Fabric dyeing with leftover paint

This is what I do at the end of a painting session.

I tip the leftover High Flow acrylic paint (that was in my little spray bottle lid) onto A4 card stock and let it dry.

I keep the card stock around for a few painting sessions to get some different colours on them. This is a great way for getting excess paint off your brushes before you wash them.

When they are full of paint I cut them in half, fold them in half and use them as Thank You cards when a collector buys my artwork.

This looks pretty gross, but it’s the water I used yesterday to clean my dip pen. It has Raw Umber and Shading Grey High Flow acrylics in it. The water will evaporate and leave the rag with the leftover paint on it.

I usually have a few tubs lined up next to each other so that the rags can be dyed two different colours. Because I haven’t been painting in a while I only have one paint water tub going. As I paint more layers you’ll see more and more colours.

These are just two ways of disposing of unused acrylic paint. Why not try it? It makes great cards and beautiful fabric!

Do you have any ideas of different ways to discard unused acrylic paint? I’d love to hear your thoughts and try something new.