Using Acrylic Craft Paints- Pearlised Too.

[createinspain]

Before I go any further, let me say that I don't intend to use these on anything really important, like car bodies, it is only for fine art use.
Now that I understand the consistency required for ab spraying much better, and had a delivery of lovely tiny mixing bottles, I decided to look in my stash and see what acrylic paints I could possibly use.
The only reason for this is to paint with opaque colours on occasion, a different effect to my usual watercolour.

All the acrylic paints I have (pretty much) came from Aldi. Now before you dismiss them as cheap and nasty, let me explain that they are made in Germany and I have been extremely happy with many craft items from the same source.

So, I thinned some paints down and tried spraying them. Well, even the pearl ones sprayed just fine at about 30 PSI, with my Iwata HPC Plus when thinned with acrylic extender. The plain ones I thinned with water and those were fine too.

Now maybe you are lucky and have a great supplier on hand, but maybe you don't. I have no reason to believe these paints are any better or worse than dedicated ab paints. They do the job. When mixing it is easier if you have some idea of what you need first but at prices like €4.99 for a set of 24 small tubes, it may be worth looking at.

BTW - for anyone with someone in the house who is into nail art, these paints are usable to do that. Just apply a base coat and a clear top coat by hand. Makes light work of a French Manicure too!

 

[pugster]

i use watered down crawford and black acrylics most of the time , to water down i use a mix of acrylic medium ,distilled water,glycerine and a cap of Klear . ( in a 2ltr coke bottle 1x 200ml tube of acrylic medium (which helps extend and hold the colour), 1 cap of klear and 1 teapspoon of glycerine , half fill the bottle with distilled water and shake it up then top it up once its all mixed to the 2ltrs - you end up with a milky looking liquid )
as you have i bought an amount of small mixing bottles (got mine from fleabay and just put a small clean pebble from the garden in each)
they work fine on paper/canvas and you get a hell of a lot of paint to play with for the money compared to the generic airbrush paints.
for the beginner or person that is just doing AB for fun they are fine to play about with.

 

[createinspain]

Yes, sometimes you just have to use what you can get! Also for me to be able to afford a hobby, the disposables need to be as cheap as possible.

 

[_fly_]

I used Aldi acrylic paint and other brands as well when I started.
I still use them when I need to paint timber things that I make.
Seem to work fine if thinned down enough.
I also make picture frames from the pre-primed skirting boards and use the same acrylics to paint those ( I also put a clear over the top).
Whatever works is fine by me.