HELP! Save my frosted mini wheats!

[jcshep19 129]

Hey guys,

 

First foray in real miniatures painting

so i had just finished priming, painting and varnishing my first 3 uniques, let them dry, and came back this morning to finish them with some "krylon matte finish" to take the high gloss edge off and be complete. Sprayed them down all at once, 8-10in away, about a 3 second burst front and back, maybe half sec each side. They are now very "ghosted, hazed, frosted, etc". Is this reversible? I saw on YouTube that krylon crystal clear gloss finish can be pretty successful in reversing this back to normal, wanted anyone else's take or suggestions. Thanks in advance!  

[Xargonaut 165]

Oh, I'm afraid this is not reversible, but I never really searched for a solution for this, I just repainted the mini (or parts of it) the few times this happened to me.

By trials and errors and by searching the net I found out what causes this problem though:

1. The 3-second burst! That's way too long! You should spray by little touches for a fraction of a second with matt varnish, and don't go over the same area twice. You can then apply a second coat in a similar fashion once it's dry (somewhere around 30 minutes after the first coat). I'm 95% sure that's your problem.

2. Also, if you're varnishing multiple minis at a time, if you don't give a little shake to the spray can between each mini, by the time you reach the 6th or 7th miniature (based on my own experience) you will start to get a frosty effect too.

3. Finally, NEVER spray varnish under very humid weather, as this will also create a frosty effect that ruins your work. Over 60% humidity is problematic, between 40% and 50% is ideal apparently.

Hope this will help you avoid this issue in the future.

Cheers.

[Jormi_Boced 3]

Respraying in better conditions can fix it.

[jcshep19 129]

Respray with the same matte finish or try with a gloss to cancel it out/pull the colors back out?

 

[Polda 4,281]

Take a Q-tip, gently rub it with some olive oil, then (again, gently, don't rub the paint off) wash it with some dish soap and warm water. Let them dry and respray later.

Shake the can well, don't spray from too far. Avoid humid weather and use short bursts as already stated by @Xargonaut - you kind of want to dust the varnish over the minis in several layers. 

[Darthain 1,747]

Sometimes gloss varnish over matte can fix clouding. Then you re-matte

[docForsaken 92]

I have had some luck just respraying in better conditions.  Always make sure to shake those cans for like 3-5 mins - no joke.  Just a quick shake and spray never leads to good results.