How to turn artists acrylics into miniature paints

  This is the method I use to adapt cheep artist acrylic paints to make them suitable for miniature painting. 

What you need:

 - artists acrylic paint of your choice, below are some of the brands I have worked with, none are particularly expensive and are available in chains like The Range and Hobbycraft here in the UK.

 -2 small mixing jugs or cups or combination thereof..

-a spoon, coffee stirrer or the like to mix the paint and thinning medium with.

- A plastic dropper bottle of a size of your choosing (between 15ml - 30ml works best). When choosing dropper bottles I find it best to go with the type with the wider spout to avoid dried up paint clogging it up. Also try to get the dropper bottles with funnels to avoid a whole lot of mess and swearing .

- a tub of Matt medium.

- at least 10ml of distilled or deionized water per pot of paint you intend to make. (Do not use tap water as it will eventually turn the paint 'scuzzy'.

Method.

1) first make the thinning medium. In one jug/cup mix 1 part mat medium with 5 parts deionized/distilled water. Put aside. 

2) in the other cup/jug  place the paint you wish to mix. I find it best to put at least the full capacity of the dropper bottle you plan to use (some will cling to the cup and be impossible to get out).

3) add thinning medium a little at a time and mix  until you have the rough constancy of single cream. The amount you need to add will vary depending on the brand of paint you are using.

4) decant the mix into the dropper bottle, attach dropper cap and lid.

Finished pots ready to use.

  If you are making several pots at once you can make a large batch of thinning medium which will keep for a very long time. I keep a bottle of this medium as part of my paint set incase I want to thin the paint further.