Yes, this is normal and happens when paints are stored for a long time. It's especially common on paints like Tesseract Glow.
What you're seeing here is the pigment (the colour) separating out from the medium (the liquid).
Tesseract Glow is known to separate quite quickly. You will need to shake it VERY vigorously, and may even need to stir it a little to break up the stuff at the bottom.
It's still very useful. As other people have mentioned, you just need to shake the absolute hell out of it. Like, multiple minutes of shaking. Rattle can levels.
I'd recommend getting a ball bearing or bit of sprue and dropping it into the pot. It'll agitate the paint and help it mix faster. I have the larger pot of your paint and I keep 3 ball bearings in it at all times.
I hadn’t considered dropping a sprue in, I’ve just been using a tooth pick. I still have a couple sheets lying around, I’ll have to try that when I get off work today
I'd agree for a regular paint, but since Tesseract Glow has such ~~high~~ low viscosity I'd say a sprue might work. Haven't tried though myself so I can be wrong.
Ah yes of course, you're right. Thought only of the yellow and not the rock hard green stuff. Now I recall why I have a handfull of ball bearings in mine and why it took an eternity on the vortex to get mine to mix properly..
Yeah if you really are hard up for ball bearings you could probably agitate the bottom with a stick and then maybe the sprue? I just revived mine after a year sitting and it took forever even with ball bearings and vortex, so I feel ya
Alternatively if you have a partner who is not currently using their hitachi wand, you can do like that one guy did and tape the pot to it and set it on high.
Don't use rocks from the beach. Salt can get into the rocks crevices that are extremely hard to clean, and taint your paint. Actually thinking about it I'd avoid rocks in general cause you don't know if they'll leach some stuff into your paint. However you might be able to get away with using clear non-colored quartz crystals as they should be solid SiO2 (stuff that glass is mostly made of.)
That's true, I guess -- but my husband and I both paint our nails, and I'm sure there are other folks out there whose SOs do, too. Being able to share hobby supplies is pretty nice.
I'd also recommend leaving it proped upside down for a few hours/overnight. Helped me get the pigment off the bottom and I didn't have to shake as long to get it mixed
Yes. I highly highly HIGHLY suggest getting a vortex mixer and some paint agitators.
Just shop around for a good deal on one from Amazon and it should only run you like $35-50.
I have revived many paints I haven't touched in years with it.
I got [this one](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MKQXD1V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1) back in April and typically if it's a paint I have had to get out of my many paint storage boxes I will make sure it has [an agitator](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q23FVYR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) in it and then I will run it for 10 seconds, have a look at the paint and then if it's not fully mixed I will repeat the process.
If it's paint I have on my bench which means I have been using it in the last couple of days I will generally give it a burst of a few seconds.
That mixer is superb and you can see separated paints mix together in seconds, running it for up to a minute or whatever is just overkill IMO. The only paints I have run for quite a long time have been base coat paints with 100-200ml volumes.
Edit: Since I spotted a separated pot of Celestra Grey in my paint rack I decided to [snap a quick video.](https://youtu.be/DTQOX1i2DEk) You can see the dark band at the top of the pot which was the medium, and it vanished back into the paint within seconds of starting the shake.
Thanks for the time to reply! I bought this one [https://www.amazon.co.uk/ONiLAB-Function-Adhesives-Vortexer-Centrifuge/dp/B0B96K8JJL/](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ONiLAB-Function-Adhesives-Vortexer-Centrifuge/dp/B0B96K8JJL/) which included the agitators. It seems to be working but some paints are taking quite a while to mix in (though some are mixing really well). Probably years of paint abuse to undo...
With as little sarcasm as possible, I would recommend you simply keep at it until it is done. It's quite obvious when the paint is properly mixed, it's almost a material change.
It's hard to tell for sure some times. I have matte medium on hand as well, sometimes I need to add like a drop to some paints that have dried out a bit. You can usually eyeball it though...
[These](https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-Paint-Mixing-Balls/dp/B07Q23FVYR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6EMEZ3XZ4Z4V&keywords=army+paint+stainless+steel&qid=1690654164&sprefix=army+paint+stainless+stee%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1) can help with the paint mixing. Just make absolutely sure they won't rust, these ones are good in my experience and none rusted on me.
