Over the last couple of weeks I've been experimenting with making my own washes.
I've used washes since day one with miniatures painting. First it was Citadel Colour inks. Of course, my favorite was chestnut ink. And then Games Workshop came out with the old Citadel Washes. Agrax Earthshade never really replaced Devlan Mud was the best, and never quite equalled by Agrax Earthshade.
Lately, I tried out Army Painter's washes since that is what David Imrie of Saxon Dog and Claymore Castings uses, and he is basically the best painter out there for my 2¢. I like the Army Painter washes better than the current Citadel line, but the colors are a little too strong to my eyes (almost like a stain), and I wanted to mix up some of my own washes; in particular, an armor wash (brown and black with a little blue) and a Payne's Grey wash.
First I had a go using Les' Magic Wash, since I have heard good things. I was not a fan of the end product, and ended up throwing out the lot of Daler-Rowney inks bought for the venture. Other people love those washes, so maybe it's just me.
So then I decided to make my own proprietary blends using the Army Painter washes. These are diluted a little bit (usually 25-35% water) and have a little matte medium mixed in to avoid shine. Preliminary tests last night confirm these will work great. I will have to do some proper test subjects to photograph, but here are swatches and recipes from my painting log:
