Craft Painting Tips

General Painting Craft Tip Page

Here are some general craft painting tips I find very helpful. I am sure you will too!

We will start off with acrylic craft paints. To jump ahead to tips on using oil-based enamel craft paints, click the link.

Craft Painting Tips: Painting with Acrylic Craft Paints

I also have a few paper towels and some water handy to rinse off the paint brush when I change colors.

It doesn't show up very well in this photo, but the black item on the right side of the photo is a plastic dish (from a microwave meal) that is divided in two sections. I filled both sections with water.

When I want to change paint colors, I dip the brush into one side of the water container and swirl it around to get off most of the paint. Then I wipe the brush off with a paper towel.

Then I dip the brush into the other side and swirl it around to make sure all the paint is gone, and then wipe it off again with the paper towel.



I like to use a paper plate as a palette even when I am using just one color of paint, such as when I am making painted pumpkins.

Use as many brushes as you want to. I usually just use one or two brushes. Sometimes I use one for light colors and one for dark colors. Or sometimes I use a somewhat larger brush for larger areas and a very thin brush for small details.

When you are finished, clean up is quick and easy. Just wash out your brushes with soap and water and let air dry. Paint spills also clean up easily with a damp cloth or paper towel. However, the sooner you wipe them up, the easier it is.

Craft Painting Tips: Painting with Oil-based Enamel Craft Paints

Until just a few years ago, I always used oil-based gloss enamel craft paints when painting dough or plaster ornaments. When I first started crafting (eons ago!), it just seemed to me that the enamel paints gave a much higher quality result than the water-based craft paints of the day.

Maybe that was true or maybe I just felt more grown up using the oil-based paints. For whatever reason, I really preferred the enamel paints. There is no denying that enamel paints provide a durable coating and beautiful color.

But it seems the quality of water-based craft paints has definitely improved in the last fifty years. So these days I use both acrylic paints and enamel paints, and I really enjoy working with both.

The only real down side of using the oil-based paints is that they do not clean up with water. You must use paint thinner or turpentine.

(Well, maybe there is another down side: the paint and especially the turpentine also put out an odor and fumes that may bother you.)

As shown in the photo, I use tiny bottles of gloss enamels and set them on a paper plate. The metal container contains turpentine. (I use an old egg poacher cup.) I also keep an old cloth or two handy.

The enamel paint needs to be stirred before using because the oil and pigment separate. I usually just use a paint brush to do the stirring, but a thin wooden stick would work fine too.

I use the turpentine or paint thinner to clean off the brush between colors and then I wipe the brush off with the cloth.

When I am finished painting and have removed the paint from the brushes using turpentine, I wash the brushes again with soap and water to remove the turpentine. Then I let them air dry.


I hope you have found these craft painting tips helpful. Check back again because I add new information frequently!

For more craft tips and techniques, go to the Craft Tip page.