Paint the Town
Paint is a craft supply that no crafter should ever be without! However, if you’ve recently tried to buy paint at your local craft store, you know that the number of brands and kinds of paints is endless and very intimidating. By choosing the right paints for you needs, you can save money and create better projects, so learn the difference in order to shop more efficiently for your crafting needs.
One of the most popular kinds of paints is watercolor. Most children have a set of watercolors when growing up, and they are common in craft rooms as well. Watercolors are great because they can create a soft look if you use a lot of water or a very sharp, heavy look if you use very little water. Watercolors are great to use of a variety of projects, but will not given you an even or thick coating, no matter how little water you use. And, of course, watercolors are not good for outdoor projects, because they do not withstand the rain. Tempera paint, which is commonly sold with children’s craft kits and is used in school frequently, is basically very thick water colors, so use it as you would watercolor paints.
Acrylic paints are also very common for crafters to use, although these are not used frequently with children as watercolors may be. When acrylic paint dries, it becomes a plastic, so you can use acrylics for outdoor projects as well as for indoor projects. Acrylic paint is generally slightly thicker than tempera paint, but cleans up with water as well. However, make sure that you clean your brushes and any spills before the acrylic paint dries-afterwards, the plastic-y remains are permanent.
Oils paints used to be the most common type of paint on the market, but they require dangerous chemicals for clean up, so they fell in favor. Oil paints are more common for artists to use than for crafters, but they still do have a place in the crafting world. If you purchase oil paints, remember that you’ll need to get special cleaning tools and liquids as well, and don’t use them around children.
There are a variety of other paints you can buy as well, such as spray paint for large projects, edible paint for cakes and cookies, and fabric paint that will stand up to your washer. Once you’ve decided on a type of paint to buy, make sure your purchase, at the very least, the 5 colors you cannot mix-red, blue, yellow, black, and white. You may also want to buy green, purple, and orange to round out the color wheel, although you could mix these yourself if you’d like. Choosing other colors can be fun, so consider stocking up on many kinds of paint so that you’ll always have the color you need.
