You might remember that I had the odd trial and tribulation with the ink washes on my desert township. Having watered down my GW Agrax Earthshade, the airbrush spattered (probably the fault of a cheap airbrush or at least low pressure in the compressed air can), then when I switched to a brush it ran, pooled and did all those things you don’t really want a wash to do. But I persevered and ran a coat of wash over all of the buildings.
Coming back to them after a day or two drying in a nice warm shed, it’s not as bad as I feared. In one or two places, especially where the wash had accumulated, it’s dried to an odd dusty whiteish colour; googling around, I’m not the only person who’s had this problem – it seems that the solution is to make sure the wash is properly mixed (give it a really, really good shake – not just a couple of desultory wafts). But the patchy bits, dark spots where the wash has spattered, even the odd tide mark, all add to the dirty, used effect that I’m looking for. And there are some mysterious unexplained black spots that look suspiciously like mould, but I’m sure it’s not …
I went back over the buildings again with come undiluted wash, this time being more selective and brushing it into the crevices and angles to enhance the shadows (I went over the white deposits and got rid of those). I also used it to darken the bottom of the walls, using a dryer brush to blend it out towards the middle and top of the walls (gravity helps here).
So I have to say I’m much happier now, the effect is pretty much what I’m after. The final stage of painting the walls will be a good drybrushing in the original Deck Tan colour
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