Hydro Dip Painting

Hydro Dip Painting

What do you do with your leftover spray paint cans? Create a psychedelic paint job! This is known as hydro dipping or marbelizing.

Hydro dipping uses water and paint to create a wild swirl of colors. The paint floats on top of the surface of the water and transfers to the object as you dip it in the water. It creates a marble or tie dye effect and you can use as many colors as you want or as few as two.

You need a bucket or pan that is large enough to submerge the object you want painted into it. Since you're dealing with paint, you will get paint on the container. If you can't find a container large enough, you can always dip one half, then the other. You want to use the smallest container possible, because the larger the surface the more paint you need. A larger bucket than needed wastes paint.

Supplies:

• object to be painted
• bucket or pan
• spray paint (multiple colors)
• clear coat (optional)
• gloves
• respirator
• screws or nails to create a handle on the object being submerged or wear gloves
• acetone or similar solvent to clean your bucket

Find the smallest container that still fits your object and fill it with water..

 

You can put a screw or nail in the object to act as a handle or just wear gloves and hold it.
Spray paint into the container, making sure to cover the entire surface. I wore a respirator because I never want to breathe anything more than air.
You can create designs with the motion of spraying. Use as many colors as you want. Too little paint on the surface won't cover the object.You shouldn't be able to see through the paint. With thin paint, you won't get good coverage or the paint will have a transparent effect.

 

Dip the object, fully submerged. If you don't want paint on the 'back' side of the object, swirl the paint still on top of the water away before you lift the object out. Once the object is out, let it dry.

You can dip an object partially if the container isn't large enough. You can also re-dip an object if you don't like the pattern. I dipped the dagger twice in succession
My picture frame came out the best because I figured out how much paint I needed (a lot). While the big bin was the only thing I had large enough to fit the frame, I should have used a 5-gallon bucket for the smaller items so that I didn't need (and waste) so much paint.

Clear coat to protect surface. While you can dip it in parts, it could be difficult to repair just one section later if the paint gets chipped.

The temperature was about 50⁰ outside when I attempted this, which is a bit cool for spray paint. There will be a lot of paint left in the container. I used Acetone to clean it up. If you don't mind the mess, you don't have to worry about it.

With a larger container like I had, you need to use a LOT of paint for good surface coverage. With a 5 gallon bucket you need much less. My container held 16 gallons of water only half full, but it was the smallest container I had that would still fit my picture frame.