Dropper Bottles
I took the plunge to transfer all my Citadel and P3 Formula paints to dropper bottles. I don't hate regular bottles. I actually like being able to crack one open to get a brush full of paint to correct a mistake here or there. However, the move to Portland is coming and I started getting worried about how my paints would fair for the trip. I didn't want them to dry out but more importantly the screw-top dropper bottles are more secure.
After going through my entire collection of paints I'm glad I did it. I've always considered paint gunking up to be the downside of working with acrylics, but I was surprised just how many of my paints had separated into a clay-like mass of pigment with colored water around them. Dropper bottles don't stop this, but the tutorial I followed adds agitators, which are some kind of small object with enough weight to stir up the paint when you shake the bottles. This really helps break this up. Paints in dropper bottles don't dry out nearly as much if at all, which is another bonus.
Some of those who advocate dropper bottles love the ability to allocate exactly how much paint they want on their palette. This is nice, but as I said, I often paint straight out of the bottle (Heresy to some, but this guy does it too!) and this just doesn't bother me that much.
If you are interested in the tutorial I followed it is here.
A few comments on that tutorial:
I found I needed something to help push paint through into the bottles in some cases where they got really gunky. I used a paper clip pulled straight and then I wrapped a loop in the bottom. This worked pretty well.
I've heard that the hex bolts he recommends are made of stainless steel, but this isn't always a reliable metal to stick in your paints. I've been told it can react badly, or sometimes it's not true stainless steel and rusts. I use fishing weights in most of my bottles, but I've also heard glass beads are good. Just make sure whatever you use has enough weight to it.
I started following his 'print labels' suggestions. This worked well, but then I found you can just peel the labels off of the Citadel paints and use them directly. This looked even better. I still needed the labels for other brands, like P3 Formula, as their labels don't peel nearly as easily.
If you print labels with an inkjet printer then be careful about getting them wet. They will smear.