Testors Enamel Paint

Start of Arts and Crafts enthusiasts often struggle to decipher what kind of paints work best when working with wood, glass and other surfaces. The results of a wrong choice can often lead to frustration, disappointment, and even costly failures in the project time and budget.

There are significant differences between enamel and acrylic paints, including their chemical composition and types of surfaces better accept their pigments and membership, or "stickyness." Knowing what to buy for those projects that will help you avoid problems both during the project implementation and especially once it is completed.

Acrylic paint Water-based

Acrylic paints water based, which means they are essentially water with concentrations of pigments in a certain color. As the water evaporates, the pigment adheres to the surface to be painted.

Acrylic paints work with relatively non-porous surfaces such as plastic and wood. It is also ideal when working on a project with children: its water-based facilitates cleaning and removal of hot water and ordinary soap.

Primer goes on before the acrylic

Acrylic almost always best when the paint surface is prepared with one or more layers of primer. Primer is relatively inexpensive, generally available in white and gray, and can be found with spray paint in both craft and hardware stores. Using primers darker color will give the acrylic coated atop a darker hue, while white primer paint to give a slightly brighter.

The right kind of acrylic paint brands

There are four major brands of acrylic paint sold in craft stores like Michael's, Hobby Lobby and AC Moore. These marks are Americana, Apple Barrel, Folk Art, and Delta Ceramcoat. Americana paints are probably the largest selection of colors and their range of reds, browns and yellows are the best in the industry. Ceramcoat has the best blue and green, while the folk art of slightly cheaper price plateau offers a quality, especially with its wide range of enamel paints with metallic finish. Apple Barrel colors provides several shades of blue, red, and that other lines are not.

enamel is oil based, stronger, more tempermental

Enamel paint has oil as the main ingredient, typical of the kind of paint used in painting of Fine Arts and the decision model as well. The enamel is more durable than acrylic, which means it will not be as easy to chip or flake. However, that virtue is also its main weakness.

Enamel paint works best with canvas and ceramic materials, especially if treated with a coating agent or sealant after painting is complete. The enamel paint used on plastic, sometimes never completely dry, remains tacky time after the completion of the project.

Painters working with enamel must use paint thinner (turpentine) to remove the paint from their skin and clothing. Finally, most commercial brands of nail polish are actually the same types of enamel paints sold in hardware stores and crafts.

Testors enamel paints are available in sections model of most craft stores, and other brands in the sections of Fine Arts. Prices vary, but the enamel is usually more expensive per unit than acrylic.

Sealing acrylics

Amateurs recommend using a fixative or sealant to protect the acrylic paints. The most popular brand, Testor mat Shore, gives a matte finish and is in the section closest model (ironically) the enamels.