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Just Craftin' - Episode 004
29 Plays6 days ago
Chris, Ed, and Shawn are back at it again! We talk about current projects, open questions, and maybe some tips & tricks for your paintbrushes.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Setup
00:00:06
Speaker
Ah, welcome to the, uh, next episode- what episode is this? Four? Four. Four. Four. Episode of, quite possibly, or arguably, the best crafting pie you have ever listened to. Doubtful.
00:00:26
Speaker
um My name is Ed Bossart and me and two friends decided we wanted to do a pod to talk about crafting and what we've been doing and those two friends and maybe some guests in the future.
00:00:38
Speaker
ah are here to help fill your brain with that kind of stuff. So first of all, over here, I'm in Maine, over in California, western side of the US. We got Mr.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:51
Speaker
Sean Hoffman, how are you doing? West Coast, best coast. I'm doing i'm doing pretty good. I'm glad we got to i glad we made this work and we can talk about.
00:00:59
Speaker
all of our hobnob hobbies and craft and stuff, man. i'm I'm excited to be here. Nice, nice. And then across the pond to the east in the UK. We have Mr. mr Fur Hall. All right, how we doing?
00:01:17
Speaker
We're good. We're good. We're good. We are here. We're finally here. We've been trying to get this together for a while now and it's probably primarily me. That's my newest hobby is trying to schedule this podcast.
00:01:30
Speaker
yeah
00:01:34
Speaker
and oh But yeah, we're finally here. We're ready to talk, catch up on what we've been doing. And then maybe we pick pick the topic ah where we can be informative or learning about something in this crafting world that we can discuss and maybe teach you guys, the listeners, you guy, girl, one of you, the one listener.
00:01:59
Speaker
ah something new. So
Crafting Projects Overview
00:02:02
Speaker
ah we'll start. We'll go around the horn, what we've been doing lately, crafting Sean, which you've been doing. since we're Since we're just a couple of weeks away from from the Christmas holiday and all that fun stuff for us, I've been swamped with his kind of like seasonal seasonal items. like i've been I've been dabbling a little bit with my models that i've have not progressed like I was hoping, but I've been doing a lot of other oddball things. like There's always... A lot of laser cutter projects this time of year, it seems like. never Not really for myself, but usually it's gifts or people making requests. um Like a classic one that really can seems to come up anymore. um for The short version is, every living here in the mountains, like we're able to cut down our own Christmas trees. It helps thin the forest for wildfires. And so after each Christmas, we'll take our tree and we'll cut like the the bottom of the trunk off. Sorry, Chris, is this talking about trees like triggering or at all? I get my... this i chose good
00:03:01
Speaker
ah i don know what happened there in a minute but So but we'll cut them we'll cut the the bottoms off and we'll make these like little tree slices that I can make into ornaments People are people always like oh, can you make?
00:03:14
Speaker
Laser cut some like my mom's like really into like woodlands Rustic stuff. She's like, oh, but he's like engraved this like bear of like this moose these like artistic deer and Drill hole and I'd like make an ornament. So for my rustic head tree, so I've been doing a lot of that um I've also been working on a project for Madison for a Christmas present she's got like a tons of Jewelry ish kind of things like lots of like little earrings and things like that But they're not we don't like regular like jewelry boxes like the stand or the box and opened up and everything's swinging around so I've been like trying to come up with something on like the laser cutter and for like how to like
00:03:54
Speaker
So right now they're just like in bags, so you can't see anything. So I'm like, oh, how can she present? So I've been like working on this. This is a ah chipboard mock-up of like, it's like a honeycomb shape and there's like little holes and stuff. And it's kind of artsy looking. There's like little bumps. so You can like hang necklaces on little holes. You can put earrings through and like, this is like the V1, it kind of hangs.
00:04:18
Speaker
Now I've been I've been working on working on stuff like this and like trying to come up with Christmas present ideas looks like someone took like a Hexagon map from like some mini war gaming game and yeah turned it into a jewelry It's like settlers up. It's like it's like settlers of Catan board. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, they but it's but it's got little holes and little knobs and stuff on it to hang stuff and poke things through and But it's gonna be cut out of wood and made all fancy and bohemian or whatever whatever the style is. Maybe get some maybe get some inks, some colored inks on there, maybe do like a watercolor, make it fun and bright. And I don't know, we'll see we'll see how much, I got two weeks, I don't have a lot of time left. So we'll see what gets trimmed off of the V1. You're so brave going outside of acrylics, man. I get scared going outside of acrylics. It'll probably be acrylic, oh I'll probably just like dilute.
00:05:10
Speaker
Okay, actually I probably don't know what I'll do. I'll see what absorbs into the wood that I currently have that's the problem Don't use expensive shit cuz oh no it absorbs Paint what it's all and all the stuff. I'm gonna be cutting on it's like probably eighth in an inch So it's like it'll warp if it gets too wet so I got to like play that whole game All right, I do the prime it take to it. Can you can you prime it and then?
00:05:35
Speaker
I could probably, I could probably, I could have to do like an oil-based primer from some of the stuff so that way it like seals it. um But I was hoping, what I'm hoping to do in my head, I'm hoping I can keep the wood look like the wood grain and then do like a thinned almost like watercolor kind of splotches through it before engraving, before cutting and engraving it so it's kind of like splashes of color on wood.
00:05:58
Speaker
and Kind of like a wash. Maybe. Oh, what kind of colors do you think? Something that lets the jewelry stand out? Dude, I have no idea. That's like a thing in my head. I think that's a Christopher question. I think Chris might know what you want to do for a background to let jewelry shine up front. Sean, do whatever you want me.
00:06:18
Speaker
Yeah, I'm about to do whatever the hell works the first time, because I got a week and a half. And then we'll figure out from there. But other than that, dude, I've also been, all these last ones quickly, so obviously wood ornaments, that thing. I've started making, are you familiar with needle felting? Do you know what that means when I'm talking about that?
00:06:40
Speaker
You know those like, you know those like little Christmas ornaments that you see all over the place? That's kind of like a bull ball. It's like little animals or whatever made out of like wool. I'm gonna dump them out. ah here y'all no like I It kind of reminds, I'm trying to think of what what would be wool. Is really wool, or is it something like wool? It's like stuff like this, where it's like that. like It kind of looks like that look. okay it's like it's like It's kind of like a little stuffy thing. Yeah, but like it's kind of like a weird texture. that's That's felt, but it's called needle felting, where you take wool and you just stab it a million and a half times, and it makes it into like a ball and shapes and stuff. I've been working on making like dogs, like little dogs.
00:07:21
Speaker
Like here's a frame for one so you can bend the legs you put wool around that you stab it and You make like little animals working on making that as a gift for somebody Yeah, dude, that's what happened. That's been my crack. It's like all like seasonal holiday stuff. We can do I've also make holiday at Christmas candy I make a lot of candy there, but we'll talk about that in a just whoa what? You fucking make candy. Yeah, yeah, you it yeah chill out man. You do do Yeah, and they maybe you I think you do need a lathe in your house no I do not yeah definitely like I do not need a lathe We're talking about this before podcast I was like I wouldn't put it past you if you were like I got a lathe and it's in my bedroom or something if I had yeah if I had a garage where I could put a lathe like I would consider it like I'm not but I'm also not looking to get like
00:08:09
Speaker
wrap myself around a lathe in my own home. I'd rather do that somewhere publicly, like where other people can know how to stop the machine because it'd be me spinning around a lathe and then Madison inside with her headphones on listening to music for like four and a half hours and so she comes out and finds me in the garage and with them dancing with the machine dan dancing with the machine and it's like Yeah, I don't need a lathe. That's a poor decision. But no, I do make yeah i'm i make candy, yeah. And so we'll well we'll talk about that on another another time when we have more or segment. But yeah, I make that caramel, hard candy, toffee, repeating about it, shit like that. Not to do a side thing, but like that, to me, was a 3D printer. like i've A lot of people would be like, you should get a 3D printer!