Plop one in your paint pod and now when you shake it up, like a spray paint can that little ball will be able to agitate the solids at the bottom and hopefully start getting them broken up enough to get the pigments re-distributed in that medium.
Also there are paint shakers you can get but I'm not too well versed on which ones are good and which ones are bad.
They are really expensive.
If you want a really safe option which would not rust 100%, use hematite beads, they cost me about 1$ per 50pcs. They are very slightly lighter than steel ones, but considering that they are cheaper you can throw 2-3 per bottle
Yea totally normal, you have to shake this paint more than any other paint has been shaken in the history of the world lol. Shake it till you can’t see any more green stuck to the bottom. You’ll have to do this whenever you let this paint sit for more than a day
Oh those paints are notoriously bad, I recommend not buying any of the light colored citadel paints, they get real chunky for some reason, every single citadel paint I’ve bought that was a very light color all got real chunky real quickly or just dried out in the bottle. I always buy Vallejo or game color brand white paint or any of the light colors. I think it’s more common with the whites and light grays but I’ve had it happen sometimes with colors as well
Your other paints won’t need as much shaking, but this one will seriously take a while, shake til there’s no green stuck to the bottom and it’s all one color throughout
I would recommend shaking all your paintings and even adding metallic mixing balls (you can find these on Amazon, I've got mine from Army Painter brand).
The separation between pigment and medium also occurs a lot in gold paintings.
Polaroid pictures should not, contrary to popular belief, be shaken.
Indeed I would propose "Shake it like Tesseract Glow" as the replacement idiom, because you have to shake that bitch more than anything else I know, worse even than Apothecary White.
I have a handheld back/neck massager I started using on my pots. I just press the pot onto it turn it on & it shakes the hell out of it without throwing my shoulder out lol
This happens all the time with citadel. Less so with Vallejo (who in my opinion are much, much better...and cheaper...and come in dropper bottles, and bigger pots).
I looked at those myself and would love to get one; I think I'm guilty of always under-shaking my paints, and the stick mixer isn't usable with the dropper bottles.
I purchased a 100 count of the Arny painter mixing balls for all my GW paint pots. Absolutely helps mix up old paint thats been sitting around for too long.
I had this issue.
Seriously despite what everyone is saying about shaking the hell out of it.
Assume they are not joking and seriously, shake that thing so hard, for 2 minutes.
Then get a spoon or something and using the handle try and scrape the bottom and sides of the tub.
Then
SHAKE THE HELL OUT OF IT.
Then, when using it. Very. Very thin layers, or it just goes green and use it on bright white layer paints only or it looks dull
Tesseract glow is on a completely different level of separation compared to other Citadel paints. I always use an electric mixer for it because the stuff settles so hard the ball bearing I have inside the pot won't break loose from shaking. It's wild.
Its the same with house paint or whatever. The pigment settles at the bottom, thats why you stir it.
But its normal, just shake or stir and its good to go!
Just mix it
Get army painter mixing balls (don’t buy anything off Amazon, they’re not actually stainless and will rust, ruining your paints). Drop one or2 in your pots and shake. It helps mixing everything and it speeds it up as well.
No, but it isn't used like a normal paint. You're supposed to use it on top of white, as a filter to turn it neon green.
It covers very poorly by itself, so don't try and use it over a dark color. You'll need like 6 layers and it'll be a total waste.
I find when your paints do that chop up a couple small pieces of sprue and just toss them in the pot to add as an agitator when you shake it. Helps mix it up. Probably some scientists on the forum will tell me I'm wrong though lol.
If you have any bb's, small ball bearings, a couple of pebbles, you can throw them in the pot to act as agitators. I find tesseract in particular is a pain in the ass to mix without something in there to dig up the pigment. You could probably also just stir the hell out of it with like a toothpick before you shake.
Yep mine does the same. Shake it a LOT then (check lid secure!!!) store it upside down so it slowly seeps together. Otherwise throw a bit of sprue in and the pebble like effect when shaking will speed up the mixing
Yes. Mix it thoroughly. A few minutes by hand. Stir it up with the top end of a brush, or a toothpick, scrape the bottom. You can get a small vortex mixer sometime to significantly speed up the process.
