My college art professor told us that acrylic paint is a hazard to metal pipes. It builds up and will eat holes in the pipes. The campus buildings were old at that time, so we had to be careful not to damage the pipes. He asked us to use paper palettes we could take off and throw away. He also taught us to squeeze paint out of our brushes with paper towels before dipping it into our rinse cups when we painted. That way it minimized paint going down the drain at the end of class. I don't think we used a lot of water back then like people do now for free flowing abstracts. I don't remember how we handled our cups of rinse water. But I think because we squeezed the paint out of our brushes (in a particular way) it really minimized chunks of paint in the water. But over time I am sure there was still a thin film that built up on the pipes from the thinned paint in the cups.
sunlitweb Thanks for sharing! Using a non-stick palette will also prevent paper palette waste in our landfills; and there's so many cool things to do with the dried paint in our art.
Thank you sunlitweb! I thought I replied to you before. Yes, wiping the brush before rinsing is exactly how to use less water too that some have thought they would need a bathtub amount to rinse their brushes. Like you said, if you can get most of the paint off the brush before rinsing it, the water will get a lot less dirty and last a lot longer too. With thick painting, I wipe on the edge of a bucket since the paint is thicker and when that dries, peel it off and put into the Paint Scrap Junkyard for further uses.
Great idea how a coffee filter can help keep paint from going through! The nylon stocking doesn't do that. It just prevents objects from falling in while still letting air evaporate out to leave dried paint that can be used in artwork again. The coffee filter would still let paint water with residue fall through which can build up "plaque" over time in plumbing pipes, so to speak, but may catch a majority. This could be a good thing to experiment with.
thank you so much for sharing your idea. I've seen lots of artists' tutorials on youtube, but none of them mentioned how to dispose acrylic paint water.
You're welcome. I now don't leave it sitting once it's dry, to prevent mold. A fan directly on the water without a lid will dry it faster, peel the paint out, then start fresh and don't date it. Also, to prevent the water from not getting dirty as fast, one can wipe their brush paint on the bucket edge to get the paint off, then napkin wipe the brush further, then there's the least amount of paint going in the rinse water so it will last longer. And one can peel the bucket wipe paint off the edge later after dry, and use those scraps as texture in their art.
I’m also wondering if you could just pour all the paint water into a plastic bag inside the bucket, so that when the paint is dried it’s all contained within the plastic bag?
Yes! Great idea! I might try this. It would be great fun to peel out of the bag too. And then nothing's wasted or clogging up our environment and provide great art too. The bucket just provides support during the evaporation.
Ruth Collis “Acrylic Painting” on Facebook!! It’s the one that I believe is the largest acrylic painting group on FB. I just posted it a few hours ago :)
Brilliant!! I want to try this out. I paint a lot, so I’m worried I might use up the bucket quickly, but regardless it’s worth it because when you showed all the dried paint.... wow. I’m surprised people don’t talk about this issue more. I had actually looked this up on RUclips because I was wondering what to do with my paint water when painting on location. Glad I watched your video because I have so much more information now!!
@seekcolor Fantastic! A lot of people think one brush rinse would pretty much ruin the amount of uses you could get out of such a small bucket, but there is a trick where you can and should wipe your mass of color off your brush first, so when you so rinse, hardly any paint will go in there which will make your small bucket water last way longer. What to wipe it on one could experiment with. A paper towel is first thought, but I wonder if a plastic zipped bag could work to keep even the paper towel and used paint from going into the environment and landfills, and when dry, the (acrylic) paint could just peel right out of the baggy and be used in textured art later. As far as painting on location, a sealed bucket with NO hole in the lid would work in that case for moving. Maybe you could have a lid with hole to swap to when you get home? Maybe you could put a 2 gallon zipped bag in the bucket on location and wrap the bag around the top part of the bucket to give it support to hold up for the purpose of putting two bags in the bucket... one to wipe the paint off the brush or knife, and the other bag for the paint water. Maybe a clothespin could hold the two open at once in the middle, and then close the zipped bags when ready to go. I don't know what will actually work in your situation until trying it out. The ideas could just be theory until you try it and see what works. Thank you for your comment! Yes, all the dried paint is from the water evaporating out that one would just normally pour down the drain. It does add up over time. But it's mostly just fun to take paint scraps and build up textures for other things. Yes, people might not talk about dried paint as much, however in my particular use of turning paint into sculptures, I find a huge wealth of uses for paint that is dried to make some really classy stuff. :)
Another way of disposing of acrylic paint water is to pour it into a bucket half full of clumping cat litter remove clumps once dry and dispose in household rubbish/trash. You obviously can't re-use the paint but I wouldn't want to anyway.
