Various ways to thin or reduce acrylic paints

Thinning acrylic paint with Pledge floor care?

If you have visited any of the modeling forums, you probably heard about model hobbyist using Future floor shine to thin acrylic paints for airbrushing or creating washed to highlight intricate details.  In fact, it does work as Future is nothing more than an aqueous clear acrylic suspension.  The problem is that it has been hard to find.  The Future name was discontinued in 2008 and was replaced with Pledge Floor care featuring future.  You can read more about it here.

I have used the Pledge floor care many times with good effect with craft acrylics in an airbrush.  The Pledge even works as a decent clear coat as well but I would suggest a follow up lacquer coating to seal it. 

The main benefit of the Pledge floor care is the acrylic resin content.  You can dilute it down without jeopardizing the paint film integrity.  If you reall want a cheap way to fluidize an acrylic paint, Windex serve quite well in moderation.  Typically, you would not want to use more than 50% of the volume.  It is also usefull for cleaning up acrylic paint from surfaces prior to drying.

Novaplex 235

 

If you are looking for more traditional art materials, Novaplex 235 is the choice if you do not want to brake the bank.  This is one of several mediums that Nova Color Paints offers.  They are a manufacturer/ distributor for artist quality acrylic mural paints.  I pick up the 32 ounce jar featured in the photo for just $11.75 plus shipping.

Mid Century Decor Pieces Make Great Gifts

Mid Century Decor for Christmas



As the holiday season is quickly approaching,  many are already looking for gifts for the people special to them.  Mid Century decor makes a great gift for anyone of your friends or family who can appreciate modern decor.  A lot of what is considered mid century or modern consist mostly of geometric forms and simple lines.  These traits make it easy to blend with almost any room or office. Like the 7 squares seen in the photo above.  It's elegance and simplicity are accented by the random round hemispheres.

Take this leaf spray for instance.  It mimics natural form but the warmth of the copper leaves paired with the satin gleam of the braze welded branch make for a handsome decor for the den or bedroom.

Another mid century art piece done from cut nails.  It features basic geometric form much like the 7 squares sculpture but Quadrant is more dimensional.  It can cast shadows with certain light angles appearing larger than it really is. 
This is just a sampling of what I have to offer.  Check out my Etsy shop to see several other nail wall art, table top sculptures, candle holders, and coat hangers.



 

Brazed Nail Candle Holder

 



I just completed a brazed nail sculpture candle holder.  It is inspired by mid century metal wall art with square cut masonry nails.  This sculpture holds three tealight or votive candles.  The brazed joints offer an aesthetic contrast.  The whole sculpture is wire brushed to bring it to a nice satin shine.

To add distinctive character, the support bar is pitted steel, that had the rust removed, producing a textured surface.  This gives the candle holder an almost industrial look.  I plan on exploiting this technique more in the future. 



Recent work "Intrigue"

This work I called "Intrigue" because of how the creative process was so natural and organic.  In that lies the irony.  A geometric, inorganic, and synthetic abstraction came into existence in a purely organic way.  Initially, I had a 6 inch ring made from 1/4' square steel bar.  I had just previously sold my large art nouveau floral panel and needed to fill my wall with something.  It had to have substantial size but weigh next to nothing.  Seeing that, and the fact I had rough almost 8 feet of 1/4" square bar, I proceeded.  I started with rectangular frame and contemplated using the ring.  The ring needed to draw the focus and be at least somewhat central.  The intersecting lines coming in at a right angle where a last minute shot in the dark.  It work out in the end.  The hemispherical pipe cap fit perfectly between the line and the fame.  It was if it was made only for this sculpture.  The torch perforated sheet metal add to the reflective properties and cast interesting shadows.  All this was brought together by braze welding the steel with bronze filler rod.  This creates an aesthetic contrast with the grey steel.

Post modern geometric wall art

I recently made a post modern geometric wall art from left over scraps.  What I came up with was something of simple design yet quite sophisticated.  The base coat is flat black oil based paint.  The larger triangle has dry brushed silver accent paint in a diagonal direction.  The front triangle features the most dramatic finish.  The finish consist of several costs of different colors layered on with plastic shopping bags as the painting tool.   

Key Holders are here

Key holders are here!  These novel and unique key holders make great gifts for the holidays.  The retro, mid-century inspired key holder featured above is a good example.  Reactangular shapeds connected by golden curvy lines give this piece a unique style.  Whats more, the rectangles themselves have remarkable depth.  They feature a multilayers paint job consisting of a peridot metallic green basecoat.  To brighten it up a gold transparent glaze is applied to add warmth while allowing the base coat to show through.  Here is a closer look at the glaze affect:

The photo does not do it justice.  It is far more satisfying in person.

This is a smaller key holder yet it is still quite effectively modern.  The vibrant purple gel paint over a silver base coat makes for a nice accent to the dominating silver ring and the black frame. The selection of colors and simplicity of design will ensure that this key holder will fit in to any decor.