Painting Miniatures with Minwax Wood Stain?

[Vydar]

I'm new to painting miniatures and back on MKRealms (now CMGRealms) there were some threads by jgklaw about using a dipping method that involved Minwax Wood Stain to automatically create shading and highlighting on a figure. (I can try to find the links again if anyone is interested.) It seemed like a great short cut for someone like me who has a hard enough time painting within the lines, let alone doing detailed color variation on a figure.

I was wondering if anyone else had done this method and what they thought of it. Also, does it matter which type of wood stain you use? jgklaw was recommending Minwax Polyshades, which has polyurethane in it ( http://www.minwax.com/products/onestep/polyshades.cfm ). Is that necessary or can I use other Minwax woods stains without polyurethane? Minwax produces a gel, oil-based stain ( http://www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/woodfinish.cfm ) and a water based wood stain ( http://www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/waterbased.cfm ). Would either of these work?

Also, what shade wood stain should I be using? Is the darker the better? jgklaw was using Tudor ( http://www.minwax.com/products/onestep/polyshades-color.cfm ), but my local home depot doesn't seem to carry anything that dark. The nearest they have is Old Maple.

Thanks!

[CupidsArt]

I've used the dip/shake/blow method but never stain. I imagine it would work fine but I wouldn't go too dark.

With acrylic paint a black works great but with a stain it may influence your colors easier due to it's acidic makeup. I would go with something around a "Walnut" color. I think you could still get a deep rich shade and not have to worry about it darkening your colors any more than needed.

Also if you have any white or metallic (silver/gold) on the mini I would go back after you've washed/dipped/blown the mini and retouch some of it. The same would go for any parts that you want to appear bright and glowy, :)

[justjohn]

Hey Vydar.

I have never personally used this method, but from what I understand, it is essentially a very quick "wash." Basically, what happens is all that dark stain will stay in the deep pits and crevices of the figure, as well as adding a little shade to the figure itself.

As for shades/tones, go for a deep, dark, rich brown, and stay away from red-tones. That's just my opinion.

From personal experiences using washes, I would have to say the oil-gel would be a very bad idea, since it probably won't run very well, if at all.

I would think the miniwax poly would be your best choice, but that is without me really knowing much about this method. I just put normal washes on my figures.

[Vydar]

Thanks for the responses. Anyone else tried this method? It seems to do a pretty amazing job. Here are some links:

Here are the hounds he painted and then dipped:
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112544
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112558
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112570
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112586
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112593

Here are some MK minis he did:
One without touching up at all:
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112597
One with touching up the paint job:
http://www.cmgrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112605

[HokshilaTo]

Back on HQ someone posted this "magic wash"

http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic/guestarticles/magicwash.htm

[JerBear]

It's been a long time since I did much mini-painting, but I was always too lazy to use multiple paint/wash steps. So I would use a black primer and dry brush the figures. It gave a similar effect as those honds in the fur areas, but wasn't very good at fabrics/ muscle tone. So, I ended to get a lot of figures that with lots of chain or plate or lots of fur.

Like I said, I'm lazy.

Edited to add that I liek the look of the dipped/stained figures shown. I don't know if I came across as liking it with the earlier statement.

[yagyuninja]

Those are pretty amazing Vydar, especially the troll berserker. I want to hear how it all works out for you...and I might just try some of that myself. :)