Golden Clear Granular Gel, when wet, looks like rice pudding and feels very rough and gritty, as it’s full of little plastic shards. This makes it hard to handle, control and scratch into. Its opacity when wet, makes it hard to judge value, as it dries almost completely clear. Expect a massive colour shift if you’re combining it with acrylic colour. Create vibrant colors by layering paints rather than blending colors. For example, paint a color, let it dry, then layer a new color that has been mixed with a polymer medium. In the image above, I painted the left side with permanent violet dark. When dry, I painted a mixture of cobalt teal and polymer medium over the surface. On the right side, the colors are reversed. I find that making a chart of some of my favorite layer combinations comes in handy while painting with acrylic paint mediums. Working With Fluid Matte Medium Fluid matte medium is pourable with a matte appearance. When colour-concentration is of key importance in your work, you should use as little medium as possible, and start with a paint which is closest to your required consistency. While it is possible to mix consistencies, like using a heavy body medium with a soft body acrylic, more medium will be required and as a result, the colour will be less strong. Equally, If you wish to thin your acrylics but keep the intensity of colour, it’s best to start with a thinner paint and add a little fluid medium to extend it further.

If using EMP160 for filleting and filling corners and details on a mould prior to using a traditional fabric reinforcement, the fabric reinforcement should be laminated using EL160 Epoxy Laminating Resin. This paste has a bit of grit to it and it dries to an off-white gray finish. The tooth makes it ideal for drawing or using pastels on top of it. Try using it to prepare a surface for pastels or as a unique painting surface. For the example above, I spread the paste in a thin layer. When dry, I applied fluid paints on the surface, creating almost a watercolor paper look. When the paint was dry, there was still enough tooth to draw on it with a red pastel pencil. Self levelling with some flexibility. Best used as for a spray-applied isolation coat. Two parts of GAC 500 mixed with one part High Flow Medium produces a good spraying, fast-drying isolation coat. Useful to hard-edge painters to seal masking tape for cleaner edges. Apply over masking tape. Let dry before applying additional paint layer. GAC 700 I felt the paste layer, over a dried dark acrylic paint swatch, was really effective, as the dark under paint showed through clearly. Golden additives such as retarder, open thinner and wetting agent affect how the paint dries, decreasing surface tension, maintaining or slowing drying times.A choice of epoxy mould making kit sizes is available. The regular sized kit contains materials to make a sufficiently strong mould of about 30cm x 30cm, (depending on the shape of the mould) whilst the large version of the kit contains materials to make a mould of around 60cm x 60cm.

The dried texture was interesting in how it reflected light, and the glaze effect, when it was painted over with a transparent colour, was very notable and pleasing. A compatible high temperature release agent, such as Easy-Lease, should always be used. Always follow the correct post-cure procedure before using the mould at elevated temperature. It mixed easily with fluid acrylic, I chose a transparent Quinacridone Magenta, that created a gorgeous glaze, or rather lens, over an earlier painted mark. You could achieve some mounds, if not peaks, and build up depth. The shrinkage wasn’t noticeable, due to the inclusion of plastic crystals, that were already solid. This is becasue the polymer acts mainly as a “glue”, rather than as the body of the gel. This how-to guide to working with acrylic paint mediums, gels, pastes and more will help you expand the possibilities in every painting.Molding pastes increase body but are almost completely opaque and some have additives to give them unique textural effects.

SANDRA DURAN WILSON is an abstract American painter and sculptor based in Santa Fe. She’s been painting professionally for more than 20 years, and her work is represented in public and private collections. She shares her knowledge through workshops, writing and DVDs. Learn more at sandraduranwilson.com. The hardest and least flexible of all Golden products, it increases film hardness and needs to be used in pure form on rigid surfaces. It also needs to dry at a minimum of 21 degrees. It improves adhesion to non-porous surfaces. Dries to a high gloss with an excellent transparency. Useful for hard edge techniques as it has less pull than other acrylic compositions. GAC 400SHOP NOW Modeling Paste and Embossed Textures Left: Modeling paste. Right: Embossed texture made with modeling paste. Ten types of wet Golden Acrylic Mediums partially mixed with Golden Acrylic Paint Which Acrylic Medium Should I Use? EMP160 is an advanced moulding paste (also known as laminating paste) for use in the production of high temperature moulds/tools for prepreg and resin infusion. EMP160 uses a special high-Tg epoxy resin combined with aluminium filler and short-strand glass reinforcement to produce a reliable and easy-to-apply structural reinforcement for high temperature moulds. Filling or filleting tight corners or complex details on moulds before laminating with compatible epoxy resin and reinforcement. To start the styling process, grab a dime-sized dollop of hair paste. Then, start activating and warming it up by rubbing it in between the palms of your hands; there should be no clumps. If further paste is required, you can add more later. You don’t want to start off with too much product, as this will potentially ruin the desired result.