Many aren’t bothered by the relatively large amount of acrylic paint and thinner/polymer emulsion mixture that is essentially wasted as it runs off a painting.  To me, it’s not wasted. Initially I just put some newsprint under my tiles or canvases and threw it away after it was dry.  Then I decided to try putting Freezer paper under the canvas and thus able to make use of the pour excess, since other skins I’ve made for collaging were made on freezer paper.

It works pretty well, but there are two things that are quite different from using straight acrylic pain for the skin.  1.) The skins are quite thin when dry and are thus quite fragile. 2.) They take a long time to dry. These two skins I’ve had out in the sun most of the day for almost a week, and they finally have matured/cured enough to remove from the freezer paper.  Also I noticed that those skins from FW Acrylic Ink are very brittle and don’t survive removal as well as those from Fluid Acrylics.

So, when trying to salvage some skins for your pours, don’t spread them out. The quite thick puddles will flatten to normal thickness when dry.  And, don’t try to remove them until they are finally dry and cured.

Here’s a couple of skins I just today was able to remove from the paper.  The first is from fluid acrylics and PaintEasy. It’s quite thin, but will make a good piece in the right spot.

The second is from a pour using FW Acrylic Ink and Floetrol. It is a little thicker, but somewhat brittle and needs to be handled with care. It too will make a good piece in the right spot. It is a little smaller (about 5×3″) than the first and quite a bit more shinny than the first.

Have you tried saving these for late use in paintings? Let me know.