00:08:53
Speaker
that just opens up a lot of doors I don't have time for. Like, I don't want to have that option right now. Maybe in the future. As 3D printer, it's like, cool, i have the I have the capability now. Then it's like, you suddenly realize how bad you are at 3D modeling. It's like, I know what I want. And it's like, oh, shit, there's like a very deep skill tree that I am not far into that would really help and benefit. and like if it's is it But you could just grab STL files from like the internet and just like print shit, right? Yeah, if I'm looking to be like that turtle that i thought we talked about earlier on, like he's 3D printed. yeah i got gra I got him. It's like, yeah, if you want to do stuff like that, but like you want to try to just, I guess I'm saying, if you want to try to justify your purchase beyond just printing models and painting them until you have a pile of models everywhere in your home, like if you want to be like, oh, I can make this thing to store
00:09:49
Speaker
I don't know, whatever. Whatever it is you use to convince your partner that you need a 3D printer, like, hey, i could I could make something for that. ah Yeah, like, those i I lost my toothpaste cap. I need to make another one. Like, that's hard, I bet. I bet that's really hard. Allow me to pull up this jewelry this jewelry holder again, and how I justify how owning a laser cutter. I like that. I like that. Yeah, it's like, but 3D, I can do 2D vector graphics all day long, but once it gets into, like,
00:10:19
Speaker
And I'd really like to learn how to 3D model for a 3D printer. It's like, man, I don't have time with all the other crap I'm juggling. That's it. It's time, man. Crafting takes time. Yes, it does.
00:10:34
Speaker
Anyway, anything else, Chuck? No, that's it. That's all I got. In shovel in the drive. We got snow. Any more piles of shame added? I showed you my office before we recorded. I know. The whole room is one giant pile of shame at this point.
00:10:51
Speaker
like it is It's everywhere. like I have for i have i picked pictures that need to be framed. I have stuff that's got to be returned from recalls on Amazon because it's a fire hazard. I got presents to wrap. I got things to build. Oh my god, it's...
00:11:10
Speaker
All right. See you next week. Got it. I know. Right. It builds up. um I can go next,
Painting Miniatures and Techniques
00:11:18
Speaker
Chris. because I know I'm on on our Scruffy Look podcast. You go last. And I think you like it. But do you want to go last? You can go next. me what I don't mind, mate. You go, you go. I want to hear all about this rancor, mate, that you've been painting, so you go. Yeah, yeah, I've been painting it. I haven't. I have not been painting the fabled rancor. Is he at least claimed? Has he been primed? Have you cleaned him? Shame.
00:11:42
Speaker
It's prime. Shame, shame. It's definite shame. It's primed, it's zenithal highlighted, it's here, and the paint's even chipping because it's been just sitting there and I've been moving around. Touching it with your greasy fangers. Yeah, I need to patch up some of the primer.
00:12:00
Speaker
But it's there. I will say I have painted, because this is to the game, the tabletop game, cooperative game called Imperial Assault by Fantasy Flight. They don't actually support it anymore, Imperial Assault, but it's still a very popular game. And I got recently, as I think I mentioned before, the Jabba's Realm expansion and this Rancor came in it ah with a bunch of other miniatures.
00:12:30
Speaker
and heroes. So recently... I had another session of Imperial Assault, and I painted some miniatures, but not the Rancor. I'm saving it. It's the big finale. It's a big finale, Chris. so i think I think he's scared, Sean. What do you think? I get i think he is too. I'm definitely scared. Hey, I'm not going to admit it. I'm scared. I'm scared. It's like, bro, brown he's brown. what are you What are you so afraid of? it's You're right. It's not going to be super hard to paint, because i I find painting natural like creatures and stuff is a little easier because you can make mistakes and it just looks natural you know what I'm saying whereas like on a nice clean vehicle or something like that you make a mistake like you gotta patch that shit up because it's
00:13:18
Speaker
Not gonna look right unless you turn it into like blaster damage or some shit, you know, like a dent in the metal or something like that Yeah, so and then I got I got three more heroes that came with it a a Pandababa race, what is that? Aqualish? Aqualish? I really buff Aqualish and then Dr. Avazan, you got the cameos who say over here Yeah, people love that cameo, by the way. Anyway. um I do. I do. Mandalorian chick. She's going to be fun to paint. It's going to be like a blue silvery, like kind of like Jango. And then a Rodian hero with two blaster pistols on each hand shooting away. So that'll be fun to paint. And then I have this Thrawn that Jimmy gave me that he wants me to acid wash. so
00:14:13
Speaker
i i just I might just store it in a vat of acid and let it melt. Man, acetone will do wonders on that. Yeah. ah So that that's on my list. And I got some Warhammer polish shame building up beyond that. ah The thing I got in the UK recently, visiting Kevin Chris, ah Magnus the Red. This is going to be a paint brushing
00:14:42
Speaker
Uh, challenge, I will say. Because the waves are multicolored. You got that quite cheap as well, didn't you? I did. Compared to what it would cost you over there, yeah? Oh yeah, like... I i paid two thirds of what it would be here, probably. oh No, not.
00:15:00
Speaker
yeah for those who haven and but For those who don't know, that what what he's holding up looks like... It's a Warhammer miniature. It's not a mini, it looks massive. um it It looks like a mixture of like Mercy from Overwatch and Goldar from Power Rangers. Like some winged, massive winged creature. Yes, he's Magnus the he's the Primark.
00:15:26
Speaker
Demon Primarchs, who's a chaos bad guy ish, of ah the thousand suns and their primary colors are pretty wild from teal to pink gold that to We got some fun ass colors going on there. So that's that's the big one. And then I got a couple other Here we are. I got a Custodes, which is gold. Gold, like, better than Space Marine, if anyone knows Warhammer 40K.
00:15:56
Speaker
ah Shield Captain, I think I mentioned that last time, though. That's on my list. And then this one is the most recent one that I just get. because So if you subscribe to Warhammer Plus TV, you get a free miniature every year. I bet you do.
00:16:12
Speaker
So this is the Commemorative series. It's an Astromilitarum Unbroken and he's like Should have some war behind this but uh, I don't know. You do not need a 3d printer. What are you talking about? I know, right? I just keep getting shit.
00:16:32
Speaker
Oh my god, and I'll just add that next to the five bandai things I have down here. Um, other than that, things I've done, like I said, I did some imperial assault guys. I paid it some weak ways.
00:16:46
Speaker
uh you know those pirate dudes henchmen of java and these are ike speed painted these so these i i was like damn i'm playing in imperial assault like three days i got a fucking crank so i painted four jetpack stormtroopers i sent this picture to you guys in discord in the just crafting section you can zoom in on it if you want but it was four jetpack troopers three or four weakwaves and four Gomorrahian guards. Gomorrahian guards were fun. I liked painting those dudes. ah Like I said, they're speed painted. I could go back in, add some highlights, make them a lot better. but So why don't you just pretend that you're gonna play with the Rancor?
00:17:29
Speaker
You know, I will say in the game in the game It's like app-based and you put what expansions you have in it and it can randomize what you encounter I Was like waiting for it to be like and the rain core comes out. I was like fuck. I hope not Yeah, I was gonna say what do you have you have to keep like unchecking that checkbox every time you play a game? You're like, yeah, take the rain core out of the deck.
00:17:53
Speaker
out yeah no um the rank war luckily did not pop out on Hoth where we were um but uh well that that would be appropriate because it's currently white isn't he so that's yeah rank war in a snowstorm different rank wars around the universe with that zenithal highlight it looks like ET when he's dying doesn't he
00:18:18
Speaker
He's looking dusty. um Other than that, I did paint something with my family, so we all got together. We got this sign that says, like, welcome home. It's made out of wood, but the O in the home can be replaced with magnets by by different shapes that correspond to whatever you're feeling to put on it, aka whatever season it is. So you get like an autumn leaf, you get a snowflake, you get a Christmas tree, I think, a football for football season. And they gave me a clover.
00:19:00
Speaker
That's what you call it, right? It's a three leaf, but it's for St. Patrick's Day. I tried painting it. I was like, I got this, because I can paint it anyway. And then I started painting like fucking leaves. Leaves are a bitch.
00:19:17
Speaker
to figure out what kind of lighting, because they're super curved, they got dense throughout, like like a line through the middle of the leaf, and then you gotta shade that, and then you got highlights depending on where your light's coming from, and I don't know, I'm looking at it right now, and it doesn't, I feel like I need to fix things. I really wanna see your leaf compared to the other ones that were painted. That's that's what I wanna see. Well, yeah, like they're, you're like, I wanna,
00:19:46
Speaker
Oh, the lighting's not right on my leaf. And everybody's hearing you talk about this. And then there's like an egg. Like, it's like one color. Like, I want to... I'm like, what are we talking about here? I will say, each each one of my family, I have two daughters and a wife, obviously. And... we each were to paint two thing and I only painted one because I was spending way too much time redoing and fixing this fucking leaf god damn it was it's still I'm still not happy with it but anyway we found a trend if this happens to you and I keep telling myself it's a learning experience you build on it next time you get through it
00:20:25
Speaker
Maybe it'll be better, hopefully. um Progress, not perfection. yeah but When I first got into painting, I didn't realize how much light had to do with things, you know because i I went ignorant through this. Chris obviously grew up doing this shit. But like now I look at things out in the world, and I'm like, oh, like looking at how light interacts with objects. It's a whole new new way to look at life.
