Happy Thursday Steemit!

Another week flew by and I must say it's been a productive one. Got heaps of things done and I'm slowly ticking things off my to-do list. But unfortunately I haven't had time to paint this week so instead I thought I'd share the things I use for my pours for those interested in taking this awesome hobby up.

Also because my week hasn't been the arty-est I thought I'd fancy up my photos just so I can have more colour in my week. Sorry if some things seem unrecognisable.

Right! Here we go!

GLOVES
Gloves come in really handy with the mess that is pouring. The name itself kinda gives you a hint that there might be a puddle somewhere sometime down the track.

I don't know what Floetrol is like but definitely need gloves for resin. The glue not so much, but I suppose if you're doing a huge acrylic pour (not the little ones I've been doing) you might want gloves.

MASKING TAPE
I use the tape to build a dam around my canvas to prevent my medium from dripping to the sides. I have a general purpose tape which I wouldn't recommend unless you don't have a choice.

I found this tape curls towards the inside of the canvas leaving me a 3mm border around my canvas that's unfilled. I want it flush to the edges darn it!

FINE SANDPAPER
That thing on top of the tape... I use that to sand down my home made gesso. My mix is a bit on the chunky side and the paint won't flow with chunks in the canvas acting like mini mountains.

ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL
To create cells. I'm not sure if this is the right one or if I'm putting enough in so I can't vouch for it. I'm looking for one that's 95% or over alcohol.

COCONUT HAIR SERUM
To create cells. This is the right product and yes it does work. It's also done wonders for my hair so I double vouch for this baby.

DISTILLED WATER
Added to the pouring medium or paint to thin it out so the paint will move and cells can form. They reckon if you use tap water your mixes might go off. Not 'good' go off, but 'bad' go off.

GESSO
No that's not taco sauce. It's my home made gesso (glue, distilled water and plaster of paris). Gesso protects the canvas. It helps get the canvas ready to recieve the paint and most importantly for those using stretch canvas as the gesso stiffens the canvas.

If your stretch canvas isn't taut your pour is going to pool in the middle. It happened to me.

METAL SCRAPER
To help move the paint towards the edges, spread it around the edge and to scrape paint off the canvas. I've scraped off the canvas a few times when it's come out all sorts of wrong.

BBQ STICKS | PLASTIC SPOONS, KNIFES, STIRRERS, STRAWS
All to stir the paint or resin with. I try to clean everything instead of throwing it away. I find as a society we have a very relaxed attitude about wasting plastic. Plastic waste can take 1000 years to decompose in landfill..

I don't see why Mother Nature has to suffer for my art so I try and make an effort where I can. Here's a few more recycling/reusing efforts.

SILICONE CUPS & PLASTIC CUPS
I love my silicone cups. I use them for resin as well and they're amazing and whatever it is, always cleans off it easily. I try to use these as much as I can instead of the cups.

The cups are ok when it's just acrylic but resin has a way of destroying things especially some plastics out there. Once it's been resined it's destined for the bin.

WATER BOTTLE LIDS
Everyone advises to use plastic cups to lift the canvas off the table to allow the paint to drip over. I tried that and it was a nightmare for my cups and I ain't wasting more plastic than I already am so I figured since all it needs is to be lifted off the table, the bottle caps might work and it did.

The beauty with the caps is that it's small and depending on your canvas you can use the caps, pour in the tray and put a cover on after without having to move your canvas.

With the cups it's too high to be able to easily cover it where it sat without touching it.

KITTY LITTER TRAY
These are awesome for pouring. Yes you're limited to canvas size but when starting out it's a great size especially with the bottle caps underneath compensating for the bow on the base of the tray.

It's also small enough that you can put another tray of cardboard over it to protect your painting while it dries.

SPICE RACK
It's advised that it's handy to have premixed paint ready to go just in case you're mid pour and you run out of paint. So I thought why not use my spare spice rack to pre mix some of my pigments in.

Sure the lids seems to be glued shut 🙊 and I can't unwind it🙈, but because it's a spice jar I can pour the paint out from the openings at the top.

Whew! Ok it seems like there's a lot there but truly it isn't much. Most of them fit very nicely in a small cardboard box.

If you're new to pouring or even old to it, I hope you found this helpful. Are you obsessed with acrylic pouring too? What do you have in your box of tools?

Well that's it for me today. Good night Steemit!

❤ Arly