Cheap Alternative To Acrylic Medium 4x Cheaper Than Leading Brands 

Hi Luke! Longtime fan here checking in. I absolutely love your attitude towards hobby supplies- so much of what we use are routine commodities that are re-branded and sold at goofy prices. It's great to peel that back and figure out what is actually in all of these little bottles :-)

-The ingredient used in matte nail enamel is finely milled silica -Pledge floor finish is clear liquid acrylic, perfect for thinning acrylic paint -If you can use a rock like chalk it can be easily ground down and made into a pigment -Cherry gum or gum from any tree of the prunus variety is an acceptable replacement for gum arabic -Acetone, Alcohol and pva/ca glue can be bought in a hardware store in much larger containers for pennies on the dollar and with better dispensing mechanisms compared to "crafting brands" and their tiny bottles -almost all of the mediums I see are some combination of glue, acrylic paint/pigment, talc/plaster, and solvent. You just have to figure out the ratios and solvent base you're looking to work with just a few of the diy hacks I picked up living in a remote area.

You're a steward of the hobby Luke...best of luck in 2019!

Thanks luke, been looking for a cheap medium for a while. You're a 🌟

serious respect from a born again old artist on a broken shoestring budget. bless you. xx

Love that personality that shines trough the screen, also you just probably saved me a couple of hundred bucks for future projects!

Love the more frequent uploads Luke. Great stuff!

Oh actually had some indoor varnish laying around and it works really well to mix with my paint. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for sharing Luke, it takes someone like you to put two and two together and experiment at your own cost. Like Ronseal woodstain used to be used as a dip. I think time will tell on this one.. Some mediums can change the colour on application as you've found or over time... Winsor and Newton artists quality mediums are made and tested to not change colours on application or over time. Whether that bothers the painter is for them to decide, for scenery or other applications it will save a fortune. Future (Pledge) floor polish is the age old "medium" to make washes with - it's a sort of thin acrylic varnish.

Hi Luke. Thank you for all the valuable tipps. Great help for new beginners. Recipe missing! Have a lovely day😊👍

Love your ideas! Can’t wait to try this!

You can also use the accent or deep base of most house paints as acrylic medium. Just make sure you get the kind without primer. Here in Canada you can get a gallon of the cheap stuff for about $20

Love what you do dude, its seriously a big help

You are amazing! I am an acrylic painter and use matte varnish a lot in my work. You just saved me sooooo much money. Cheers! 🤩

Much appreciated Luke I’m always looking for saving money for sure ,

I was looking for ways to make my own mediums because money is very tight (tighter than a virgin🥴) and stumbled across your video. Thank you so very much for sharing! You've saved me from going mad 🤪♥️

Nice Luke, what a great idea.

Thanks for the info I'm just getting into making terrain and painting minis and these videos are saving my wallet

Here in the US (MAINE) ive actually seen that around. Granted not at big box stores, but rather at some smaller local hardware shops or the paint shops. That said, it's fairly uncommon and as such not too cheap. Not tooooooo expensive either though. Instead I've been using (like another commenter posted) Minwax polycrylics. Matte, satin, gloss, depending on the application. They're everywhere, consistent in price (albeit not dirt cheap, but foot enough) and easy to work with. Always looking for alternatives. Haven't seen Clearfix around yet. We do have two other products that look and behave startlingly similar though, but I haven't read a MSDS yet to see if whats in them is the same. If it is awesome, seeing as they're common in two different stores and a tiny cheaper than Clearfix thru the channel. However I may just order Clearfix anyways to help support your ability to keep the lights on in the studio hahah. Good work keep it up.

Great info mate. Definately be giving this a go

Great video as always Luke! Thanks for the info. Any chance you could give an idea of the basic ratios for a matte varnish wash? I tried it and it turned out rubbish. Thanks for all your amazing videos!

Fantastic video! Deffo gonna give it a go on my minis. If you sand further away from the wall your get a nicer depth of field. Other then that I dig the new format! Looking forward to more videos. Are you gonna do a video showcasing the new board all finished?

Jeeez, another crazy helpful video. Nice one.

I bought a pot of matt medium last month. Looks like I'll never need to buy another one!

Cheers Luke , Nice one !

Nice one Luke... This is very helpful. I paint with acrylic paints and do ppurs but offical pouring medium is crazy expensive... Let's face it, they will all be the same stuff just mixed different and marketed differently

sounds good a look in to and on that i look at new stuff you post when posted

Great video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Cheers Luke just ordered some 750m on ebay £11 can't wait t try it save me a bloody fortune oh free post toooooo

Thanks luke that gonna save me money when it comes to sealing my atrocious paint job on my armies.

Love the new thumbnails

I’m sold ronseal it is 🧐, I only wish I could find an alternative to 3D gel medium. But the search continues... thanks for the great tip...& a new sub is born 👍🏼🤣😂!from Kirsty

Thanks luke two tins bought, legend you are again many thanks.

Awesome. Do we have any more info/description from the can of that varnish - it might help with tracking down the local equivalents ...

In the US pretty much all chemicals need to have an SDS, safety data sheet, just look that up and it will tell you what's in it. I would presume you all have that or something similar in the UK.

Thanks yet again Luke,

Awesome thanks, I'll have to grab a tin to give it a try! :)

I used to use interior water based varnishes on all my minis until I could afford rattle cans on a regular basis. I often toyed with the idea of trying to use them as washes but never got round to it.

Awesome video thanks!

Very interesting, thanks for sharing

Super handy to know. I'll try to find some local equivalents here in Aus

Can you use the “non trade” version that says its diamond hard, or is this an additive to be avoided?

This is why you're my favorite. Cool find.

And thanks again. I now have to pour a big tin over in a smaller tin at work.

Thank for sharing all of this. Does it mean we can use to do the laminianish medium that you showed us in your other video? And use it to make craft "painting work"? And also for washes, will it work with all colors? And also to emulate contrast paint effect with ink ? That sound crazy ^^

Action has gloss and mat varnish. 1.98 for 250ml in the deco section. I use those to seal my tables rock hard. And gloss and matt varnish 50ml for 60 cents in the paint section. I use them for glazes and sealing minis. Nwver used varnish as a medium. Thx for the idea Luke!

Ayup Luke. Do you have your own version of typhus corrosion? I'm getting through loads at the moment. These tips are great. Cheers mate.

Hey Luke, would you say this Ronseal (with ink) would work as well as the cheap dip wash you made a few years ago? Cheers man, keep up the good work.

I use white carpenters glue mixed with water, works just as well

So if you use this in your mod porch do you use gloss because the other darken you medium great vids

Any idea what you'd add for a substitute to gel medium? That's what I'm currently on the hunt for!

How well do you think you could airbrush it?

Fantastic. Any luck with other brands of it?

Referencing your DIY washes video, would you use the same amount of this stuff as the Winsor & Newton?

luke awesome man soooo much cheaper than off the shelf

Thank you!

Hi there Luke, I want to make a heavy matte gel medium, what can i mix with the varnish to achieve this? Looking forward to you're reply. x

Hi there. I am looking for a recipe on how to make black medium for water based oil painting.

great video Sir must try it out

Hi mate. Have you tried the 'diamondhard' non trade version or is there an unwanted additive? Having difficulty finding the trade version online or in the big DIY places.

Thanks mate

Thank you! It's work!))

Can you paint in layers with this acrylic/varnish recipe?

In theory, could one add talc or pumice to gloss medium to make your own matte medium?

Is Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish Matte the same stuff as your Ron Seal? Also, can this be used to replace matte medium in mixed media journals or will it be too strong and tear up the paper? I am not into doing journals yet because the price of the matte medium to lay down the foundation of backgrounds is crazy, but I want to get into it. I can use mod podge to seal it at the end but even the matte mod podge is too thick and shiny for the base layer. I think this works for your figures but I am wondering if it will just dissolve the paper?

Hey luke do you have a glaze medium recipe

excuse my dumbness but can you use this as substitute for like fabric or textile medium when painting with acrylics on a fabric?

Do you water it down with water? And have you put it through an air brush? How did it do

There is marble dust matte medium too.

Just found this by accident while searching for "make acrylic matte" Im not at all into war figurines..but Im interested in all kinds of art in general and are making everything from sketches, paintings, ceramics, glass engravings, jewelry and wood work, yeah I know its a lot and maybe confusing. I am not also going to add making of war figurines to that list but I think I would be smart to still subscribe to this channel. The info in this video is great and will probably be useful for several different projects. Ive been questioning the prices of paint mediums, it just doesnt make any sense to me if we compare it to hardwear building and paint products which are fairly cheap. Ive been wanting to use epoxy resin in future works and found the products in artshops to be insanly small for an ridiculous price. Its just doesnt make sense to me, epoxy has been around for quite a while, so currently looking for epoxy resin or something similar thats used in carpenting, or the building industry. Maybe some of you already know?

Hi darlin I'm a fluid artist and I was wondering does this work on acrylic paints as well cuz at the moment I'm using floetrol as a medium does this come in a gloss or even a high-gloss by any chance do you know and thank you for this

Wet pallet paint to brush up to date best of your know how x

Dude you should have been my chemistry teacher!

thank you

What do you thin that stuff down with? water or ico?

Hey Luke, what happened to your video on making airbrush cleaner & thinner? I've looked everywhere and can't find it! HELP!

Very interesting! Can I use it for acrylic paintings in canvas?

I'm looking for an equivalent to my Golden Fluid Matte Medium for fast image transfers. Fluid Matte Medium has a fast drying element. Do you have any input?

Mate.. tasting the medium.. way to put your body on the line for subscribers!

I still fail to understand what's the point of using medium when painting miniatures :D Is it to get opaque color and for better transition in between colors?

Do you think the varnish would work as an alternative to Mod Podge Dimensional Magic?

I'm using glycerin cause I read on it being an alternative before watching this video. Cause of the virus, the art supplies including the medium, are mostly gone. I hope it works cause it wasnt cheap.

Hi , just came across your video where researching HOME MADE Matt Medium . I'm a mixed media artist and use a lot of Liquitex Matt Medium as a gluing agent for scrapbooking etc, do you think this would work? Appreciate advise before I go & buy this version, thanks so much

Are there any Australian equalivants? Accent, Dulux, or Wattyl?

nice one LK

Luke, where do you get this from? You mentioned your local hardware store, big places like Wickes and B&Q only seem to do the 'diamond hard' stuff which is twice the price. Any suggestions?

does the brand matter ? i live in belgium and prolly cant find that brand

Is ther a gold color that's budget acrylic? 🤗

Bless you...my broke ass wants to paint but I can’t afford to go all out!

What does pouring mediums do

Is this stuff available in the US?

I miss the sweaty palm wipe you used to end your videos intros with. The new fade to black is more professional though.

Have you allready used sanding dust from MDF as sand on your bases? Works perfect and it costs nothing but a piece of MDF and sandpaper

What is the recipe please? I can’t seem to find it.

compared to vallejo medium thinner for $4.99?

Awesome stuff, thank you. More pennies added to my piggy bank.

Cant find this product anymore.Any alternative?

I need a heavy matte gel that will glue things to a canvas. Have you tried working talc , cornstarch or some such into the varnish to thicken it ? If so , did it work or did it weaken the product ?

So this can be used to; thin paint, make washes and as a varnish protector?

Just so I'm clear, are you saying you can use an oil-based polyurethane (varnish) as an acrylic (water-based) gel medium? It doesn't cause any sort of fisheye or other problems when you paint it on?