+7Earthsky, I can't see your comment here in order to reply, but see it in my email. I'll paste what you wrote for reference: "All that hole cutting?? Isn't it just easier to put an elastic band around the top to keep the tights in place?" I know, huh! Would be great to avoid lots of cutting. I am going back now to think why I put the tights around the cut lid... Sure you could put a band around the tights on the bucket, or maybe a hair band would be stronger. I found a few things about that: *Rubber bands tend to break after awhile *Wrapping around a lid made it easier to take on and off to pour paint water in *I found I fought with the tights to get it on the bucket, so putting it on the lid and fighting with it only once worked better for me. You could certainly try it your way! Let me know how that works for you.
This is so much easier than other methods I've seen using alum and hydrated lime. Thanks for sharing. I'll do this. I hate washing acrylics down the sink. Another video suggest having a tub of warm water to wash brushes in. Murpheys oil soap is good for cleaning brushes . Then rinse. But then the dried paint will have soap residue as well. So I guess you can just dump the dried paint in the bin.
I definitely refuse the dried paint back in my art as texture. It can be cut up and provide great chunky fun of many creative kinds. See my other videos on how to use the dried paint in your paintings.
I definitely reuse the dried paint in my art. It can be cut up to all kinds of chunky fun. See my other videos on how to use dried paint in your paintings.
It is plastic. After leaving the draini it goes into streams, rivers, lakes, and eventually the ocean. It is toxic and will kill wildlife. This is a great tutorial.
@Carolyn Riddle There are some treatment plants along the way that help process our drain water and sewer some, but heavier paint sediment can clog pipes over time, so I think our processes as artists do help our environment a lot too. I now would not leave dirty paint water where one breathes for extended periods to prevent mold, though, so I have stopped dating my bucket since this video. Thank you for your comments.
Hi, I know this is an older video but I've been draining my rinse water for a couple of months, not really aware of it (really dumb on my part for not looking up how to dispose of it properly beforehand!) I was wondering if using drano would cause a bad reaction, been looking everywhere for an answer but nothing really comes up, or if it would be better to just call a plumber at that point. My drain's not blocked but there's a funky smell that comes through from it. I'll be evaporating the water and scraping sludge from now on though!
@Haya Patel, No, no, it's absolutely smart of you to start thinking about what we are actually doing and becoming educated on answers! I think a plumber would be a better person to ask about the smell and how to remove any buildup. Once the paint hardens, I'm not sure what would dissolve it. They also have this snake tool that clears stuff out that's stuck. They have professional long ones. Most of the time it's hair that gets stuck. You can show them the particles of dried paint to see what they say. I just looked up "Why does my drain smell" and the top answer mentioned was mold making the smell. Since this video I now don't date my paint water or leave it sitting in water constantly to avoid mold. So I'll let one layer dry out, then peel it out instead of seeing how thick it can get. One wet layer tends to keep other layers wet and gross., so I should make an updated video on this. Let me know what you find out if you call a plumber? If it is mold, that causes a number of bad health problems. Good you looked up some of your concerns! Bless you.
The bucket is from Nova Color or getting any gallon sized paint. I bought a new empty 5 gallon bucket from Walmart once so they might have 1 gallon buckets. The white nylon I got from Walmart at the store I got it from doesn't sell the little plastic bubble containers it came in anymore as they were all over the place, but they might be available in a flat package or from NoNonsense online. Other Walmarts may have them. I don't know. Maybe another drugstore would have white ones too. :)
back when I used to do a lot more painting, I used to wash my tools every time i use it. I only started being conscious of it because I saw someone peeling dried paint of their palette and I was wondering why they even let it build up in the first place. thats when I found out that it was bad to dump the paints down the drain....and now I am trying to find out how to dispose of my paint water.
@Aria, good for your on learning how to manage your paint! It would be good to wash tools if time permits. Often we have to rush out. Now there is a better way to let used paint dry than wash it down the drain or not even throw it away into our landfills. Especially with thicker paints, there are endless uses for letting paint build up into skins, using excess scraps to cut and form 3-dimensional works, all from the newer uses of acrylic paint. See this video for many ways to use built up paint: ruclips.net/video/X3lBAPtkVlc/видео.html
Well apparently RUclips got rid of video responses, I just found out, so just post a link from your video here in the comments I guess, like I did on one of these posts here. Or you can share pictures with me on Facebook: facebook.com/ThickPainting/?ref=bookmarks
I don't know what cad is, but wouldn't want to be around or using poisonous paints, nor would it be good to have poisonous things go to our landfills or oceans. Maybe you can contact that specific paint manufacturer on how to dispose of it.
For cadmium I would probably put it outside but since it is toxic I would do more research on that chemical specifically. I work with cad hues so I don’t have to worry about it lol.
@Night Slasher, The water evaporates and leaves just the paint to be able to use again in your art. That's the cool thing about this method. I would not leave it sitting for long now though, to not develop mold. That's why a fan can dry it faster, then you just remove the layer of paint and start again.
@@SculptedPaint i wanna do this for the environment and i feel like putting a fan next to it is a waste of energy. is there a way to make it dry faster that also saves electricity?
@@noahemil3170 Yes! If you don't happen to be drying paintings with the fan at the same time and don't want to just let the fan run to evaporate used paint water, or cover neighbor noises, I updated this video's description where you can now build or have built this simple backyard vertical solar panel that will use free energy to power a fan to dry the paint water and also cut your energy bill in half, so you aren't wasting or paying for energy since it comes free from the sun. Here is the video on that: bit.ly/VerticalBackyardSolar There is also a much more expensive option of using the GoalZero system to use solar panels to charge a battery that you then power a fan with, but it is slower and sometimes needing electricity to charge it based on how much power you use and how often you would need it. The other option is covering your paint water somehow and let it sun-dry if you can keep animals out of it and prevent the wind from knocking it over or rain or leaves getting in.
Thank you Rosemary for your comment. I Have written a book on studio setup that might give some ideas to make organizing easy and stay that way. I am sorry. I haven't written a blog post on it yet, and only have the book page: www.thickpainting.com/cube-studio-setup-ebook
Right. That's why I mentioned a carpet cutting knife or something bigger might work better. Thanks for your comment! Guess I have to actually show the use of the best knife I didn't have at the time. :)
Putting a large fan 24/7 on the bucket is a bigger driain on the environment!!!! People are very wasteful with electric power.... Not to mention the cost: to run the fan night and day is going to cost 3 to 5 dollors a day...times that by 30 days... Then times that by 12 months...there has to be a better way!
That is a good point, Redina. As an idea, I have found a battery option here where you can plug in electrical things and use a solar panel to charge the battery: www.goalzero.com. This might be a good option if you want to power many other things too, for the investment.
also i would not vent theses off in my house ..mayb a carport or shed ...but then u risk them getting knocked over by pets and wild life ...is there any statistics on damage done to pipes by the water used to clean the water soluble paints?
Probably not. I imagine any reports would be minimal now because the thicker paints are so new on the scene. It would be great to find some plumbers' input who have specifically been called to a place where a thick painter worked. Paint drying, especially thicker paints, should be dried in a different room than where you are or where you sleep. Evaporating paint water might be less of a big deal as water evaporates and what's left in the bucket is the paint. Water based paint like watercolor comes off the brush and into the water with just a swish of the brush, but thicker paints take real work to get out of the inner brush hairs and there's thick goops that build up. Even with cleaning dried paint off palette knives, you can get huge clumps of paint several inches in mass from only one use, so imagine even the sediment from many tools going down the drain. That builds up. A palette of thick paint builds up in no time to make paintskins that can be used in art. If it built up on the palette, it could build up in drain pipes. Any unused paint from projects can be stored for other projects, but all this builds up. I am mostly talking about use of thicker gels and pastes than watercolor or soft bodied paints that are still wet that can mix with water. The thick stuff is what can be more problematic, or even thinner stuff over a period of time. Just seeing the way the paint works when you handle it makes you think of what happens to it when it goes down the drain or dries or ends up in a landfill. Just seeing what huge amounts remain in the water bucket you use shows you what is being discarded, so you know it has to go somewhere. You could probably find a way to keep animals away from a bucket if you wanted to. Place up higher, have the netted top, maybe a chimney type covering would provide a harder surface to not get in, attach to something to stabilize it... they are just all ideas to make less of a negative impact. A lot of artists have their own version that works for them in their particular environment. You have all good points.
Redina Bloogs if you are worried about it being knocked over heavy duty Velcro is very good solution assuming you can have a dedicated place for whatever you want to Velcro down I use 4 tiny bits about 2 cm square to hold birch drawing boards on my wheelchair baseplate the original is design was a huge piece of Velcro but I could not separate them! So definitely don't over do it
Yes, you could probably put a rubber band around the cheese cloth on the bucket to hold it on, but will break the band as it wears over time. Or using a string to hold it on might work, or some other hands if you don't want a permanent solution. Some paint sediment still might flow through, and then the paint will harden and dry in the cheese cloth of course, but that could be an idea if you kept wanting to replace it. You still might be able to catch some solid paint enough to save in the Paint Scrap Junkyard pile to make more sculptures with later. Good idea!
Here is one use for dried paint scraps... bulking dried paint up to either make sculptures or add dimension. This is a peel technique that leaves interesting texture lines: ruclips.net/video/V-Ulozhqc44/видео.html&ab_channel=RuthCollis-ThickPainting To make the pipe corals shown, is by using flattened paint scraps, or paintskins, since it would be in a sheet form. Then you roll it into these highly classy pipe corals for a sculpture look: ruclips.net/video/ZpyOHF2SLy0/видео.html&ab_channel=RuthCollis-ThickPainting
Yes! Great idea. The fan works to dry paint water if you're already using the fan to dry acrylic paintings or cover noises so you can sleep. Otherwise, the sun could be the best use.
Hi magritte128. An idea is to pour paint water in a bucket and use a fan to speed up water evaporation. Over time you can then peel the paint out of the bucket and use it in your art without any waste or harm to the environment. If you don't have time to learn some secrets, think how much more time someone spent to figure a problem out, then record and edit it, spend money on that software, all to tell their secrets for free. The least anyone can do is watch the beneficial tips if you want to save time. Or you can try ideas on your own and take years longer. Hope something works for you.
I'm sorry Ruth. A project of mine wasn't going well, and my temper got the better of me.. I wanted to torch the whole thing. It's easy to forget that there are people on the receiving end of these comments.. I'm sorry I behaved like a jackass. The work you do is very good, and has helped me out on plenty of other occasions. I will try to be less of a jerk in the future. Thank you.
Awe. You're wonderful and is very big of you to write back and with such a winning attitude. That is more remarkable than most people. I appreciate comments that affect how I can make better videos. I have been wanting to do shorter videos of late, and that is to the point that people would have time for. Our challenges are what teach us the most. Anything I can help with? I studied a lot of mediums before loving this thicker paint stuff.
My college art professor told us that acrylic paint is a hazard to metal pipes. It builds up and will eat holes in the pipes. The campus buildings were old at that time, so we had to be careful not to damage the pipes. He asked us to use paper palettes we could take off and throw away. He also taught us to squeeze paint out of our brushes with paper towels before dipping it into our rinse cups when we painted. That way it minimized paint going down the drain at the end of class. I don't think we used a lot of water back then like people do now for free flowing abstracts. I don't remember how we handled our cups of rinse water. But I think because we squeezed the paint out of our brushes (in a particular way) it really minimized chunks of paint in the water. But over time I am sure there was still a thin film that built up on the pipes from the thinned paint in the cups.
sunlitweb Thanks for sharing! Using a non-stick palette will also prevent paper palette waste in our landfills; and there's so many cool things to do with the dried paint in our art.
Thank you sunlitweb! I thought I replied to you before. Yes, wiping the brush before rinsing is exactly how to use less water too that some have thought they would need a bathtub amount to rinse their brushes. Like you said, if you can get most of the paint off the brush before rinsing it, the water will get a lot less dirty and last a lot longer too. With thick painting, I wipe on the edge of a bucket since the paint is thicker and when that dries, peel it off and put into the Paint Scrap Junkyard for further uses.
I use a paper coffee filter. Works really well as it sieves much more paint than a nylon stocking.
Great idea how a coffee filter can help keep paint from going through! The nylon stocking doesn't do that. It just prevents objects from falling in while still letting air evaporate out to leave dried paint that can be used in artwork again. The coffee filter would still let paint water with residue fall through which can build up "plaque" over time in plumbing pipes, so to speak, but may catch a majority. This could be a good thing to experiment with.
