Cloud paint techniques

[Gary Beasley]

I searched a bit for some info on best techniques for using Chromacrafts Acrylic Cloud Paint, apparently theres not a searchable link to it on Youtube or the web that doesnt get buried in cosmetics and video game references. Anybody have anything to offer or know of a good video or two?

 

[Dwight R Rutherford]

Are you looking for “string pull painting”? U-Tube has clips if you use that phrase.

 

[john lucas]

I originally found it here. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cosmic+cloud+painting Then I bought some paints and started learning. What I learned was the dilution of the paints with the Extender is not critical at all. roughly 50/50 is a good starting point. I also leaned that itt shows up really well on black, barely at all on light maple. This can be a godsend if your not good at keeping the paint within the line. There have been some fun new experiments online that I've found. One is instead of blowing it around use a balloon to sort of smear it. Very cool patterns. Gonna try that later this week if I get time. Using wood burning tools to create the black areas was magical when I found that. You can see that technique in the angels. Masking off areas similar to what you would do with an air brush also opened a whole new thing for me. see the mirror that I call Faux Abilone.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Thanks, John! I like what you've done, never thought to use pyro under the paint. Have you ever thought of pushing lace or similar into the paint to create the swirls? I was thinking about texture options besides the airjet.

 

[john lucas]

When you use the extender and apply a fair amount of paint it has a lot of open time so I think there are a lot of ways to move the paint. I use sponge painting techniques with regular paint but it should work with the irridescent paints as well. One thing that might be fun is to use the air brush to apply the black paint and let it fade into the light colored wood. Then when you apply the iridescent paints they would go from very strong and bold to very mild. I see a hand mirror coming soon.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Hmm, I can envision finding a skeletal leaf or two and spraying the black for a pattern. I do like natural patterns.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I was having a hard time getting the pigment in my cloud paint to shake up and cover. Is this common with this brand? Stuff seems pretty clear until it dries which makes it hard to judge coverage.

 

[William Rogers]

I originally found it here. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cosmic+cloud+painting Then I bought some paints and started learning. What I learned was the dilution of the paints with the Extender is not critical at all. roughly 50/50 is a good starting point. I also leaned that itt shows up really well on black, barely at all on light maple. This can be a godsend if your not good at keeping the paint within the line. There have been some fun new experiments online that I've found. One is instead of blowing it around use a balloon to sort of smear it. Very cool patterns. Gonna try that later this week if I get time. Using wood burning tools to create the black areas was magical when I found that. You can see that technique in the angels. Masking off areas similar to what you would do with an air brush also opened a whole new thing for me. see the mirror that I call Faux Abilone.

John, can you elaborate on the “ball” technique? Gary, that is the same experience I had when I used it.

 

[john lucas]

I havent tried the balloon technique yet. I plan on it this week. I'm using the JoSanjo paints and they may be different. My friend Jake Neidling is using the chromo craft I'll have to ask him. With my paints when you blow them around it thins them out and you see more black through which kind of dulls the colors.

 

[William Rogers]

John, I’m using the same brand paint. Is the angle on the left textured and then painted?

 

[john lucas]

Gary.. are you using floor extender or some such thing with the paints. It needs it to be able to spread. The balloon technique is where they take a balloon and smear the paint vs blowing it around with a straw or airbrush.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I was using it straight out of the bottle with a brush. It acted like all the pigment had settled to the bottom. How thick would you recommend laying the paint on, for instance covering a bowl rim?

 

[john lucas]

Again I'm using JoSanjo brand but I mix the paint 50/50 with Flo Extender. It comes out of the tubes fairly thick. Just called my friend Jake who has been using the Chromocraft. He said he shook the bottles up the first time before he opened them and everything seemed to be OK. That was a year ago and he is still using them and hasn't seen any problem with settling. Jake is like me. He has used them straight out of the bottle for some techniques and with flo extender if he wants to blow them around. I will be doing experiments tomorrow with the Balloon technique if I can get time so I'll have more answers about that in a day or so.

 

[Peter D'Attomo]

Anyone know why chromacraft does not have any instruction info on their web site? I left a message thru their site and no response to date

 

[Walter Mooney]

I originally found it here. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cosmic+cloud+painting Then I bought some paints and started learning. What I learned was the dilution of the paints with the Extender is not critical at all. roughly 50/50 is a good starting point. I also leaned that itt shows up really well on black, barely at all on light maple. This can be a godsend if your not good at keeping the paint within the line. There have been some fun new experiments online that I've found. One is instead of blowing it around use a balloon to sort of smear it. Very cool patterns. Gonna try that later this week if I get time. Using wood burning tools to create the black areas was magical when I found that. You can see that technique in the angels. Masking off areas similar to what you would do with an air brush also opened a whole new thing for me. see the mirror that I call Faux Abilone.

John,
When you mask an area off with the tape, do you then burn right through the tape with your wood burning tool (to make the shape of the area you want to burn) and then take it further to burning the wood within that ‘window’? Or do you cut the holes out in the tape first, then burn within that little area?
Thanks in advance for some further information.