ink and milk wash

Did he thin it *with* milk or to a milky consistency?

Here's a quote from the article: "The lower panel lines were enhanced with sepia ink, thinned with water and milk".

Lee

I suspect that in this particular case something *did* get lost in the translation...

Don't be too hasty there, milk was a common enough ingredient in paints

I'm real low on milk and I'm saving it for the last cookie before bed otherwise I'd be in the basement testing! Later,

The Keeper (of too much crap!)

Many lectures in restored villages talk about the buildings being painted with tints mixed with sour milk. That light blue color being one of them. So milk in paints is not a new idea. You'd almost think it has something to do with viscosity or surface tension in the application from your description. Some of these guys are porfessional artists and use tricks the rest of us have never heard of. I'd bet in Italy he's more likely using real milk not

Slightly off topic but this brings back a memory of an artists material, the name escapes me at the moment, that was a curdled milk by product that would produce a clear jel when mixed with water. Some people used it on dioramas. It really looked like water. Then one of the guy's dioramas grew mold or whatever and for a short while it looked like the best simulated grass I've ever seen.

Val Kraut

There are apparently 'organic' or 'green' house paints that are meant to appeal to those of us on the far Left, based on milk. The former mayor of Berkeley, CA, had a misadventure with this sort of paint--did up the whole inside of the house with the stuff, and it promptly took on the odor of limburger cheese. I don't know the extent of the damage, except that it probably involved more than just removing the paint. Bottom line: it's a cute idea, but I have no desire to have my models start to smell like spoiled cheese, so I think I'll pass.

Mark Schynert

...hmmn...why am I getting visions of a horrible accident involving a midnight snack in the darkness with turns out to be cookies and flat white paint only after the lights come on?

And I though most tempra paints were mixed with eggs as a binder...or should that be "tempura paints"?..

I'm thinking that the fat in the milk is what's slowing the drying time (as stated elswhere), but that's a guess. Anyway, if it works, why knock it?

Wow, my initial question from last night has spawned some interesting responses! Having reread the magazine article several times, I do not think that the statement about using milk as a thinning agent is an Italian to English translation error. The same statement is made several times in the article in slightly different ways. In one of them, the author stated that he thinned with this mixture to help the ink stay inside the panel lines. Just when I thought I knew it all... :o)

what kind of paint is he using? Water based artist paints (like watercolors) or acrylic model paints?

I didn't catch that in previous posts, but can only assume he's using water based paints...sounds similar to the dishwashing liquid trick to me.

Acrylic ink.

Ok - forgot the "ink" part. Still makes sense.

Milk contains caseinates whichn was the basis of milk based paints. Having worked with caseinates in the food industry I can tell you that a solution of that stuff drys as hard as nails and verry tough to remove from the lab bench. WRF

"Nooooooo! Stop me before I build again."

Wasn't milk an ingredient in casein glues and paints??

Bill Shuey (who admittedly flunked chemistry)

Milk. It does a model good.

No doubt you are all too busy modelling to be doing any house decorating, but one of the big things in Oz over the last few years, along with "lime washing" items, has been milk based paints.

Going from paint to ink is hardly a giant step.

Cheers, Gary B-)

I talked to the owner of my local art supply shop. He said that the ink would bond with the fat in the milk and prevent the ink from spreading out as much. Which basically means that it will stay in a panel line or along the edge or raised detail better. It also seems that when dry the ink isn't quite as permanent; excess can be wiped away.

My original mix of 50/50 1% milk/water to thin the ink works pretty well. After it dried, I went back and cleaned up the weathering with a q-tip very slightly dampened with Windex . Worked just fine.

Lee

Properly formulated milk paints and casein paints will not do that funky cheese thing.......