How to choose the best pouring medium for your acrylic flow painting
- Liquitex Pouring Medium. Liquitex is the best-known brand and pouring medium on the art market, specifically made for artists.
- Floetrol.
- Atelier Pouring Medium.
- Golden GAC800 Pouring Medium.
- PVA Glue.
Required Acrylic Pouring Supplies
- Floetrol Starterset: Pouring Medium, Cups and wooden mixing sticks.
- Sargent Art Acrylic colors 12 piece starter Set.
- Treadmill Silicone oil for a lot of cells.
- White Canvas Starter Set.
- Polycrylic Protection Finish.
- Paintbrush to apply the protection Finish.
- Gloves.
So in short, the best alternatives to pouring mediums are Mod Podge, PVA Glue, or regular Elmer's Glue. All of these alternatives work perfectly as a substitute for commercial pouring medium.
The floating medium allows the painter to "float/blend" acrylic paints on canvas and paint boards, thus allowing more time to complete brush strokes and make adjustments before paint dries. Gives painter the flexibility of oils when using acrylic paints.
4. | Many mediums are usable when acrylic painting, allowing for a variety of textures and surfaces. Some are gloss medium, pumice stone gel, matte acrylic painting gel, crackle paste, retarder, varnish and glazing liquid.
Flow Aid breaks the surface tension of the color and gives it a water-like feel. The Pouring Mediums also contain acrylic resins and so you can add as much as you like to paint without weakening it, while Flow Aid is a resin-free additive and needs to be diluted before adding to color.
Dirty pour – a technique where all colors are added to a cup or container at the same time and then poured together to create an acrylic pouring paint effect. A flip cup (see below) is also a form of dirty pour. The cup is lifted allowing the paint to escape and flow across the canvas.
Pouring medium recipe: Mix equal parts water and white glue in a jar and shake to mix. Add the pouring medium to the paint. I like to add it to half empty bottles of paint but you can mix it in other cups if your bottles are full.
Acrylic Modeling PasteModeling paste is the most commonly used texture medium. This is an opaque-white heavy paste that is usually made of marble paste and will adhere to most surfaces.
Pouring medium acts as both a diluting agent and binder. Mediums give acrylic paint smoother flow and will help paints with a mix of colors to act more uniformly.
Cells in acrylic pouring tend to form when there is a difference in density between the paint colors. Some paint pigments are denser than others. The main methods of achieving cells in your fluid painting include: Varying density of the paint.
Your Pouring Medium can be many things. We have experimented with water, Mod Podge (Glossy), dish soap, PVA Glue, Acrylic Flow Improver and more. Some people say a 1:1 ratio or 40% Pouring Medium to 60% Paint. The key to your first try is to add in a little at a time until you get the results you want.
Best Cheap Acrylic Paints
- Utrecht Artists' Acrylic Basic Color Set.
- Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylic Tubes Set.
- M.
- Golden Open Acrylic Modern Theory Set.
- Heavy Body Acrylic Paint Modern Theory Set.
- Sennelier Artists' Quality Acrylics.
- Liquitex Basics Acrylics.
- Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic Color Basic Set.
The 8 Best Acrylic Paint Brands of 2020
- Blick Studio Acrylic Paint.
- Arteza Acrylic Paint.
- M. Graham Artists' Acrylics.
- Golden Heavy Body Artist Acrylics.
- Blickrylic Student Acrylic Paint.
- Chroma Atelier Interactive Artists' Acrylics.
- Liquitex Heavy Body Artist Acrylic Paint.
- Winsor & Newton Professional Acrylics.
Other useful colours:
- Yellow Ochre.
- Raw Umber.
- Ivory Black.
- Cadmium Red.
- Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
Acrylic paint seems to be just as permanent as oil paint. Acrylics are chemically stable when cured, but, as with all paint media, they're only as permanent as the surface they're painted on.
So it's a good idea to know what you need to buy and how much the outlay is likely to be. Acrylic painting can be expensive, however, it doesn't have to be if you make a few smart choices.
- Holbein Heavy-Body Acrylic Primary Set. Heavily pigmented, Holbein's paints provide fantastic coverage while delivering on color vibrancy.
- Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints.
- Soho Urban Artist Heavy Body Acrylic Paint Set.
- Golden Artist Colors Heavy Body Acrylic Paint.
- Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paint.
Thicken acrylic paint with corn starchSurprisingly, I have seen many artists swear by using corn starch to thicken their acrylic paints in lieu of acrylic medium, thanks to corn starch's thickening properties. To use corn starch, mix a one and a half cups of water with two tablespoons of cornstarch.
In general, and depending on the permanence level that's listed on the container, acrylic paint is NOT washable on fabric, and it can be hard to get off once it makes contact on skin. For acrylic paint to be used on fabric, it's best to mix it with other mediums to make it workable for softer fabrics.
Our picks will help you decide which one is best for your needs.
- Liquitex Pouring Medium.
- Flood Floetrol Additive.
- DecoArt Pouring Medium.
- Elmer's Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue.
- Unicone Art Silicone Oil.
Best Alternative Pouring Mediums Part One
- Behr Premium Plus Faux Glaze.
- Golden Polymer Medium-Gloss.
- Elmer's Glue All.
- Pearl Ex pigment powders in flamingo pink, misty lavender, and spring green.
- Small stretched canvas.
- True Flow acrylic paintin black.
- Digital scale.
- Tongue depressors.
Begin mixing using these basic ratio guidelines and adjust until mixture is thin enough to flow easily off of surface when poured: fluid acrylics: 2:1 Paint to Pouring Medium; craft acrylics: 1:1 Paint to Pouring Medium; medium body acrylics: 1:3 Paint to Pouring Medium; heavy body acrylics: 1:6 Paint to Pouring Medium
The key to success for many beautiful acrylic pouring cells is the consistency of your acrylic colors mixed with pouring medium. Only if this consistency fits, you will prevent the different colors from mixing too firmly and the cells from running (too liquid) and cells from forming at all (too thick).
Elmer's Glue-All is a multi-purpose glue that works well as a budget pouring medium.
- 1.1 Swipe Technique.
- 1.2 AirSwipe / Dutch Pour.
- 1.3 Dutch Pour with Lacings / SheleeArt Bloom Technik.
- 1.4 String Technique.
- 1.5 Fractal Dendrites.
- 1.6 Ghost Pour.
- 1.7 Acrylic Pouring Techniques: Combination of different Fluid Painting Techniques.
How much Floetrol do I need for my acrylic pour? The best ratio of Floetrol to acrylic paint will largely come down to experimentation and personal preferences. As a starting point, mix 1 part floetrol with 1 part acrylic paint. Stir slowly with a wooden stick until you reach a smooth consistency.
Best Paint for Acrylic PouringThe key to a good acrylic pour is consistency…of paint that is. You'll want to use fluid acrylics, which have a much thinner consistency than heavy body acrylics. If you only have thicker acrylics on hand, you can still use them, but you'll want to thin them out with water.
