Pros and Cons of Water-Based Paint-Fill

Enhancing sandcarved items with water-based paint comes with a set of advantages and disadvantages. 

Darin Jones

Advantages:

  • Can air dry in less than 10 minutes.
  • With a heat gun, you can get it to dry in less than a minute. Heat will not affect the adhesion.
  • Just add water to dilute for air brush and air pen.
  • Can be found at home improvement stores.
  • Can be easily sprayed and ventilation is not as important.
  • Can be easily cleaned with soap and water.
  • Store in any container over time.

Disadvantages:

  • Semi-transparent finish. To get opaque, 2-5 coats are recommended.
  • Not durable unless enamel is baked on in an oven or kiln.
  • Flakes off if your etch is slightly uneven.
  • When doing multiple colors, you need to cover up the areas you do not want to color, remove this cover when paint dries, then cover up dried paint area, and paint again.
  • Colors bleed, so you need to be extra careful with water-based transparent paints.

-Darin Jones, IKONICS Imaging

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