I was fortunate enough to have my eldest daughter, her husband and my two grandchildren home for the summer—what a blast! Five year old Quincy and three year old Rowen kept their Grandma on her toes every day we were together. Those two do not have an “off” button. Okay, who am I kidding…I was exhausted every day. I am no spring chicken, folks. Much as I like to run around and play on the floor with them…my body does not. Here are my babies!
The very day they were headed to the airport, back to Moscow, was also the “meet the teacher” day for her little sister—my five year old. Yes, I have a 35 year old and a five year old!
Supplies I Used:
- Apple Barrel Paint in Parakeet, Bright Magenta, Lime Tree and Laguna
- Artist’s’ Loft Paint in Metallic Purple, Metallic Cobalt Blue and Metallic Blue
- Floetrol
- KY True Feel
- Solo Cups
- Craft Sticks
Then there were the first two weeks of getting acclimated to her new class, new teacher, and new routine, going from half days at VPK to full days in Kindergarten. Tomorrow, Monday, will be week three and we’re finally in the groove and I can search for my Muse—as you will see in this video…She is hiding!
Monumental, colossal, epic fail! This business of pouring on a vase is not easy, don’t let anyone tell you it is. Now if you’re content to just dump paint on the vase and let it drip and be done with it, okay, it’s easy. But I wanted extraordinary beauty. I wanted to love doing this. I wanted it to be easier than it was, and it wasn’t. I seriously almost threw those damn vases across the room several times.
So, after “walking away” from my Muse-less work area and any creative endeavors altogether, I was able to come back a couple of weeks later and try again. I wanted to salvage my original idea and gift to my mother. After all, these were to accompany a couple of pour paintings we had done together almost a year ago.
This time I had better results and I’m very happy with the look of these vases. I hope my mother is, too.
It is humbling to realize that I am not capable of doing everything that I see others do on YouTube and Facebook groups for Acrylic Pouring. Just when I think I am Queen of Acrylic Pouring (not really), I have a major fail like this and it stings. I’m sure I will try it again, but not for a while. I’m over pouring on vases for awhile. Kudos to all of you who are successful at this, I have much respect for you.
Here are some things I learned for any of you planning on giving this a whirl!
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- Make three, heck, four times the amount of paint you think you will need because it just slides right off and then it’s gone. Whatever gets caught in your collection bin is really useless because it all pools together, taking away from the uniqueness of pouring with several colors in mind.
- Clean your vase with alcohol and let dry completely.
- Ensure your glass, tumbler or whatever you use to support your vase is tall enough for you to get underneath and swipe at the drips.
- Don’t Gesso. It makes a mess. An ugly unnecessary mess.
- Using a craft stick, keep wiping the drips off the rim to ensure they don’t accumulate into a hard tip that cannot be removed later without removing the work you’ve just done.
- Once you are done—walk away. Even more so than with a canvas pour, you’ll find yourself tempted to add a little more, then a little more, then just a drip here and a drip there until—Monumental, colossal, epic fail!
- In the time between initial pour and trying again, I attempted to pour pain inside the vase to give it a solid blue color. This was a bad idea because even though the outside was dry, when I turned it over to let the blue flow all around and coat the inside, it all fell out and never adhered. Total waste of paint.
- On the second go-round, I hand painted the inside with a paint brush. Much better results.
- Two weeks is the very minimum I would dry before varnishing.
Maybe I should have eased back into pouring a little bit more gently instead of plunging head first into such a big project. Again, this was H U M B L I N G!
Bye gang, Happy Fall!
Born in France, Patricia now calls Palm Coast, Florida, home, where she runs Oceans Apart Studios. She’s had the pleasure of raising two daughters and nineteen medical foster children. Now she specializes in watercolor, acrylic pouring, and custom jewelry taken from the run off of her paintings. Her pieces aim to capture the differences that make each woman uniquely beautiful. Check them out on Etsy.