Paint Pours
Forget all the fancy paints and pouring mediums, paint pours are a simple, fun way to amuse some kids, turn crappy plastic junk into amazing artworks, and decorate that bucket of rocks and shells from the last expedition.
I did these with some cheesy plastic toys. Dollar store finds, or thrift shop rescues are great too.
I did these with some cheesy plastic toys. Dollar store finds, or thrift shop rescues are great too.
YOU NEED:
- acrylic craft paint, heavier, pigment rich paint like Americana, Folk Art or Ceramcoat makes it easier, other brands may be runny or thin. Leftover house paint will work too.
- water
- cups, caps, small containers (margarine or dip containers)
- toothpick, small dowel, plastic fork, spork, knife, or pencil you don't care about
- needle nosed pliers are nice
- possibly rubber or latex gloves
- plastic, newspaper, something to catch the mess (dollar store table covers in plastic work as do dog food bags, garbage bags, cardboard boxes, and whatever Amazon just brought your stuff in)
- objects, rocks, cheesy plastic toys, shells, random items
Mix enough water with your paint to make it flow, but not be runny. Heavy cream is what you're looking for. Yes, there are expensive pouring mediums, ignore them.
Pick a color. Add a bit of another color. Add a third. Drop them one at a time into the main color in a cup. Take your toothpick/dowel/pencil and stir once, gently, making swirls. Too much stirring makes mud. Using related colors (near each other on the color wheel, like purple/blue) eliminates mud. Using contrasting colors (opposites or near opposites like purple/yellow/orange, or blue/orange/red) works unless the colors are mixed too much, then mud. You can do contrasty light/dark colors, or keep them all similar in shade. Experiment!
Hold your object, needle nosed pliers are nice, or lay object on a surface that can catch excess paint. For the dolphin and the unicorns, I held the tail, poured all over, topside, underside, side sides, let it dry, and did the tail later. You can hold a leg or other small edge. This is where the skinny pliers help. Tweezers might also work. You may want to get out the rubber gloves!
Pour gently over object, letting swirls of paint land and move around the object. You can turn the object to let the paint move in interesting ways. A hair dryer can speed up drying. Decide if you are going to hold the object for the next hour, use a hair dryer, or set the object down (will it fall over? the unicorns wanted to).
These have grains of sand on their hooves because they do not stand well, so I stuck them in sand.
Pick a color. Add a bit of another color. Add a third. Drop them one at a time into the main color in a cup. Take your toothpick/dowel/pencil and stir once, gently, making swirls. Too much stirring makes mud. Using related colors (near each other on the color wheel, like purple/blue) eliminates mud. Using contrasting colors (opposites or near opposites like purple/yellow/orange, or blue/orange/red) works unless the colors are mixed too much, then mud. You can do contrasty light/dark colors, or keep them all similar in shade. Experiment!
Hold your object, needle nosed pliers are nice, or lay object on a surface that can catch excess paint. For the dolphin and the unicorns, I held the tail, poured all over, topside, underside, side sides, let it dry, and did the tail later. You can hold a leg or other small edge. This is where the skinny pliers help. Tweezers might also work. You may want to get out the rubber gloves!
Pour gently over object, letting swirls of paint land and move around the object. You can turn the object to let the paint move in interesting ways. A hair dryer can speed up drying. Decide if you are going to hold the object for the next hour, use a hair dryer, or set the object down (will it fall over? the unicorns wanted to).
These have grains of sand on their hooves because they do not stand well, so I stuck them in sand.