00:20:51
Speaker
Do you ever and enough do you ever annoy your partner with that? Like when you're out in public and be like you see that you see the way the You see the way the the sediment, you know on that boat over there just kind of runs down a straight line They're like, please stop. I really I'm tired of looking at the dirt on boats. Yeah and the light nighttime. It's a nighttime I'm like look how the light reflects off the windshield of that car like well, yeah, and it's like all those things You don't think about it. like Your brain just looks at it and moves on. But like when you're an artist and you have to paint this kind of stuff, you're like eagerly looking at it and learning all the time. I think, personally. But anyway. So that's me. That's me catching up. I don't think I missed anything. I probably missed something. I always miss something. But yeah. Oh, I purchased a ah vibrator.
00:21:41
Speaker
Come again? What? A vibrating thing for old paints to like... A paint mixer. A paint mixer, yeah, yeah. So you like put some on it. It's just a fun... It's a vibrator. It's an audio medium, Ed. It's an audio medium.
00:22:04
Speaker
Well, anyway, it's a thing. It's got, like, a bulb on top that you just put your paint on. yeah Your paint, no, your paint. Just churning butter over here. And it vibrates and gives you pleasure while it mixes your paint. One star. These idiots don't know anything.
00:22:33
Speaker
Um, yeah, there it is. and And hopefully you have a ball bearing to put in your paint jar or in your paint vials, whatever they are called. And, uh, that helps mix it up. Don't, don't neglect the ball bearings. Oh, final update. I ordered a base set of pro acryl paint.
00:22:55
Speaker
Nice. So it comes with like 26 paints. I'm super excited for it. Um, supposedly they're really good. I'm really excited to paint with it and see how that feels. Cause I've been using really old Vallejos and army paints. So army painter paints. So what's the special, what's the special thing about these? Are they just regular paints? Are they speed paints or are they regular? They are regular paints. Yes. Yeah. Chris already has them. When do you think of them, Chris?
00:23:25
Speaker
I've not used him yet. Oh, okay. Okay. I'm just checking. All right. Well, when you do, please let me know. yeah He's a hobby. He's a crafter now. That's the answer. yeah You buy a shane, don't use it. That's exactly what you do. Well, I'm really waiting for the right yet. I'm waiting for the right project.
00:23:42
Speaker
Yep, yep. So yeah, I'm going to throw out all my old paints because they're like 14 years old, throw them out, replace them with these. I might think I'll keep my metallics from word paints. And obviously this is not replacing my contrast paint, the speed paints. Yeah, I'm excited to use those. I'll use them on the rain core. So there you go. Nice.
00:24:07
Speaker
but The first first damn thing you do paint with them and well a baby and well maybe it will it won't be um So what what baby remember this is because each each Pro aqua or I think the set comes with glass ball bearing not oh Metal I don't know if yours has them in there They might just come in the set And ah supposedly that helps because metal can rust and shit. So it helps with the...
00:24:41
Speaker
It can react with the pigment, depending on what color it is. It can react with the pigments, yeah the things that are in like the mica and things like that. So glass is less reactive. Yes. Yep. So I'm excited about that, even though I don't see it in action. But I'm so excited about it. Anyway, but even even though my paint is going to dry out way before any of that shit happens. Right? Yeah. Like, why do I care about that? But it sounds cool.
00:25:10
Speaker
So I fell for that gamemake. Whatever. Okay. Moving on. Glass is cheaper to make. Oh, well. There you go. Now.
00:25:20
Speaker
And I can tell you that, here here's the other thing I'm working on. I can tell you that because I have a package full of ball bearings, like metal balls, because Madison wants me to make a ah postcard holder out of wood that uses ball bearings inside of it to put like a, you know, at a restaurant, like a ticket thing where you put the tickets up and it sticks, you could pull it back out. It's like that, but for you to hang, like it's nice and wood and you put like postcards in it. She's a giant box of ball bearings as well. She signed me up for that project, so yeah.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah, because she was like, you don't have much going on, right? So here's a project you can do. She's like, you got a lathe and a dust, like a giant router and all these things to make me this nice wood project, right? I'm like...
00:26:04
Speaker
I got a laser cutter, 3D printer, a giant lathe. Yeah, you're good. She's like, I bought you the plans. It's like, thanks. I got the plans. I got nothing but excuses now. Yeah.
Costume Crafting Challenges
00:26:16
Speaker
um So yeah, that's my week. ah Any, Chris, any tips? are So painting the leaf, I'm going back to painting the leaf. Do I just look up pictures and just learn from it? That pretty much the best thing I can do.
00:26:31
Speaker
Yeah, I do. Yeah, that's all I do. Okay. I'm sorry. You don't want my vice? You don't wanna ask me? Oh, sure. Yeah, sure. I think you walk away and work on something different. I think it looks fine. What are we doing? It looks good. Oh, it's whatever. Okay. ah We'll post it. Seal it and call it a day. We'll post this the picture of it.
00:26:55
Speaker
on our whatever we do we posting shit are we I don't know and yeah when you send me the photo I'll post it this podcast is great it's great it's gonna be great guys it's gonna be great it's gonna be great all right Chris hit us up with your update Okay, so when you when you came over um to visit, we went to a few different gaming shops. Is that what they're called? Yeah. Gaming stories. element Element games, doesn't it?
00:27:30
Speaker
ah They're amazing great prices for war like better than warhammers stores prices Yeah, and loads of ah not just warhammer products loads of different products in there loads of different paint brands um And I bought some I bought some paints Which I have yet to use I must have recommended them right because I was like oh my god Yes Yes, you did. So first of all, I bought some ah bought some little miniatures. like because we we We went to Warhammer World, didn't we? And I infinitely enjoyed it more than the first time we went because I understood more. I appreciated it more.
00:28:16
Speaker
ah I think I took a couple of hundred photos in that museum. as you should yeah I was just slightly buzzing, loving it. And the miniature vibe had obviously got me the week the week that you were here. So I bought some little miniatures, but I bought some lot from an independent, well, just one minute. Talk amongst yourselves. Talk amongst yourselves. There it is. Talk amongst yourselves.
00:28:43
Speaker
Yeah, so they're not they're not Games Workshop or Warhammer. I bought these two little creatures from a company called Reaper Mini. Dark heaven bones, I think. it's The game is gone, I don't know. Bring all your Reaper Miniatures to life for the Reaper Mini series, yeah. Cool. So I bought this dude that looks like fucking Bebop. He's like a big, wild boar guy. Whoa, nice.
00:29:09
Speaker
And then I bought this like rat thing. Um, and I've, they're the only things that I've. New things that I've had a go at painting and it turns out. Yeah, I'm not very good at painting miniatures. I don't really like it. Although those look decent. They're too small. Yeah. So I got, I've tried my speed paints on these. I was really excited because I was like, last time you guys taught me all about zenithal highlighting, and I'm like, right, I'm going to do this. And then on the back of these, it was like, please note, spray primers are not recommended for bone miniatures, which are these. So I was like, oh, I can't prime them. So I just give them a coat. Are they pre-primed? Is that why?
00:29:55
Speaker
It said they were but they were like a really crap color. So I just give them a base coat like ah a like a white base coat Because I wanted to use my speed paints And probably the skin it's probably the size and the level of detail in them They probably don't want you using rattle rattle can primers because the particles are so thick enough That'll get like globbing lose detail like get an airbrush. They'll break. Yeah, you could prime that all day long Yeah, airbrush would work I will say, Chris, yes that situation, you did the right thing, but you you could think, oh, i'll you could dry brush the white primer, but only hit the miniature with down strokes from above.
00:30:38
Speaker
So you don't hit the bellows. You dry rough only from above. So it hits yeah the surfaces that need the light. So those will be the brighter. And then you throw the speed pan on top. Those things will pop, right? Through the speed pan. And then you highlight from there. Boom.
