Lately, acylic pour painting has been gaining more exposure on the art media. Every time there's more people who want to try acrylic pouring at home or in studios and each time our ideas go further.
It all started making incredible works of art on canvas, and now we use plates, cups, glass, wooden furniture, and other crazy things like phone cases, shoes, skateboards as our painting surface.
Here is an article about Acrylic Pour Painting on Furniture where you can get amazing ideas of different pieces of furniture for your home or office.
Before we dive into the 2 easy DIY Pouring Medium recipes, let's talk a little bit about acrylic pouring and what a pouring medium is. If you just want to get to the recipes, click here.
What is acrylic pouring?
I'm sure you have seen pictures like this, and you are amazed by the way these colors come together.
Acrylic Pouring consists in letting the acrylic paint run through any surface.
You can use any combination of colors in any order using different paint pouring techniques. You will see how the paint moves freely and creates different patterns.
It's super easy: you just let the Acrylic Paint move and create a work of art.
There are different techniques such as Dirty Cup, Flip Cup, and so many others.
How to do acrylic pouring?
Trust me, once I saw pictures of fluid painting, I thought it was very complicated to achieve these kinds of visual effects.
We all probably have some sort experience with trying to do a beautiful painting and in the end not getting the painting we envisioned. Maybe you ended up with a blob of colors that are not so appealing to the eye or your watercolors got mixed and muddied.
The idea of acrylic pouring is precisely to create a painting that with colors that flow and mingle with each other harmoniously.
Maybe it might not seem simple at first sight...
But once you learn the basics of acrylic pouring and master it, you won't believe how easy it is.
It may surprise you that once you have the basics down, it can be quite easy to actually achieve a museum-worthy effect.
Acrylic fluid painting/ acrylic pouring is simple. You just need to have the following materials:
- 1Pouring medium (you can buy it, or you can learn how to do it yourself. Keep reading if you want to get a diy pouring medium recipe.)
- 2Acrylic paint in any colors you want to use
- 3A painting surface that is ready to use. I recommend you use a canvas, tile, or primed wood.
All of the previously mentioned ingredients are necessary, but the star ingredient in this method is the pouring medium.
Here are some pouring mediums I personally recommend.
Brand Name | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|
Best Artistic Grade Pouring Medium   Liquitex 5432 Professional Pouring Effects Medium | 4.7/5 Stars | |
Best Pouring Medium Alternative   Flood Floetrol | 4.7/5 Stars |
Do I really need a Pouring Medium?
Yes, you do!
You see, a pouring medium is a substance used to change the consistency of Acrylic Paint so that it can easily flow over your painting surface.
Without it, your paint will NOT flow properly and you will just end up with a blob of paint!!!
But be careful! You also don't want to make your paint mixture so thin that all your colors end up mixing and creating a muddy color.
By adding a pouring medium to the Acrylic Paint you will get the necessary consistence to make it flow and move in a harmonious way WITHOUT MIXING.
Using a good pouring medium could be the difference between quality and permanence of the paint for years.
Many people choose to use water to “thin” acrylic paint, and sometimes it works; however, you risk losing the brightness of your colors or breaking up the binders that hold the pigments together. Then you will end up with a dull painting or a painting with cracks.
If you’re looking to create a beautiful paint with quality... stick to the pouring medium.
There are many options on the market... even some that have a matte or glossy finish.
However, if you are a beginner and don’t want to spend money on buying a quality pouring medium until you get more experience, then you can make a diy pouring medium at home, with much cheaper ingredients and still get a wonderful result.
Here are two different recipes so you can choose the one that suits you or the ingredients that are easier for you to get.
DIY Pouring Medium With Glue
First you must know that you can create your own pouring medium with Elmer's Glue or PVA Glue. Here are my recipes:
DIY Pouring Elmer’s Glue Medium Recipe
- 1.5 parts "Elmer's Glue All" (150 grams)
- 1 part water (100 grams)
The above mix is 60% glue and 40% water.
To use: Mix enough pouring medium into your acrylic paint until you get a heavy cream like consistency.
This pouring medium is ready to use with your acrylic paints.
Alternate DIY Pouring Medium Recipe
- 3 Parts Floetrol (300 grams)
- 2 Parts PVA glue, Elmer’s Glue or Modpodge (200 grams)
- 1 Part Pouring Medium (100 grams)
- ¼ part water (25 grams)
Measure your ingredients on a scale, pour them into a bottle, and then shake, shake, shake until thoroughly mixed.
To use: Mix enough pouring medium into your acrylic paint until you get a heavy cream like consistency.
So there you have 2 awesome diy acrylic pouring medium options! If you don't want to buy an expensive pouring medium for now because you are barely dipping your toes into fluid art, then go ahead and mix a batch of your own.
If you'd like to learn what is the best pouring medium recipe to achieve different effects and for different techniques, then check out this post.
For a more in depth look at the best pouring mediums on the market, click on the button below!
Let me know in the comments below which pouring medium recipe you liked best!
I need a number for how much acrylic paint to use!
1.5 parts "Elmer's Glue All" (150 grams)
1 part water (100 grams)
And how much paint…
Would it be .5 part?
The problem with answering that kind of question is that every brand of paint out there has different consistencies. Some are thicker than others and therefore will need more pouring medium. So there is NO universal answer. Usually I recommend 1 part paint: 2 parts pouring medium for soft body paints (like craft paints from apple barrel) or 1 part paint: 3 parts pouring medium for medium body paints (consistency looks like that of toothpaste). Then add a little bit of water to get it to the consistency that you want.
How much glue all do you mix with acrylic paint to make a 4 ounce bottle of pouring paint. I want to use condiment bottles either 4 or 8 ounce so I can make more at a time instead of just mixing what I need at the time. I just don’t get it when a website tells you 2 parts of glue all to one part acrylic paint. Do you add water after mixing the glue all and the paint? If you could help me I would greatly appreciate it, I’m looking for a new hobby and this looks fun without really having to paint something perfect.
First of all, let me clarify that you first have to make your pouring medium and then mix that with your paint. You shouldn’t mix glue and paint together and then add water. So first pick a pouring medium that you would like to use, whether it is the glue and water pouring medium recipe or the recipe that has the glue, floetrol, and water, both listed in this post. Follow the measurements for each recipe. Even though the quantities are in parts, you can see inside the parenthesis that I also mention how many grams you could use. For example, in the example below I mention that for 1 part of water, you should use 1.5 parts of Elmer’s Glue All. So if you are using 1 gram of water, you should then use 1.5 grams of Elmer’s Glue All. Or if you use 100 grams of water, then use 150 grams of Elmer’s Glue All. Hope that makes sense. If the “parts” measurement is confusing, just use the grams listed inside the parenthesis and double or triple that depending on how much pouring medium you are making.
1.5 parts “Elmer’s Glue All” (150 grams)
1 part water (100 grams)
Once you have your pouring medium, mix that with paint until you get a warm honey consistency.