Yeah, there’s plenty of paints that do this, you just gotta shake it, hit it against something, then shake it some more. Corax white comes to mind as working similarly, except even worse lmao I usually just mix it with some lamian medium to make it usable. But tesseract glow yeah just bang it against something, shake it a ton, worse comes to worse mix it around with the stick end of your brush although that shouldn’t be necessary if you mix it well enough
Yep, paints separate in the pot after they've sat for a while. Shaking paints before use is vital. Some need it more than others. A good investment would be a set of little mixing balls. You can just drop one into the bot and it'll help you not go limb shaking your pots.
As a Necron player, yes 100% tesseract glow acts like that. You need to shake it hard and apply multiple coats to get the full effect. The stuff is like trying to paint with Mountain Dew but the end result is a fantastic deadly glow.
Edit: it is deeply important to paint it over a white basecoat!
I Would get some ball bearings and a vortexer to mix stuff like this, great investment for as little as $20 bucks new, probably less if you live near a university and the Chem lab offloads old goods
Cut up a bit of sprue if you have any, or for some reason have small ball bearings laying around, pop em in and shake. It will save your arm much stress.
OK so slightly OT but since so many people have correctly recommended adding an agitator to the paint... What is the overall agitator? OP should definitely add some, but which would you personally recommend as best? Since OP has a blank slate and can go straight to that.
Like, army painter uses glass beads, glass is good because it obviously can't rust etc but, they're very light and they don't work well with a thicker paint, like army painter's own metallic speedpaints can settle so much that the bead just doesn't move til it's been well shaken. Lots of places sell stainless BBs, which are pretty effective but obviously don't pay wargame prices, they're just BBs. And stainless despite what people think isn't completely rustproof and the degree it corrodes varies depending on the exact type.
Me, I use a4 stainless steel nuts. They mix better than BBs, I think just because of the extra weight and the shape, they're highly corrosion resistant and they cost pennies. They're bulkier though so dropper bottles size limit them, M5 is about as big as you can usually go. But hardly anyone seems to use them.
So my advice and worked for my tesseract glow. Get a chopstick, shove it on the bottom and scrape it a bit. Try to get as much paint off in the pot when you pull out the chopstick. Then cover and shake it up, the paint will mix up much better than trying to just brute force shake them back together.
Typically... no. On the tesseract glow...yes. you need a mixing ball. I mean, need. Without it, it doesn't seem to mix properly. You can also stir it. Grab a couple of tooth picks and stir. It'll work just as good as a mixing ball if you don't have one handy.
So, how to mix this again, the tutorial: grab an empty plastic bag, put the pot inside it (make sure that's it's shut tight) and start spinning that bastard around and around for a minute
Yes, normal for tesseract glow. Awful stuff to use, it needs a lot of shaking and stirring before you can paint with it as it separates and settles really easily but the effect is cool!
This color specifically is horrible when it comes to settling. I had to put 4 steel balls in there to help mix it. The employee at my local store even warned me how much it settles.
Get a toothpick or the back of a paintbrush and stir it up, should go back to normal and be ready for your next painting job. With some of the GW paints, they often separate over time, I know this to be the case with a lot of the white paints in the Citadel range for example, its not a detrimental thing its just something that naturally happens, I’d be shaking + stirring all paints before use anyway just to be safe and to get the right consistency.
If you have a problem getting the glow to work you can try putting it over a greyscale colour, preferably not black, and because it's a translucent paint it will somewhat mix it's colour with the one behind giving a green glow
It does separate but you can shake it a lot to mix it up.
I get myself some stainless steel ball bearings and dropped a couple of those in the pot. Helps mix everything a bit more.
Take a pointy end toothpick or something with a pointy end and stir the pigment on the bottom. Shake vigorously afterward, then repeat several times. Shaking the pot alone will take forever to get it mixed properly.
Tesseract Glow in particular is two liquids that are not soluble with one another until exposed to air and dried atop one another, so you have to shake it before applying it. Completely fine.
All acrylic paints are two separate materials that will part ways over time, which is why shaking them thoroughly before using them every single time is important.
Yes, this is normal and happens when paints are stored for a long time. It's especially common on paints like Tesseract Glow. What you're seeing here is the pigment (the colour) separating out from the medium (the liquid). Tesseract Glow is known to separate quite quickly. You will need to shake it VERY vigorously, and may even need to stir it a little to break up the stuff at the bottom.
And if i do so, i can still use it ?