00:30:57
Speaker
And actually, invite you said I'm glad you said what you said about miniatures and like not liking it, and it's hard like like it's too small. Because to me, that's like that's I have the same experience. like Painting miniatures is like a a an exercise in like ah expectation management and skills like skills tuning. like I have shaky hands, so it's like it's it's all of... like How can I layer things so I can finally get the eyeball to be white? or like the or That's why I was talking about the order of operations things. It's like, I can't draw a straight line. So what is the order of operations I can do to like make it look straight by like layering things or like doing stuff to make it good? Because I'm not good at painting that small. like it's yeah It's frustrating. but
00:31:41
Speaker
It makes me feel that somebody who's actually talented is saying the same thing I said. It's like, yes! and For something that's so small as well. Why did it take so fucking long? It takes forever. It does, yeah. So, so far on these, I've been painting them both at the same time and I've done, so I've done the base coat and I've done the speed paint and then I started doing um some dry brushing on this guy's fur.
00:32:11
Speaker
and I didn't like it. I need to do something with it. So they're not finished. I've got the next phase and bit of highlighting and shading and stuff to do. But that's them. And at the same time as buying them, I bought a bunch of paints, like Ed said. I was like, I'm going to try some different brands because I've got the army painter speed paints, which I'd yet to use. That's the first thing I use them on. And I really enjoyed using them. But I tried. I bought some Vallejo. Is that how you say that?
00:32:43
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, I just bought a bunch of grimy, rusty, dingy colours that I can use on my droids and stuff. And I also bought some oranges because I've got some... I made some little pumpkins and stuff out of clay, pre-Halloween. And obviously, this orange paint has not been opened and ah the clay pumpkins are just sat looking like clay. It's not... Not Halloween anymore, and we're actually... Season 2 Halloween, right? That's the best part, is there's always another Halloween to come up. You're doing it for next month? We're a week and a half away from Christmas, so... Yeah, that worked out well, so yeah, I've got a pile of paint shame that's yet to be opened, so I can't ah can't review the promo curls, Ed. Okay.
00:33:35
Speaker
just yeah We can't we can't talk we can't call the paint the tools and supplies those can't be shame Those are the tools that we we use to deal with our piles of shame The shame is that the unbuilt or half built projects. That's the pumpkins. That's the shame pile Paints. No, those are always an opportunity. We if we call everything shame then I'm I'm never getting out of this pit as i It's okay. It's not pain shame. the The pain is always worth the money. yeah yes And the brushes, all the tools. Because now you're just waiting for inspiration. You have everything you need. you don't have If inspiration hits, you don't have to go to the store to get something. You're ready to go.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yes. I feel like this is toxic mentality, but I'm here for it. Do we sound like we're shameful about the page we bought? Just enabling with Sean Edd and Chris. I love it. I love it. But yeah, my droids. So I've been doing those just when I've had a spare hour and stuff in the evening. I've probably done about three or four sessions on them so far. And they're just not, yeah. I don't know if I'm in it. I'll stick at it, and I'll get them to a point where Well, we're never satisfied, are we? I once learnt that art is never finished, it's just abandoned. So when these get abandoned, they'll be done.
00:34:55
Speaker
um probably at some point. You throw them up on a shelf and you look at them a couple months later and you're like, I see what I could have done differently here. Yes, exactly. and But yeah, as I've had their spare hour and stuff in the evening, they've been getting a ah bit of work on them. I have picked up my droids again.
00:35:15
Speaker
um That's a slow process. This is basically I've had a big illustration project that I've been doing for most of November and I had a stupid like Massive deadline that was like from the summer to the end of November So obviously I waited until November actually started to start the project so I This is for your work, right? No, it's for a separate thing. It's for pleasure. Gotcha. But yeah, been doing this big illustration thing and that's wiped out a lot of crafting time. well And I got that deadline. Right.
00:35:58
Speaker
right right down to like the almost an hour before it needs to be submitted obviously and all the pressure is on but it's good i'm happy submitted we'll see where that goes um but yeah i have done bits and bobs on the droids that i've been building so they're slowly and surely like they just keep chipping away at them and griming them up and this one was really cool because he was like really bright green and then i stuck a acid wash on him and yes i don't know if i'm getting but no i stuck a like a dark wash on him and it's just too dark i don't know what i'm doing wrong
00:36:43
Speaker
um It's they they always say like the books and stuff there was like you always want to paint them like a shade almost obnoxiously brighter than what you want because it's not just the ass the yeah Keep on acid washes. Thanks. You know it's like the it's not just the washes that will darken them, but it's also the scale like it's the way that it scales down it it will always appear darker than what I Yeah, you almost yeah almost because they're so small, you want to make it more cartoony. Like bring out the the highlights more than you would in like, you know, a painting of a fucking landscape or something. Yeah. but um
00:37:23
Speaker
Yeah, you'll get there. it's it'snna yeah you've That's a gray base to start with. then you just Because you work up from that. You always do that. You work up with the greens and the whatever colors you're working with. and Go lighter and lighter. And if you want to throw in some but forced perspective lighting in there, you can do that. And go even all the way up to white for reflections and shit.
00:37:46
Speaker
Yeah, this guy's got a really cool eye on the front of him that I think I might have to go with some of that forced perspective lighting on. But yeah, I'm going to hit this with the dry brushes next and see what happens. That's really going to help. Yeah, that's really going to help. It'll pop.
00:38:03
Speaker
Gonna bring out all your edges and and stuff like that. Get in with the rust in and do all the fun stuff. He's bigger. He's a little bigger than like general miniatures. so He's much bigger, Ed. Yeah, look yeah, yeah. Look at the scale. This guy is fun to paint. This guy is not fun to paint.
00:38:22
Speaker
yeah but context he's like the size of a car air filter like he's he's he's a big boy yeah he's a list threat I've got three of them on the go at a minute but this little this guy as well dad that's neat and he was really bright blue and now he's dingy and stuff but I don't know. I'll stick up to more layering, more weathering. We'll go. Take him. Change your lighting. Take him out in the sun one day and be like, all right, let's just gotta mix it up. That's a good idea. Change your lighting every once in a while and be like, hi, maybe he's not so dark. I'm just sitting in a dungeon.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah, well, we all are. Um, I will say, I think I mentioned this in Peter's podcast because I've painted Warhammer Knights Imperial or Chaos Knight, but they're big and highlighting changes. I find when you get a bigger, um much bigger model, like I, i
00:39:15
Speaker
I ended up high because usually you highlight with along the entire edge. And this I was highlighting with a sponge dipped in a super bright silver. Like I was just dabbing on the edge. So it's not like a line on the edge of his shoulder pad. It's dabbing random dabs of silver.
00:39:35
Speaker
over a darker metal. And it was like, it worked pretty t well. colonel doing like a snake girl You're almost doing like a sponge chipping technique. Yeah. As a highlight. Yeah. As a highlight. So it worked. So it's it's different when it gets a lot bigger, I will say.
00:39:54
Speaker
When it's smaller, you could just do like the paintbrush edge highlighting because it's like more more of a line, and you're just trying to draw out the the edge. yeah When it's bigger, you're a you know you can't just do the line. You've got to use like a sponge or something because it's it's like a sword or like a shoulder pad. It's got texture, and so that sponge will make it like reflective like the edge of the sword. It's not perfect. Right.
00:40:16
Speaker
So the lights bouncing in different ways makes it look a little more realistic. It's all about what your eye perceives I mean that's shit you learn as you do it, and it's it's a lot. I don't know I don't I can't be I can't even say I'm like beyond beginner with it, but
00:40:31
Speaker
And it's not even about looking realistic. It's about convincing the viewer that it looks real. That was the biggest thing for me. And I learned it from doing dioramas. I took this masterclass one time mainly because they gave away free product. And I went and learned from this dude who does dioramas and stuff. And I think his key takeaway was it's not about making it look 100% real. It's about just convincing whoever's looking at it that it looks real. It's like, oh.
00:41:00
Speaker
Like, it's it's it's weird, it's weird to say, but like, once you're thinking about it, it's like, it doesn't need to look exactly like a tree. you They just need to think it does. Like, oh, well, shit. Like, that uses some perfection. And I find as it's a smaller model, you have to force the lighting lighting on the viewer. Otherwise, you lose detail. Because if it's too dark, you don't see shit. So you make things pop more as is when stuff's tiny.
00:41:28
Speaker
Anyways, what else have you been working on, Chris? I think that's about it. No wood projects? Yeah, I've been doing a lot of woodworking. I've asked two weekends, yeah. So for context, I had a big storm in the UK. Massive tree in my garden fell down through the roof of my conservatory. I think you guys call it a sun room. Sun house. Yeah. So we've been disposing of said tree. So that's what Sean's kindly referring to.
