"how long will unopened paint keep?" Topic

I'm wondering how long unopened acrylic paint will keep. I'm thinking about stocking up on some favorite shades for future use.

I have some old GW paint that is about 15 years old and still usable, and thats been opened!

I dont know about sealed stuff though…

All the best!

It will be in a super-state of being both usable and unusable until you open it. Schrodinger's paint.

I have some much-opened and reclosed paints that are still going after a good 15 years, so I don't think you have too much to worry about with a bottle that's factory sealed and untouched.

I think unopened stuff should last years. I have Vallejo paints that are at least five years old and still fine to use. They occasionaly need a vigorous shake to remix them (because of settling) but I can't see extended life being an issue if they havn't been opened. Mind you I'm not an expert (this is empirical knowledge only!).

BigLee
BLMA link

I vwas given a large box of unopened Vallejo paint, and they did NOT keep well. The suspension has turned grainy, and the fluid is very liquid.
Perhaps it is because they were never shaken or stirred in all that time.

It really depends.

If the seal is compromised, when you open it there'll be nothing but colored rock down there.

If it's liquid but there's stuff floating around instead of a clean separation between pigment and clear media, you can try stirring it but it may have broken down chemically, which means it isn't paint any more.

If the seal is 100%, and the paint formulation is such that the pigment merely separates from the media, you can open it up, stir it really really really well and you'll be good to go.

One note, any paint that has been sitting around that long is going to require serious mixing. IMO you can't do this with shaking, it has to be stirred (very very very thoroughly). Which would imply dropper bottle paints are at a serious disadvantage in this area. Admittedly I am somewhat prejudiced against dropper bottle packaging generally as I don't really trust paint to stay mixed if I can't stir it. (I do use dropper bottles for thinner media such as inks.)

All my GW pots had dried up after 4 years resting, but my craft paints soldiers on, it is going on ten years since I bought it. And I found two Japanese bottles (Gunze something?) that I bought nearly 30 years ago that are still okay once shaken.

The GW bottles are much better than they were for a while (when you had to check each bottle you bought) but still bad.

I've had no problem with Vallejo, despite being an early adapter and opening them from time to time.

And the same goes for the old Citadel, now Coat d'Arms. I've got some that are very old but still going strong.

Some other acrylic paint, Ral Partha for instance, have gone bad without drying in just a couple of years.

So it depends entirely on the paint and the bottle. I wouldn't stock up much, perhaps an extra bottle at most.

They probably keep better if kept cold. Like in the fridge (next to the greenstuff).

The only paints that I have problems with are GW foundation paints I got a set couple of Christmas's ago and a couple of them were unusable !! Other then that I too have some GW paints from at least 15 to 20 years old and are still usable, miniature paints don't seem to last to long and colour party paints appear to dry out in the potts, but I havnt had any of there paints for a good few years now ! Hope that helps

I know people who've had similar experiences to the OFM's stated one- in one case, it seemed limited to only the metallics and reds in a friend's paints, in the other handful of cases, it seemed to either be all of their Vallejo paints, or in the case of a friend who left hers in her unheated (while she was gone) ground floor apartment in the middle of a NorthEast Ohio winter, while she was in Puerto Rico tending to a family emergency, and came back 2 1/2 months later to find roughly half of her paints separated, and even with excessive shaking, were still grainy, as well as drying chalky and unevenly (in addition to the noticeable granular texture).

Personally, I've had Citadel, Partha, Vallejo, and assorted craft paints go craptacular on me when my paints were in unheated storage for 3 1/2 years.

My Reaper Master Series paints, on the other hand, are fine, even flawless, with the sole exception of a bottle of Brick Red that had turned a dark purple-ish color, when I finally got my paints out of (at the time, cold) storage.

I ordered a replacement triad from the WarStore, it arrived 2 days later, I went to my paint organizer to stick the new Triad in there- and the purpled Brick Red was back to the shade it was supposed to be, presumably due to warming up. Replaced it anyway- not sure how much I trust a paint that has color-compromised once, to not go screwy in the application stage or what have you, but I did keep the old, as well, and to this day, it still looks "right."

Go figure.

- Monk

I have some Foundry that are ten years young. They work.

They should be fine, UNLESS

It's the last bottle, it's late a nite, and you have a last bunch of figures which are vital to a project which must be painted in the same shade.

MURPHY RULES ALL!

I opened a bottle of 7 yr. old GW the other day, and it's fine.

That is stone truth! It waits, it does, until you needs it…

Ten years, Cbtpainter? They are mere children compared to some of my paints! ;-)

It totally depends on the jar of paint. I have Poly-S paints that I still use that are older than my son (born in 1983). A lot of my Armory paints have coagulated -- don't recall when they went under -- but some are still useable.

I have paints that are 15+ years old. GW, Ral Partha, Polly S., Citadel, and testors…

Many have died of all brands, surprisingly the Citadel and GW ones I have about 80% of the time been able to revive.

I just started getting into the habit of putting two steel bbs in each Vallejo pot and a small marble in every GW pot and going through my paints every 6 months or so to add water as needed. This seems to keep them going strong. I also have a habit of thinning my paints in the pot.

With water-based paints I've found they last for years. If they dry out, I just add water and shake. No problem.

It all depends on how good a seal you have on the bottle.
Even brand new paint will sometimes not have a good seal.

I would also suspect the bottle itself. Carbonation bleeds through PET plastic bottles so your soda goes flat after 3 months or so.

I wonder if water would evaporate through some kinds of plastics but not others? Anyone have some input on that?

More of a problem with old GW and similar plastic bottles is that the plastic lids become brittle over time, making them hard to open & close.

Keep them cool (but above freezing) and they will keep till you forget you have them.

Freezing is the biggest problem for paints in long term storage. Excessive heat can be problematic, though not nearly as much as the cold is. I have several sleeves of Partha paints that are still sealed (bought them back in the early 1990s at a going out of business sale) that I open up when a color goes dry. Those are around 20 years old now and have not shown any signs of deterioration.

However, I have had brand new paints that were on the back of an unheated UPS truck for a bit too long in the middle of winter that were craptacular when I opened the box.

I've had cheap hobby store paints last for years even after they were opened (don't count on it though). As wrgmr1 says though, a bad seal could happen to any paint.

> and they will keep till you forget you have them.

BUt I forget about them after 2 weeks…

Still have some of the original 80s GW paints that are as bad today as they were then – this being the main reason they are still around in the paint drawers…..I think I still have one or 2 old TSR Dungeons & Dragons paints from the early 80s / late 70s?? though not sure how viable they are any longer.