Many crafters get hooked on resin because the results look like glass. The shine and depth grab your eye, every time. To add real personality, color steps in — usually through acrylic paint. It feels like the easiest choice. You likely have half a dozen bottles in a drawer already. Still, not all acrylics mix well with resin. Using the wrong type can cloud your project, cause streaks, or ruin the finish. That wastes more time and money than most people expect.
Years ago, I tried thinning down cheap kids’ acrylic in resin. Big mistake. The mix separated, left clumps, and turned my coaster into a milky mess. The lesson stuck: the paint formula really changes the outcome. Artist-grade acrylics, known for stable pigments and smooth textures, always gave cleaner results. It’s tempting to cut corners, but resin does its best work when you pair it with paints made to keep their color and shape.
Epoxy resin companies like ArtResin and Pro Marine advise sticking to water-based, high-pigment acrylic paints. Oil-based ones and certain metallics cause curing issues, sometimes leaving a tacky surface. Leading artists recommend opaque acrylics because translucent paints disappear fast in resin, requiring layers that never quite match your plan.
Quality matters a lot in this process. Golden and Liquitex brands, staples in many studios, resist fading and mix in with fewer bubbles. They flow nicely, and every project needs only a tiny bit to reach deep, strong color. Cheap formulas can throw off the delicate resin-to-hardener mix, stop resin from hardening, or cause yellowing in sunlight over time.
I’ve learned to check labels for non-toxic and lightfast ratings. Fumes from oil-based paints, sometimes added for stronger effect, feel rough on the lungs and everyone in the room. Clean, water-based acrylics let you create safely around kids or pets. Since resin projects end up touched often — as jewelry, tabletops, or decor — durability and safety become bigger priorities than many realize at the start.
Mix paints one small drop at a time to avoid overwhelming the curing process. Patience here stops cloudy streaks. Stir gently and scrape the sides of your cup so pigment and resin can blend fully. Dust and direct sunlight both work against you, and a simple box cover during curing helps get that smooth finish every creator hopes to achieve.
Avoid using tube paints packed with fillers. These stuck to my molds, refusing to release even with careful oiling. Bottled acrylics designed for pouring, like DecoArt Pouring Acrylics, make the process simpler for beginners. They keep viscosity predictable and support vibrant, true-to-life shades in finished resin pieces.
Problems sometimes show up as fish-eye bubbles or unmixed patches. Many artists add acrylic paint to the resin after mixing in hardener but before pouring. This step improves the blend. For metallics, look toward specialized mica powders or resin dyes since most metallic acrylics separate, leaving dull surfaces.
Buying paints from recognized brands, reading reviews, and staying away from formulas with added oils or thickeners keeps your work more predictable. The right paint plus clear, well-mixed resin brings creative projects to life and lets you trust in what you build, piece after piece.
