Research

The main components for the Acrylic Pouring are acrylic paint, a Pouring Medium and something to paint on. You can also add silicone oil for cell formation or tools (like a bullet chain or colander, etc) for different patterns. Also nice to use are cups or containers to put the paint in, wooden spatula to mix, a painting knife / scraper to spread the paint and a burner for more effects.

Protect the surface with a sheet or something like newspapers, because acrylic pouring often leaves traces of paint next to the canvas. You can also put on gloves so your hands won’t get full of paint.

Use a cup or container of your choice, put some acrylic paint in it and then, depending on the pouring medium used, pour in the same amount or twice as much of the pouring medium. Mix the whole thing carefully until it is a homogeneous mass. The consistency should be like liquid honey. If the mixture is too thin, you can also add some water and mix everything again. If you want to have cells in your paintings, you can now add 1-2 drops of silicone oil and roughly mix it in Then you pour the color mixture onto the painting base, moving, tilting or spinning it for different outcomes.

Leave these mixtures to stand for a while so that the bubbles can rise to the surface. If you start polishing right away, you will have air holes everywhere in the surface. Some pourers make their mixtures one day before the actual pouring to avoid air bubbles.

Creating cells in your pourings is one of the main goals of most techniques. But how do you get these cells into your Pourings?

The addition of silicone creates the desired cells on the acrylic flow technique. But with which silicon-containing product do you get the most cells or the largest cells?

This is not about mixing in any silicone oil, but about knowing the properties and the connections why one oil produces small cells and the other large cells – or in the stupidest case hardly any cells.

A flip cup pour refers to placing an upside down cup full of paint onto a surface, and then either pulling it off to allow the paint to flow out, or poking holes in the top to relieve pressure and allow the paint to come out from under the cup. You can also add silicone oil.

A dirty pour refers to the process of layering individual colors in a cup, and then pouring them onto a surface all at once. Dirty pours are the most common pours, and a wide variety of results can be achieved using this acrylic pouring technique.

A puddle pour uses a dirty cup to create a puddle of paint in the middle of a surface that can then be manipulated either by moving the canvas/surface or using air to manipulate it.

A swipe refers to the process of pouring individual colors and then using a tool like a slightly damp, flattened paper towel or a cake frosting spatula to swipe the paint. This is a great technique to achieve cells.

A tree ring pour utilizes the dirty pour technique, but changes up the way you actually pour the paint onto the canvas to create a mesmerizing design.

This technique is every bit as fun as it sounds! A balloon smash is an acrylic pouring technique that uses a bouncy, inflates surface to create unique shapes in mini puddle pours. A balloon smash can be done in conjunction with a clean or dirty pour, and creates flower-like designs.

A controlled marble pour is the technique of creating a faux marble finish with a carefully planned pour. In the Beginner section, we discussed that this is attainable with a flip cup pour, but you can also control the results with a more intricate method.

More advanced techniques:

A string pull uses a piece of string or a chain to create feather-like wisps of color on a poured background. These light and airy designs can then be outlined to create striking feathers, or left as-is for a natural look.

A Dutch Pour or Blow Pour is created by pouring paint (usually using the dirty cup technique) onto a canvas and using a blow dryer or other air manipulation to spread the color. This is a great technique if you’re looking to create abstract flowers or other unique and interesting shapes!

A dip is done by pouring on one canvas or surface, then taking another canvas/surface and pressing the two face to face.
Make sure that you do not have a very thick layer of paint on the surface, or your painting will crack.