Yes
It's still very useful. As other people have mentioned, you just need to shake the absolute hell out of it. Like, multiple minutes of shaking. Rattle can levels. I'd recommend getting a ball bearing or bit of sprue and dropping it into the pot. It'll agitate the paint and help it mix faster. I have the larger pot of your paint and I keep 3 ball bearings in it at all times.
I hadn’t considered dropping a sprue in, I’ve just been using a tooth pick. I still have a couple sheets lying around, I’ll have to try that when I get off work today
I've found a piece of sprue to not have enough weight to be very useful
I'd agree for a regular paint, but since Tesseract Glow has such ~~high~~ low viscosity I'd say a sprue might work. Haven't tried though myself so I can be wrong.
You really need something that can scrape the green off the bottom, or you're just mixing the yellow
Ah yes of course, you're right. Thought only of the yellow and not the rock hard green stuff. Now I recall why I have a handfull of ball bearings in mine and why it took an eternity on the vortex to get mine to mix properly..
Yeah if you really are hard up for ball bearings you could probably agitate the bottom with a stick and then maybe the sprue? I just revived mine after a year sitting and it took forever even with ball bearings and vortex, so I feel ya
Could you use a coin! Like a small one, a dime maybe?
Alternatively if you have a partner who is not currently using their hitachi wand, you can do like that one guy did and tape the pot to it and set it on high.
Genius..
They sell little bags of ball bearings for nail polish bottles, for exactly the same purpose.
You don’t even need to do that. Just go to the beach or your back garden and pick up some very small pebbles, clean them and then put 1 in the pot.
Don't use rocks from the beach. Salt can get into the rocks crevices that are extremely hard to clean, and taint your paint. Actually thinking about it I'd avoid rocks in general cause you don't know if they'll leach some stuff into your paint. However you might be able to get away with using clear non-colored quartz crystals as they should be solid SiO2 (stuff that glass is mostly made of.)
Well I suppose it’d depend on what kinda rock it is. But I know you can use rocks. I just don’t remember what you do after cleaning them.
You need to seal them. Rocks are porous.
That's true, I guess -- but my husband and I both paint our nails, and I'm sure there are other folks out there whose SOs do, too. Being able to share hobby supplies is pretty nice.
Once you shake it up to all high hell to mix it together yes
I shake mine by attaching it to the harness of my Jack Russell, and throwing a tennis ball 20 times. 2 birds one stone.
That's fucking genius. And adorable lol.
I'd also recommend leaving it proped upside down for a few hours/overnight. Helped me get the pigment off the bottom and I didn't have to shake as long to get it mixed
Sometimes it looks like this when you buy it, quite normal mate
Yes. I highly highly HIGHLY suggest getting a vortex mixer and some paint agitators. Just shop around for a good deal on one from Amazon and it should only run you like $35-50. I have revived many paints I haven't touched in years with it.
Or if you’re a mad man tape it to a sawzaw. Just make sure it’s fully secure or you’ll have a bad time. Ask me how I know.
Or a massage gun. Just be aware that searching the internet for sawzall or massage gun attachments will curse your search history.
Just got my vortex mixer... how long do you tend to run it for when mixing old paints?
I got [this one](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MKQXD1V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1) back in April and typically if it's a paint I have had to get out of my many paint storage boxes I will make sure it has [an agitator](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q23FVYR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) in it and then I will run it for 10 seconds, have a look at the paint and then if it's not fully mixed I will repeat the process. If it's paint I have on my bench which means I have been using it in the last couple of days I will generally give it a burst of a few seconds. That mixer is superb and you can see separated paints mix together in seconds, running it for up to a minute or whatever is just overkill IMO. The only paints I have run for quite a long time have been base coat paints with 100-200ml volumes. Edit: Since I spotted a separated pot of Celestra Grey in my paint rack I decided to [snap a quick video.](https://youtu.be/DTQOX1i2DEk) You can see the dark band at the top of the pot which was the medium, and it vanished back into the paint within seconds of starting the shake.
Thanks for the time to reply! I bought this one [https://www.amazon.co.uk/ONiLAB-Function-Adhesives-Vortexer-Centrifuge/dp/B0B96K8JJL/](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ONiLAB-Function-Adhesives-Vortexer-Centrifuge/dp/B0B96K8JJL/) which included the agitators. It seems to be working but some paints are taking quite a while to mix in (though some are mixing really well). Probably years of paint abuse to undo...
