"All purpose Acrylic Extender" Topic

I picked up a inexpensive bottle of Anita's All Purpose Extender for Acrylics. My thoughts were to try mixing Acrylic Extender with various paints to create specific washes.

I am going to experiment but I was curious if the concept works. If it does works, are there any tricks to the process?

My thoughts were to create several common washes and store them in airtight containers for long term use.

Given my experiences with extenders, I am not sure they would really be useful for creating washes. I have used them with good effect for blending colors while painting, and for that purpose extender is wonderful.

However, the extender doesn't seem to enhance the flow of the pigment like Future does. I don't see it really behaving like a wash unless you really water it down, and even then, I am not sure it would be as effective as Future

Still, if you thin it out enough, who knows? Maybe you will find a new use for extender.

Well I also have future. But future adds gloss to the wash. In some cases, I may not want the gloss in the wash.

Try using acrylic inks such as FW Acrylic Artist Ink. They are permanent. I get mine from Dick Blick art supply.

Try using acrylic inks such as FW Acrylic Artist Ink. They are permanent. I get mine from Dick Blick art supply.

Do you mean mixing the inks with extender? Or just use craft inks instead of mixing my own?

Mix the inks together, with water, to make the color of wash you want instead of using paint. This ink is very opaque, and a little goes a long way. And I use a "smidgen" of Future to help the wash flow better.

I've used craft paint Extender for my washes for years. On a plastic pallet with multiple paint wells, I put in several drops of extender into one well, and then in the next well a drop or two of craft paint for the wash. I used the brush to get a dab of paint and mix it into the Extender, and continue adding paint until it it gets to the level I want, kind of opaque like milk or so.

Then slather the wash all over the mini with the brush, moving it around and soaking up puddles with the brush. It does take a while to dry but this process has worked well for me and the wash flows very well into all the nooks and crannys.