How To Soften Hard Acrylic Paint (5 Methods)

Acrylic paint is one of the most common types of paint used by visual artists since it has a unique texture, solubility, quality, and ease of use. Acrylics are also some of the fastest-drying paints out there, and they develop a rigid, plastic-y consistency as they cure. 

However, acrylic paints are known to quickly harden and become water-resistant when you least want them to, leaving you with a clumpy mess of color. However, there are ways to soften up those acrylics and manipulate them, whether you want to clean off your palette or start your painting again. 

Here’s how to soften your hardened acrylic paint:

1. Mix with warm water and grind with a palette knife.
2. Make use of acrylic flow improver.
3. Mix hardened acrylic paint with acetone.
4. Use homemade flow-aid.
5. Blend up hardened acrylic paint with fresh acrylic paint.

If you ever find your paint hard and dry and need to use it, the following methods will help you get your acrylic paint back to its original state. 

How To Soften Hard Acrylic Paint (5 Methods)

Mix With Warm Water and Grind With a Palette Knife

Among other diluting or hydrating fluids, warm water is a great addition to dilute hardened acrylic paint. 

Here are some simple steps to soften up your acrylic paint with warm water:

1. Add warm water to the hardened acrylic paint and grind it into chunks.
2. Leave it for a couple of minutes to soak up the water, then stir gently until the clumps become gelatinous.
3. In no time, you should have achieved a thick but smooth viscosity.

Now, it is ready for use once more.

This method works best if your acrylic paint is still a bit damp. However, if it’s completely dried out and hardened to a rocky level, you might consider adding a little bit of thinner or turpentine (for oil-based acrylic paints).

Make Use of Acrylic Flow Improver

Acrylic flow improver is a great tool to restore your acrylic paint’s usual viscosity. This method ensures the acrylics are back to the smooth stickiness that makes them easy to use. 

Here is how to soften your acrylics with a flow improver:

1. Add a good amount of acrylic flow improver to the dry paint, as you would if you add water to watercolor, and stir gently with a palette knife.
2. After a short stir, add a tiny amount of water and stir until it’s diluted to your taste.

The use of an acrylic flow improver is ideal. Flow improver minimizes the chance that your paint will harden or clump up while it’s in storage, so you can rest assured that your acrylics will maintain suitable viscosity for a while after.

Mix Hardened Acrylic Paint With Acetone

Acetone is your best bet for dissolving or softening hard, dry acrylic mixtures. Due to its alcoholic nature, it reacts with thickened substances and breaks them down in little time.

However, you must use a strict acetone-acrylic paint ratio of 1:3, the optimum quantity for softening the paint. Too much acetone will dissolve the paint entirely, and it won’t ever cure again!

Here are the steps on how you can use acetone:

1. Add the specified ratio to the hardened paint and shake or stir the mixture. After a while, you should notice your acrylics soften gradually and form a thick and evened-out liquid.
2. Make sure the acetone thoroughly mixes with the paint. You wouldn’t want a partitioned mixture of acetone and paint at the bottom of the container. That would cause a portion of your acrylic paint to be thinner than the rest.

Alcohol accelerates the drying or hardening of the paint after storing. So, it is best to keep it in well-ventilated or open areas. Remember to keep your acrylics away from heat after using the acetone method.

Use Homemade Flow-Aid

If you don’t have a flow improver, you could prepare a flow aid mixture to soften your hardened acrylic paint with some home utensils or substances. You’ll need a dishwasher, rinse aid liquid, and distilled water for this process.

The mixture is simply prepared by adding 1/2 teaspoons of dishwasher rinse-aid (available at most big-box stores) to a tiny amount of water.

To soften your acrylic paints:

1. Shake the mixture properly, and then add it to the hardened acrylic paint.
2. Cut the hardened paint into small lumps or chunks.
3. Once you add the homemade mixture, stir or grind the solution gently with a brush or palette mixer to mix the paint and flow aid into a uniform liquid.

The paint’s viscosity is dependent on the amount of flow aid you add to the hardened paint. So, add a bit more liquid for a runnier paint, and add a bit less for thicker, opaque color. 

Blend up Hardened Acrylic Paint With Fresh Acrylic Paint

You can give new life to your acrylic paint if you mix or blend it up with a mix of fresh acrylic paint.

To mix your old paint with some new acrylics: 

1. First, you’ll need to break up the hardened acrylic paint into small chunks.
2. Put them into a blender and add a sufficient amount of fresh acrylic paint of a matching color.
3. Add a little water to dilute the mix and blend them until the combination has evened out.

To avoid having chunks of hardened paint in the mix, you could add the fresh paint first before adding the dry pieces. That way, you’ll have a smooth color with no chunks whatsoever.

Final Words

To soften your hardened acrylic paint, you’ll need to break it up and add a solvent to dissolve the chunks. To smoothen and thin your clumpy paint, you can use one of many materials, such as new paint, acetone, dishwasher fluid, or warm water. 

It is still important to note that all acrylic paints are prone to hardening over time due to their ingredients. However, on the bright side, if your paint ever hardens when you need to use it, the methods above won’t fail you!

Sources

• SeniorCare2Share: How To Soften Hardened Acrylic Paint 
• Chemical Safety Facts: Acetone Properties & Uses 
• Art is Fun: How to Dilute Acrylic Paint that is too Thick or too Hard