That's actually really cool
thank you so much for sharing your idea. I've seen lots of artists' tutorials on youtube, but none of them mentioned how to dispose acrylic paint water.
You're welcome. I now don't leave it sitting once it's dry, to prevent mold. A fan directly on the water without a lid will dry it faster, peel the paint out, then start fresh and don't date it. Also, to prevent the water from not getting dirty as fast, one can wipe their brush paint on the bucket edge to get the paint off, then napkin wipe the brush further, then there's the least amount of paint going in the rinse water so it will last longer. And one can peel the bucket wipe paint off the edge later after dry, and use those scraps as texture in their art.
Hey! You have a Nova Color bucket. You are in the know. I like your idea too. Thanks for posting this.
Thank you for making this Video - I think its important when working with Acrylics.
Glad you stopped by. :)
I’m also wondering if you could just pour all the paint water into a plastic bag inside the bucket, so that when the paint is dried it’s all contained within the plastic bag?
Yes! Great idea! I might try this. It would be great fun to peel out of the bag too. And then nothing's wasted or clogging up our environment and provide great art too. The bucket just provides support during the evaporation.
Ruth Collis totally agree with you!! I’m really happy I stumbled on your video. I shared this information with a painting group :)
@@color2066 Oh fabulous! Which one out of curiosity?
Ruth Collis “Acrylic Painting” on Facebook!! It’s the one that I believe is the largest acrylic painting group on FB. I just posted it a few hours ago :)
@@color2066 Oh! Yes that is large. Can't believe 109,871 people now! Thank you very much!
Brilliant!! I want to try this out. I paint a lot, so I’m worried I might use up the bucket quickly, but regardless it’s worth it because when you showed all the dried paint.... wow. I’m surprised people don’t talk about this issue more. I had actually looked this up on RUclips because I was wondering what to do with my paint water when painting on location. Glad I watched your video because I have so much more information now!!
@seekcolor Fantastic! A lot of people think one brush rinse would pretty much ruin the amount of uses you could get out of such a small bucket, but there is a trick where you can and should wipe your mass of color off your brush first, so when you so rinse, hardly any paint will go in there which will make your small bucket water last way longer. What to wipe it on one could experiment with. A paper towel is first thought, but I wonder if a plastic zipped bag could work to keep even the paper towel and used paint from going into the environment and landfills, and when dry, the (acrylic) paint could just peel right out of the baggy and be used in textured art later. As far as painting on location, a sealed bucket with NO hole in the lid would work in that case for moving. Maybe you could have a lid with hole to swap to when you get home? Maybe you could put a 2 gallon zipped bag in the bucket on location and wrap the bag around the top part of the bucket to give it support to hold up for the purpose of putting two bags in the bucket... one to wipe the paint off the brush or knife, and the other bag for the paint water. Maybe a clothespin could hold the two open at once in the middle, and then close the zipped bags when ready to go. I don't know what will actually work in your situation until trying it out. The ideas could just be theory until you try it and see what works. Thank you for your comment! Yes, all the dried paint is from the water evaporating out that one would just normally pour down the drain. It does add up over time. But it's mostly just fun to take paint scraps and build up textures for other things. Yes, people might not talk about dried paint as much, however in my particular use of turning paint into sculptures, I find a huge wealth of uses for paint that is dried to make some really classy stuff. :)
Excellent video for helping to protect our water sources!
Good idea hadn't thought about it but will now.
Another way of disposing of acrylic paint water is to pour it into a bucket half full of clumping cat litter remove clumps once dry and dispose in household rubbish/trash. You obviously can't re-use the paint but I wouldn't want to anyway.
You could place a dehumidifier next to it too
Oh, that takes moisture out of the air? Never thought of that. Good idea, Janine K!
Where do you get that nylon & bucket? Amazon? Thx
+7Earthsky, I can't see your comment here in order to reply, but see it in my email. I'll paste what you wrote for reference:
"All that hole cutting?? Isn't it just easier to put an elastic band around the top to keep the tights in place?"
I know, huh! Would be great to avoid lots of cutting. I am going back now to think why I put the tights around the cut lid... Sure you could put a band around the tights on the bucket, or maybe a hair band would be stronger. I found a few things about that:
*Rubber bands tend to break after awhile
*Wrapping around a lid made it easier to take on and off to pour paint water in
*I found I fought with the tights to get it on the bucket, so putting it on the lid and fighting with it only once worked better for me.
