I think I used matte medium successfully before for water, but that was a long time ago in another galaxy.
By experimentation, I've found out that multiple pours will be self leveling and if I don't like the color, craft paint colors are opaque when mixed and I can completely change the color or I can partial blend colors to give a silt flow effect.
My problem is when I mix the colors I am getting bubbles. I tried adding a little alcohol (wet water theory) but no help there. Poking each bubble with a pin is both tedious and sometimes just pushes the bubble underneath. Anyone have any experience in getting rid of bubbles with this product?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I used gloss Modpodge for water and put it on thick and did gets some fine bubbles that give the water a cloudy appearance in some spots. I generally liked the results but may try for a thinner layer next time to see if that gives less bubbles. Never heard of water from Mat Medium however:
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Matte medium seems an unlikely choice for water. Gloss medium, yes. Even very dirty water is shiny however.
Bubbles. Not sure it works for every medium and every product, but I use (and am happy with) the odorless two part resin "Magic Water" product and they advise breathing and blowing over the newly poured "water" to draw up the bubbles. Seems mystical ... but it works! Just don't hyperventilate and faint on top of the newly poured water, please.
Dave Nelson
The matte isn't all that matte. Not that I think about it, maybe I did use gloss medium before. I'm doing dirty water so tranparency isn't important.
The art forums blame too much brushing or mixing for bubble creation. Even just back and forth can cause bubbles.
Some say you can mix it and let it sit in a sealed jar for a couple hours. Apparently there is a sweet spot in time, before the color settles to the bottom and you have to remix it.
In my picture above, the medium has just been poured and is still liquid. It is cool in my basement and it takes hours to dry. Actually it took hours to dry upstairs too. Dries quicker outside in the sun, but that's not practical for the layout.
I've never heard of pouring anything water based. Since it dries instead of curing like the 2-part stuff, it seems like it would shrink and crack.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
Yup, acrylics like gloss medium will crack if too thick. If you're trying to use it like you would resin, to fill a fairly deep area, you'll need many thin layers. Best in my experience is to create the surface of the stream or lake and color it the way you want it first, and then brush gloss medium over it in several layers over a period of time.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/m/mrr-layouts/2288403.aspx
I followed Rob Spanglers idea of putting down the gloss Mod Podge and it was down for a bout a year before I had to tear the layout down to move. It never cracked. Rob has never mentioned having cracking issues with his and it's been down for years.
Here is how thick mine was when I applied it; might go a bit thinner next time.
My matte medium does shrink and not in any realistic way. Thinned with alcohol or water, it look great while still wet, but not so good dry. Applied thick, you need to work it with a brush and that cause bubbles, some of which take a while to surface.
I was looking at what I thought would be my final pour. There was some roughness, where I popped some bubbles and I touched it. 16 hours after the pour it was still soft as butter and I left a big deep finger print. I thought maybe I could just wipe off the last layer, but it was dry around the edges, so now I had a hole in the center down to the previous layer.
The good news is that I poked it with a putty knife and the whole of it, peeled right off the sculptamold. There was not a fleck left.
I'm calling the experiment a failure and it's on to mod podge.
Matt medium or gloss is not ment to be pored, period.
My posted mistakes are here for others to learn.
It is not clear to me how mod podge is different from matte medium, but different it is. Water does nothing to clean up my little bowl, I needed isopropyl alcohol.
I had an uneven bottom, and because I intend to move, I didn't want to level it with anything that could fracture in a move, like hydrocal or drywall compound, nor did I want to work with resin.
Mod podge videos show it being brushed on, but I discovered it can be poured if it is diluted with water or alcohol. I used both, but ultimately stuck to alcohol, based on my clean up experience.
Adding a good bit of craft paint will produce a uniform opaque color. Adding a tiny bit of paint will tint it, but, in my case the drying time was long, the paint settles out in weird and unpredictable patterns. With a tint, it is translucent.
Mod Podge has bubbles too. They weren't nearly persistant as the matte medium and if they appear later, even after mod podge formed a skim on the surface, they could be broken and you can stir things around and when it dries, it will be flat enough.
Bare Sculptamold
Unsatisfactory layers of colors
An algae pond
I'm pretty sure you can pour either medium, but you would want the gloss for a glossy surface...which water surely is. Unless it's quicksand, even very muddy water has a shiny and reflective surface. So, the choice should be gloss medium.
Stirring it will cause bubbles to form. If they do, and this also works for poured epoxy mixed with equal parts hardener and resin, simply wait ten minutes or so for the bubbles to rise to the surface or near it. Then, taking a soda straw into your mouth, and hosing the surface liberally with your warm breath, move the straw's lower orifice over the poured layer and you'll see every bubble pop or disappear. This has worked without fail for every layout I have built so far.
I should add, though, that I only used tinted epoxy in two thin pours over a painted water bottom. Once each had dried thoroughly, I would then paint over that glassy smooth layer, bubble free, with a thin layer of gel gloss medium or simple gloss medium. I would then use the applicator's side to gently stipped the entire surface of the medium and let that dry for at least two days. You now have a realistic surface, a naturally reflective and shiny one, that also has small wind-driven ripples.
Maybe the photos are not giving a good representation of what you have done. But I think the algae and colors that you say are unsatisfactory really look good to me.
The mountain looks very good too. Carry on!
No I am happy with the algae. The middle picture, not so much. The blue settled out and looked purplish.