00:42:07
Speaker
I'm excited to see what projects come out of that from various people if I'm ever so lucky to find out. It sounds like there's some cool stuff maybe coming. Yes. but that's ah My dad's took lots and lots of wood off our hands and that'll be getting made into bowls and all sorts on his lathe and he's very excited. He was he was rubbing his hands together. Never mind my ah The damage it's caused my house. My dad's like, oh, rubbing his hands on the grain. Oh, this is going to make a lovely bowl. This is like, yes, that's like, I'm going to see my dad so happy in my life. Yeah. But I've got a, um, I've got a query for you guys. Some advice I need. I've got a quick, a quick project that I've got to pull together. So I've got a costume. I've got to get ready for, um,
00:42:58
Speaker
friday this coming friday but six days home and right up five and a half six days yeah and five and a half six days so every year at christmas the company i work for um uh the last day before we break up for christmas we have a big christmas lunch and we'll dress up in costume what we call fancy dress over here but i think you guys call costume a bit like cosplay um each department picks a different theme been some totally rad things in the past last year we were vampires the year before that I can't remember but I've done all sorts and this year chosen said theme for my department is mythical creatures now this has been a ah tough a tough one to decide on
00:43:42
Speaker
Um, cause time is a factor. So the first thing I started seeing when I, the first thing I saw was the phone from pan's labyrinth and I was like, fuck. Yeah, dude. I, yeah yeah I want side note. I, I yeah looked for 3d printed miniatures. it's It's hard to find, but anyway, really.
00:44:02
Speaker
And then I'm like, who am I kidding? I'm not going to pull that costume together. Plus, I am not Doug Jones. um I am ah more the size of Guillermo del Toro, so I'm not going to dress as Pan's Labyrinth. But I am actually going to be a fawn, a woodland fawn. I've done some Pinterest searches, and I'm going to be a fawn. And I've got these cool horns that I'm going to wear. However, they've turned up, and they're jet black.
00:44:31
Speaker
and I want to make them bone-colored. So these are made of plastic, I do believe, but they're attached by ribbon to a headband. So talk to me, boys. How do I get these looking like actual bone?
00:44:53
Speaker
So are you wearing anything else on your head or is it just going to be just sitting on top? This is going to sit on top and I'm probably going to have some foliage and I'd like to get a bit of moss on here as well. Okay, so the headband part will be hidden, correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hidden-ish. Hidden-ish, yeah. Hidden-ish. Yeah, but it's more of this plastic stuff like what primer is not going to take to this so it could it depends on the primer Yeah, it could if you get some box store like yes hardware store level like yeah Any stick to anything primer that that stuff will grip on literally anything ah you could spray and you don't need that you don't need to sand it or anything like that because you're not
00:45:36
Speaker
It's really for one use. yeah i would do Personally, I would do like a white, just get a white, ah any any whatever the hell it's called over there, anything primers. and just yeah like I would tape off the headband so it doesn't get weird, and then I would spray the all the horns, and then I would do like a brown wash over the top.
00:45:55
Speaker
once it's dry. And so I could bring in more of like that bone, ivory color, but I would just save money and do a completely straight, white, anything primer. And then brown water water down a bunch of brown and yellow or whatever. Or make your own wash. if Because it's such a large surface, you could take brown acrylic like a like a bone brown, water it down. you There are mediums out there.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah, i just do cheap paint. Cheap craft paint with water, like 90% water with 10% paint, water down, blast it like, just soak the thing in in brown, then let it dry for like a minute, 30 seconds, then wipe it off with paper towel, let it dry, hit it with a hair dryer, do it with a slightly different color. Just keep doing that until it fills the cracks in and colors it. and so it might be a little too runny i i would maybe try a dab of the paper towel because the dab will just hit the surfaces you don't want it fully there um man did you want the
00:47:07
Speaker
You want to get brown on it first, though, because the you don't want it like completely white on the surfaces. And that's why you just keep doing the washes, because it'll slowly tint it. And you can always put more wash on. You can't take it back off. Right. You just keep applying. You just would keep applying. ah Let me see it again. It's not too big. You can almost, by contrast, paint
00:47:37
Speaker
You could, I feel like you could, cause I'm going to use this a lot with my, my rain core coming up skeleton hoard with the contrast paint from Citadel. So I've got some speed paint, I've got some bone colored speed paint. Yeah, you could do that. You probably use half that bottle. ah but say I would just use some cheap craft paint. I'd just get like and make a wash and just yeah a cheap, like the dollar store, Pobby fabric store, like craft paints, like the brown and like a yellow.
00:48:10
Speaker
Get them for like... why Make a really, really light colored brown from cheap paint. Put it over it first. Over the white. Then do the multiple layers of washes. And that'll be the cheapest. Because it's such a large surface. It'll be the cheapest way to do it. But it's kind of time consuming because you need to wait for the washes to dry. Or use a hair dryer. Right? Hair dryers always...
00:48:37
Speaker
It's not cheating. The dabbing helps pour like dry it a little too. It's not cheating. I got one right here. It's like part of my... ah Once I've done all my washes and I'm like distressed it a bit, I'd like to get a little bit... because I'm going to put some filigree and fucking plant life in my
Paintbrush Care and Maintenance
00:48:58
Speaker
hair and stuff. yeah yeah I'd like to get like a bit of moss and stuff on. got so like I like it.
00:49:04
Speaker
What's the best glue? I know I know I know how to create the moss. It's just the best glue to get it on. Kids PVA? I would do kids white PVA glue mix watered down. Yeah, I would I would I would say or Modge Podge. I would water down kids white glue or use Mod Podge.
00:49:22
Speaker
Because the thingning thing will make it not be so big and globby. You can just like dab it on there, then sprinkle it on, and it will dry a lot thinner and soak into some of the moss and kind of make it less kids PVA gluey. That's like model railroad kind of technique. And that's where hairdryer will work if you want it to. Sick. Sick, quick. Thank you, boys. I knew you would come to my aid.
00:49:52
Speaker
and for the great timing on organizing the podcast. The horns being black does look pretty sweet though. It does look cool. um but i I want the aesthetic, I want the... You know what I picture? Like the James McAvoy, like... poems from Narnia or whatever. Yes, mate, yes. I'm not gonna be shirtless. I was gonna say, you're going shirtless and come on! There's gonna be fur on my bottom half, but we're not shirtless on the top. Are you gonna figure out how to make, like, big hubs over your shoes? Like, I'm currently trying to... ah Yes. Figure that one out. Love it.
00:50:34
Speaker
ah keep us are probably just going to be They'll probably just be so yeah. When we record next April, for episode 5, I'll let i'll let you guys ah let you guys know how that's gone. But yeah, that's me. That's me, man. I've been there i'm doing a lot of drawing. I've got a lot of illustration projects coming up in the new year. um But I'm still trying to keep my hand in this newfound love of crafting as well. so Have you saw you you mentioned because you're in in the painting miniatures now and like where in her world is It has intrigued you more on your second visit Have you? encountered dioramas and stuff since then and been like fucking this is shit now that I know like Like goes into it and like you just spend another five minutes on that I'd be look way better anything like that. I do you've encountered anything with it No
00:51:33
Speaker
Because I go to like Christmas things out here, and they're like, oh, here's a huge darama of like Jerusalem or whatever. And I'm like, man, these are shit. We went we went to a ah we went to a local like like a local winter festival thing last night, and they had a gingerbread house contest. And just I couldn't help myself walk around last night, being like, oh, you used just gelatin sheets for windows? I could use cowards and whistles.
00:52:02
Speaker
Like, you didn't want to you didn't want to make your own hard candy and make your gone glass windows? Fucking cheers. Oh man, yeah, you you know. This is not to scale. This is dumb. I'm like, Bear can't climb a ladder. This ladder looks like shit. it does It does get you a different perspective, that's for sure. Oh, I know. Things out in the world that you thought were amazing. This nativity scene that these eight-year-olds have made?
00:52:28
Speaker
Fucking shit is fuck shit No, it wasn't a year old but hey it who painted the eyeballs on this giant donkey like what is this? It's like cross-eyed 1 o'clock.
