I’ve used blending gel and floating medium for a while to thin my paints while painting miniatures. However, I’ve always used them separately, mixing on the fly.

I finally decided to pre-mix. Mainly because my base pots (empty pots I keep frequently used colors in) didn’t have room for green.

So I got an empty squeeze bottle and mixed some up. Such is mix is affectionately called Gunk. What are these clear bottles of goo?

Floating medium thins out your paint and lifts it above a dry coat. (Lahmian Medium for you GWers, though this is more of a liquid than floating medium is but as far as I can tell it works about the same). Blending gel is like the ever popular Slo-Dry from Liquitex. It keeps your paints from drying out so fast. Combine this with a wet palette and your paint can last a really long time. Now none of this is required. Many people use water and a some water mixed with dish soap just fine. I find using the these mediums are more predictable.

I’ve seen a few formulas for mixing gunk. I personally don’t think you need a lot of blending gel. You want your paint to dry some time. I’ve been mixing gunk on the fly for a while so this is what works for me. Some folks like to use more floating medium or more blending gel. Also this formula I’m using for diluting my paint as I put it on, not for shading, not for glazes, not for washes, not for anything else. Gunk goes on every blob of paint I’m laying down in quantities. Details, washing, shading, and glazes require different thickness and drying times. Those are still on the fly and may not use all these ingredients. I do admit I use this stuff for wet blending.

When you paint a mini, you want to use thin coats of paint. Very thin, and slowly build up the color. That way you won’t clog details and can control the paint. This formula creates that effect in the paint I use in a way I like. YMMV.

• 50% Floating Medium
• 1% Blending Gel
• 49% Water

Go forth and mix gunk.