First run with DIY ink wash!

Things have been set in motion which cannot be undone…

Well yes and no because there’s always paint strippers. But I digress

Today I mixed up my very own ink wash for the first time! Or if you are savvy with the GW terminology I made some makeshift agrax earthshade. Or devlan mud if you’re an old head 😉

I used the “Les wash recipe,” named after some guy named Les I presume unless it stands for something like “Lothlorien eyesight serum” because that sounds like fantasy babble enough to fit in with all the GW paints. (Why is there a phrase “technobabble” for sci fi but no established equivalent for fantasy? Let’s get on this people)

See more about the recipe in this video!

Now in the video the host only uses black ink to make a proxy of Citadel’s “nuln oil” wash (Citadel being a subsidiary of Games Workshop, GW being the biggest company in the miniature wargame business).

I want to have more brown in my wash so I started with some dark umber ink from Liquitex. Idk if the brand is significant but I will note that so you know the exact color i used.

I hit this bad boy with an umber wash mixed with a ratio of ~2,5ml wash stock to 3 drops of ink. I tried to avoid excessive pooling of wash but perhaps under did it as a result. This stuff takes a minute to dry so we have to wait to see results.

I also washed another mini I haven’t shown here yet, a Reaper lizardman with a spikey club:

And here is after the umber wash:

At this point I’m thinking trust the process because when wet this stuff does not look right. If this recipe is a bust at least we have some nifty ingredients to use for other stuff.

So after these two I figured why not experiment with a darker color since the wet umber wash looks pretty light color wise.

I added a drop of black which worked powerfully. Insta turned my wash to near black and made me fear it wouldn’t come out brown at all.

Here’s a ranger I put the darkened wash on, time will tell if I use this recipe again (I hope I do since I made a sizable amount lol 😬):

Look at me taking vertical pictures like an amateur. For shame.

#hobbystreak