Green-Gold Poppy / Nautilus Strainer Pour - Fluid Art, Acrylic Pouring Tutorial + Bonus!

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Here are my Keys to Success for a Nautilus Pour using a dish strainer:

1. The consistency of your mixed paints should be thick - it should leave a mound-on-a-mound when drizzled off of your stir stick. If your paints are too thin, you'll loose line and color definition, especially after you start spinning or tilting.
2. Mix your paints at least 24 hours before using them to reduce the amount of air bubbles when you pour. As a general rule, the thicker the consistency of your paints, the longer it takes for the bubbles to rise through the paint and release.
3. If using a transparent color as your base, I highly recommend pre-painting the sides of your canvas in that color with a brush to avoid the white canvas from showing through. The surface is not as important, but definitely the sides.
3. I went for simplicity with three colors, but you can use as many colors as you can fit into your split cup! I recommend only one color per chamber to maximize the spiraling effect. And as you'll see in the video, I prefer only two or three colors... using more colors risks losing the nautilus effect.
4. The holes in your dish strainer need to be fairly large if they are round, or long if they are narrow.
5. If you don't put a base coat on your canvas, you may lose some of your composition, and you will still need a flow extender to get that thick paint to move to the canvas edges.
6. It's important to get as close to center as possible when placing your strainer on the canvas. I use a string dipped in my base color to find the center.
7. Pour slowly in the center of the strainer in tight circles. If you need to stop and add more paint to your split cup, no problem. Just start again in the same spot you stopped and it will not affect the pattern.
8. While pouring with one hand, use the other to SLOWLY turn the canvas on the spinner. This is the key to creating the spiral. It doesn't take as much coordination as you might think! Pour with your dominant hand and spin gently with the other.
9. DON'T REMOVE YOUR STRAINER RIGHT AWAY. When you are done pouring, let the paint continue to ooze out of the strainer. I let mine sit for a couple of minutes. Give the canvas a couple of gentle spins to create space for more paint to exit the strainer. This is an important step if you want that 3D effect!
10. When removing the strainer - commit to the movement. Once you start lifting, don't stop! And put your hand or a piece of paper or cardboard under it right away to avoid any drips ruining your pattern when you take it away.
11. Give it a couple of good spins to get that thick paint to move! This is where having a base coat or flow extender is really important. It allows your pour to float across rather than stick to the canvas.
12. I think this technique looks great with negative space, but it's also beautiful when spun out to completely cover all the corners.
13. To avoid cracking when it dries, make sure to leave 4-6 inches of space from the bottom of the canvas to the tabletop - air needs to flow underneath so that the surface and the underside dry at the same time, especially when using thicker consistency paints. I always prop my canvases up on large plastic cups for a couple of days until it's dry to the touch.

Pouring on a Vase:
1. Your hands have lots of natural oils on them. Wash your vase with warm soapy water and make sure to wash your hands thoroughly at the same time. Dry the vase off and then give it a wipe down with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol. Once this is done, try not to touch any surface that you will be painting on.
2. Make sure your vase is raised up off of the table - an inverted cup works well, or a funnel like I've used here. You just want to make sure it's not resting on the table as it will stick when dry and leave a ragged edge along the lip of the vase.
3. Pour exactly as you would on a canvas - put down a base coat, ring pour into the strainer, slowly turning the vase on a lazy Susan or cake turner.
4. You'll use a surprising amount of paint to get all surfaces covered - so make sure you're prepared to scrape up the runoff paint for future use... Strain it and use it again!

Colors used:
Amsterdam Titanium White
Amsterdam Sap Green
Amsterdam Olive Green Light + JoSonja Pale Gold (equal parts)
(My flow extender was a mix of table scrapings and leftover paints)

My pouring medium is equal parts Floetrol, PVA glue and varnish.

I mixed my base coat 3 parts pouring medium to 1 part paint and then add a small amounts of distilled water until I reach the desired consistency.

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