You could certainly try it your way! Let me know how that works for you.
Thanks for making and posting this video, Ruth! It was pretty helpful.
Wonderful!
Wow watching the paint be pealed out was fascinating. Thank you 🙏 for showing that.
This is so much easier than other methods I've seen using alum and hydrated lime. Thanks for sharing. I'll do this. I hate washing acrylics down the sink. Another video suggest having a tub of warm water to wash brushes in. Murpheys oil soap is good for cleaning brushes . Then rinse. But then the dried paint will have soap residue as well. So I guess you can just dump the dried paint in the bin.
Good to see more people interested in the topic! Thanks Janine K.
Is the dried paint out of your plastic bucket recyclable? Since it is plastic?
I definitely refuse the dried paint back in my art as texture. It can be cut up and provide great chunky fun of many creative kinds. See my other videos on how to use the dried paint in your paintings.
I definitely reuse the dried paint in my art. It can be cut up to all kinds of chunky fun. See my other videos on how to use dried paint in your paintings.
Is that a nylon knee sock?
Yes! Must have missed this comment somehow. I like the white ones that look cleaner, but it is great for evaporation and keeping items out.
It is plastic. After leaving the draini it goes into streams, rivers, lakes, and eventually the ocean. It is toxic and will kill wildlife. This is a great tutorial.
@Carolyn Riddle There are some treatment plants along the way that help process our drain water and sewer some, but heavier paint sediment can clog pipes over time, so I think our processes as artists do help our environment a lot too. I now would not leave dirty paint water where one breathes for extended periods to prevent mold, though, so I have stopped dating my bucket since this video. Thank you for your comments.
How many gallons is that bucket?
Hi, that's a one gallon bucket.
Brilliant demonstration
Hi, I know this is an older video but I've been draining my rinse water for a couple of months, not really aware of it (really dumb on my part for not looking up how to dispose of it properly beforehand!) I was wondering if using drano would cause a bad reaction, been looking everywhere for an answer but nothing really comes up, or if it would be better to just call a plumber at that point. My drain's not blocked but there's a funky smell that comes through from it. I'll be evaporating the water and scraping sludge from now on though!
@Haya Patel, No, no, it's absolutely smart of you to start thinking about what we are actually doing and becoming educated on answers! I think a plumber would be a better person to ask about the smell and how to remove any buildup. Once the paint hardens, I'm not sure what would dissolve it. They also have this snake tool that clears stuff out that's stuck. They have professional long ones. Most of the time it's hair that gets stuck. You can show them the particles of dried paint to see what they say. I just looked up "Why does my drain smell" and the top answer mentioned was mold making the smell. Since this video I now don't date my paint water or leave it sitting in water constantly to avoid mold. So I'll let one layer dry out, then peel it out instead of seeing how thick it can get. One wet layer tends to keep other layers wet and gross., so I should make an updated video on this. Let me know what you find out if you call a plumber? If it is mold, that causes a number of bad health problems. Good you looked up some of your concerns! Bless you.
Oh God thankyou so much for this video it's what I was looking for. 👍✌💛🙌
This is very helpful. Thank you so much. :)
Thank you so much. I've been so worried about the pipes where I rent. Where did you buy the bucket and nylon?
The bucket is from Nova Color or getting any gallon sized paint. I bought a new empty 5 gallon bucket from Walmart once so they might have 1 gallon buckets. The white nylon I got from Walmart at the store I got it from doesn't sell the little plastic bubble containers it came in anymore as they were all over the place, but they might be available in a flat package or from NoNonsense online. Other Walmarts may have them. I don't know. Maybe another drugstore would have white ones too. :)
Can I use a plastic bucket I have?
Kate The Sleepy Teacher I don't see why not. Show me what you come up with if you want!
back when I used to do a lot more painting, I used to wash my tools every time i use it. I only started being conscious of it because I saw someone peeling dried paint of their palette and I was wondering why they even let it build up in the first place. thats when I found out that it was bad to dump the paints down the drain....and now I am trying to find out how to dispose of my paint water.
