Acrylic pouring painting is unique, satisfying yet easy. Getting the right acrylic pouring supplies allows a lot of artists to create professional paintings.
But whether you are a beginner or an expert, there are some specific acrylic pouring supplies that you will need. You don’t always need a lot of supplies to get started, and you can just create your paintings with limited ones.
What is acrylic pouring?
Before I get started with the supplies, it is important to understand what acrylic pouring painting is. Acrylic pouring painting is a procedure of mixing acrylic paint with a pouring medium and pouring it on different surfaces.
Every color can be mixed in a different cup, or they can all be mixed together. They are then used to create some specific patterns or create a design. Then surface the paints that are poured on the tilted to each side, and the paint flows freely to create patterns.
All of the acrylic pouring paintings different from the other but yet have an aesthetic look. There is no saying how many colors you can mix or pour on your surface to create the patterns on it. The imagination is the limit.
What supplies do you need for acrylic pouring
Now that you know what acrylic pouring is, it is important to understand what acrylic pouring supplies you need. Every painting design and style is different from the other, and as acrylic pouring painting is very different from others, it has different needs as well.
Surface
It only makes sense to have a surface where you are going to pour your paints. There are different kinds of surfaces on which you can do your pouring painting:
Wood panels
Sealing and priming your wood panel is just one of the requirements when you are trying to use it. Other than that, you can use any type or size of wood panel that you want or you can afford.
Canvases
You can use any kind, size, or shape of the stretched canvas that you want. They can be easily found in the different art supply stores, and you can choose the one that fits your budget the best. You might want to use canvases which have staple free edges. They can be displayed without having to use a frame; hence, they are the best ones for pour painting.
Convenient Surfaces
Every artist likes to get creative when they are at work. No artist is every bound to create everything the conventional way, and that is why they are called the artists. In pour painting, you can use any convenient surface. It can be an old tile that you don’t need anymore or even some old records that you don’t want anymore.
Paintbrushes and gesso
After you have chosen a surface you want to work on, the next point is getting it primed. A lot of people use unprimed wood or canvases, and if you don’t use gesso on these surfaces, it can affect your whole painting. Using a gesso bottle helps the paint adhere to the surfaces.
Along with that, you need a paintbrush that you can use to apply it. It can be any size brush, but it is preferred to have a bigger one to get done with the work quickly. Coat your gesso on the surface a day before you are planning to paint and let it dry out for a whole 24 hours.
Acrylic paints
As the painting is called the acrylic pour painting, there is no way you can do it without some acrylic paints. It is preferred to use some soft body or liquid acrylic paints to easily use them and render the need to mix it without anything else unnecessary.
It is going to entirely depend upon you while collecting your acrylic painting supplies that what kind of pains you are choosing. All of these paints will differ in quality, and price ranges will be different as well. You can check out the stores and see which ones work the best for you. Remember to maintain the quality of the products you purchase, or you might not see the results you expected to see in your painting.
You will need at least two colors when you begin painting. You can plan out your whole painting before or can grab some random colors and see how it goes from there. Start by buying a whole liquid acrylic set or can just grab the colors that you love. If you are trying to make it look professional and want to sell it, try to show your creativity with 8 to 10 colors and mix them before or just on the board.
Pouring medium
When you are doing pour painting, pouring medium is a necessity. It is what gives the marbled effect on your painting. It also keeps all the colors from mixing into each other and creating a mess, which it would if you didn’t add the pouring medium.
If you want to create the perfect painting, you will need the perfect quality of pouring medium to keep the paint from getting dry and creating a cracked effect.
Mixing cups
It is always preferred to use disposable cups, so you don’t have to wash them afterward. You can simply use the plastic beverage cups and mix your colors with pouring medium and pour it all over the surface.
You can grab any size of cup you want depending upon the size of painting you are trying to create. Get an estimate beforehand, and it will save you from having to mix up more paint while worrying about the applied paint drying up too fast.
Craft wooden sticks
Using the wooden craft sticks will help you easily stir the paint. It will keep you from using any of the spoons, knives, or pencils for this purpose. You can also use a disposable spoon for this purpose if you want to, but it will keep sticking on your spoon, and you won’t be able to get it off.
There are different kinds of wooden sticks, and it is preferred to use the large-sized craft wooden sticks to avoid any problems.