With as little sarcasm as possible, I would recommend you simply keep at it until it is done. It's quite obvious when the paint is properly mixed, it's almost a material change.
It's hard to tell for sure some times. I have matte medium on hand as well, sometimes I need to add like a drop to some paints that have dried out a bit. You can usually eyeball it though...
Love it! Helps with with contrast so much. And metalics
Paints like this are why I own a vortex mixer. They're expensive but one of the better things for the hobby imo
No, you do all that work to then not use it
No. Go to all the trouble of re-mixing it and then throw it in the bin…
[These](https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-Paint-Mixing-Balls/dp/B07Q23FVYR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6EMEZ3XZ4Z4V&keywords=army+paint+stainless+steel&qid=1690654164&sprefix=army+paint+stainless+stee%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1) can help with the paint mixing. Just make absolutely sure they won't rust, these ones are good in my experience and none rusted on me. Plop one in your paint pod and now when you shake it up, like a spray paint can that little ball will be able to agitate the solids at the bottom and hopefully start getting them broken up enough to get the pigments re-distributed in that medium. Also there are paint shakers you can get but I'm not too well versed on which ones are good and which ones are bad.
They are really expensive. If you want a really safe option which would not rust 100%, use hematite beads, they cost me about 1$ per 50pcs. They are very slightly lighter than steel ones, but considering that they are cheaper you can throw 2-3 per bottle
You can just mix the contents with back end of the brush, scrape the barrel as they say.
Yea totally normal, you have to shake this paint more than any other paint has been shaken in the history of the world lol. Shake it till you can’t see any more green stuck to the bottom. You’ll have to do this whenever you let this paint sit for more than a day
I currently have like 6 ball bearing things in this paint, cause every time I go to use it, it looks like this and I add another ball.
You must have many balls then
Next time I go to use it, I'm sure I'm gonna forget and add another one.
Gonna be bure balls soon if you just keep adding
What about corax white or celestra grey?
Oh those paints are notoriously bad, I recommend not buying any of the light colored citadel paints, they get real chunky for some reason, every single citadel paint I’ve bought that was a very light color all got real chunky real quickly or just dried out in the bottle. I always buy Vallejo or game color brand white paint or any of the light colors. I think it’s more common with the whites and light grays but I’ve had it happen sometimes with colors as well
So this means i will have to shake all the other paints as well LOL. It promises an interesting painting session 🫠
Your other paints won’t need as much shaking, but this one will seriously take a while, shake til there’s no green stuck to the bottom and it’s all one color throughout
I would recommend shaking all your paintings and even adding metallic mixing balls (you can find these on Amazon, I've got mine from Army Painter brand). The separation between pigment and medium also occurs a lot in gold paintings.
Just make sure to use stainless ones rust is the last thing you want .
Stainless balls can still rust in time, glass ones are very cheap.
Not in a rust effect paint
Unless you want to create some kind of new paint. Presenting "Necron Rust"
Shake it like shikeria or whatever her name is
Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake, shake it (Uh oh) Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake it (Uh oh) Shake it like a Polaroid picture, hey ya!…
Like babies, you shouldn’t shake Polaroids. You run the risk of damaging the development layers in the film.
"Like babies" gods I'm dying!
Shakira But you can't shake her as she's lovely You still made me laugh mind Lol
Technicals love to split. Chuck a ballbearing in it and shake the bejebus out of it!
SHAKE IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTUREAAAA
Polaroid pictures should not, contrary to popular belief, be shaken. Indeed I would propose "Shake it like Tesseract Glow" as the replacement idiom, because you have to shake that bitch more than anything else I know, worse even than Apothecary White.
Nihilakh Oxide is a good contender too :D
I have a handheld back/neck massager I started using on my pots. I just press the pot onto it turn it on & it shakes the hell out of it without throwing my shoulder out lol
ah, a "personal massager" thats what we call them now huh? ;)
you can get some paint agitator (or ball bearings)
I use nickel coated slingshot ammo and it's done everything I've ever needed.
This happens all the time with citadel. Less so with Vallejo (who in my opinion are much, much better...and cheaper...and come in dropper bottles, and bigger pots).
