Miniaturepeddler

from kyle over at the darkage forum (http://www.dark-age.com)
I have tried several versions of the magic dip, including using walnut wood stain (stinks, must do outside) The best
one is as follows:
You will need:
Water
Future Floor Finish
GW Flesh Wash Chestnut Ink
a resealable plastic container you don’t mind ruining.
(I used the plastic container some take-out chinese won-ton soup came in)
I poured all of the GW Flesh Wash into the container and then using the empty GW bottle to measure added two parts
water and two parts future. The future breaks up the surface tension allowing the ink to really get in the nooks and
crannies. All Future and no water really makes the figure glossy and slick. All water and you will not get good
coverage.
_________________

Gunslinger on Dark-age forum
liquitex is the brand redily available at michaels arts and crafts stores.. i use it as well.. i normally go 10 parts water to
1 part Future Floor Wax, or 7 parts water to 1 part Future Floor Wax
with the liquitex flow medium i use the thin variety, so i only need to go 2 parts water 1 part liquitex.. or 3 parts water
1 part liquitex.. to get the same consistancy

By Chick Lewis on http://www.fanaticus.org/DBA/guides/Painting/acrylicfloorwash.html

Hello, fellow figure painters. I believe I have finally found the
perfect “wash” for miniature figures. A few weeks ago I
admired some Boxer war figures of local painter here in
Southern California. “Dow the Programmer” told me how to
make his “Magic Wash”, and I have been trying it out recently.
I am stoked by it. Magic Wash blows the doors off of every
other wash technique I have ever used! And it is so
inexpensive as to be negligible! And it is easier than most
other wash techniques!
Here is the recipe:
Buy a bottle of “FUTURE acrylic floor finish for
non-wax and regular floors” by Johnson & Son. In the
U.S. it comes in big 800 ml (72 ounce) clear plastic
squeeze bottles for about $7, and was available in both
supermarkets I checked. This is more than I can probably
use in a lifetime. The clear liquid inside is slightly more
viscous than water. I imagine there are similar products
in other countries, and I recommend that we identify
them.
1.
Pre-mix some of the FUTURE, one part of acrylic finish
to four parts of water. This is the Magic Wash stock. I
made mine up in a liter sealable milk bottle. Making a
clear stock up ahead of time allows the small bubbles
which can result when mixed with water to subside over
time.
2.
Devote one brush to be the Magic Wash brush. I don’t
know if this is really necessary, but it seems safer to me,
since the formula of the FUTURE finish is different from
those of our acrylic paints.
3.
When you are ready to use it, mix a little of the Magic
Wash stock with a small amount of your chosen pigment.
Stir it with your brush, don’t shake it. I have successfully
used inks and acrylic paints as pigments.
Brush over your figures and allow to dry. It dries just
about as quickly as acrylic paints.
5.
It sucks the pigment right down into the crevasses and keeps it
there. Doesn’t let it “osmose” back up. And the high areas
remain remarkably clear ! I have used black, dark brown, and
light tan (for white marble).
And Magic Wash even gives a hard protective coating !! It’s
not too shiny, but a final coat of dullcote often makes the
figures look better to my eye.
What DON’T I like about it? Well, I’ve mentioned the little
bubbles, with a method for avoiding them. The only other
“problem” is that, if you tend to lick your brush while
painting, the stuff tastes TERRIBLE !! So I have given up that
habit when using Magic Wash.

Christopher Fielitz (Bolter and Chainsword): Now that I can no longer seem to find my favorite figure staining inks called Dragonstains, I have been on a quest to find a substitute. I wanted to use the Miracle Dip technique, but I can¹t seem to find Minwax Polyshade Satin Tutor at my local hardware stores. I think, however, I have hit upon a reasonable alternative. I use a mixture of Future Floor Acrylic and black paint. Future is relatively inexpensive for the size of bottle available, and is very watery. I mix about 3 parts Future to1 part black acrylic paint. You have to mix the two fairly fast and use it right away because it starts hardening quickly. I apply it to several figurines at once with an old brush. While wet, it cleans up with water. Like the polyurethane stain, it avoid the problems associated with water surface tension, but you don¹t have to deal with organic solvents, etc. It also dries a lot faster. It is extremely glossy when dry, but I just go over the non-metallic parts of the figures with a flat sealer.

I use magic wash for making inks or washes. Water works alright but you will get puddle spots and paint ridges. Use FUTURE floor polish. Only the acrylic floor polish stuff. Its clear says on the bottle for non-waxed floors. I will look up the brand later for ya. Use 1 part future floor polish and 4 parts water.Or was it 5parts water. I found it works great. A one liter bottle of the floor wax should last ya a lifetime of painting. I will find a tutorial about this later for ya.

