Testing Dimethicone for Acrylic Pouring Cells: Coconut Milk Hair Serum (Part 3)

Part 3 in our dimethicone oil test today and this time a different type of product. The last two have been personal lubricants, this one today is found with the hair products. We’ll be testing the hair serum which contains a lesser concentration of the dimethicone but it does include other products. How will this affect the cells in our acrylic pouring?

Pin Me

Video comparison test of three different dimethicone oil products and how they create cells in acrylic pouring and painting

Today I will be using:
Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum for hair

Part 1 in our series with KY True Feel here
Part 2 in our series with AstroGlide here

A word about dimethicone – I’m assuming that it’s use in hair care products has been tested, especially with regard to heating it with hair dryers and flattening irons, therefore, I am assuming that it is safe to gently heat it with our torches during the painting process. However I have no verified data on this, so please use your own judgment and take any precautions that you feel are necessary when adding dimethicone or any additives to your paint.

Straight out of the cup today this product created a lot of cells, and even more cells once it was torched.  Even after tilting the painting, torching again at the end produced more cells again. Take a look at the video and be wow-ed!

So that’s the end of our 3-part dimethicone trials. I’m not sure that a single test of each product gives us any firm conclusion except that all of them will work to produce cells in a flip cup pour without the need to torch the paintings. Torching will add more cells if you want them. The products are all very concentrated so you don’t need to add a lot and that can only be a benefit when it comes to cleaning and varnishing the paintings later on.

I hope this series has been helpful. I’d love it if you would share with your friends, Pin the image to your painting boards and let everyone know about the content here at Acrylic Pouring. As usual, here’s a slideshow of images from this pour, both wet and dry and closeups of the details.

 

28 thoughts on “Testing Dimethicone for Acrylic Pouring Cells: Coconut Milk Hair Serum (Part 3)”

  1. Hi Deby, love watching your tests and all the different effects you get. Just a couple of suggestions/observations : I notice you use the combinations of Y,B,M often and sometimes brown. The last 2 tests produced a lot of ‘grey’ tones, which is what happens when you mix these colour combo’s. Might i suggest you 1. Vary the quantities of each colour so that your preferred dominant colour comes through. I think that because you use those same sized plastic cups all the time that you mix the same quantities. Maybe do 2 cups of magenta say and make one a different hue by adding white or the opposite colour to darken, then less of the other colours in varying degrees. Also: 2. If you want more white, do a large cup of white and smaller cups of other colours. Again, the cup measurements being all the same dont allow for a dominance by one colour. Have a go. Hope this is helpful. Regards. Kathy Sellers (Australia)

    1. Thanks for all those tips. You are quite right about paint volumes, I almost always use the same of each color. And color choices is certainly my weakest area.

    2. I loved this suggestion. Instead of red in my pours, I was getting peppermint. I also used coconut serum but didn’t get cells. Think paints too heavy. Will try again. Enjoy this site

  2. I am new to this and I love your video’s. So professional and good quality sound and visual. And you really explain your process well.
    I wanted to address your comment about getting more white in your finished paintings. Many put the cup down and squeeze the white paint out of the squeeze bottle around the cup and at the edges before they lift the cup. Then the pour goes into the white and merges nicely – with really cool edges. Also they add white after the pour with the squeeze bottle in swaths across the canvas. then you will end up with more white in final painting,

    1. Thank you for the tips Patti. A few others have suggested a mixing white paint too, as this is lighter for the dirty pour cup. Will keep trying 🙂

  3. Your part 3 pour was great! Loved the look you achieved. Thanks so much for the tutorial, going right out to buy Coconut Milk serum (definitely not using I on my hair though) 😉

  4. I have a question: do you think that phenyl TRImethicone would work? I suppose I can test it out on one of my small canvases… but I just wondered if you have already tried something with that in it (like the coconut oil weightless hydrating oil mist for example). I LOVE so many of your art pieces, and they are so inspiring. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

    1. Thanks for the kind comments Lauren. No I’ve not tried it but I suspect it would work. Any sort of …methicone should give cells in the right mix. I hope you will try it and report back in our Facebook chat group.

  5. Hi Deby,
    Thanks so much for sharing all the tips and encouraging others too to try creating cells.
    I tried my first one today and the cells came out well. May I please know how long it will take to dry and am concerned that using the coconut oil serum, since it’s oily, would it remain oily.
    I am keen on trying a larger painting to hang up in my home so concerned about using the coconut oil serum if it’s good by to remain oily as then, I would not be able to hang it up as it would damage the wall.
    Thanks again.
    Marie

    1. Lorraine Kendel

      A question from Lorraine. Is that still up? Just get a blank page. Thank you.

