One of my high school students wanted to try the “flip cup” acrylic pour technique. I talked her through the process and helped her troubleshoot along the way. This was her first attempt, her practice test. She then went on to create two very nice pieces on wooden panels.
Her recipe was:
- 3 parts Liquitex pouring medium
- 1 part Amsterdam brand acrylics
- 1 part water
- a few drops of silicone
She was happy with the end result. It had a nice color scheme and a subtle marble effect.
We talked through some of the difficulties she ran into:
- She had not mixed up enough white paint. As you can see in the video, the white helps the paint from the flip cup spread out to the edge of the substrate. This is because of surface tension. Wet paint flows into wet paint easier than onto a dry surface.
- She didn’t achieve great cell formation despite using silicone. We talked it out later and realized the problem: When she was mixing up the paint, she thoroughly mixed the silicone into the individual paint colors. This was my fault as I wasn’t clear to begin with, but the silicone should be added after the paint is mixed to the correct consistency and LIGHTLY stirred, as in two quick revolutions of the stir stick and that’s it. Some pour artists don’t stir in the silicone at all. She did this the next time and had much better results.
In case you haven’t heard, I have a YouTube Channel. I am adding videos regularly for my newest paintings also how-to and demonstration videos. Please check it out, and while you are there, don’t forget to like and subscribe!
I’ve used resin a lot on woodworking projects and now I’m beginning my acrylic paint pouring ventures. I used east coast resin but recently discovered cactus juice sold here locally in New Braunfels TX where I buy my Micah powders for venetian plaster work. Isn’t there a canvas size equation to determine how much paint you need for pouring?
Yes. I have an entire blog post regarding this question. Just look back in the archives. Some have complained the amounts seem inconsistent, and others online suggest very different amounts. In the end, you just have to experiment. Acrylic pouring technique can be a bit wasteful, especially the flip cup. I now do mostly swipe technique and find I have much less waste and prefer the compositions much more.