"Howard Hues Paints and Other Acrylics" Topic

Hello Everyone -

I have some Howard Hues paints, along with a few other acrylics. Have you ever had them partially dry out?

I have some that are getting dry and am trying to find out a good way to reconstitute them. Not sure if plain water is the correct way to do it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Larry

I use plain water with my HH all of the time. I have not encountered any problems.

DK

If they are acrylics and they have not turned hard, you should be able to add plain water a small amount at a time until it is the consistency you want. Mix it thoroughly -- I would stir it personally, not shake it.

Some hobbyists will use thinned matte medium, but in principal, that shouldn't be needed, since the matte medium in the paint shouldn't have evaporated out with the water.

Now, if the paint has turned hard, it is cured, which is a chemical change, so it can't be reconstituted back into paint.

So if there is a top skin, peel it off and throw it out. Ditto with any hard lumps floating around in there. But the goopy stuff can generally be thinned back into a useable consistency.

Renaissance Ink Liquid Extender. This will thin down the drying paint without diluting the pigment. Check the web site under RI Ink Wash line. renaissanceink.net

I have used the liquid extender on an Acrylic paint no longer available and it brought way as good as new!

Some of my older jars of HH have had very long shelf lifes.

Some of my old HHs are now more water than base!

The current H Hues paint uses different paint base from the origional paint… the reason I know this is because HH paints were origionally Iron Brigade paints.My origional paint bases lasted longer,mater of fact I still have some from 1984 that are still good. the new maker of these paints have changed the base used to make them and they will dry out within a year or less sometimes.of course you can add water but sooner or later your paint become a wash instead.If you have a color you use alot of take a sample to your local paint store or lowes /home depot and have them make a test can (usually about a pint to quart size) it cost about 3 to 4 dollars and they can match almost any color.Its also alot more paint than you get for $3 USD from the game componies.and get the better name brand paint as it will last longer….if you were not aware except for the metalics most hobby paint comes from latex house paint with a little water added to the base color to thin it out for a better flow when painting miniatures and longivity .check it out guys. Iron bde paints were from sherman williams paint company.and for awhile when it became H Hues paint he used the same people I did till he sold it to the current owner.

Whilst water works pretty well I find that the paints still tend to dry out. A better solution is to find a shop selling artists' materials and get some 'acrylic medium'; this is used to thin the paint from the tubes to a workable consistency.