Hi there! Welcome to my pour painting supply list. After several years of trial and error, wasted supplies, and failed experiments trying to get the best cells and the perfect combination of colors, the supplies displayed in this list are products that have become favorites of mine over time, and they are products that I use on a regular basic to create my pour paintings. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to create a work of art, feel free to experiment with the supplies I have listed to here to find what works best for you!
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1. Flood Floetrol
This latex based paint additive is the base I use for mixing my paint for fluid art. It’s cheaper than brand-name pouring mediums and can be found on Amazon and at most hardware stores in the paint section. I personally like the way it dries better than others that I’ve tried, but don’t let that stop you from experimenting with other brands!
This product is my secret to getting amazing cells every time! Any brand of silicone oil should do, but this one is my go-to. I only add 1-3 drop per color when pouring on 11x14 inch size canvases in smaller quantities, and I recommend only adding 5 drops per color at most to larger quantities because this product goes such a long way. Do not stir the oil into the paint before pouring as it will cause the oil to separate too much resulting in smaller cells.
Pour paintings are a lot of fun, but they can also be very messy. Depending what type of pouring medium, paint, and oil you’re using, I’ve found that plastic, paper, and canvas materials don’t always make for the best drop clothes. The best thing about silicone mats is that they are reusable - once paint or resin dries on the mat, it peels up very well from the surface, often times in one large piece, making cleanup really easy. The material is durable too, unlike plastic sheets which snag easily on rough surfaces. The mats are also impermeable, meaning I don’t run into issues of having paint soak through paper or canvas drop clothes and ruining the surface underneath that I’m working on.
I went through an entire box of jumbo craft popsicle sticks in less than two weeks using them to mix my paint before I made the switch to these silicone mixing sticks. These mixing sticks clean off just as easily as the silicone mat, and I’m saving money as well as reducing my waste having something that’s reusable. They’re great for mixing both paint and resin!
In my opinion, soft body acrylic craft paint is the best thing to use for pour paintings. It doesn’t matter what brand you use, but it does matter what type of paint you use. Hard body acrylic paint typically comes in a tube - it’s very thick and requires a lot of thinning to achieve the right consistency for pouring. Soft body acrylic craft paint is usually sold in a bottle - it has a much thinner consistency which makes it more ideal for fluid art. DecoArt is my favorite brand because they offer such a wide array of colors, and I especially love their Black Light Neon color Set!