Found tutorial for ya
http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic/guestarticles/magicwash.htm

Punkrabbit from the Dark-age Forums:
Optional alternate dipping solution: Our very own Punkrabbitt has his own special “secret sauce”
that he likes to use as his dip.
Ingredients:
1 oz. Higgins Black India Ink
1 oz. Higgins Brown Ink
5 oz. Future Floor Finish
2 oz. Distilled Water
16 oz. Container with watertight lid, the wider the better
Higgins Ink in both colors can be found at most art supplies stores. The other ingredients can
be found at any grocery store. Combine all liquid ingredients in the container, in the following
order: 5 oz. Future Floor Finish, 1 oz. Higgins Black Ink, 1 oz. Higgins Brown Ink, and 2 oz.
Distilled Water. Mix thoroughly.

Author: GamePunk26 [ Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:14 pm ]
Post subject: The Dip Recipie(s) Thanks Robyn
Ingredients
1 oz. Higgins Black India Ink
1 oz. Higgins Brown Ink
5 oz. Future Floor Finish
2 oz. Distilled Water
16 oz. Container with watertight lid, the wider the better
Higgins Ink in both colors can be found at Dick Blick Art Supplies at Decatur and
Meadows for a combined cost of $6.19 including tax. The other ingredients can be
found at any grocery store.
Instructions
Combine all liquid ingredients in container, in the following order: 5 oz. Future Floor
Finish, 1 oz. Higgins Black Ink, 1 oz. Higgins Brown Ink, 2 oz. Distilled Water. Mix
thoroughly.

You will need:
Water
Future Floor Finish
GW Flesh Wash Chestnut Ink
a resealable plastic container you don’t mind ruining.
(I used the plastic container some take-out chinese won-ton soup came in)
I poured all of the GW Flesh Wash into the container and then using the empty GW
bottle to measure added two parts water and two parts future. The future
breaks up the surface tension allowing the ink to really get in the nooks and
crannies. All Future and no water really makes the figure glossy and slick. All water
and you will not get good coverage.

Found on Relic forum:

http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=179607
If you have ever done any military aircraft models you have probably heard of the old timers using Future Acrylic Floor polish for many purposes. It makes a great gloss coat, great for making canopies thin and transparent, good decal agent and many other uses.
Future Floor Polish is widely available and very inexpensive. I have found it at most local grocery markets for around $7.00 or so. It is basically an acrylic medium, dries crystal clear with a very hard glossy coat. It can be washed off with warm water or windex (window cleaner) and the glossy effect can be reduced with water or windex.
I have used future in other projects but never thought to use it on minis or as a wash until I saw a small article here:
http://www.paintingclinic.com/
Click on the “clinic” tab about half way down. Read it there or read my version.
So Future does make a nice wash. Very inexpensive and works better than ink in a
few areas as I will explain.
Mixing the Wash:
Find a suitable container depending on how much wash you want to create. You can pre-mix various colors, store them for later use. Just a quick shake and your ready to rock ( at least for me ).
Mix future with water, windex or isopropyl alcohol. Either one works great. Water will slightly reduce the gloss, alcohol will really reduce the gloss to almost flat and windex will reduce the gloss but helps break surface tension. Your choice, knock yourself out.
The ratio can vary depending on many factors. One part future to 3 parts ( insert agent here ) is a good start. All depends on intensity of the color you want and or glossy or flat effect. It is very flexible. Experiment until you find what you like.
Next of course you need your pigment. Here again, use what suits your needs or what you have available. GW foundation paints work well and a little goes a long way, or try the standard Citadel paints. Vellejo, Tamiya, Testors, model master any of the above will work well. I have had good success using basic brown, black, and red Tempera pro art water color paint. They come in huge bottles with a great color selection and are only a few dollars each. Edit: There is one requirement with paint or pigment source, it must be water soluable or acrylic based. Enamel or anything else might be bad, not sure what would happen but I wouldn’t try it.
The amount of pigment you add will depend on the intensity of the color you desire.
If you are not sure, just add a little at time with thin washes until you get the right combination.
Now after all this you may ask, “Why bother?” What does this do that a simple water and paint wash or ink glaze can’t? For one thing you can save a few bucks overall. One bottle of future will last many years and you have so many options for pigments that buying ink bottles or expensive artist oil washes will not be necessary.
If I were to undercoat a model white and then apply a yellow ink wash, the whole model will dry to a strong yellow color. With the future method, after drying the model will still appear very white with yellow only in the details and deep recesses.
When the future wash dries it is extremely transparent. This process is very complex and beyond the scope of this little tutorial but the acrylic medium suspends the pigment better so that it flows within the medium to the deepest places. I am sure there is someone on these forums who can explain it better than me.
Your base coat will be less effected by the wash and only your chosen pigment will shine through. Will it be perfect everytime? No. With a little practice and patience you will get good results.
As for the glossy effect, you can always flatten it with dulcoat laquer or various other methods. The future will also act as a protective coat when dried.
Thats all I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to dispute my claims, or even add to the tutorial if you feel the need. I hope someone finds this useful.
Thanks for reading.

[...] Magic Wash Recipes [...]