00:52:39
Speaker
ah go um Yeah. So that's it, Chris? Yes, mate, yes. I mean, it's a lot, but that's good. I like this segment, though. If other people have costumes or things like this, or like have projects where they want specific, for me specifically, if you have a costume, they i Madison and I love doing this, like making costumes like on the cheap. like how could What's the most affordable, quick way you can get like the biggest bang for your buck? like What are the highlighted pieces?
00:53:07
Speaker
Dude, if you guys need that, write in. You know how you want to get ahold of us. And like we could go through this exercise. this I like this. Do they know how to get ahold of us? Do I know how to get ahold of us? Ed, you know nothing, but most people know. yeah i' wish most Most people who listen to us at the moment will figure it out, knows how know how know us, know how to get all of us. We'll come up with another way for future stuff. Ed, do you know all the podcasts you've been doing for like six years? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the web address, mate?
00:53:39
Speaker
Oh, it's like, uh, scruffy looking podcast. I swear to God.
00:53:48
Speaker
Uh, yeah, it's something, you know, anyway, uh, So that's that's us caught up on our recent crafting thing. Now we're going to bring up the topic that I thought would be a decent topic to talk about because it's something you should know, especially if you're starting out in painting in general, I believe, but definitely miniature painting with those tiny brushes.
00:54:19
Speaker
And that is caring and cleaning and maintaining those brushes and making sure they stay good for the next time you want to paint with them in like five weeks.
00:54:32
Speaker
Yeah, this is this is this is good to know because I don't look after shit, mate. Well, because nothing will drain your bank account and ruin a good time like but needing to buy more brushes, or just like you you have that one brush you're like that you've managed to not ruin, and you're like, please, just don't let me ruin this one. Because you you'll end up with 75 trash brushes. Like, these are these are all my dry brushes because I didn't take care of them.
00:54:59
Speaker
or or like you loved it the first time you used it and why isn't it the same the second time i've got i've got a lot of brushes for dry brushing i will say dry brushes that's a tough one i don't think i know the proper way i Just start off on dry brushing. I use cheap ass makeup brushes. Yeah, same. When you dry brush. First of all, I guarantee you those were not cheap. Guarantee that. ah No, they're pretty cheap. They're not ones that you stole. like you you yeah You bought your own makeup brush. I bought my own. OK.
00:55:42
Speaker
but they are pretty bad. They're like pretty cheap, but they were. I've also thrown out half of that pack I got, but anyway, because dry brushing. It does kind of ruin brushes, it seems. In my experience, maybe I'm not caring for them well enough. Dry brushing does. It's it's not good. and it's the worst It's the worst technique you can do with a brush. yeah If you're going to dry brush, do it with a brush. You're like a a thicker brush. wider to Google Just use your trash brushes. Don't buy one.
00:56:15
Speaker
Yeah. Bigger trash brushes. I did find on big things like your droid, Chris, and like you have lots of long lines that you need to highlight. I found there's a brush you get with a Mod Podge kit and it's like a really wide and flat brush. That works so well because I was dry brushing like these giant crates, Warhammer crates. And it like really highlighted the long lines really well.
00:56:45
Speaker
Oh, not. It looks like this.
00:56:50
Speaker
so So it's like wide. It's like an inch wide. It's flat. put it away and know <unk>t but Also, my brush looks like that too.
00:57:02
Speaker
but It's an inch wide and it's flat. We don't want to see it anymore. Come on. It's wider at the top. But anyway, let's get back to the meat of the conversation. And that's the meat.
00:57:16
Speaker
um To our actual painting brushes. So this tiny brushes ones you like I i i have a i kind of categorized my line ones I use for contrast paints which are a little thicker and ones I use washes obviously which are super thick and then I have The more detailed tinier ones the detailed tinier ones are the ones that we use and then we come back and we're like, why isn't this the same anymore? Like that first time I used it, it was fucking amazing. And now what's happening? It's like curling, it's it's like there's this one strand on the end and it's being weird. Yeah, somehow it's longer now. like It's like, wait, where'd these flyaways come from? And then there's flyaways going out on the edges and like, what the fuck is going on? So we're here to tell you.
00:58:09
Speaker
How does that flyaway contain so much paint? How does that flyaway have so much paint on it too? Because it'll touch something and all of the paint goes to the flyaway and draws a line down the side of something. Yeah, that you never intended. Right. Well, we're here to tell you.
00:58:26
Speaker
that you don't have to deal with that shit. That's a dry brush now, and buy new brushes. Yes. You saved money on dry brushes. No.
00:58:37
Speaker
oh ah Do you want to lead, Sean? Or do you want me to lead on this? Or do you, like, I know what I do, or you know what you do? or you want to have but let's let's Let's do some high level quick, like, quick tips, and then we can maybe drill into some of that. I'll start with one.
00:58:50
Speaker
Okay, yeah or nerd i way we know I just want to say one thing the devil The absolute bad thing you don't want to happen and the paint is for paint to get into be Where the matter is the fair is that what it's called? I don't know the fucking terms but the feral of the brush So if it gets down Below where you even see the brushes. The paint of the brush. The crevice. The part where the glue is and the crimp that is holding it all together. You don't want paint there. That kills the brush. You also don't want chemicals there. You can't get at it to clean it and it'll make bristles just go fucking everywhere.
00:59:41
Speaker
So i'll I'll compound upon this. You don't want anything there, and you really don't want it to sit there. So this this goes to my first tip, which is, it seems counterintuitive because you know once you feel like you've got a groove with a brush and it's like, the paint feels right, the brush feels right, and you're like, I'm just gonna drag this on.
01:00:00
Speaker
until it doesn't feel right anymore. The tip I've learned over time is like, clean that brush sooner than what you want to. Like, I know it's gonna mess up that groove, but like, clean your brushes. Like, even if you need to, if you're swapping between two, like clean it. Do not let it dry up in the ferrule. Do not let it get hard on the on the thing. That will ruin brushes quicker than anything else. And on that same note, because as it continues to dry further up into, the as it sucks more paint up into the crimp,
01:00:31
Speaker
it will dry there and it's harder to clean and then you're just continuously, then you have to keep cleaning it and mashing it and cleaning it. And you're driving more, like depending on how you clean your brushes or what, you're bringing more water, more chemicals and things up into that ferrule. You're breaking down the glue. You're messing up where the bristles are kind of staying together. Like it's better to clean it more frequently, more more often, and it will be taken care of better instead of trying to do one big cleaning at the end. yeah like Yes, yes.
01:01:02
Speaker
Yeah, reestablishing, like restarting the brush, essentially is how I feel like, like, like you you have the palette, you have the colors, the color you want to paint on. It's been properly diluted with a little bit of water for those two thin coat. Know what I'm saying? Anyway, and then um you paint.
01:01:22
Speaker
And then the the the natural urge is to go back from the miniature back to the paint to grab more paint. You know what? Just throw it back in the water, rinse it off, start from scratch, and then grab paint. It's better for the brush. Okay, let's let's even ratchet it back even further. Let's go even more basic.
01:01:40
Speaker
don't leave your brushes in water. aren like Do not leave your brushes in a paint cup where the brussel bristles are being smashed. Don't leave it in water. like Clean it, what whatever you're cleaning, and then get it out of the water. And don't like make sure like you either lay it down to dry like a paper towel or something. Because you want the water and stuff out. You want to let it dry Naturally, you don't want to like so I know there's a lot of those new products where they're like Oh, you can put your paint your your paint brushes like in a cup and they sit facing up It's like yeah, yeah you're just letting it dry down into the crimp. So yes, and this is a tip I give anyone that ask me Don't store your brushes handled out
01:02:22
Speaker
However, say unless they're dry, unless they're new. Also, don't store your brushes bristles resting in the bottom of a cup. So I just sent you guys a picture in Discord. It's the thing I have where you can attach your brushes to and they dangle in the air down. They dry facing down.
