Light Weathering - Enamel Paint Wash Technique

[richmbailey]

Using enamel paint wash techniques I did simple light weathering on my Kit Fisto hilt. I didn't want it to be heavy but just dirty up the grooves some. Turned out great.

Flat Black Enamel Paint
Flat Brown Enamel Paint
Thin synthetic hair brushes
Q-Tips (you will need allot of these)
Rags or Papertowels
Bowl or Tray

1. Mix Flat Black/Flat Brown with paint thinner in a small bowl or tray. About 70/30 Thinner to Paint ratio. Should be a nice watery consistency.
2. With the thin brush, dip into mixture and apply to the grooves of the the areas around buttons, covertec, pommel and any other spots that your hands cannot touch.
3. Let dry for about 20 minutes. Poor clean paint thinner into a tray.
4. Using Q-tips dip in thinner, roll excess off on rag or paper towel. Then rub the excess wash off the main parts, taking care to leave the darkened mixture in the grooved parts (in step 2).
5. You can repeat this process with more colors like red/brown/gray to create more layers of weathering if you want it to look heavily worn.

I only did two passes with the black/brown mixture for very light weathering. Hope this helps some that do not want to use a dremel, olive oil, or acid to create the weathered look. This one is easy and can be easily removed later if desired.

Some samples below:

[Starwinder]

Thanks for the walkthrough; it looks great!

[richmbailey]

Thanks for the walkthrough; it looks great!

Thanks!

[San Tala]

Does this come off on your hands at all?

[richmbailey]

Enamel is really sturdy paint and I have not had "rub off" what-so-ever. It actually will look better if it does rub off on the exposed areas as dirt and grim should be in the cracks and grooves of the hilt. So even if after hundreds of spins and use, I think it will make it even more realistic.

[richmbailey]

Did some more clean up on my recently converted HFX OWK hilt. It was looking a bit over-weathered for my taste so I used some paint thinner with a small rag and did some clean up. Now it just looks a grimy and used. Before it looked like it was buried under trash for several years. New pics below: