Hi beautifull painting community, I have a problem with my varnish and i hope that you can help. As I started paintig miniatures around 4 years ago i varnished all my minis with this varnish. Spoiler: Matt Varnish (good result) This Varnish created a finish that i really liked. It was quite matt, but still had some kind of "shine". These are the results of it: Spoiler: Matte Varnish Mini´s i liked A few month ago these finish started to change. It was more dull as it used to be as you can see here(still a little bit shiny), the end result was still ok for me: Spoiler: Still shiny but more dull My last minis however lost all of their shine. Sometimes with close to okay results, which i can live with: Spoiler: Much matter, almost no shine Sometimes completely dull, which i almost hate. Spoiler: Completely dull I really dislike the result how the varnish looks now. So i tried different Varnishes with more and less the same result i dont like. Spoiler: Brands i tried I cant say what has changed since my first minis. I always used the same airbrush, pressure, thinning ratio, more or less the same humidity and temperature. Has anyone an idea? Or maybe even a tip which different brand will produce the finish my minis had until approximately one year ago. I would be very gratefull. As my minis look now i dont consider them done, which bugs me(a lot). Thank you.
Stop using a matte varnish. You're looking for SATIN finish. Your early models have that finish, the matte didn't work properly, they apparently fixed the varnish and now it creates actual matte finish, dull and flat as it should be. You're looking for half-matte or "satin". There are many varnish products which promise such finish, you need to buy those instead.
Do you mean that minis recently varnished using the same type of varnish look different, or that the minis you've varnished a long time ago turned more matte with time? As for specific brands, I have exactly the opposite problem to yours. I want true matte like your last pics, and I get something which can't decide if it's matte or satin (like your first pic). And I use the exact same brands.
Can't speak for your changed experience over time with the same product, but I agree with the above that satin finish is probably more what you're after. If the satin varnish is too shiny, then mix in some of your matte varnish.
That sounds reasonable. As I started painting minis with Infinity and always used that varnish which produced the look i liked. The "Satin" varnishes never came to my mind. I will try it. Thank you. Yeah i varnished all of my minis with Vallejo Matt Varnish, the results were more or less the way my Rasail looks like. They havent turned more Matt during time. They still are as "shiny" as before, they only got harder(the surface is much more stable now). The same product leads to the different finish. If you want the result of the picture of the Kiel-San, try the AK product. It is the most matte one i tried until now. Thank you guys for your answers, will have a look how the satin varnish will turn out.
How many bottles have you used? Because if "one", it sounds like you never properly mixed it, and so at the start it lacked matting agent, and now you are getting a lot of it. If "many", then batch variance could be the culprit. You can mix gloss, matt and satin (same brand and type) to achieve the level of shine you want. You can also apply ones over anothers to change looks. Do tests before commiting to real models.
During the last years i used about 10 of the little bottles. They were mostly completely emptied, with more or less the same finish on my minis. I had 1-2 bottles which got matter as they got emptier, like you said. It was not a really big issue because they were almost empty, so i opened up a new bottle. Maybe they just changed the formula. I ordered satin varnish yesterday, and will share my result. If i dont like it i will try the mixture of different varnishes. Thank you.
I coat my models in gloss varnish before blacklining. If i make mistakes because of my shacky hands it is easier to wipe them of.
