How to Thin Electric Paint

In his last make post, artist Thomas Evans gave us some useful advice on how to embed sensors inside wood. A great solution when you want to conceal the paint or create a robust or shorter path from your touch sensors to the Touch Board. In this, post he will guide you through another neat tip, this time showing how you can thin Electric Paint to make it go further and use it across larger surfaces. Check it out:

Materials: To begin you will need:

1 x Electric Paint 50ml
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1 x Flow-Aid
1 x Painting Knife

Application method

I’ll begin by showing you how to stretch your Electric Paint with Flow-Aid.

As you experiment with the Electric Paint, you may have become used to it’s consistency and adjusted your tools accordingly. Unfortunately, in some cases adjusting your tools also affects the execution of how you apply the paint. Fortunately, Bare Conductive’s Electric Paint is water soluble, so many of the additive and medium solutions that work with acrylic paint also work with this material!

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Flow-Aid

One solution I like to use in my projects involving Electric Paint is Flow Improver (or Flow aid), which is an acrylic additive. Because acrylic paints are water-based, they can be thinned with water, which breaks down the acrylic binder and makes the paint behave like a fluid. However, adding water creates a diminished result because it breaks down the binder. Flow improver, on the other hand, breaks down the fluid tension of the water inside the paint which thins the paint without reducing colour strength or compromising the finish.

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Use

This solution allows for Electric Paint to be thinned without breaking down the binders that hold the paint together. Now you will be able to stretch the paint across a wider surface area because the paint is not as thick. Try this Flow improver in you next Bare Conductive project and experience the difference it can make.

Check out Thomas’ work on instagram and his website.

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