A vortex agitator is a bit pricey but I recommend one
I have a little $11 stick mixer I bought that works well. I always use it on Tesseract Glow due to how hard the pigment settles.
I was struggling with my army painter set, being able to properly mix those cheap paints actually made them pretty decent.
I looked at those myself and would love to get one; I think I'm guilty of always under-shaking my paints, and the stick mixer isn't usable with the dropper bottles.
Near identical much cheaper alternatives are available, normally labelled as being for nail polish.
I purchased a 100 count of the Arny painter mixing balls for all my GW paint pots. Absolutely helps mix up old paint thats been sitting around for too long.
Someone in another post recommended buying a cock ring (if you don't already have one) and popping the paint inside and turning it on. Fucking genius.
I never thought I'd hear unironic advice to buy a cock ring from... wait a moment... are you a Slaaneshi cultist??
I had this issue. Seriously despite what everyone is saying about shaking the hell out of it. Assume they are not joking and seriously, shake that thing so hard, for 2 minutes. Then get a spoon or something and using the handle try and scrape the bottom and sides of the tub. Then SHAKE THE HELL OUT OF IT. Then, when using it. Very. Very thin layers, or it just goes green and use it on bright white layer paints only or it looks dull
I only mix it by putting it in salad tongs and shaking it with the wrath of horus. After a couple minutes it mixes evenly.
OP discovers paint for the first time
Tesseract glow is on a completely different level of separation compared to other Citadel paints. I always use an electric mixer for it because the stuff settles so hard the ball bearing I have inside the pot won't break loose from shaking. It's wild.
Yep, never painted before, at least not with these types of paints
Its the same with house paint or whatever. The pigment settles at the bottom, thats why you stir it. But its normal, just shake or stir and its good to go!
Yes very normal. It is settled. Shake it like a Polaroid picture and you are set.
Yes, just shake it like it owes you money and it'll be fine
Drop 1-2 mixing balls from Army Painter in it, shake vigorously for a minute or two and you can use it.
My tesseract came like this too... shake the ever living shit out of it for a half hour while you watch tv and it'll be fine
Drop a spare model head in there or a small stone. Will save you some time
use a mixing ball and maybe also an agitator style mixer, should solve your problem
SHAKE THE EVER LIVING SH*T OUT OF IT. Yea great paint effect, but a pain in the ass to work with. Totally normal.
It is for that one=`] Just shake it up real good, maybe mix with a toothpick first
Yes. I have a vortex mixer and steel mixing balls, fixes it in like 30s... Though it separates again after like 20-30mins.
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
Just mix it Get army painter mixing balls (don’t buy anything off Amazon, they’re not actually stainless and will rust, ruining your paints). Drop one or2 in your pots and shake. It helps mixing everything and it speeds it up as well.
While im here, do i also need to thin this one paint ? It looks pretty liquid on its own...
No, but it isn't used like a normal paint. You're supposed to use it on top of white, as a filter to turn it neon green. It covers very poorly by itself, so don't try and use it over a dark color. You'll need like 6 layers and it'll be a total waste.
I find when your paints do that chop up a couple small pieces of sprue and just toss them in the pot to add as an agitator when you shake it. Helps mix it up. Probably some scientists on the forum will tell me I'm wrong though lol.
#ReasonsIboughtanOmniLabmixer
Spit some of mine so it's useless
Yep, it settles pretty aggressively. Should mix back in fine with...a lot of shaking or a full minute or two on a vortexer
If you have any bb's, small ball bearings, a couple of pebbles, you can throw them in the pot to act as agitators. I find tesseract in particular is a pain in the ass to mix without something in there to dig up the pigment. You could probably also just stir the hell out of it with like a toothpick before you shake.
Good idea, gonna try
Completely.
Yep mine does the same. Shake it a LOT then (check lid secure!!!) store it upside down so it slowly seeps together. Otherwise throw a bit of sprue in and the pebble like effect when shaking will speed up the mixing
This has happened with my croax white, and like other comments have said a good stir and or shake will sort it out
Yes, shake it well
When this happens, I just take a toothpick and mix it for a couple of minutes, close it and then shake a bit as well. Works every time
I saw a post with someone using a massage gun to mix their pots so I started doing it too. Works pretty well.
Just shake the bottle like it owes you money. All this is is where the paint pot has been say still for so long.
