Any advice for thickening acrylic paint on a budget?

[ginyu force]

Basically im looking for home concoctions. I dont have the time to order thickening gel, so does anybody have any advice as to how i could thicken acrylic paint for cheap!?

 

[wolfchild59]

Any Michael's will have artist gel mediums in the paint section, usually on shelves under all the hanging tubes of paints. Michel's always has 40% of coupons which make them pretty cheap and they are easily mixed with acrylic paint.

 

[ultraman]

i've heard of people using corn starch and heating it in water then adding it to paint....and some people have used wood glue.
i haven't tried either so i couldn't tell you how well it worked but i may have to try both just to see what happens. :cool

 

[Sebastein]

Any Michael's will have artist gel mediums in the paint section, usually on shelves under all the hanging tubes of paints. Michel's always has 40% of coupons which make them pretty cheap and they are easily mixed with acrylic paint.

I second that. ^^ Gel mediums are the best way to easily thicken up your paints. Make sure you get the ones for acrylic paints though.

 

[robstyle]

keep in mind adding anything to paints can have ill effects resulting in a wasted job and materials or longer term ill effects ranging from mold/mildew and rot.

The old way to thicken paint is to simply chill it. The colder latex paint gets the thicker it becomes. Having said that cheap thin paint will always be cheap thin paint. There is a recycled "green" paint thats just terrible stuff. Its near water thin and takes no less than six coats to compare to even the cheapest off the shelf major brand sold for nearly the same price. I have about five gallons of it sitting in the garage that is waiting to be used on a project that needs a white wash, its just that thin, good for nothing really. It would cost more to thicken it than it would to simply buy the proper materials from the start.
If you try chilling the paint, it will need to be chilled for hours, maybe even over night. Pending the quality of the paint the ill effects once applied could be cracking, hazing, peeling... It all goes back to the initial quality of the material in question.

 

[blue2k]

I've not had to do this before, but would a few drops of various agents mixed with the acrylic work? I have heard of a product called Liquithick Thickening Gel. If not perhaps PVA glue or even adding monosodium glutamate or other food thickener?