Creating my Acrylic Pouring Station

It is so awesome that so many people enjoyed my first ever acrylic pour journey!  If you missed it, you can read it here An Acrylic Pouring Beginning. On the chance you remember from my previous article, I’m 100% percent committed to my passions, which usually means draining the checkbook! Well… I’m trying extremely hard to be good! Had a payday since the last article, so I allowed another $20.00 to budget for painting supplies, and I bought a few (?) things.  First, I found a 10 pack of 8×10 stretched canvas for $10!! Oh, yeah, thanks goes out to my viewers Katherine Stephens & Marcia Jackson for suggesting Hobby Lobby! Then I just went a little fanatic and decided I need a painting station

Station1

Since it’s the middle of summer and it’s really too hot to paint outside or in the garage, (after all, it wouldn’t be good for the paint to skin over before it’s finished being mixed with the flowing agent!) I’ve been paint pouring in the cool comfortable house. Now, where I’ve been pouring is in the dining room. Nobody needs a dining room table for eating, right? Yeah, yeah, okay, we do need a table for eating if we wish to stay civilized! But, that puppy can be shoved aside for a bit! Am I right? That leaves plenty of room for a wire shelving unit that I just happen to own and have been using it for “unimportant” stuff like food storage.  

Now it graces the main space in the dining room.  However, the wire shelf on top, really is not good for catching drips or creating a level surface.  Subsequently, I set hubby to task of making a wooden top just a few inches larger than the unit, but not so much that the unit would tend to tip, but enough that it gives me a bit more elbow room. Betwixt the two of us, we decide six inches on either end would be a good compromise. 

Then we got all enthusiastic and decided we wanted to do a pour on the wood top! That would be so fun!  However, methinks that is an advanced pour, and I’m still a poor beginner! As mentioned before, from our house paint cabinet we were able to rescue a can of white and a can of red. Since white is used in just about every pour, we decided to go with the red.   Presently, I love all colors, but, red… Really not my favorite, as a matter of fact, it’s my least favorite color of all and honestly, if it wasn’t needed for making other pretty colors, as far as I’m concerned, it could just go away! Seriously, I really didn’t want to paint the top red, but then again, maybe, just maybe if it’s red it will motivate me to build my skill enough to be able to acrylic pour on the top to cover the red! Yay me!

Station2

Okay, back to the story. To make the top stay in place and be stable, we thought it would be a great idea to drill holes at the exact spot where the factory poles ended. Hubby is such a handyman!

He took the top shelf off and used it to mark the location of the poles. Then after he drilled the holes, he dry fit it to the shelf. See the ugly wood? Yeah, it requires paint! 

Station3

Next, he rounded the corners to save the Grand Love Bugs from Injury. Since it’s pressboard, he used a bit of masking tape to hold the corners stable whilst cutting.

Station4 Station5 Station6

Whilst he was drilling and sawing and measuring, oh my, I interrupted him with a little tidbit from Harlyn W. Camadine, who was one of the commenters on the previous article. Harlyn taps into the “Entertainment expense” of the budget for acrylic pouring! What an awesome idea! Thank you Haryln for the suggestion! Well, now, hubby was totally down with that idea, and we made the decision to pull out another $20 from the entertainment and make a quick run for paint!

Michaels just happened to have a 50% off coupon for an Independence Day Sale that weekend, so that sounded like a great plan for buying paint with my newly acquired $20 plus the just less than $10 from the previous canvas purchase (can’t forget the sales tax, it is California after all!) Now, Hubby is such a trooper, he went and asked if he could make multiple runs through the checkout and use the coupon multiple times, and the employees were more than happy to accommodate, so off he went, through the line three different times! Go Hubby! Some of the paint that seemed like the best bang for the buck, were the sets of small bottles.  

  • CraftSmart acrylic paint basic matte set with 32 colors for $14.99 full price.  
  • CraftSmart acrylic paint satin finish set with 16 colors for $9.99 full price.
  • And the 3rd was a metallic set (yeah that’s fun right?) with 8 colors also for $9.99.

Station7 Station8

Then there was this cute little photo frame with a heart cut out. It was only a buck, so I didn’t make hubby go through the checkout a fourth time just to get a discount! A grand total of,  wait for it… $19.38! Below my $20 budget! Yahoo!!! But remember, we still have just under $10.00 left from the last budget, well that didn’t last long as we stopped at a few yard sales on the way home. Not sure if the yard sale is an exclusively American thing, so a quick explanation: You set up tables in your front yard and put junk you no longer want to own up for sale for really cheap prices. Then people who think your junk is better than their junk give you money for your junk.  Everybody wins! Well now, at said yard sale, hubby finds not only one but two, that’s two containers of… wait for it…red paint!  

Can you believe the homeowner wanted a quarter (25 cents) for each full container of red paint? Right?  Oh, the glue was also 25 cents, but I think it’s just too dried to use. Ya win some, ya lose some. 

Station9

Then at another yard sale, I found this oak wood homemade thingy.  Not sure what it was built to be, but it might work as a storage rack for the canvas!  Notice the can of Krylon Clear spray? Both of these were also the extreme price of 25 cents! Two yard sales, awesome prices, all this fun stuff and there is still more than $8 left!  Wahoo!!

