Save Your Work Surface With an Easy Pour Box

I have been pouring seriously for about six months, and a few days ago I was shocked when I noticed what my pour box looked like. It looked like a weary, old warrior, home from battle and ready to retire. It looked rough! (see photo below).

pour box

I decided it was time to make a new pour box. Just in case you don’t use a pour box or don’t know what a pour box is, a pour box is the workbench of the pour artist. It’s where all the action happens. The primary reason to have a pour box is to help keep your studio (or kitchen table) as clean as possible.

Supplies I Used

  • Cardboard box—the best boxes come from stores like Costco or Sams
  • Plastic cups or wooden dowels (depending on the style box you choose)
  • Scissors for poking holes in your box (to insert dowels)
  • Tape to cover up any holes in the bottom of the box
  • Plastic cutting sheet (wax paper will also work) to line bottom of box
  • Flow Acrylic Paint by Artist’s Loft in Neon Pink, Blue, and white mixed with a tiny amount of purple
  • Floetrol
  • Treadmill belt silicone

The pour box is indispensible. When you mix your paints, you do it over the pour box. It can catch any paint that slops over the side of your cup as you mix in a few more ounces of Floetrol or a shot of water.

When it’s time to create your painting, you place your canvas inside the pour box and start pouring the paint. Your pour box will catch all the paint that flows off the sides of your canvas and keep all that excess paint in the bottom of the box rather than on the kitchen table or floor.

When you decide to make a pour box, the most important factor is deciding what size canvas you will typically be pouring on. If you normally pour on an 8×8- or 10×10-inch canvas, then your box only needs to be a few inches larger than your canvas.

A safe bet would be to use a box that is six inches larger than the canvas you plan to use—three inches buffer zone for each side. But as I mention in the video, don’t overthink this. The box just needs to be bigger than the canvas so it can catch the dripping paint.

This is a good example of a simple pour box.

pour box

Finding a good box

The best place to find a good box is at Sam’s Club or Costco. Walmart would probably work, too, but Sam’s and Costco seem to have lots of good boxes. (Look for boxes that hold bread or fruit.)

In my experience, both of these stores are happy to give these boxes away. If you find your ideal box and it has holes or openings on the side or bottom, don’t worry. Simply cover the holes with tape to make sure paint can’t sneak out.

You will need a way to hold your canvas above the bottom of the box so the canvas won’t sit in the puddles of poured paint. The easiest way to do this is to simply place four cups inside the box (see photo above).

This is a quick and easy solution, but it does have one major drawback. You won’t be able to easily save the beautiful layers of paint that form on the bottom of your box. These thin layers of paint are called “skins” and they can be really pretty. So pretty that a lot of artists like to use them to make jewelry.

When I made my first pour box I wasn’t concerned about saving skins, so I went with the cups (see first photo). Now I have friends asking me to save my paint skins for them so they can use them in their art projects. That leads me to the creation of the advanced pour box.

Creating an Advanced Pour Box

pour box

For my box, I ended up using four aluminum rods simply because I had them leftover from an earlier art project. I recommend you use wooden dowels to support your canvas.

Notice the plastic sheets covering part of the bottom of the box. The paint drippings (a.k.a., skins) will easily peel off the plastic and can be used for other art projects.

The advanced pouring box will cost a few more dollars and take just a little more time than the basic pour box. Really, the only reason to go with this style of box is to be able to save the paint skins.

For the advanced box, the only additional items you’ll need are wooden dowels and something to cover the bottom of the box (like a thin piece of plastic, or I’ve been told that wax paper will work as well).

The wooden dowels can be found at craft stores or hardware stores or online and should only cost a dollar or two each. The dowels will be used instead of the cups to hold your canvas up off the bottom of the box.

Typically one wooden dowel will be long enough that you could cut it in half and use it as two of your supports. A large box will need four or five supports. A small box may only need two or three.

Don’t overthink this part…all you need to do is measure the width of your box and make your dowels two inches longer than the box. That way, after you poke the holes in the side of the box, the dowels will stick out about an inch on either side (see photo).

Approximately one inch from the top edge of your box, you will make three or four holes where you want the dowels to go. Do this on two sides of the box (see photo).

I used a pair of scissors to poke my holes, and, I have to confess: I didn’t even measure. I just eyeballed it and it worked out fine. Remember, the pour box is not the work of art—it’s just a container to catch dripping paint.

The final step is to put something in the bottom of the box that will make it easy to remove the paint skins. I visited my local Dollar Tree and found a two-pack of thin plastic sheets you would use in the kitchen to cut veggies or meat on and not hurt the countertop.

Put these in the bottom of the box, and when your paint drippings dry, they should peel right off the plastic and you will have gorgeous skins to use for other projects.

I realize this blog is a bit long, but I wanted to break things down into simple steps. When you watch the video, I think you will see just how easy it is to make a functional pour box that you’ll be able to use for months and maybe even years!

If you like the painting in the video, it will be for sale in my Etsy store at a very reasonable price.

Happy pouring!

9 thoughts on “Save Your Work Surface With an Easy Pour Box”

    1. Instead of a box, could I use an aluminum baking pan and lay a silicone mat on the bottom.
      I have plastic cone risers and I have a plastic lazy susan if I decide to go the spin art route.

  1. Thank you for the great idea of making my pour box more useful, I have several boxes but never gave them forethought as something to be itemized for distinct projects. My attitude was whatever is handy. Now I have been pouting for tiles and giving a thought of a vessel to be used all the time is spot on. Once again thank you for sharing!

    1. My thoughts exactly. Perhaps he moves his paintings to an even surface after pouring, instead of leaving them in the pour box.

  2. I’ve found that using a large litter box along with a metal baking rack works much better. Once the paint dries inside of the litter box you can peel it right off.

  3. I grabbed a pizza box (that was clean), lined it with wax paper & used the little plastic pieces they put on top of pizza (3 legs & triangle or round top) that I had saved up to put my small pieces of work on. This works as a starter box 🙂 As another had mentioned, my concern with your box would be that the rods may not be level & the paints could run as it sits. Therefore I think it would be worth taking the time to measure for those. Also I covered the entire bottom of my box as you never know where the drops may go…. As always enjoy your videos!

  4. Great pour boxes. I covered my large box with a plastic garbage bag. The paint skins just peel right off.

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