01:02:44
Speaker
Nothing gets into the ferrule, that was called, ferrule. Yeah, yes. and The metal part. Yes. And the and the ah brushes last longer because of... That looks like one of those those things that they like when people get their like toenails done. It's the thing that goes between their toes to keep them from touching. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. that's what that's That's what that paintbrush holder looks like. Yeah. You can send that... It's all on Amazon. but yeah Yeah, along with the picture you've sent. Can you send a link, please? Because so my my brush none of my brushes are stored correctly. Mean to be clear like I store my brushes like they're they're up Yeah, they're all but I make sure they're dry so like when I'm when I'm working that's all lay them I'll lay them like this on the side and like make sure they're dry and whatever then Like be done for the day, then I'll come back a day or whatever later and like then Put them in my little geeky tiki cups three weeks later Sean yeah, it's whenever I come back into my
01:03:49
Speaker
Whatever you want to call this room the the shit the shit the shame pile But I think though for me those are the biggest those are the biggest pieces of like maintaining like cuz that prevents yes some of the curl and some of the craziness and like So another thing when you when paint and chemicals get up in the crimp ah One of the reasons that's bad is that when it dries they will expand and water gets up there to continue to expand kind of like ice and that's what will cause your bristles to not be tight anymore and they'll start to like spread kind of like a dry brush like where they'll just start to spread open it's like oh what happened to my point and now it's like a like a big bushy brush yeah and that's that's all the shit up up in the up in the ferrule that you can't clean out because you can't get to it
01:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, I do want I do want to mention a big thing, a big step up level up in my brush maintain maintaining skills. I've been getting a brush cleaner. ah And it's called mine is called the master's brush cleaner and preserver. And it's pretty much like a bar of soap in a container. And when you're done painting or switching colors, even I do it when I switch colors, you, you rinse off the brush in the water, grab a lot of the water, throw it onto the top of this brush cleaner, because it's like a pretty much a bar of soap. Picture that. And you just swirl the brush in it. And it cleans off all the the paint you're using. And then it also
01:05:22
Speaker
preserves it. So they it like lubes it up. So I usually I usually swirl it in the soap. i I grab but some of the soap, that the dirty soap, I say dirty soap, because it's like all inked up. And then I take it off with a paper towel and then I put it in the palm of my hand. So if you if you, I don't know how to describe this, but if you put your palm like this, where you cup your hand and the fingers come down at a 90 degree angle, it creates this line right here.
01:05:57
Speaker
And I put the brush right here. There's a crease right here. That's your love line or your marriage line. I don't know which line that is actually. Yeah. What is that? It's a lifeline? Something like that. I think I think got it. There you go. see So as you twist the brush, you drag it along that line and twist the brush and it comes out like new.
01:06:17
Speaker
like a nice straight brush. So I i have something similar. Or you can use your mouth. Wild. um i I use a brush conditioner. Mine's less soap and mine's more of when you're done cleaning it instead of just letting it sit there.
01:06:36
Speaker
to dry, it's almost like you you roll you roll it on this like little, it's almost like a little wax pad and then you just kind of twist. It's almost like a little hair, like a hair polymer. Mine is not that big. Mine is like the size of a quarter. Like it's really, really little. And you see this, you don't really use it as soap, you just kind of roll it on it and then you kind of just... Kind of twist twist the it kind of brings keeps the point in thick hair a brush conditioner Like what it sounds like you just leave it on there um I don't really do it between colors like I do it for more in between like if I'm gonna let that brush sit and dry or if I'm gonna Yeah, do whatever cuz I'm ah I don't know what it is, and I'm afraid to put it it mix it with my paints um I could look it up, but I'm lazy and I just that's my process Yeah, I might be running a risk to it between every color but
01:07:20
Speaker
ah I definitely do it between session, but you but you also use a lot of acrylics And I use a lot of not acrylics and so I use a bunch of finicky paints that I look at them funny, and they do stupid stuff so I'm just I'm i'm i'm just paranoid You should be I mean it's you if you end up with something shitty, then it's like what the fuck that you're wrong It's just like a chemical reaction, and it's not good But anyway, but but it looks good. um I have heard and I want to try it going isopropyl alcohol between sessions. So you do isopropyl, then water isopropyl, rub off the bristle on a paper towel, then water with isopropyl out because it's isopropyl will dry out your brushes. So you don't want to leave it on like a long time and brushes, good brushes are made out of like hair. You don't want you know, you don't want to dry them out. So then they go water and then you do the cleaner like I have.
01:08:19
Speaker
swirl it a little bit, twist it. There's YouTube videos on it using a brush cleaner, like, swirl it, then go to the side, swirl it, and then, you know, fucking wipe the soap off, and go do the palm technique, subscribe. Yeah, to be and to be clear, you don't need to go by 90%, 98% isopropyl alcohol from the local pharmacy. You can get the 70, the 60, 70% strength, and just go real light on it, because that will like you don't there's sometimes like I'll see these channels where they're like they're using like hardware store grade chemicals to clean things it's like what like I clean my brushes with acetone it's like I bet those brushes like if it's eating the paint off the handle of your brush it's too strong like
01:09:05
Speaker
that We're just washing it. We're just getting the paint out like clean it frequently water should do most of the time but like a little bit of brush cleaner a little bit of ISO or something whatever you're using you do not have to soak it in like lacquer thinner like we're It will be clean. Yeah Yeah, because I think as a beginner, a lot of my frustrations was the brush getting fucked. I got to buy more brushes. So then I leaned away from nice brushes, and I started buying shit brushes because they're cheaper. Well, and then it's easy to fall in that hole of like, oh, these are just shitty brushes. It's like, no, you just have shitty cleaning technique. It's like, don't go buy sable brushes when you don't know how to treat it, yeah. Nah, like, plus buy artificial sable because it's cheaper.
01:09:54
Speaker
and I don't know if you can import Sable into the U.S. anymore. and it's like ah protect that really I think This this is like whatever it hurts animals or something? I think it the i think it's something. I don't know. i they I'm not going to pretend at all. Where? Anyways. Chris, do you have any thoughts on brushes? Yeah, I don't know. and I don't have anything more. I was just taking it all in, man. because so I just rinse my shit under the water, under the tap, fucking dry it with a paper towel, stick it on the side and store it incorrectly. Yeah, how are the bristles? They they annoying you? Brisly, yeah. Maybe that's why I didn't enjoy and painting those miniatures. Yeah, and it wrote stuff is so tiny, you gotta to have the perfect tip. Yeah.
01:10:48
Speaker
It always gets into problems when you get into the zeros, the 3-0, the 2-0-1-0s. That's where it gets really stupid. Or you get into the liners. That's brush sizes for those that don't know. I do struggle as well with knowing the correct amount of paint to put on the actual brush.
01:11:07
Speaker
Here's a brush I didn't clean properly. Yeah, that looks awful. I have i have i've had a drink or two and been painting and then I wake up the next morning I come down and I see a brush and it's like, fuck, because I didn't take care of it before I went to bed and I'm like,
01:11:21
Speaker
Fucking hell And if you're if you if you ever feel like you're not good at cleaning your brushes buy an airbrush and that will train you really quickly to How frequently you should be cleaning something? Fucking yes, I learned that fast I didn't I've done any because it'll splatter and you're just like what the fuck's happening Oh, I didn't clean it well at all like between the last color in this color or whatever Or it's all sealed shut cuz it's drying on the inside. You can't disassemble it anymore and So you have to like soak it in lacquer thinner dude. I I store all the metal parts of mine in like alcohol.
01:12:03
Speaker
Oh My god And I have a magic eraser. Right before I use it, i use the you know the magic eraser sponges? Oh, I know a magic eraser. What do you use that on? I'm curious. The needle or? Yeah. Just don't use it on the airbrush. like Those are so abrasive. Oh, no, no, no, no. I use it on the needle to keep it nice. there's that Yeah, there's nothing on the airbrush I'd use it on. The airbrush is just like a prey and hope it doesn't clog up a lot.
01:12:32
Speaker
I do store that. I do store that. I got brushes to go in and out of it. What other tips are there? I'm so new at airbrushing. I think there's some other stuff from air, like paint brushes. like We keep talking about dry brushing. like There's nothing that will destroy a paint brush more than air dry brushing.
01:12:52
Speaker
um like Because you a a lot of the techniques you're using for dry brushes, especially when you watch videos and stuff with people who have a million paint brushes, they don't care. like it is The technique itself is like the exact opposite of how you treat a paint brush. You are mashing it into things and it's really forcing that paint up. like You're forcing paint up into the the feral, the crimp part, and it's just it's hopeless.