Station10

Station11 Station12

When we got home, hubby primed the wood top white. 

Station14Station13

And whilst he had the primer out, he threw a coat of primer on the cute little heart frame.

Since we both couldn’t be priming at the same time, I went on a treasure hunt around the house. There were four caster wheels idly sitting in my toolbox, and guess what? They fit the rack like factory!

There were also four Sterilite drawer banks that had previously been used to hold toys for the grand love bugs but were replaced with one of those crib sets with built in drawers that just so happened to be a yard sale find as well! Hey! That bed is a story in itself! Maybe we’ll do an acrylic pour on it and write all about it! How’s that sound?  

But I digress! The clear drawers are perfect for the new paint bottles, and just happen to fit like a glove on the bottom shelf! The red organizer just happened to be sitting there lonely on my desk, and the paints look just lovely! 

Station15

Among my treasure on this treasure hunt, I found this old oil based painting that came with a group from yet another yard sale years ago. Not really fond of it, it’s not bad, just depressing. So I thought it could be painted with gesso and acrylic poured over! Shall I give it a go? 

Station16

Let’s go check on hubby and the tabletop!    

Station17 Station18

The primer was dry, and hubby was preparing the red (ugh) paint for the wood top. The house paint seemed a little thick to apply in the heat, so we added a little water, and all that did was make the brush strokes more obvious. Then a thought popped up! Why not try the Floetrol? So we guessed at the amount and although it did help, there were still brush marks in the red(ugh) paint. Very disappointing, doubly disappointing, actually.  

Since it will be painted over with a pour, I decided to do a little experiment and sprayed it lightly with plain water. Remember, it’s summer, and it’s hot, even in the garage it had to be at least 105 degrees! Well, the experiment was a success! The light spray and the brush marks disappeared! Yay!  

Station20

But wait! Guess what? The wood top was not on a completely level surface, so the paint ran! Duh, isn’t that what acrylic pouring is all about? Making runs, drips and errors? (Sorry for the 1970’s T.V. commercial flashback) 

Station19 Station21

With the top completely painted red(ugh), hubby went about cleaning up his garage and I went back to organizing the shelf. 

Station22

The top of the 36 count paint had little circles with the color and name of each paint. The label just happened to be adhesive backed and carefully peeling it from the plastic and cutting out each circle, they fit nicely on top of each corresponding paint bottle!  

Station25

But the smaller two packs of paint didn’t have the cute little circles, and I had written the color on the top with sharpie, but got over zealous and printed each name on adhesive labels and cleaned up the look. 

Station23

The weekend was almost over, the table top was nowhere near dry enough to bring into the house and we both needed to go to work the next day, but, Independence day, the 4th of July was fast approaching and we both had Thursday and Friday off as well as the weekend.A four day weekend and a payday, yahoo! 

Station24

Monday, I stopped by the dollar store and purchased a few more condiment bottles and used up the last of the budget. By Wednesday, the top was dry and set up! 

Be sure to check out my next blog post to see how my first pour with my brand spankin’ new pouring station went!

10 thoughts on “Creating my Acrylic Pouring Station”

  1. Rochelle,
    I love this article….the detail, the humor, the finished product. I hope you enjoy your new adventure in acrylic pouring.
    BTW, red paired with black is one of my favorite color combos.
    Karen

    1. ROCHELLE FREEMAN

      Thank you Joanna!
      He is definitely a keeper!
      Just like acrylic pouring, each human is unique,
      so sorry, no copies available! 😉

  2. You can’t paint acrylic over oil paint, gesso is acrylic based, so it’s not a good idea to pour on the gesso-covered old oil painting. Eventually the gesso and acrylic pour will lift, and you will lose your painting. Also, while the new table looks lovely with the red top, it may affect your colour choices, your work surfaces should be neutral, you won’t “see”colours accurately on a red surface.

  3. Sonja Van Rooyen

    Hi Rochelle

    Thank you for all your precious time and interesting articles, it’s so appreciated. Sending you lots of blessings.

    Regards
    Sonja

  4. ROCHELLE FREEMAN

    Thank you Judy, that is very good to know
    about the paint lifting!
    Will a paint primer like Kilz work
    over the old oil painting?
    And that is a very good point about making
    the table top a neutral color! Until I get a chance
    to paint it, I’ll be sure to cover it whilst creating
    art!

  5. Elisa Martínez

    I loved your article then I read your bio and understood why I liked it so much. I am new to acrylic pour, still buying all I need and subjected to a budget. It was as if It was me telling the story! I am from The Dominican Republic, have been married for 37 years 3 kids and 1 granddaughter! If we had crossed path I am sure that we would be friends! You are welcome to the DR anytime you like!!

    1. Rochelle Freeman

      Oh Thank you Elisa Martínez !
      It does sound like we’d be friends!!
      Come back again, because I have tons of stories to share!

  6. So wonderful! Happy to have found your site. I hope you are still painting!!! You are just fabulous….as is your most wonderfully and supportive husband. So adorable together.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pin153
Share7