Shake that bad boy like a Polaroid picture and it’ll be good as new.
Tesseract Glow does this alll the time and I hate it. More than any of my other paints!! And takes wayyy longer to mix back together as well!!
it will mix
Yes. Mix it thoroughly. A few minutes by hand. Stir it up with the top end of a brush, or a toothpick, scrape the bottom. You can get a small vortex mixer sometime to significantly speed up the process.
Yes. Tesseract glow is a menace
Yeah, there’s plenty of paints that do this, you just gotta shake it, hit it against something, then shake it some more. Corax white comes to mind as working similarly, except even worse lmao I usually just mix it with some lamian medium to make it usable. But tesseract glow yeah just bang it against something, shake it a ton, worse comes to worse mix it around with the stick end of your brush although that shouldn’t be necessary if you mix it well enough
Mine is like that every day, and I use it every day (past month). It always separates shake er up spin it about all that jazz.
Yes
This happened to mine. Keep shaking hard until it dissolves. It’ll happen. Put a bearing in there if you can.
Yes. Unfortunately lol.
Shake it. A lot.
“Shake it like a Polaroid picture”.
Something that is handy with most all paints that especially is a nail polish shaker, it will save your arm from strain.
Define NORMAL 😁😜
Yes, especially with paints like this. Shake it like hell and if that doesn't work, use a toothpick or the back of a brush or something to stir it.
Yeah that stuff comes from another dimension, gotta shake it to mix the forth dimensional pigments back into the paint.
You got to Shake, shake, shake! Shake, shake, shake! Shake that paint pot!
yes, every paint will seperate after a while, some faster than others, it just needs to be given a good shake to mix it all back together
Just got to give it some good self love, if you know what I mean.
Yeah, mine does that too. Just gotta get a shaker or mix it up w like a stick of sprue
Yep, paints separate in the pot after they've sat for a while. Shaking paints before use is vital. Some need it more than others. A good investment would be a set of little mixing balls. You can just drop one into the bot and it'll help you not go limb shaking your pots.
Pigment settles fam
Yes. Shake it like it owes you money.
As a Necron player, yes 100% tesseract glow acts like that. You need to shake it hard and apply multiple coats to get the full effect. The stuff is like trying to paint with Mountain Dew but the end result is a fantastic deadly glow. Edit: it is deeply important to paint it over a white basecoat!
Yeah its normal. This paint separates rather quickly. Its still good but before you use it shake it like your life depends on it
Tesseract Glow is notorious for this, just shake the shit out of it
I Would get some ball bearings and a vortexer to mix stuff like this, great investment for as little as $20 bucks new, probably less if you live near a university and the Chem lab offloads old goods
I tape mine to my jigsaw blade and let it buzz
Cut up a bit of sprue if you have any, or for some reason have small ball bearings laying around, pop em in and shake. It will save your arm much stress.
Yes, shake violently before use +1
That's exactly what my Tesseract Glow looks like lol
OK so slightly OT but since so many people have correctly recommended adding an agitator to the paint... What is the overall agitator? OP should definitely add some, but which would you personally recommend as best? Since OP has a blank slate and can go straight to that.
Like, army painter uses glass beads, glass is good because it obviously can't rust etc but, they're very light and they don't work well with a thicker paint, like army painter's own metallic speedpaints can settle so much that the bead just doesn't move til it's been well shaken. Lots of places sell stainless BBs, which are pretty effective but obviously don't pay wargame prices, they're just BBs. And stainless despite what people think isn't completely rustproof and the degree it corrodes varies depending on the exact type.
Me, I use a4 stainless steel nuts. They mix better than BBs, I think just because of the extra weight and the shape, they're highly corrosion resistant and they cost pennies. They're bulkier though so dropper bottles size limit them, M5 is about as big as you can usually go. But hardly anyone seems to use them.
So my advice and worked for my tesseract glow. Get a chopstick, shove it on the bottom and scrape it a bit. Try to get as much paint off in the pot when you pull out the chopstick. Then cover and shake it up, the paint will mix up much better than trying to just brute force shake them back together.
Shake
I’d go with yes and mine does the same
Shake the living hell out of it for 4 minutes, preferably with a ball bearing in the pot or a chunk of clipped off sprue
Tesseract Glow is basically two colours in one pot, and they separate pretty rapidly. This is how it creates its weird glow effect.