Plastic squeeze bottles
You must have seen a lot of videos on YouTube or on your Instagram, where the artists just pour the paint pointlessly. When you get into it professionally, you will realize that this is not the case while creating a real pour painting.
You will sometimes need to carefully place some paints at the point to make sense out of it and give it a rhythm. The small plastic squeeze bottles are essential in the acrylic painting supplies. It helps you pour the paint as much as you want and wherever you want. You can easily find these bottles in the dollar stores or the normal arts stores. They usually don’t cost a lot either, and you can afford to store all your paint in them easily.
Disposable knives
You will need to smoothen out your paint once you have poured it all. The center will mostly be filled, but to fill up the edges, you will need a disposable knife or something else like that. You can use palette or plastic knives for this purpose. Some people also use wooden sticks in this, but it is not preferred, and it does not smoothen everything out perfectly.
If you think you can actually work with a wooden stick instead, you can easily try.
Silicone Oil
If you want to create some cells in your painting, adding a few drops of silicone will help. You can use any brand but make sure not to use something too cheap as it can be bad for your painting as well.
Disposable gloves
Acrylic paints are washable, but they don’t come out too easily once they have dried. It is important to stay responsible and wear disposable gloves when you are working with paints. As I have experienced this and am aware that there is going to be a lot of paint around just pouring and flowing, it is a smart thing to always keep your gloves on.
Cleaning material
Being artistic does not mean you can do whatever you want and create a big mess. You need to be careful when you are handling these paints as it can permanently ruin your furniture or your clothes. Keep a couple of empty cans under your painting and a plastic wrap or a foil under it when you start working.
Have a piece of extra clothing to keep cleaning any mess that you create instead of just letting it dry over the surface.
Approximate cost of acrylic pouring supplies
| Acrylic Pouring Essential Supplies | Cost |
| Surface | |
|
$25 |
|
$16 |
| Gesso (32 oz.) | $13 |
| Acrylic Paints (2 oz., 32 Bottles) | $62 |
| Floetrol (1 quart, 2 Pack, wooden sticks included) | $28 |
| Silicone Oil (6 oz.) | $13 |
| Paintbrush (25 Brush Value Pack) | $10 |
| Total | $167 |
The best medium for acrylic pouring
There are a lot of people out there who use acrylic pouring for therapeutic reasons. A pouring medium is essential in all the acrylic pouring supplies. Every artist has their own favorite, but if you are looking for the best, then you have come to the right place.
Floetrolpouring medium is one of the most widely and recommended acrylic pouring medium. It is a silky smooth substance that makes all your paintings silky smooth and cracks free as well. It dissolves the acrylic paint without affecting the color or diluting it.
You can not just create a beautiful sheet but even a puddle using this as your acrylic pouring medium. It gives your paintings the glossy finish, which will last and won’t let the paint start cracking up once it dries.
As it is the best product available in the market, it might be a little pricey but worth it.
What supplies you need to make your own acrylic pouring medium
If you are having trouble finding an acrylic pouring medium or all that you find is too pricey for you, you can try creating your own pouring medium.
There is not a lot that you will need, and the recipe is simple as well. Some people tend to the simple formula of mixing white glue with water. You can try that, or you can try getting the following materials:
- 1 Part Mont Marte Acrylic Medium Gloss
- 3 Parts Mont Marte PVA Glue
- 1.5 Parts Water
- And half a tube of Acrylic Retarder
Mix it all well with the acrylic paint and create a thick creamy mixture. Your acrylic pouring material is ready to be poured.
What acrylic pouring supply can you use instead of Floetrol
Floetrol is an important supply amongst the acrylic pour painting supplies. If you are having trouble finding it in the market and would like to replace it with something else, here are some of the options for you.
It is a pouring medium, and while there are so many other options for you out there, you can simply create your own pouring material using the recipe given above. The results might be a little different from using a floetrol, but it will be almost the same. Also, it would be a lot cheaper and easier to make.
What acrylic pouring supply can you use instead of silicone:
Olive oil. In all your acrylic pouring paintings, you can easily use olive oil to achieve the effects. It is simpler to use, cheaper and available even in your own house. It is preferred not to use any other kind of oil as the results might not be what you want, but you can replace the silicone with olive oil quite easily.
Conclusion
Now that you know what you want for your acrylic pouring supplies list get shopping, and create the masterpieces that you always wanted to. In the end, it is not going to be about the prices of the products but the effort that you put into the paintings.