Painting Crystals--How the *@# to do it?

[keithvaughn]

Hi All,

I'm asking for a little expertise on painting crystals like the ones featured in the products section. It's obvious that clear crystals can't be painted (or economically cast.) The trick is I need to have some of those crystals painted for some photographs of a layout and I"d love to have the intense colors that are featured here. Is it possible to do it without inks (fading problems), and do I need to use a pearlizing paint to intensify the shine?

Bluntly, I'm asking for technique.

Thanks in Advance,
Keith

[ArmorcastMatt]

That's all Shaun Lux. My only advice is to try to work from photo reference in order to mimic the way the light falls on real crystals.

[Ginfritter]

I would base coat the crystals in white primer. white will give the most brilliant colors. Shawn used artist acrylics to paint the models. Use very saturated colors for most crystals. The center areas of each facet should be the deepest in color with highlights going to the edes. use thin white lines and small white dots on the edges for hotspots in the reflections. Use a clear gloss to finish the model.

Ginfritter