13
votes
Accepted
How do you bond clear acrylic to wood?
Consider a clear-drying epoxy. Note that not all epoxies are equal. In a general sense they can bond different materials together with ease.
Here is an earlier epoxy advertisement where they glued a ...
11
votes
What is this liquid called in my India ink?
India ink has only three ingredients: lampblack, water and gelatin or shellac as a binder(in fact, traditional India ink doesn't even contain this), with shellac being much more common. As you've ...
11
votes
Accepted
How to erase visible pencil marks on wood that has been painted over with acrylic paint?
You cannot erase it anymore. The graphite is underneath the paint, slightly mixed up in it.
The only way to get rid of the graphite is by painting over it, I'm afraid. But instead of painting layer ...
10
votes
Can I use an airbrush inside?
As said by Tom, you should use a mask to spray indoor. It is quite convenient when you are alone but that does not protect your environment. Also don't forget that if you should be wearing a mask in a ...
10
votes
Accepted
Can I use an airbrush inside?
If you would rather use it indoors, that's fine as long as you wear a mask. If you're doing a lot, consider one of the heavy-duty ones:
You can generally buy these anywhere you can buy spray paint or ...
10
votes
Should I stain wood then use acrylic or vice versa?
DeAngelis,
In my personal experience, I have had the most success with this type of project by applying a water-based stain first, followed by the acrylics, and lastly the sealer coat. You must ...
8
votes
It is easier to learn to use oil paint or acrylic paint?
Oil paint dries slowly and mixes well on canvas (A thin paint will stick to a thick paint). It also adds texture but shows brush strokes. You are going to want to work in a ventilated area.
Acrylic ...
8
votes
Accepted
How can I clean a paintbrush used in acrylic paint?
Dipping your brush into water isn't going to do anything other than get your brush wet. To actually clean a brush, you need physical agitation, and I don't mean "swish it around in the water jar a few ...
8
votes
Mixing Acrylic Paint With Water ( And Storing It )
Paint is a chemical with a blend of several characteristics. Two of those characteristics are:
- Carrying a pigment (color)
- Sticking to a surface (glue)
A 50/50 mix would reduce the binder (glue) ...
8
votes
Can I make primer from student grade acrylics?
In short: No, you cannot make an effective primer out of paint.
Primer is not just "paint without pigment," and the purpose of it isn't as a base coat; the purpose of primer is to prepare your ...
7
votes
How can I clean a paintbrush used in acrylic paint?
Clean them fast. Acryclic paint dries quickly, so it's important to clean your paintbrushes as soon as possible after you've finished using them, so that the paint doesn't get the chance to start ...
7
votes
Accepted
It is easier to learn to use oil paint or acrylic paint?
Generally speaking, acrylic is a cheaper and more forgiving medium to start with. As mentioned by other respondents, acrylic is fast-drying and can be painted over. You can also use acrylic media, ...
7
votes
Accepted
What techniques can I use to stop paint getting under masking tape?
There's painters tape designed to seal much better with latex paint (e.g., Frogtape); it has a material that sucks up water and gels on contact so water-based paint can't flow past the edge. However, ...
7
votes
Acrylics in the drain?
Yes, that concern is very valid, and it has always been a problem in any school art room I've ever been to (even though we used only water paints in school).
You should never wash big amounts of paint ...

Elmy♦
- 12.6k
6
votes
Is there any way to paint with acrylics over oil?
As Catija implied, if your oil painting is less than 6 months old you shouldn’t do this. And if the oil paint is impasto (very thick) you should wait up to 18 months before varnishing. A very bad ...
6
votes
Painting from reference - use image as base or start from scratch?
I would personally paint it separately from the original drawing, for a few reasons:
I find that if I paint over pencil using acrylics, either the pencil lines become completely obscured by the paint ...
6
votes
What techniques can I use to stop paint getting under masking tape?
After applying the masking tape, first apply another layer of your base coat paint. Any bleeding that might occur from this, will be in the same colour as the wall and thus be invisible and will clog ...
5
votes
What is the purpose of an underpainting?
The reasons I like to use underpainting when doing art in oil or acrylic are:
Sometimes having small/subtle areas where the underpainting shows through can add interest to the painting. Some of the ...
5
votes
Accepted
Pony hair vs synthetic hair painting brushes
It depends on the synthetic brush that is available. Generally speaking, pony hair brushes are often used in schools since they are inexpensive, yet strong and soft. However, they do not retain the ...
5
votes
Accepted
What is this liquid called in my India ink?
According to Mayer, that is water, shellac and borax.
Although @walrus answered your question perfectly, I would like to address the other issue: where to find a painting medium that isn’t a varnish.
...
5
votes
Accepted
Can I use the same brush for oil and acrylic painting?
The most important thing is to keep your brushes clean and dry between uses. Use a mild soap and lukewarm water (marseille soap is my favorite) to clean your brushes after you have used them, whether ...
5
votes
How can I make my old acrylic paints dissolve and flow freely again?
I suspect that you are encountering a problem with the clumping of additives or fillers, because in a closed tube it is rather impossible to have acrylic dry. You could try to regrind them with a ...
5
votes
Accepted
How to make black paint marks over another colour
That is called a vignette. Basically it is a soft blend of the dark edge that frames the outside of a picture (or any image like a photo or movie frame) into the outer areas of the front face. Here I ...
5
votes
Accepted
How to mix burnt umber with the 3 primaries and black/white
I see several probable problems here:
You use the wrong "primary" colors
The quality of your paints might be low
You try to replicate a certain pigment without actually using this pigment
Let's look ...

Elmy♦
- 12.6k
5
votes
Can I mix acrylic paints into resin?
Yes, you can mix acrylic paint into resin (I assume you mean epoxy resin), but the results may wary from paint to paint.
The general rules apply:
You can mix wet ingredients (paints, inks) up to 10% ...

Elmy♦
- 12.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Acrylic paint on wood: how to make it "glow" after the painting is already done
I think it's hard to judge the real difference between the paintings your nephew made and the example of the goal he has in mind: the first are taken in what seems a yellowish light, while the second ...
5
votes
Which chemical/ substance could help make fractals in acrylic paint on glass?
I'm not sure I completely understand what your result should look like, but the example image is most likely created using acryllic pouring technique.
It works by covering a canvas with a relatively ...

Elmy♦
- 12.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Direction of light in a dark painting?
The light currently seems to be coming from a diffuse source a little bit above the observer's position (or slightly above the painting's 'window').
If you want the light to come from the halo, ...
4
votes
It is easier to learn to use oil paint or acrylic paint?
I'll have to agree with the others that acrylic is much easier to use. I've done mostly watercolor and acrylic on all my pieces, and have figured out the basic rules to get the best results. But oil, ...
4
votes
How do you bond clear acrylic to wood?
Look for clear epoxies, sometimes sold for encapsulating. They'll stick fairly well to both materials, though presumably not as well as epoxy sold as glue. You have a lot of contact area so the bond ...
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