PVA sealing ratio

ManicMan

ManicMan

Lord
trying out some PVA sealing for some of my gaming tiles with the grass and stuff so it's nice and strong. Testing it on some rough first of course.. Got some cheap white PVA which should dry clear, pretty much all of it does, and did a water mix with a spray bottle.. BUT.. I'm not 100% sure on the ratio.. The little bit I did is probably between 50-50 and 25-50 with the main part being water.. but I'm not quite sure on what the mixture should be or how it should 'feel' when spraying... I'm waiting for this bit to dry so I can see how well it turned out but it it was... mm.. milk? the spray wasn't quite as atomised as I would have though, even though I can see it might be okay like that, and needed to spray it a fair bit afterwards because of, like I said, the kinda milk like spread..

Just kinda looking for second opinion or more 'experienced advice'... even though I'm also trying some tests myself
 
I go for a milky like look, but I always add a good dose of washing up liquid in the mix.

Maybe my mix is:

10% washing up
50% water
40% PVA

At a guess?

ISH?
 
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test sample... not bad.. turns soft grass into hard.. which expected, but maybe a bit too harder then expected and there are a couple of patches where it's a clear-ish drip/lump of glue.. so maybe a bit more water.. how does the washing up liquid effect the mixture? basically a flow improver?
 
It'll be there to break the surface tension and let it flow rather than bead - if you've got some artist/paint flow improver that will do the same (with less froth I imagine). Isopropanol sprayed down does a similar job, but you do have to be a little careful depending on what dyes or paint you have that you don't make a mess and have the iso do what it does best and be a damn fine solvent!
 
been meaning to get some flor improver for my airbrush as the primer I got (vallejo) is pretty 'wet' so works well, but I got a pack of airbrush paints (also vallejo) which aren't as wet so don't spray as well and tend to block the nozzle a bit quicker.. but I was wondering about just a touch of water or something.

I think a bottle of Fairy is still way cheaper then some flow improver though.. (hell, could probebly find Sqezy for cheaper).

I'll try adding some to the mixture and try another test tomorrow or something like that.
 
Dishwasher rinse aid is a good cheap option and has less extras thrown in since it's out of sight in the dishwasher so doesn't need to worry about being fairy-soft, etc ;)

For the airbrush I often pop a drop of Vallejo Flow Aid in with my airbrush paints to just thin them a little. A 200ml bottle lasts forever.
 
don't have a dishwasher ^_^ though I can kinda... I know where I can borrow some.. if I take a small bottle. The dishwasher isn't in high use and it's semi-industrial so big bottles. no harm to just taking a bit.. just need to check if it's the clear stuff or the blue stuff.. but that won't be till thursday so might try a bit of washing up liquid first
 
People use it in the dishwasher - what a crazy idea?! :)

To be honest with my PVA sealing I do tend to just water down my PVA, spray the area with ISO and then pipette on some of the PVA. I never found spraying to work that well - nozzles clog no matter what I do (although I've seen people use those pump up pressurised garden type sprayers with more luck) and generally I'm only sealing down foliage as the static grass is pretty well stuck so I can be quite particular about where the PVA goes.
 
how does it spray with the washing up liquid (the pva). Still need to spread it with a brush or something I take it?

yeah.. if you get some paint drying in the nozzles it can be a pain. I did use a bit of paint stripper in the well to help flush it once and that helped i think.. but that was just to unblock it. Still can't quite get .. I guess the air-paint flow right.. sometimes it seams to just be putting out way more air to a point that I'm getting little or no paint out.. Oh and I need to improve how I spray.. too often it looks good and done and then I figure out it was spraying too high and nothing from the underside... some seam to call it zenithal highlighting despite ... well, wasn't that turn created to refer to doing highlighting from a point where the sun is seen to be in it's zenith? ... either way, some call it that, I call it bad uneven coverage.
 
I never had any joy spraying my own mix, it always clogged nozzles.
I did do a 4' x 8' table once by applying with a dropper. Took a while but not long enough to be a nuisance. I would not brush it on for fear of making noticeable marks and or flattening the flock
 
tried a mix with some washing up liquid.. not sure if I got the mix right.. I think I need more water.. spray bottle is kinda more... not given a fine spray like it's too thick.. and boy, that liquid gives a strong smell when spraying ^_^;
 
I found spraying Isopropyl and the applying 50/50 pva/water mix with a dropper bottle worked well. No bleed from in Iso, but do wear a mask. And don't have a cup of tea in the same room! Alcohol poisoning from Iso settling on top of your tea is not fun!
 
don't think I got any iso to hand. Dropper bottle seams very awkward way to spread it ^_^; that said, my spray bottle isn't given a great spray right now.
 
added move water, tested.. I'm not blocking up the nozzles but I'm not sure if maybe I'm kinda putting it on a bit thick.. Think the spray problem was due to it being a more fancy modern spray bottle so instead of 'on and off' it has 3 settings.. spray, stream, off... which doesn't really make too much sense to me but also think it was just a bit too thick..

how does applying it with a dropper go? Spraying is kinda point and click so pretty easy, just trying to get an even coat, but probebly, like I said, too thick. but how does the spread and stuff work with a dropper?
 
I find it to be fine, though I am happy if it is a bit clunky and not super neat/uniform.
I am not after a manicured lawn look so a bit of extra soakage here and there is OK with me.
Just start in a corner and gently squeeze as you go along, then when it runs out, top it up and carry on.
 
Guess it depends on what point you are preparing the bases? I prefer to do with the mini in place, so applying a spray of PVA is going to hit the model, a pipette drop is easier and more precise (cheap and useful tool to have anyway!).
 
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