Viscosity (or drippiness!)

Getting the correct thickness of paint makes all the difference to a successful painting.  If you are planning on blowing the paint, then a thin watery consistency is required.  For a pour that retains cell shapes, then you need to make sure the paint is thick enough to do this and be pourable.  It isn’t always as simple as adding the exact weight of paint, pouring medium and water – paint  behaves differently depending on the pigments and binders used.  

The most accurate way to check paint thickness is to buy a viscosity meter – but these are costly.  There are a couple of other much easier ways you can check the thickness is correct.  One is to count how many seconds the steady stream of paint takes to drip off the stirring stick before it turns into drips.  The other is dip your stirring stick into the paint and wipe a finger across the middle.  If the paint holds its shape without rushing to fill the gap, you know you’re in the right thickness area.  With experience, you will get to know when your paint is at the correct viscosity to do what you want it to. If in doubt, make a small test piece to see how the paint behaves.