How To Make Acrylic Pour Art Jewelry
Oct 06, 2021
Have you ever wondered what happens to the paint that pours off an Acrylic Pour during the creation of the painting? Inevitably, some paint goes to waste, but I do try to capture the patterns where paint has poured off the canvas during the tilting stage of the process.
Below I’ll explain how I create my acrylic pour jewelry. Each of these pieces is unique and impossible to recreate. Some people describe them as miniature works of art!
The Dip: this needs to be done fairly quickly after I am satisfied with the composition of the actual painting. I use blue tack to grab the top of the glass cabochon so I can carefully dip it in the most interesting puddles of paint that have dripped or spilled off the canvas. If there are decent puddles, I can dip quite a lot of pendants in one go. Much of the time, unfortunately, the puddles are merely sludgy messes, so dippable patterns are always a bonus!
The Dry: the jewelry that is dipped takes as long as painting to dry and cure, due to the many layers of paint that have adhered to the cabochon – usually 4 –6 weeks. The drying occurs upside down – so I don’t really get to see the final results until the end of the curing time!!
The Clean: once the paint is dried and cured, I finally get to turn the cabochons right side up and see if the capture was successful. If I like what I see, the next step is clean up – dipping is not an exact maneuver, and paint often needs to be removed from the front side of the cabochon – most successfully done with my nails!. I then seal the paint on the glass cabochon using clear nail polish.
The Mount: I procure my mounting hardware from several places (mainly Amazon!!). Above is a round cabochon mounted in a classic round pendant tray or bezel. The trays are metal alloy, chromed with electroplated silver or bronze or powder coated in black. I have also expanded to include cat, owl and turtle shaped bezels to cater to different choices. The cabochon is mounted using E6000 glue – amazing cement.
The Art Fair: I only sell these at art fairs or over video conference. They look great in real-life, close up, but it is nearly impossible to capture the interplay of the glass with the paint in changing light in a flat 2D photograph. if you are interested in perusing and/or purchasing I have the list of art shows I plan to be at in the “Connect” section of this site and a form to get a look at the current inventory of acrylic pour jewelry in that same section.