01:13:18
Speaker
like you're already doing it friggin rubbing it on a paper towel but you begin with so like like those that don't know you take a glob of paint on the brush you rub it a lot on a paper towel to like take out the excess so you got like some minimum not minimal but like more than minimal amount on the brush and then you just freaking start like I don't even say lightly it's more than lightly sometimes But it depends on the model test test it on something. Oh, yeah have have a junk piece like find yourself a junk toy or junk thing that you can just endlessly test on that is That's a separate tip. I have like an old Star Wars micro machines at ST that I it's got like 700 layers of paint on it and I endlessly use it for testing things and I'm like I'll just like like okay is my dry brush like where is it thin enough because you're the whole point of dry brushing is you don't want the paint to paint the flow
01:14:11
Speaker
You wanted to just- Is that something we can see on a post? We can take a picture of that? Or is that- My ATSC, it's buried in one of these drawers over here, buried behind all my shame piles. I will get it out. I also have one of those like stormtrooper helmets, those vinyl helmets, it's like just layered in airbrush paint. But yeah, you want it to like, you want to barely, because you don't want to like, because sometimes you do have to smash it, but you need to test it because if you smash it on there, next thing you know, you've got to Giant smashed dry brush piece Yeah, dry brushing is fun. I love it. but Yeah, it's it's for it it is wicked, but it's hard to It's hard to gauge it you definitely need to test it on shit Because I've done that before when it's like yeah, this dry brushing looks rad. I'm gonna give this go I've got far too much on the brush and It just fucking just makes a mess
01:15:07
Speaker
Yeah, you gotta swirl it on the paper towel first. Like, that's, that's huge. I use a bit of card, just like. Yeah, eyes all I like that. Nothing coming off the brush. Almost like a piece of a, I don't, I don't know what everybody calls it. I learned to call it chipboard.
01:15:23
Speaker
years years ago but i don't know what i think it's just like almost like it's not cardboard but it's like whatever this like thick brown oh paper that called i forgot like i call it chipboard i think that's really really good at it because it also shows you like how Like if where it is this is what it would look like what into it like Because it because it's porous and so like a paper towel is gonna soak it up but like something like that Like you'll see like how wet it is With the dry brush that you hit it and it's like if it pools and spreads it whoa I think I need to dry this a bit more cuz
01:15:59
Speaker
you can buy specialized dry brush paint where it's like it's paint that sat out too long and like or you can make your own or it's just regular paint but then you just got to keep smashing it into the paper towel but testing on different things is always helpful. I've got some Citadel dry brush paint.
01:16:18
Speaker
it's so I think that's a gimmick. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting. It basically just looks like paint that's old. It's like tofu. It's like tofu paint. I fell for that with some of their technical paints. Like I have the
Crafting Tips and Tricks
01:16:36
Speaker
riser. Oh, this is a dry one, riser rust. It just looks like spongy paint when you open it. You know what I mean? Like it's like thick. And then I have skink blue, which I don't think I've ever used.
01:16:50
Speaker
It's funny. But anyway. What do you mean you own a paint that you've never used? ah Who does that? All crafters use all their tools. That's right. I will say I do love contrast medium.
01:17:07
Speaker
I use that a lot to turn paints into contrastiness, or make a dark too dark contrast paint more lighter. Does it ever about you that they won't use standard terms for things? It's like, you you're talking about a contrast medium. It's like, you're talking about a thinning medium. Yes. It's what that is. It's like, I no kid to just call it what it is. But for speed paints. like Yeah. it's a it's an acrylic It's an acrylic medium that will dilute the paint, but without But allowing the pigment to continue to disperse evenly. Yes. So it can cool properly. More than what they call Lamy and medium, which is made to turn a regular paint more into a wash. Yeah. That's where like really disperses it. Which just use fucking water. But anyway.
01:17:58
Speaker
For acrylic, for Jesus Christ, for acrylic paints. Do not use water for anything that's not acrylic. Yes, yes. i If I'm talking, it's generally acrylic. Just so everybody. You want to have a really bad time.
01:18:15
Speaker
So that's all I have on cleaning, I think. I'm looking at my workspace here to make sure I'm not missing anything. hang them upside down, change your water out. I am bad at changing my water out. you can I just had you guys a picture. It's like dark. and for I love to use small shot glasses. Like I won't have a big cup of water because I think that just it just keeps encourages me to just like have this big grody cup of water for too long.
01:18:49
Speaker
I will use like a little I have a ton of these like a little glass shot glasses that I use for everything but then like I'll fill this with like water or cleaner and then so you could also like rub it on the sides or get on there and swish it around and then it's like oh it gets too dirty you just go dump it in a bigger pot and fill it back up again and like it's easier to kind of keep swapping it yeah instead of like a big kitchen cup that is a amazing idea that would fit my ADHD brain a lot and lazy brain as well like that It gives you something to do with the ore. Another thing you could do is old pharmacy bottles. Those are endlessly amazing and cri and in crafting, like the little orange ones. I use those all the time. Good civilian robots.
01:19:34
Speaker
well see Crafting. Anything else? Any questions? any Anything on any other topic?
01:19:45
Speaker
Nope. You can also always ri it you can also say you you can also see use ripped up sponges for dry brushing too. Like you were talking about Ed. Yes, I have done that. It's surprisingly effective. um It's almost like, what the fuck have I been doing? Why don't I just use these like cheap ass sponges? Like a sponge brush. Like sometimes you you get something from Amazon or whatever you ordered and it comes with like a bunch of like spongy shit in it to like package it. like And like all of it, you can just tear pieces off of it and just use it to dry brush. It's it good for chipping, it's good for dry brushing. Use that on all those horns, man. Use that on all those horns. Easy. Then throw it out after, because it's fucking cheap. dis Do that at the very end. If you don't know your washes, do like a little bit of speckling on it. all Go lighter because it's targeting. That's the other thing with the sponge. is goingnna
01:20:41
Speaker
Hit, but oh test that too use them as a dry brush like brush on and then speckle with another side of the sponge Tear torn finish I'm gonna go at least tomorrow. I'm gonna blast them tomorrow because I'm running out of time, man yeah I'm going to be outside, cleaning the cleaning away more more wood and more leaves, so I might as well do some spray paint. I will say. i out there and Because you're gonna be if you're going to be doing all the washes, have had a hair dryer, that'll speed things up. Yes.
01:21:15
Speaker
yes um Otherwise you're waiting hours. yeah I've got a heat gun on my wish list. that I want to pull the trigger on, but I haven't pulled the trigger on yet. It's good good for melting things as well. Bending plastic. Anyway, that's a difference there's another subject.
Innovations in Crafting Tools
01:21:32
Speaker
Since we're talking about supplies, another heat gun's a great... This is so silly. like I discovered a couple years ago that they sell hot glue guns that don't plug plug into the wall, but they use a regular power drill battery. like I have my DeWalt batteries onto them, and so it's a cordless glue gun.
01:21:52
Speaker
Oh game up the fuck up game changer You said it's like riding shit down. He's like okay. I gotta buy that you can get you can get them on Amazon for like I'm gonna get them on Amazon for like eight dollars And it's just a regular just put glue gun things in and just hook your drill battery up to it Let's go I love that I've got prime that will get here before Christmas.
Podcast Plans and Future Topics
01:22:18
Speaker
Let's go hell. Yeah, I
01:22:21
Speaker
All right, well I think that does it for this episode. Episode four. I forgot what number it is. Episode four. Still number four. You know, what can what can people find us at? Yeah, on on a website. Sean, what is it? We don't have a website yet. You can find this podcast through two feeds. You can find on the just showing feed or the scruffy looking podcasters feed.
01:22:47
Speaker
and Will it be on there? Will it be on the Squiffy Look You podcast's feed? Yes, at some point. With the other three episodes? It's always inevitable. The three episodes are on there. Oh, are they? They might, yeah. They might have been deployed. I think you can post them. Yeah, the first two were like a month after me.
01:23:07
Speaker
About to say, you rapper rapid-fired them out there real quick. It's like, here's one, two, and three. It's like, man, it looks like we were like really on it. yeah like we just We just recorded a bunch all at once and just released them even though they were months apart. Unless you're looking at ah the shilling feed and you're like, no, these have been out forever. once we Once we get another episode or two together, maybe I'll i'll put together a ah dedicated spot for us to... maybe put our own feed up instead of listening to it through all these others. Yes. That'd be good. but We'll get some consistency going first. Let's see if we get feedback, good feedback on it, and we'll keep moving forward with it. Looking forward to talking Easter-crafted on episode five. It doesn't seem to be around the holidays. So what's the next one? This is 2026. Maybe, hey, Ed, we'll meet back up again for St. Patrick's Day, and you can show us your progress on your four-leaf clover. Yeah, maybe I painted another four-leaf clover, three-leaf clover, whatever.
01:23:58
Speaker
Or maybe paint it a rank oil. Maybe. Keep that out of maybe. In fear. Anyway, thanks for listening everybody, and we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye!