Crafters walk into this world with big ideas, only to get stopped by something as simple as mixing color into resin. I’ve stood in my kitchen, gloves on, resin fumes in the air, and realized that not all acrylic paint works the same inside epoxy. It looks straightforward—just squeeze some color into the mix and pour. Real life says otherwise.
You can grab a cheap tube labeled "acrylic paint" at any dollar store. It’s tempting. It costs less and comes in dozens of shades. Still, student-grade acrylics have a lot of fillers and extra water. Add that to resin and the whole thing can turn cloudy or you’ll watch the color split, leaving weird floaters in your mix. I’ve tried to save money with these and watched an afternoon’s work become useless.
Artist-grade acrylics cost more, but for a reason. These tubes contain more pigment—less gunk and water. Art resin absorbs this kind of paint better. I see clearer, richer colors and far fewer bubbles or clouds. It’s not perfect; too much can still thicken the resin fast or lead to clumping. Less is more, and proper stirring beats trying to toss in extra pigment at the end.
Heavy body acrylics, with their buttery texture, feel great on canvas but don't play nice with resin. They make the resin lumpy and run risks of not mixing fully. Scraping clumps off a nearly-cured coaster isn’t anyone’s idea of fun. Fluid acrylics offer a real solution—they pour easily and blend right in, keeping the resin smooth. I use fluid paint from trusted brands; there's no surprise sludge, just solid, consistent color.
Manufacturers add all sorts of extras to some paints—matting agents, opacifiers, drying agents. Most of these do a number on resin. I’ve tried paints with anti-drying agents and watched the piece cure sticky, refusing to harden for days. Professional brands list these ingredients. If you want to avoid surprises, check for single-pigment colors and see if the label lists what exactly goes inside.
I pour resin into one cup, and in a separate, smaller cup, mix in a little paint with a wooden stick before adding it to the bulk resin. Dumping straight from the tube means globs will be impossible to chase later. Anyone who thinks they can just 'mix harder' learns quick: patience and gradual blending matter. For large resin pours, it’s better to keep paint under 6% of total volume—otherwise you risk ruining the cure.
Some paints don’t label their contents well, and artists take their lungs and skin for granted. Always use gloves, work with windows open, and avoid hobby paints from unknown suppliers. Cheaper paints sometimes use lower-quality pigments, and nobody wants unexpected chemicals in the finished resin. Reliable brands don’t only give better colors—they also skip mystery additives that could leach or cause irritation.
Mixing acrylic paint with resin isn’t about shortcuts. Half the crafters I know have wasted hours by thinking any tube will do. Look for fluid, artist-grade paints in single, rich pigments, avoid thick or filler-heavy brands, and always blend slowly. Art supplies cost money, but throwing away a whole batch of cloudy resin costs more. From my bench, that's the best advice I can give.
