10 replies to this topic

[Zaford20]

For my next noob question, how the heck are you guys easily getting paint out of a bottle that doesn't have a dropper on it? I dont want to paint directly from the bottle...

[klyons99]

Old brush works great for this, just dip it in, get a big ol' hunk of paint and slap it on your palette. This can be especially useful with the Citadel line of paints, at least in my very limited experience. I only own 1 pot of Citadel, and I regret it already...

[Serenity]

Back in the old days, when this was the only kind of paint available, an old brush is what I used, but you could use the handle of the brush, or a toothpick depending on how much paint you wanted. To really save paint, you could use the toothpick and then use your brush to get as much off the toothpick as possible. Whatever you do, some paint is getting wasted, but that's true whenever there's a palette involved.

I guess if I had to get a color that wasn't in a dropper, and I planned to use it often enough, I'd transfer it to an empty dropper. For occasional use, the brush or toothpick transfer method isn't so bad. I've still got some Reaper sample strips that would require this method, but they get used only rarely, when I want to see if they're still good.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Testors white plastic synthetic medium brush. Not the little one that looks like it's been trimmed by a barber college student on his first day, and not the big ol' one with the metal ferrule . . . but that handy dandy medium one. That's what I use, and once you get used to how much it pulls out dry - and how much wet - you can get consistent mixes every time. Plus it's super easy to clean.

Most of my paint isn't in dropper bottles, and I use this so often I actually use it to measure out drops from my dropper bottles by popping the dropper cap out.

[Dadcubed]

I have bought empty dropper bottles and put the paint in them. You need to shake the paint really well before you do this :)

[Furongian]

I use the end of a paintbrush or a toothpick. But I generally try to avoid buying paints that aren't in dropper bottles.

[ced1106]

I've been doing some touching up, and this trick lets you control the consistency of the paint while doing some thinning:

1. Drop a drop of water onto your palette, such as the water-saturated parchment paper of a wet palette.
2. Dip the tip of your brush into the pot.The paint will be too thick and the tip of the brush will have a "glop" of paint on it.
3. Roll the tip of your brush into the water on your palette until the paint thins. You should have a brush with a tip full of paint, but no longer have the "glop".
4. For further use of paint, either use the thinned paint on the wet palette, or repeat.

[vutpakdi]

US Plastics has dropper bottles for $0.33 each, but shipping is a bit painful these days (used to be more reasonable). I do buy a bunch at once. To transfer, I carefully pour paint from pots into the dropper bottles. I also put an agitator (glass bead) in with the paint.

http://www.usplastic...d=searchresults

Ron

[kay13]

US Plastics has dropper bottles for $0.33 each, but shipping is a bit painful these days (used to be more reasonable). I do buy a bunch at once. To transfer, I carefully pour paint from pots into the dropper bottles. I also put an agitator (glass bead) in with the paint.

http://www.usplastic...d=searchresults

Ron

http://www.reapermin...le/latest/08702 are a bit more expensive, but you could always include a set when you get a bunch of minis...

[ced1106]

For dropper bottles, I'd first look at craft stores, like Michael's, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, etc. They usually have a 40% off coupon through their website.

[Pingo]

The standard method in the fine arts, where acrylics in any useful amount only come in jars, is to use a palette knife, preferably one with a squared-off end, to scoop out however much paint is needed. No muss, no fuss, and wipes clean in a jiffy, unlike a brush. There's also less risk of inadvertently mixing some other color into the paint.

And yes, this does work for runny paint as well. You just may have to scoop out two or three times.