How I Use My Waste Paint to Clean up Failed Projects

Just what do you do with the spilled paint that falls off the sides of your projects, or over the edges when you tilt? That depends. If there is enough of it and the colors look nice, you can try to dip a mini canvas, some small tiles or Yupo paper and make a little project to match your big one. But if there isn’t much paint or the colors are muddy or well mixed then let me show you what I do with mine.

One way to use your leftover wasted or spilled paints from acrylic pouring projects. Use it to clean up paint you want to remove.

I trial a lot of my pours onto ceramic tiles. Small, easy to clean, affordable. Cleaning them off if the trial or experiment fails right away is easy while the paint is wet, but what about when it’s dry. Then it can be very difficult to remove. I have tried repouring over the original but the new layer of paint causes the original paint to come away from the glossy surface and bubble or buckle and fold. Which gave me this idea.

I use my leftover paint spills to paint over old projects and loosen that paint so that it pulls or scrapes right off, a quick wipe and a rinse and there I am with a brand new clean tile to paint on again.  Check out how it works in the video below. Anytime you have some stubborn paint to remove, try softening it with your waste paint and see if that helps.

What do you think? Do you have any other smart ideas for how to use up the spilled paint that isn’t necessarily enough or pretty enough to create a mini project? I’d love to know. I don’t like to waste anything!

9 thoughts on “How I Use My Waste Paint to Clean up Failed Projects”

    1. A couple of people left a similar comment on the YT video too. I will have to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.

  1. I was thinking maby you can sand it with a light weight piece of sand paper. But that might scratch the acrylic ttile. Sooo… Maybe?

  2. I hate to waste any paint. So when I do pours or make a palette of color I either use from tubes or mix myself I do the following:
    1. I have a wide mouth large measuring cup handy along with several empty plastic bottles that have tops. When I do pours and tilt or move paint off the canvas I catch as much as a can in the measuring cup. When I am finished I pour it into the plastic bottle and label the recipe. The colors will depend on what you have used but often muddy into some kind of brown which is fine with me. I have added some metallic bronze and pearl white and gotten some amazing backgrounds for future pours.

  3. If any of the overflow looks interesting I use 300-600 lb watercolor paper and lay on top of the area, sometimes pressing lightly to make sure it is well covered. Then I lift the paper straight up, or wiggle it slightly before lifting, or as I lift it I gently sweep it in one direction as I’m lifting. Depending on how you lift it you will have different textures. If I like it, then I have a new mono-print.

  4. I pour over a piece of plastic and when it is dry it will peel off easily. If I like the colors then I cut it in shapes and sizes and glue it to leather or ultra suede and make pendants for necklaces. Not those little things you put in the metal drops but bigger ones.

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