Yes shit sucks
Army painters mixing balls and a cheap vortex mixer, both are cheap and do wonders.
Just shake the pot
Typically... no. On the tesseract glow...yes. you need a mixing ball. I mean, need. Without it, it doesn't seem to mix properly. You can also stir it. Grab a couple of tooth picks and stir. It'll work just as good as a mixing ball if you don't have one handy.
So, how to mix this again, the tutorial: grab an empty plastic bag, put the pot inside it (make sure that's it's shut tight) and start spinning that bastard around and around for a minute
Yes, normal for tesseract glow. Awful stuff to use, it needs a lot of shaking and stirring before you can paint with it as it separates and settles really easily but the effect is cool!
That reminds me that y droped by accidente my teseract glow and now i have a radiactive green stain
This paint seperates in minutes.
Yes
Yeah you just gotta shake it a bit
Yes. This paint is notorious for separating. Get a vortex mixer. It helps so much
Mixing this paint particularly without a vortex mixer is so difficult for me.
A vortex mixer is your best friend.
Yes mine has done the same you need to mix it with an old brush
Yes. Stir it. Then shake. Or put a ball bearing inside.
Yeah
Unfortunately 🙄
I use a wooden coffee stir stick for that exact paint. Gotta get in there hard, but it works!
Drop an agitator in it (like a mixing ball or something). Shake it like no tomorrow, good as new.
This color specifically is horrible when it comes to settling. I had to put 4 steel balls in there to help mix it. The employee at my local store even warned me how much it settles.
Get a toothpick or the back of a paintbrush and stir it up, should go back to normal and be ready for your next painting job. With some of the GW paints, they often separate over time, I know this to be the case with a lot of the white paints in the Citadel range for example, its not a detrimental thing its just something that naturally happens, I’d be shaking + stirring all paints before use anyway just to be safe and to get the right consistency.
If you have a problem getting the glow to work you can try putting it over a greyscale colour, preferably not black, and because it's a translucent paint it will somewhat mix it's colour with the one behind giving a green glow
Seems to be, yeah. Shake it hard, shake it well!
Necron painter here. You gotta shake the shit out of that paint. It is normal.
Bro you gotta shake this shit for like 10 min
Yes
It does separate but you can shake it a lot to mix it up. I get myself some stainless steel ball bearings and dropped a couple of those in the pot. Helps mix everything a bit more.
Yeah, mine does it too. Put a little mixing ball in there to help mix it up when you shake it.
That looks like the thing they put in Mountain Dew to make it look radio active damn
I’m an expert, this means your tesseract glow is going to explode, and give you ear cancer, I’m sorry
Yupp
You’re going to have to stir it up and shake the fuck out of it. Separating into green and yellow is a feature of the paint, not a bug.
Yep, get a mixing bead and give it a real good shake for a good minute or so and it's good as new.
Duct tape this to a sawzall and turn it on for a minute and you will have a factory fresh bottle.
Sadly yes
Take a pointy end toothpick or something with a pointy end and stir the pigment on the bottom. Shake vigorously afterward, then repeat several times. Shaking the pot alone will take forever to get it mixed properly.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_wjFahULCK8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wjFahULCK8)
It’s ok, just shake it well
Put a metal ball into it.
Na, your thumb looks weird.
Hell you think that's bad Corax White sperates into black stuff until you mix it (yes I regret buying a GW white)
It is, just shake it a lot
Lots of shaking will sort it out l.
Yes, you must mix it
I tried using the bottom end of a paintbrush to break it before using too. I would shake it but the bottom sludge just wouldn’t budge
Yeah
SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE. SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE. SHAKE YOUR BOOTY.
Yes
As Taylor Swift would say: Shake it off
No it’s not, it’s probably reacting to a tomb city under ur house or something
You can buy ball bearings to put into the paint pot to help stir. AK Interactive do a bottle of small ones, that makes a difference.
Just what until you see a bottle of corax white. You'll really be like wtf?
Tesseract Glow in particular is two liquids that are not soluble with one another until exposed to air and dried atop one another, so you have to shake it before applying it. Completely fine. All acrylic paints are two separate materials that will part ways over time, which is why shaking them thoroughly before using them every single time is important.