  6. Very good series of videos. I’m going to go peer over my granny glasses in the personal lubricants aisle and then have some fun! I’m an art teacher so I’m used to preaching this all day….opposite colors mix to create mud. (Blue and orange makes mud. Red and green,mixed,makes mud, etc.) & Since opposite colors are just the three primaries mixed in differing amounts if you do your pours with red yellow and blue you are going to get some of the yucky mixes. Staying on one side of the color wheel with the larger capfuls and then picking an accent color on the opposite side in a small amount might help control the undesired mixtures

    1. Thanks for the tips. I feel like I sort of understand this, but I can’t stop myself doing it anyway! I love those opposite colors together.

    2. Linny,
      You took thewords out of my mouth. From being a colourist for part of my life(back before computers did all of the work) I watch everyone doing pours and wondering about why they get mud and I find myself doing the colour wheel lecture too.

  7. Very beautiful painting. What size canvas did you use? When I tried using the coconut oil serum, I only got very tiny cells. I used a small squirt, as the top of the bottle was intact and I couldn’t figure out how to get only one drop. Do you think I used too much?

    1. Thanks Deb. This was a 10 inch canvas. Yes I wonder if it was just too much oil. Mine has a screw top with the pump so I can unscrew and use a dropper just to get a single drop of oil. Maybe you could pump some out into a little pot and get to it that way. Good luck.

  8. I am a total beginner at pouring but have painted with acrylics. I’m wondering if using eg, Golden brand zinc white would be better than titanium white for more white emerging as zinc white is quite transparent.

    1. I have the same question about the whites. I hope someone with more knowledge can answer this. Thank you for the question.

  9. I think this one turned out beautiful! Love the colors! Question… Do you prep your canvas first? I saw where someone mixed gesso in their pants to do this. In everything I have searched, no others mention gesso, except as a prep. Can’t wait to try with my daughter!!!

  10. Melissa Middleton

    I thought that your painting turned out beautifully. To nice for a practice pile. You should do a contest or a raffle for it, I would most def buy a raffle ticket.

  11. I’m also a total beginner. Could you give a recipe or two of what goes into pours of different kinds and the measurements for them! I tried the coconut serum, glue, floetrol, paint and water if needed, didn’t get anything but small cells and used a lot of serum. Cracked at edges too! A bit
    lost! ????

  12. Hi Deby!
    Thank you so much for taking the time to do and post your experiments. This series on dimethicone has been particularly helpful to me at this time when I cannot find any treadmill belt lubricant at any of the currently open stores. The only thing I have been able to find is a 3-in-one All Temp Silicone (which is not 100% silicone) that I am hesitant to use because I only have one board to work with and is quite expensive to waste if it doesn’t work. If sometime you would consider making a video using that I bet a lot of people will appreciate, as it is a very affordable product and is widely available at most hardware stores in the U.S.
    Thank you so much,
    B.T.W.: I love your Australian accent.

  13. I have had SO many people recommend that Coconut Oil Hair Serum, so it MUST be popular and give good results! I’d be keeping that one too! I think it turned out beautifully 😉
    Btw… I am from Australia (British descent), and your accent sounds much more like you come from around Somerset in England, than Australia… how close am I? Hahahaha.
    I can’t WAIT to get started! I’ve got all the bits and bobs…. just going through the 5 part email course, and I’ve bought the book… so onward and outward on my new art journey …Woohooh! Thank you for all the great tips, videos and advice…. I’ll be brave enough to start soon…lol 😉

  14. Deby,
    Thank you so much for you great videos.. I have watched many but love this series particularly as you go into the details of fluid dynamics in a way that so many people can understand.
    With regards to the white, may I suggest a few ideas:
    1, Flood the canvas with white before you lift the cup.
    2. Try using 3 cups of white and 1 cup or less of the other colours.
    3. Try layering your paints more slowly or over the back of a spoon to keep the mud factor down.
    4. Some of the more expensive brands of paint have several different whites which have lighter pigments such as pear white (which also gives a lovely shine), antique white or zinc white to name a few. you will get different results with each and may find one that solves the issue,
    Thanks again for doing these really informative videos for us,
    Cheers Teesha- Craftwerx Studio

Leave a Reply to Deby Cancel Reply

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

Pin1K
Share26