"Yes or No: Are you a Lid Painter?" Topic

I know they tell you not to do it, but I'm an incorrigible painter from the lids of my paint bottles, laid upside down after removal, while the bottle sits open, exposed to the air. Always have been, always will be. That's one reason why I hate dropper bottles and other forms of containers without separate lids. Where do you fall in the spectrum, a lid painter always, sometimes, never?

Almost always a lid painter, if the bottle will allow it.

Yes, guilty.

A lid painter if the bottle is designed like that.

Wow,man! Paint 'em?

Naw, I only smoke 'em.

But if that's your trip. . .

I'm a lid painter but I use the lids of water bottles, ginger ale bottles, etc. which I collect in day to day life. I also use the small plastic bags which mini's come in as ad hoc palettes to augment the lids. When priming or base coating a constant colour right out of the pot and if using Tamiya paints I will use the lids by dipping the brush into the pot, then dipping into the lid to remove some of the extra paint. Then I return to the lid for some refills on the brush until it's time to recharge the lid with another trip to the pot.

When blending colours I use the water bottle lids and the bag-palettes to mix and thin the paint.

Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson.

Never.
It's bad enough wasting paint when you use normal rational painting methods. But this is inexcusable.
Painting from the lids of GW paints is just plain silly. Are you made of money???

I have some GW washes that I draw the wash from the lid when I use them. Other than that, no.

I use the types of paints where you can squirt a few drops out as you need them. This saves on paint and allows you to mix colors better.

Yes

I use a wet palette so I don't need to use the lid that way, but I do paint the top of the lid if the bottle doesn't make the colour clear enough. Makes it much easier to find the correct colour in the paint rack or scattered on the painting desk.
Robert

So, this is not about painting a drop of paint, on the exterior of the lids, so you can see the real color of the paints, eh?

I admit to doing that some, back in the day.

Now though, I just use short sections of drinking straw to use a siphons for the paint, and then apply that to a pallet for use. Dip in as far as needed for the amount desired, remove with your fingertip over the end to keep it in the straw, and then deposit on the pallet.

Works very well, and is free, so you can use multiple straw pieces to avoid contaminating the paints, if it isn't in an eye-dropper bottle.

Yes & I replace the dropper bottles lids with ones I can paint from.

Definite lid painter – sometimes get the whole lot of minis painted from the lid before I need to dip the brush into the bottle if I am just doing small bits.

Of course to keep the paint in the bottle from drying I place a plastic lid from a water bottle upside down on the top of the jar. If there is any paint on the rim of the bottle the plastic doesn't stick when I remove it.

Depending on how long applying the current brush full will take even when getting the paint from the bottle I put the cover on the bottle between dips.

I obviously don't paint from the lids of dropper bottles. But I will paint from the lids of craft paint or my trusty Testors acrylics.

Used to be, but my dropper bottles place a nice drop of paint on my porcelain tile palette, and off we go. Even transferred my old bottles of Polly S into dropper bottles.

BTW, a pot of that expensive GW paint fills about one half of a Reaper or Vallejo dropper bottle.

Not since I ran out of Armory paints.

Nope. I use tube acrylics. No lid.

Yes, when using my P3. The hinges on those lids last d6+3 openings.

Yep, mostly a lid painter except for those acrylics in the squeeze bottles … for them I use wax paper

No.

I suppose I could clarify that I AM referring, as most have figured out, to using the lid of the paint bottle as an ersatz palette rather than dipping the brush into the bottle all the time.

I find I inevitably have paint left over and wasted with dropper bottles. And a lot dries before I can use it. Palette painting doesn't work well for me.

I also use the inner sides of the bottles to wet my brush, especially with craft paints, rather than try to stick a brush all the way down to the paint level and keep the bush handle clean at the same time.

I like goragrad's process very much and intend to imitate it as much as I can now -- covering the open bottle with a plastic cap!

GW paints? I don't have any, so this has not influenced me.

My collection of paints is vast (too vast) and includes many makes that are no longer made/sold, and I keep them alive as long as I can before they go extinct one by one. Some bottles of Armoury and Humbrol I've used for over 30 years, altho' I rarely use Humbrols anymore.

Paints I use that have lids, which I paint from: Armoury, Polly S, Ral Partha, Howard Hues, old-style Reaper, Humbol, Testors, various craft paints.

Paints I use when I must, but no conventional lids: new-style Reaper, Vallejo, some Citadel, and some Formula P3 colors but I hate their bottles most of all because those cheap plastic hinges and tabs beak off long before the bottle is empty and then prying off their tight plastic caps is difficult and potentially very messy (spills, fingers). I am phasing out Formula P3 unless and until they change their bottle design, despite liking some of their colors very much.

Hafen Von S. -- not THAT kind of lid, you silly fellow!

I used to when I used enamel paint.

In a world of dropper bottles, not anymore.

John T

Always Hate dropper bottles ! I now use mainly craft paints, now.

I must confess to my sin of being a rim painter!

So with old Humbrol Airfix etc enamels I mix the paint with sprue, then slop some out onto the rim of the pot, then paint from there. I should probably be drummed out of the Airfix modellers club, if I had ever joined.

Yes, mostly.

I use milk bottle tops.

No.

A definite and unapologizing lid painter!

All paint containers should have a lid to make it easier for me. No wasting time cleaning off pallettes, dishes, sauce containers, etc.

Give me a lid, or give me death!

Yes if I just need a dab to fix a mistake

Guilty as charged

Yep

It depends on the bottle. I'll do it if the lid makes it easy.

When I was young (and stupid), I used the lids of the paint bottles, but for decades now I have been doing the same as Rod Robertson, saving the caps of various milk jugs, pill bottles, etc. for use as disposable palettes. It saves messing around with cleaning palettes, and the price (free!) is hard to beat. Coupled with that, I also use Mako's trick of using sections of plastic drinking straws for transferring paint from the bottle to the caps.

Craft paint, yes.

Nope, never. My data taught me how to paint oils on canvass long before I painted minis, so I keep with the habits he taught me.

Almost always.
Tried wet palette and just didn't like it.

Absolutely a lid painter. Everyone in my circle was when we discovered wargaming.

I do paint the lids of paint jars so I can see what color the paint is when dry. In fact I usually paint stripes of primer: white, gray, black and paint the color over that, to see how opaque the paint is or isn't.

I don't dip paint out of the lids of bottles since 1) I started stirring the paint which does a better job of mixing than shaking; and 2) I switched to artist paints which start thicker and need to be thinned for miniatures use -- I transfer this to palette, then add thinner and any other color for blending and stir.

If the paint pot happens to have paint on the lid, I'll use that, but I don't go out of my way to do it.

I use a palette for mixing.

Yes, you get a bit of waste, but this is paint. Consider how much the toys you are painting cost, compared to the paint.

..always..then use old Blister backs as a palette

Done that a few times. Depends on the paint I'm using.

Yes, constantly. I never mix paint. I never blend colors. That's why I own about 35 different reds. I am still using 30 year old PollyS so I don't think wastage is a factor.

The drop bottle? Bah. A flash in the pan.
A palette? Do I look French?