"Newbie Question - What is a Glaze, and how / when to use it?" Topic

I have been painting up some pretty decent Warhammer 30mmish figs of late, but have never used a Glaze. I even have some! I have Vallejo White and Black Glazes. But, when to use them? How to use them?

Thanks for the help!

~mArK

Glazes are like inks, only they don't settle in the crevices quite as much as they go on like paint. The glaze should be translucent allowing the undercoat/color to show through. I haven't tried Vallejo's glazes - let me know how they work.

Although I've been painting for years, I've never used a glaze. If they're not meant to go in crevices like inks and are translucent, then what are they for?

Let's say you've got a fig with goggles. You can see the eyes underneath the goggles - paint the eyes and flesh as you normally would, and then put the glaze over.

Another option is to use them on "crystal" balls. Paint the scene (or swirls of magic) on the ball, and then hit it with a glaze, giving the image depth.

They're also very appropriate for, oddly enough, glazed armour. Say you're doing a fantasy figure which is inspired by the Samurai. Colourful armour plates washed with a glaze will give you the right sort of look (in real life, the Samurai weren't very colourful - but fantasy allows you some leeway!).

I've recently picked up some of Tamiya's clear acrylics (red, blue, yellow, and their black 'smoke' colour) and plan to try glazing a large dragon miniature I've got...I figure I'll start with black, white, greys and maybe metallic colours to do a sort of shimmery monotone look, then add colour with the glazes. Hopefully achieving a very rich colour effect...

Years ago I bought a pot of 'Pthalo blue' (sp?) which looked to be a perfectly sensible dark blue. I assumed that this pthalo thing was a fantasy monster, and I'd been painting my British colonials with Polly S 'Bugbear Fur' to great effect. But no. 'Pthalo blue' is a translucent blue which might have some value painting crystal balls or shimmery elven cloaks. For the coats of French infantry, not so good.

MJS, it shouldn't be translucent...? IIRC it's one of those fancy names for paint colours that have been around for years and become 'standardised', like for instance Payne's Grey - the Pthalo simply implies some repeatable shade of blue, and any bottle jar or tube of the stuff should be identical (even between different manufacturers) as there is in effect a 'recipe' for the stuff that has been around for at least a century. But this means it should be a solid colour. Of course, you may have picked a bad batch (or bad brand??).

Oh no! Anyway, it never reached any sort of solidity, and I assume the pot was thrown out in onbe of my occasional purges of dry, empty or otherwise undesirable paints -

I'm not sure if it's the name of the paint, but I had the same problem with Polly S's Ptalo Blue as well. I bought it, thinking to use it for French infantry, but is was thin. I didn't know about transluscents and glazes at the time, so Jack might be right - I didn't keep it, either.

(But I can also recommend the Tamiya transparents.)

A glaze is what comes over my eyes when I hear what's this months "in" painting style

That explain a lot. Now I'm overcome with a desire to do 'wet t-shirt' effects!

Thanks for the tips! I will try to use these Vallejo Glazes. I am really unsure about them though - they seem verrry grainy.

Now about those Transparent paints you mentioned - I have several from Vallejo, and they are truly powerful pigments. Grrrrreat for doing horses and any wooden items. Try Woodgrain, Natural Wood, Transparent Red - in various combinations and concentrations. Very nice effects. Try dry-brushing with it! Try washes! Try scrubbing around with an old brush such that you create some 'foam' and bubbles, then let that dry! Whoa... Very interesting effects to be had...

~mArK