@Aria, good for your on learning how to manage your paint! It would be good to wash tools if time permits. Often we have to rush out. Now there is a better way to let used paint dry than wash it down the drain or not even throw it away into our landfills. Especially with thicker paints, there are endless uses for letting paint build up into skins, using excess scraps to cut and form 3-dimensional works, all from the newer uses of acrylic paint. See this video for many ways to use built up paint: ruclips.net/video/X3lBAPtkVlc/видео.html
I've got my bucket now but definitely not as high tech as your set up. Not sure how to share, can you tell me?
I will figure it out when I get home off my phone to the bigger computer.
Well apparently RUclips got rid of video responses, I just found out, so just post a link from your video here in the comments I guess, like I did on one of these posts here. Or you can share pictures with me on Facebook: facebook.com/ThickPainting/?ref=bookmarks
I'll have to make a video and then post it :)
Okay! Looking forward to seeing your version.
Is this safe to do with the cad or other poisonous paints ?
I don't know what cad is, but wouldn't want to be around or using poisonous paints, nor would it be good to have poisonous things go to our landfills or oceans. Maybe you can contact that specific paint manufacturer on how to dispose of it.
For cadmium I would probably put it outside but since it is toxic I would do more research on that chemical specifically. I work with cad hues so I don’t have to worry about it lol.
Okay, so what do I do with the water once I filter it?
@Night Slasher, The water evaporates and leaves just the paint to be able to use again in your art. That's the cool thing about this method. I would not leave it sitting for long now though, to not develop mold. That's why a fan can dry it faster, then you just remove the layer of paint and start again.
@@SculptedPaint i wanna do this for the environment and i feel like putting a fan next to it is a waste of energy. is there a way to make it dry faster that also saves electricity?
@@noahemil3170 Yes! If you don't happen to be drying paintings with the fan at the same time and don't want to just let the fan run to evaporate used paint water, or cover neighbor noises, I updated this video's description where you can now build or have built this simple backyard vertical solar panel that will use free energy to power a fan to dry the paint water and also cut your energy bill in half, so you aren't wasting or paying for energy since it comes free from the sun. Here is the video on that: bit.ly/VerticalBackyardSolar
There is also a much more expensive option of using the GoalZero system to use solar panels to charge a battery that you then power a fan with, but it is slower and sometimes needing electricity to charge it based on how much power you use and how often you would need it.
The other option is covering your paint water somehow and let it sun-dry if you can keep animals out of it and prevent the wind from knocking it over or rain or leaves getting in.
Really helpful, thank you
I’m so bad washing down the drain hoping city water treatment filters. I think I’ll try filtering with a coffee filter to see.
Good experiment Janine!
Thank you
great informative video to help us save the environment as artists. love your tips, and so easy to do!
Thank you Silvia! Glad you found it helpful.
Good Ideas. Very organized studio!! Something I struggle with.
Thank you Rosemary for your comment. I Have written a book on studio setup that might give some ideas to make organizing easy and stay that way. I am sorry. I haven't written a blog post on it yet, and only have the book page: www.thickpainting.com/cube-studio-setup-ebook
Thank you for the great idea :) I'll give this a try
Cutting the hole in the lid would go a lot faster if you just use a utility knife and just follow the outside edge.
Right. That's why I mentioned a carpet cutting knife or something bigger might work better. Thanks for your comment! Guess I have to actually show the use of the best knife I didn't have at the time. :)
Putting a large fan 24/7 on the bucket is a bigger driain on the environment!!!! People are very wasteful with electric power....
Not to mention the cost: to run the fan night and day is going to cost 3 to 5 dollors a day...times that by 30 days... Then times that by 12 months...there has to be a better way!
That is a good point, Redina. As an idea, I have found a battery option here where you can plug in electrical things and use a solar panel to charge the battery: www.goalzero.com. This might be a good option if you want to power many other things too, for the investment.
also i would not vent theses off in my house ..mayb a carport or shed ...but then u risk them getting knocked over by pets and wild life ...is there any statistics on damage done to pipes by the water used to clean the water soluble paints?
Probably not. I imagine any reports would be minimal now because the thicker paints are so new on the scene. It would be great to find some plumbers' input who have specifically been called to a place where a thick painter worked.
Paint drying, especially thicker paints, should be dried in a different room than where you are or where you sleep. Evaporating paint water might be less of a big deal as water evaporates and what's left in the bucket is the paint.
