Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers

[gargyrle55]

OK Ladies. I need some help! I bought a bunch of these when they first came out. I mostly used them to paint picture frames and to use under crackle paint. Now I've been learnin' a whole bunch of new things to do with them. Here's the problem. Most of them have gotten very thick. Is there any way to thin them out? Can you just use water or is there something special I need to use? Pleeeeeese tell me I don't have to go out and buy new ones!! Thanks in advanced for your help!!

Felisa

[Lynn in St. Louis]

I love the dabbers, but I'm like you...they are uber thick now and all the sponge applicators are icky. If I want to use them, I put a little out into a paint palette, or onto my craft sheet, spritz just a tiny bit of water in them and make it the consistency that it should be. I don't think I'll buy any more of them, but rather start buying the Claudine Helmutt's Studio paints. No dabbers to dry out there.

I'd be interested to know if there is a better way to fix these little gems because the idea behind them is genius!

[Ronijj]

Actually the Adirondack Arcylic Dabbers are supposed to be thicker than regular craft paints for one coat coverage but yes, after time they do get too thick. To help that, unscrew the dabber cap and add a few drops of water. Shake the paint/water to mix well.

If the cap is clogged or dried out you can either pounce the cap in a small puddle of water to loosen it up or simply wash it under tap water. Ranger does sell replacement caps but I've never had to resort to that. Usually one or the other of the two methods mentioned will fix it right up.

I also store my paints upside down (with the cap pointing down) which seems to help the drying - out / crusty cap issues. They still dry out to a point but not nearly as often though.

HTH!

[Lynn in St. Louis]

I've always stored my dabbers tip down, but that hasn't helped any. Thanks for the tip about washing the sponge tip...I'll give that a try.

[gargyrle55]

Thanks for the help ladies. Ronijj, actually they do sell new dabber tops. I saw them on Tim Holtz product page. I absolutly like your fix better. No money involved. Thanks for the info! I hope it works because it will save me a boatload of money!!

Felisa

[Sheena74]

I also had to add a few drops of water to get my daubers to work due to being way too thick. I remember seeing on a video (I think put out by RangerInk) at Youtube expaining that this can happen and it was ok to add a small amount of water to the paint and shake or stir it up. I still have not been able to get the paint to come thru the dauber top (I only own about 5 of these but none have ever worked thru the wonderful application top) which sucks since the was one of the reasons I started buying these paints. I can see me trying out Cluadine's studio paints but I have no idea if I will fall in love with those either. Right now I love my Lumiere and Neo-Opaque paints by Jacqard.

Sheena

[Beate]

Ranger changed the bottle of the Adirondack Dabbers. I think they also changed something about the paint. Tim said they are so much better now. I have some old bottles where the paint got thick and I have some new bottles. I love the new bottles with the new paint. So easy to use and perfect consistency! You can squeeze the bottles now.
Tim suggested to use a water mister to add water to thick paint. That way you can control the amount of the water you add.

[NYstamper]

I never thought to add water to thin it out a bit...I had a couple that I tossed because I thought they weren't any good....should have asked here first...