Yesterday at the train show my friend picked up a bottle of badly separated paint and
shook it to see it’s true color
The vendor nicely told him he should never shake a bottle of paint but stir it to avoid mixing too much air into the paint and thereby drying out the paint
oooooooooooooooooooook
Thinking of "James Bond " I slinked off to another table to look at locos and wondering why all the paint stores use shakers while my friend and the Vendor continued to review the virtues
I know shaking a bottle of acrylic paint at least does cause air bubbles to form in it, but I’ve never heard anything about that causing the paint to dry out quicker.
A couple thoughts. If and that is if the bubbles are retained in the paint I suppose it could cause some extremely minor “drying” but I would ask him why there isn’t a layer of dried paint on the top then? I would also ask if he has proof the bubbles don’t rise to the top and how does he pour it into an air brush? I would also ask how it is shipped because I am pretty certain it gets tossed all over the place. Another well meaning idiot who doesn’t live in the real world IMHO.
I too was at the train show in Houston but on Saturday. (got some pretty good deals too!) I’ve never heard that one before, but then again, a vendor is liable to tell you anything to make a sale.
The one I heard is that the paint sticks to the lid when shaken, dries and then the particles of dried paint fall back into the paint from the lid and end up clogging the air brush after it is shaken for the second time.
Never the less, I always stir paint because paint is full of pigments that need to be blended throughly throughout the paint. Shaking the paint just doesn’t do the job like stirring it does…chuck
A trick I picked up years ago is to drop 2 or 3 BB’s in the bottle and shake it until the BB’s rattle freely. The BB’s are supposed to help stir it. It seems to work with solvent based paints, I haven’t tried it with water based.
Sounds like a good idea, except I would find very tiny glass beads if possible. They use glass marbles in spray cans like Krylon because steel would rust and alter the paint color.
If you are going to use the paint right away, shaking it does add bubbles. Stirring is suggested by acrylic paint manufacturers. But if you want to see the true color of paint at a show, shaking is the only way to go. Maybe you should have asked the dealer for something to stir it with so you could see the color? Wonder what he would have said then?
If the paint is new and unopened, isn’t there some type of inert gas in the bottle to prevent drying? If it had settled, it surely wasn’t very fresh and I wouldn’t want to use it no matter what color it is.
Apparently, shaking acrylic paint can get tiny bubbles into the paint and if you are going to immediately airbrush this can cause spattering at low psi’s. However, I shake all the time and airbrush right after with no ill effects. So maybe its just an old wives’ tale.
Actually, I use brass BB’s so I don’t have the rust problem - brass doesn’t seem to cause a problem. Again, I have not tried this with water based paints - results might be different. Glass sounds like a good idea, where do you get it? craft stores?
Depends…I just shake,roll and shake my paint some more to get it stirred up…Now I may use a ice cream type stick to stir the paint so the “gook” on the bottom can mix into the paint where it belongs but,I still shake and roll the paint to insure its mixed good.
If you’re “supposed” to stir and not shake acrylics, why does the paint dept at the big box stores and paint stores themselves, put the paints into a massive shaker after adding pigment to the acrylic or latex paint and shake for several minutes?
Probably because house paint isn’t model paint, and it doesn’t matter if it covers up fine details.
This “shaking paint” isn’t a myth, I discovered it when using acrylic paint for small items using a brush. Teeny bubbles would appear in the applied paint, and would eventually break leaving small circles. I later read/heard about the not shaking instructions.
Shaking the paint will aerate it with tiny bubbles, but I would think that this would only be a problem if you’re going to use the paint immediately. Stirring is probably the best way to go when painting.
As for the paint drying out, that is dependant on evaporation, which can’t take place inside a perfectly sealed bottle. The lacquer or water doesn’t have anywhere to go.
As a custom painter and having used acrylic paints since their introduction, the air bubbles are not a problem with airbrushing as the process “atomizes” the paint anyway. The problem turns up with hand brushing, the bubbles get sucked up into the bristles and are deposited on the painted surface along with the paint and can leave little pits in the painted surface as they pop and the paint dries. If you do shake the bottle, just let it sit for a few minutes before using it, to let the bubbles dissapate.
The issue of paint drying in the bottle (in the cap, etc.) is always there and is the reason to always strain or screen your paint before using it (mainly airbrushing). I use the little plastic 1/2oz condiment cups from McDonalds, (or you can buy them at Softco or a catering supply store for $3 for 250) and some used stockings (free from some familly member or girlfriend). This is mainly an issue with acrylic paints, as the pigment once dry can’t redisolve, as opposed to solvent paints, but I screen all paints because even solvent paints can have lumps.
Thanx Bob. I don’t use acrylics. Tried 'em, didn’t like 'em. So until the guvmint tells me I can no longer use solvent based paints, I’ll stay with them.
Just make sure the BB’s aren’t steel. They have a tendancy to corrode. Decorative glass beads such as the ones sold to hold silk flowers in vases work much better and don’t ruin the paint.