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I am new to this whole paint your own thing, but am enjoying it. All I have so far is one almost finished muse. I am using acrylics, though, when most of my painting experience is with oils and on canvas. I have two different kinds of acrylic, one from a tube, an artist acrylic of some kind, and “craft paint” acrylics and the two don’t seem to like eachother… they will not mix, and when layered, they chip. Can anyone tell me why this happens and if there is any way to doctor the paints so that they can be used together or am I going to simply have to choose one or the other? This is new territory for me as I never met an oil-based paint that didn’t play well with other oil based paints, so the concept that water-based paints sometimes don’t is weird to me.
Hi, welcome to the forum 🙂
Did you read these over? It may help you. http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=363
http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2793 (scroll down to Jennifer’s post for detailed info. She mentions chipping in a couple paints)As for me, I mix paint brands all the time and nothing happens (Liquitex and Golden). I never have any chipping problems.
Acrylics aren’t oil based, they are water based. As for getting the tubed paint to play nice with the other, you just need to thin it with water, straight from the tube is too thick, hence why you are having blending and chipping problems.
Hope this helps. I use both the “craft” type and the tube all the time with good results by thinning.
Good luck!
Kyrin
Ditto on what Kyrin said…Thin with water or a good acryllic thinner. I mix all kinds of paints, and the only problem I have is the paint when it is still damp coming off. 🙄 But, I have learned to be patient and wait for it to dry thouroughly. 😉
Thank you Kujacker, that is very helpful! I will look those over more thoroughly. I am truly perplexed as to why my two paints don’t play well.
Kyrin, I am very aware that acrylics are not oil-based, I’m sorry if it sounded like I was confused on that score. Actually, the whole nature of acrylic paint is rather perplexing and frustrating for me because it is so different in nature from what I am used to, i.e. Oils.
I have actually tried thinning my paints with water, and it hasn’t helped them agree with each other. It may be a lost cause to even attempt it, but I am an experimenter by nature. I haven’t tried acrylic thinner, that may be my next attempt. thank you for your input!Not a problem. I know how different oils and acrylics are. 😉 (I didn’t mean to make you think I thought you didn’t. 😳 )
I don’t know exactly what brands you are trying to mix together. I use Apple Barrel gloss and Folk Art metallics from the craft section. I use Golden and Vangough with a bit of Windsor Newton and Liquitex thrown in. 😀 I have however bought some cheap craft paint, and had disasterous luck which promptly caused me to circular file it immediately. 😛
I am a mixer too! I love to play with colors and I have a whole set of plastic storage drawers full of paint colors I have mixed but haven’t had the chance to use yet. 😆
(I have found I do have trouble getting flat out of a bottle to mix with tubed paint from golden…which is perplexing. 😕 )
Oh, and sometimes instead of thinning them with water when I mix, I leave them thick and use blending gel from folk art to thin them down a bit(No, I don’t follow the directions for this method), I found it works well for me. Just some ideas. 😀
(I would be happy to answer any questions about how I paint if you want to PM me. Mind you I am not a professional! 😯 )cryptarch wrote:Thank you Kujacker, that is very helpful! I will look those over more thoroughly. I am truly perplexed as to why my two paints don’t play well.
Kyrin, I am very aware that acrylics are not oil-based, I’m sorry if it sounded like I was confused on that score. Actually, the whole nature of acrylic paint is rather perplexing and frustrating for me because it is so different in nature from what I am used to, i.e. Oils.
I have actually tried thinning my paints with water, and it hasn’t helped them agree with each other. It may be a lost cause to even attempt it, but I am an experimenter by nature. I haven’t tried acrylic thinner, that may be my next attempt. thank you for your input!Don’t thin too much with water (no offense Kyrin). Acrylics are based in a polymer emulsion, and the polymer structure begins to break down when too much water is added- the polymers cannot bind to one another, and eventually (not necessarily right away) the paint becomes brittle or unstable. If you can find a good mixing medium to thin or extend the paint you can try that.
I have had similar results with the craft paints vs. art grade paints. When I was first hired on to test paint PYOs for Windstone I purchased a bunch of the cheapest craft paint I could find, and some of the mid-range craft paint. The cheap stuff was pretty terrible- on its own it was okay (if not ‘flat’ and dull) but when I attempted to mix with any of my good artists acrylics (Golden, Liquitex, Windstor & Newton, etc…) the results were not too pretty. You may want to just stick with one or the other. If you have them, the artist’s grade paints will last a lot longer and will retain their color much better for years and years. Most craft grade paints are not considered archival. If that is not a concern (obviously it is for us at Windstone, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is to those that are just painting for fun 🙂 ) then no worries.
Additionally, I have found that mixing a gel retarder (for acrylics) in with the paint helps extend the drying time and they can then be blended a bit more like oil paints can. Give it a go on some scrap paper and see if you enjoy the results more than working with straight acrylic.
Best wishes and happy painting!
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My art: featherdust.comWindstoneCollector, I wasn’t offended, I just thought I would clarify ^_~
I am a starving grad student, so I am using pretty cheap paints which might be a big part of my problem… I am not at home right now though and I don’t know the brands of my paint off the top of my head. Mixing gel sounds like a good idea… even if it doesn’t help the mixing, sometimes I am frustrated with the speed at which my paints dry, so it sounds like a good additive.Thanks Jennifer! I guessed that too much water wouldn’t be good, but I didn’t know what to thin with besides that. with oils I would use a little linseed oil or turps, but obviously that won’t work here. I will consider saving up for some better paints…
I’ve tried working with the more economic brands of paint (Apple Barrel, FolkArt) and overall been pretty happy with them. I have only used them exclusively on one Muse; I’ve been working mostly with Golden after her (I wanted to play with the great colors they had even though I’m a beginner 😳 ). The two economic “craft” brands above mixed well with each other when I thinned them with GAC 100 (acrylic thinning medium) and also when I mixed them with acrylic blending medium. I also had some Golden Interference in a tube (way thick), but with the thinning medium I was able to get it to mix well with the craft paints. The thinning medium may be the missing link.
Currently I’m able to mix Golden paints with FolkArt metallics without problems, using a little water. Of course using water may not be such a good idea, and I know it. 😳 I keep meaning to go back to the thinning medium again . . . maybe when my skills improve! 😉
oo, thank you Barrdwing. I think I have some Folkart paints… once I get home I think I will make a check of what I have and see if I can get some thinning medium. I really have loved working on my muse. If I can get some pictures and repair the little bit of flaking, I might try and post them here. Seriously, guys, thank you so much for the experienced input!
Edit: for the sake of clarity, I have some Blick craft paints, some folkart paints, and the tube paint I have is Vanguard.
I don’t use a lot of water, Jenn…just enough to get the paint to flow across what I am working on. 🙂
I’ve really never really encountered a problem getting acrylics to blend with other acrylics, but then I don’t use many of the low end acrylic paints anymore, so I can’t really say what they would do. Best thing to do would be to just stick to one brand of paint if you want to mix them. All I can think to contribute at this point.
Kyrin
I’ve been able to layer folkart and golden before. I don’t like doing it since I find folkart rubs off really easily, and I end up re-painting sections over and over.
I still don’t like using craft quality paint. I prefer artist quality. It’s easier to work with most of the time.
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