Water based paint like watercolor comes off the brush and into the water with just a swish of the brush, but thicker paints take real work to get out of the inner brush hairs and there's thick goops that build up. Even with cleaning dried paint off palette knives, you can get huge clumps of paint several inches in mass from only one use, so imagine even the sediment from many tools going down the drain. That builds up. A palette of thick paint builds up in no time to make paintskins that can be used in art. If it built up on the palette, it could build up in drain pipes. Any unused paint from projects can be stored for other projects, but all this builds up. I am mostly talking about use of thicker gels and pastes than watercolor or soft bodied paints that are still wet that can mix with water. The thick stuff is what can be more problematic, or even thinner stuff over a period of time. Just seeing the way the paint works when you handle it makes you think of what happens to it when it goes down the drain or dries or ends up in a landfill. Just seeing what huge amounts remain in the water bucket you use shows you what is being discarded, so you know it has to go somewhere.
You could probably find a way to keep animals away from a bucket if you wanted to. Place up higher, have the netted top, maybe a chimney type covering would provide a harder surface to not get in, attach to something to stabilize it... they are just all ideas to make less of a negative impact. A lot of artists have their own version that works for them in their particular environment. You have all good points.
Redina Bloogs if you are worried about it being knocked over heavy duty Velcro is very good solution assuming you can have a dedicated place for whatever you want to Velcro down
I use 4 tiny bits about 2 cm square to hold birch drawing boards on my wheelchair baseplate the original is design was a huge piece of Velcro but I could not separate them! So definitely don't over do it
Great idea, Ruby Gloom. That industrial velcro is pretty strong.
Straining it in a cheese cloth wouldn't work..?
Yes, you could probably put a rubber band around the cheese cloth on the bucket to hold it on, but will break the band as it wears over time. Or using a string to hold it on might work, or some other hands if you don't want a permanent solution. Some paint sediment still might flow through, and then the paint will harden and dry in the cheese cloth of course, but that could be an idea if you kept wanting to replace it. You still might be able to catch some solid paint enough to save in the Paint Scrap Junkyard pile to make more sculptures with later. Good idea!
What do you do with the dried paint? Wow, they say acrylics are plastic and it sure is !
Lol you just answered that question about what you do with paint
Here is one use for dried paint scraps... bulking dried paint up to either make sculptures or add dimension. This is a peel technique that leaves interesting texture lines:
ruclips.net/video/V-Ulozhqc44/видео.html&ab_channel=RuthCollis-ThickPainting
To make the pipe corals shown, is by using flattened paint scraps, or paintskins, since it would be in a sheet form. Then you roll it into these highly classy pipe corals for a sculpture look:
ruclips.net/video/ZpyOHF2SLy0/видео.html&ab_channel=RuthCollis-ThickPainting
Well you asked, so the links above show some actual examples visually. Also, you could cut the paint up to make 3-dimensional mosaics.
Or, if you live in a sunny place, leave the bucket in the sun. Save on your electricity bill.
Yes! Great idea. The fan works to dry paint water if you're already using the fan to dry acrylic paintings or cover noises so you can sleep. Otherwise, the sun could be the best use.
*sigh* I just want a concise answer: how do I dispose of the paint water properly? I don't want to sit through a fifteen minute lecture on why.
Hi magritte128. An idea is to pour paint water in a bucket and use a fan to speed up water evaporation. Over time you can then peel the paint out of the bucket and use it in your art without any waste or harm to the environment. If you don't have time to learn some secrets, think how much more time someone spent to figure a problem out, then record and edit it, spend money on that software, all to tell their secrets for free. The least anyone can do is watch the beneficial tips if you want to save time. Or you can try ideas on your own and take years longer. Hope something works for you.
I'm sorry Ruth. A project of mine wasn't going well, and my temper got the better of me.. I wanted to torch the whole thing. It's easy to forget that there are people on the receiving end of these comments.. I'm sorry I behaved like a jackass. The work you do is very good, and has helped me out on plenty of other occasions. I will try to be less of a jerk in the future. Thank you.
Awe. You're wonderful and is very big of you to write back and with such a winning attitude. That is more remarkable than most people. I appreciate comments that affect how I can make better videos. I have been wanting to do shorter videos of late, and that is to the point that people would have time for. Our challenges are what teach us the most. Anything I can help with? I studied a lot of mediums before loving this thicker paint stuff.
@@magritte128 we all have bad days. Not everyone apologizes the way you did though. You’re kind of my hero right now. ❤