# Flow aid and retarder, how do I use them?



## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

Those of you that use them what are some tips and tricks for the stuff?

I got a water bottle to mix the flow aid with water in since it seems to be super concentrated stuff. It is a 8 fl oz bottle, what would you suggest in terms of amount of flow aid? Drops? Couple cm in the bottle?

Retarder, do I add it to this mix to? Or do I do like a few drops of my paint, a few drops of the flowaid/water mix, and then a few drops of the retarder?

Tried to google this and it seems like there is forty billion responses, most of them, 'huh whats that stuff?'


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## arumichic (May 14, 2011)

Flow aid or flow improver should be mixed with water, as per the directions on the bottle (mine is a 1:20 flow improver to water ratio) then you add it onto paint, usually on a palette. It helps water down your paint while not separating the pigment of the paint separate too much.

As for the retarder, it helps if you do a lot of blending of paints since it helps to keep it from drying as fast as it normally does.

You can put both in the pots, but I recommend not doing that since too much might get in the pot and make the paint too watery.

Hope this helps!~


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Flow aid breaks the bond between the brush and the paint pigment causing it to flow from the brush onto the model. I find it handing when I am waiting to do blends. I normally mix mine a bit strong (or undiluted at times heh). I normally do not use drying retarder since I do my blends in multiple layers instead of wet blending. Becareful with this stuff, if you mix it to heavy, the paint may not dry.

Wet Pallet > Drying retarder


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

I got one of those sta-wet pallets, I think I set it up wrong to start, gonna redo it and see how it goes

Edit: Also think my flow aid/water bottle might have too much flow aid in it  Did 8 drops in a 8 fl oz bottle.


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## moo (Aug 12, 2008)

I add retarder directly to my paints on a palette when im blending, when i'm adding it i use one or two dabs of it and one or two dabs of water to the paint. Not much is usually needed unless you're do superthin glazing/layering or blending.


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

Would too much retarder make the paint seem to become grainy or is that too much flow aid?


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Grainy? What type of pint are you using? Neither one should make it look grainy, sounds like bad/old paint.


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

Game color, when I say grainy I mean when I load a brush with paint then stick it on the mini each stroke I make pushes the pigment aroound almost like it was a really fine sand in water. Lots of color at the start of the stroke, the edges and the end but where the main 'pressure' of the stroke was, it just looks wet. Wish my camera was worth a shit I would take a pic of what I mean.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Hrm, I think flowaid will do that is there is to much. What does it look like after drying?


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

Looks pretty much like it did wet, color around the edges, none where the stroke was and the color area has a dusty grainy look to it.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Sounds like to much flowaid or you are overloading your brush for the application that you are trying to do. What type brush do you use?


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

It's a 0 round, simply simmons brand, want to say its a synthetic/natural hair mix. El cheapo mccheap ass brush


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