Varnish Part I- Glossing and Protecting the Miniature

Part I- Glossing

Hi,

There is always a lot to say about varnishing on the various fora and Blogs out there but what I'd like to do is go through what I prefer once I have finished painting a miniature. for me the next stage- which I call 'Glossing'- is as important as the next which is 'Matting the mini down'.

Before I apply any of the gloss varnish I leave the miniature to stand for 24 hours to make sure that all the acrylic paint had fully dried. This is not only sensible (protects from bleeds) but also allows the acrylic to harden thus helping against chipping a little. 

Next I always give painted the miniature a good clean with a very soft brush. The softer the better. It's amazing how much dust can gather on a mini over night!!

I use Humbrol Enamel Paint, Premium quality Interior and Exterior, Enamel Paint- Gloss. 

This is mixed with white spirit to roughly a 50/50 mix and applied to the miniature very carefully making sure that I leave no air bubbles trapped in the varnish. I do this mainly by feel but a rough 50/50 mix should be about right to start with if you don't already varnish in this way.

The next article to follow on from this one will be PartII- Matting the Miniature Down which will follow tomorrow when the gloss has been given a full 24 hours to fully dry.

Here's what the miniatures look like with the layer of gloss added- they will be matted down as i say so will not remain glossy!!

So, until tomorrow,

Darrell.