trials: liquitex matte medium
So I'm sure most have heard by now that Andreja is substituting liquitex matte medium and matte varnish for mr super clear due to health concerns. For the longest MSC has been the be-all end all seemingly and people rarely use other types of sealants and if they do, they get inconsistent or downright mediocre results.
I've previously tried:
Mr Super Clear (aerosol, toxic)
Testors Dull Coat (aerosol, toxic)
Mr Top Coat (aerosol, toxic)
Createx matte top coat (airbrush, not sure of toxicity)
I experimented heavily with sealant when I had an airbrush tanned kill-u sp. (old DA link, I'm not active there anymore) He is no longer tanned, mostly because the body he had was a nightmare to pose and that was even BEFORE it was completely airbrushed, multiple times.
Every layer of MSC made him a shade lighter. Testors made him darker, yellower and it wasn't completely matte. He looked like an oily teenager. Createx matte top coat was just horrid to work with, didn't seal anything, didn't make it matte and looked like thinned white paint splatters.
I tried Mr Top Coat later on with something else, not an airbrush tanned doll. Its pretty much what you would expect with the name, its Mr Super Clear without the "tooth".
Price wise it goes in order of least to most useful, as does availability. The createx matte top coat can be found anywhere airbrush paints are sold, I can find testors/mr top coat in my local hobby stores (Detroit-area) and I have to get MSC online only. Testors Dullcoate says its about 3~4 dollars according to a quick google search but I remember paying more for it?
Liquitex matte medium and matte varnish are about 8oz each and both cost around 8~9 dollars for that size. I did find smaller sizes of the varnish but I got both in the same size.
Matte Medium is what you are going to use for the bulk of the project. The bottle says to thin it down with up to 25% water. You are going to want to ignore that and thin it down to the consistency of non-fat milk. 25% water will clog the airbrush repeatedly, you will have to work more quickly as this stuff dries quickly and it will be a pain to clean your airbrush.
My first attempt, a week ago, I did the exact ratio as listed on the bottle (3:1 medium to water). I used regular bottled water & an eyedropper. Going from using the matte medium to an actual color, it is necessary to run some airbrush cleaner through, take off the nozzle, and wipe the needle. This stuff dries very quickly. It was to the point that I wouldn't have even known something was actually coming out of the airbrush if the head wasn't getting less shiny. The heads did not look glossy at all, so it was drying on contact. When I switched colors to do the base blushing for the face it splattered, which could've been because of the tear I found in my nozzle (had to replace it) or the fact the paint was drying inside so quickly, regardless of the fact I cleaned the head off with only dish detergent, water and a sponge. It took less than 2 minutes. There was 3 coats of matte medium and just a little bit of acrylic paint "blushing".
My second attempt was a few hours ago. Excuse the photos, they are quick iphone photos for documentation purpose only!
Sleeping Marion is bare and clean. Sleeping Latea is sealed with 1 coat of liquitex matte medium as is L-bi.
Both SMarion and SLatea have 3 coats of LMM, SMarion has one base later of blushing. A 3:2 mix of Createx Airbrush Colors Sand and Peach. My paints are years old so I also water them down to the same non-fat milk consistency of the sealant. Brand new paints will probably be fine right out of the container. It takes the color well.
Two coats of blushing for L-bi and SMarion on top of the 3 light coats of LMM like SLatea has.
This is where it got interesting. The air compressor I'm currently using is older than I am and non-adjustable (So I have minimal control of the pressure of the air). The other compressor I have access to is earth-shatteringly loud and I refuse to use it. Also my airbrush is not a detail-orientated model! Not to mention I haven't touched any of these tools for almost 2 years. Naturally, as it is bound to happen I make a mistake and get too close when trying to blush the lids on L-bi and a bit of paint pooled. I made the airbrush blow air-only on the pooled paint to dry it quicker then took a dry piece of mr clean magic eraser and the mistake came right off, with about a minute of effort. Just as you'd erase a stray mark off of paper. Then while fixing another area of inconsistent blushing my nail grazed the blushing and took a chunk of the sealant down to the resin off. To some people this might be a major red flag. To me, it was no big deal as I can airbrush the part that is grazed and it filled it in seamlessly. (Might have been more difficult if said area had blushing but it did not) I have yet to finish a head and test the matte varnish so this isn't going to make me call off my experiment, or say it isn't worth using but to someone sending a head off to another using this method these next experiments I do will be of great importance.
With SLatea's head, I covered it quickly. with the same colors i used to blush the other two. I also put two more layers of LMM on it after the fact. The last layer was heavy, so heavy that the head was indeed visibly damp and had liquid pooled on one of the eyelids.
Despite the overkill of LMM I sprayed on this eyewell it didn't dry as apparent as I thought. I probably could've gotten rid of that cloudyness with a dry magic eraser but didn't think to try it. It seems that it would take heavier coats well, granted your airbrush is 8~10 inches from the head.
With blushing and eyeshadow that mistake would've been easily covered even with a slight removal attempt.
Then I purposedly scratched the paint 4 times. My nails are pretty long right now, although this was relatively low pressure. Again, I haven't tried using the varnish to seal anything yet so I don't know how easily removed THAT is yet.
A couple of quick swipes with a wet magic eraser. No elbow work needed.
The head was 90% clean in the time it took me to watch a youtube video while gently wiping the head at the same time. The ears/nose/mouth area will need something smaller to get into and there is about 3~4% of the initial coat of LMM still on the head. Another two minutes and I'm sure it would be completely clean. The most painless sealant to remove!
Other notes so far: running water over the head with LMM on it will not make the faceup run or remove it, you do have to agitate it in some way to remove it. It is water resilient.
So current cons:
Not everyone has access or knows how to use an airbrush.
You WILL have to know how to use an airbrush to get nice, even coats.
Initial investment is at least an airbrush, compressor, liquitex matte medium and varnish.
LMM alone is not durable.
current pros:
Best value per ounce, even if you buy both LMM and LMV. I've literally only used a few drops of LMM.
Very forgiving. You can even partially seal a portion and it will blend seamlessly.
Easy to fix little mistakes.
Easier to find stateside.
NON-TOXIC!!
You can use any airbrush/compressor (I don't recommend canned air AT ALL as it will not provide consistent results for anything). It does not have to be an expensive or detail oriented model (normally targeted to nail artists in descriptions).
My sister will be continuing the faceups from this point, but I will still be sealing them. She will be using pastels and gouache, and tamiya gloss for the lips. Of course I'll report any further findings.