get the water & alcohol, but what form of glycerin will suit this application? After goggling i see there's different kinds, thanks Mark.

 

[wmlepage]

I've tried from 20psi to 40psi & thank you for the response! I get the water & alcohol, but what form of glycerin will suit this application? After goggling i see there's different kinds, thanks Mark.

I got my glycerin at walmart in the pharmacy section. Might be near band aids.


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[Markk]

Thanks for the help! I've tried many things to get around this issue, but finally broke down by posting this thread & can't wait to start testing. I've been thinking that once you can get the paint to work then you can learn to airbrush, Mark.

 

[Mr.Micron]

liquid glycerin is what you want. The reason for 1 drop per ounce mixed is because if you are paint on metal, more than 1 drop per ounce can cause unwanted fish eye.
so say you mix up 16 OZ bottle 4 ounces alcohol 12 ounces water and 16 drops of glycerin.
Not for wicked at 35 PSI start with 3 drops reducer to 1 drop paint. if this is still to thick add one drop of reducer at a time until you get good flow. write that magic number down for that color.
Different colors will reduce at different ratios.
But yes paint reduction is a pain but part of the game.

 

[Squishy]

Hi Markk, just to say that Createx is a fabric paint and meant to go through a .5 nozzle. You can reduce and use it for other things, but it can be difficult to use. I think you may be better off with Wicked (by createx) and the W500 reducer. (Many people do make their own reducer but I stick to the one made for the paint for an easy life, but everyone is different so try different ways and see what suits you best.) I depends on what you are wanting to paint, if you just want to do fine art then maybe E'tac, or comart, or illustration paints would be better. Wicked can be used on almost any surface, including fabric, if you keep it well shaken and filter (with some old panty hose) it works really well. Getting the right mixture and air pressure can virtually get rid of tip dry. More reducer = less air, less air = less tip dry. There's no magic number unfortunately, everyone likes a different mixture, and it gets affected by climate and conditions, and can vary by brand, or even colour to colour, so just keep experimenting. Once you find that sweetspot, you will find everything else becomes much easier.

 

[Markk]

Mucho thanks from New Mexico for all the input. Going to look up what Wicked Createx paint is. The substrate currently using is blank news paper, but in the future I hope to paint paper products & canvas. I'm still in the first stage of learning, I just didn't know one has to figure out how to use the paint in the atmosphere of the region one lives in has many variables such as temp, humidity, etc. Thanks once again, Markk.