Make Your Own Acrylic Paint
Aim of Experiment
Acrylic paints are used by artists all over the world. They give texture to paintings. In this experiment you can make your own acrylic paint.
What You Need
- PVA glue
- Jam jar or plastic cup
- Pigment
- Water
- Paintbrush
- Paper
Pigment can be obtained from any good art supplier. The easiest pigments to obtain are powder paints. Your art supplier may have a range of natural pigments, which would have been the only pigments available to people in the past. To see where we got our pigments from, and to find on-line suppliers, take a look at our suppliers section.
What To Do
- Add a small amount of PVA glue into the jar or cup (about the size of a pea).
- Add a heaped teaspoon of pigment and mix thoroughly.
- A small amount of water may be necessary to make the paint easier to paint with.
- Use your paint to paint a picture.
The Science
As with all paints, acrylic paints requires a pigment and a binder. Acrylic paints use thick binders that give texture to a piece of art work. The binder for this acrylic paint is the PVA glue.
Why not try adding more or less water to your acyclic paint. Notice how as you add more water the paint becomes thinner and less textured, and as you add binder the reverse is true.