My experiments with paints

The first type of paint I experimented with was marbling paint.



The colours don't mix a lot, which is a good thing because we want those lovely patterns. There's a closeup below to show you the patterns that I'm talking about. The 2 pictures shown here is when I didn't add any water to the paint. We want to add water to it so that it can flow better, will smell less overwhelming and so that we can use less paint which would reduce costs. But the problem is marbling paint forms a skin on the surface of the water it touches causing it to stick to the container that holds the paint unless the mixture is shaken or poured immediately. So we'll have to make some changes to the mixture of paint and water or find an alternative paint since it is highly unlikely that the robot would shake the paint pyramid vigorously and the paint may need to sit still for a while before its sensors are triggered. This means the paint might solidify at the bottom before it even moves to be poured out of the containers.



Since there are so many problems with marbling paint I also experimented a bit with acrylic paint with water added to get the right consistency. It doesn't set and solidify, unless the water evaporates. That wouldn't be a problem because it would take a very long time for the water to evaporate.


As you can see from these two pictures you still get an aesthetically pleasing pattern and the paints don't mix together readily unless you really stir the paint. That won't be a problem either as it will not be stirred. Will do a few more tries with the acrylics to make sure this isn't just a fluke. I'm sure this would work out with acrylics.





A key quality is flexibility and calmness. If one thing doesn't work out don't panic and have a massive mindblank then have a fit of rage. Think of alternatives and other ways you can achieve the desired result. There's ALWAYS a way. *And remember that if you want help there's always help available if you ask.