Hey guys! Olga Soby here. And today, I'm going to show you how I clean silicone of the dry acrylic
pour paintings. You have asked me to do this video many, many times. So, guys, I heard you!
This video is for you. And of course, there are many different methods of how to remove silicone
from acrylic pour painting. I'm just gonna show you a few methods that I'm using that work for me,
and I hope it's going to be helpful for some of you as well. So, first of all,
the simplest method that I use almost all the time consists of three ingredients. The main
one is down dish soap and Windex and also rubbing alcohol. But before I'm gonna mix this together,
I always look at my dry acrylic pour paintings. And I'm just gonna show you on this four today.
They all have been used by silicone. You can see they all have cells. They all have been actually
created with different techniques - so that's why they look so differently with different mixtures.
So before I start cleaning and mixing anything, I usually like to look at those paintings. I look
against the light, and if I see... you know, like big oily spots. I would just spray some Windex
on my paper towel, and I can see some right here, and I would just go into those oily spots and then
just wipe them first. Because if I leave those oily spots and I'm just gonna wash the entire
canvas, I'm just gonna spread this silicone spot all over the canvas. I think it makes cleaning
much harder. So I like to just go into the spots - where you see there's a lot of silicone and just
wipe them quickly. Sometimes you will see that Windex or alcohol would pick up a little bit of
pigment. That's okay. Oh yeah, before I clean my canvases, I let them dry for at least two weeks,
sometimes three weeks. Yeah, I don't do it right away. Because the paint has to cure. Otherwise,
if you clean it when it is just dry to touch, the chances that you gonna lift some
pigment when you're cleaning they are very high. So I always wait first, and then I look, and if I
see anything, I will just rub those spots. Another option to use instead of Windex would be baby
wipes. They also work pretty well to remove those small oily spots. If there's like a lot oil on a
dry canvas, you can also leave like tissue papers just cover the canvas and leave it overnight. The
paper would also absorb some of that extra oil before you doing your main cleaning. Oh yeah,
don't like to use baby powder or baking soda method, where you soak your canvas in it and leave
it for a few hours. I used this method several times before. But for me, it's too messy. If I
had a garage, where I had a place, where I can do it outdoors, maybe I would do it. But I end
up having it freaking everywhere, and this is a place where I pour, this is a place where I resin.
So there is no way. It's not a good idea for me to have the small particles of baby powder just
flying around. It was a nightmare. I removed a lot of these big oily spots. And next, I mix my dish
soap with water. So how much dish soap I add? I... Guys asked me this question several times. Well,
I don't know how much dish soap I add. I don't measure. I just eyeball everything. So I'm just
gonna show you. I add some on the bottom of my bowl. And I want this water mixed with dish soap
to be pretty concentrated but not too much. So I'm gonna go and get some warm water to mix with dish
soap, and I'll be right back. Okay, so I filled it up with water, and, of course, I have a lot
of foam here. Probably be good to wear gloves, but I usually don't wear gloves. Just do it with bare
hands. Okay, so once my soap is mixed with water, I spray some Windex in this mixture and also add
some rubbing alcohol. These two guys evaporate pretty quickly. So as soon as I add them, I dip
my paper towel in this mixture and start cleaning right away. I don't wait, and if you want to keep
using the same mixture, keep just keep adding new portion of Windex and new portion of alcohol. So
in my understanding, these two - they just helping to dish soap. It's like, in my imagination,
they like all standing side by side, and be like: "Okay, silicon! We're gonna fight you together!
Come here!" I don't know. This is just me. Maybe it's a little bit crazy. So I get my paper towel
ready. And I always clean one by one. And okay, I'm gonna do like three-four spritz...I don't
know...four spazzes of Windex. And of course, I drop the frickin lead. "Of course" - because
I'm doing the video, I had to drop something. And how much alcohol did I add? I don't know,
guys. I just add some generous amount. And give it a stir, with my finger... what's better for
a stirring than the finger? And I dip paper towel, and I'll start with the large one.
I would turn the paper towel. Of course, need to take care of the sides. Because obviously,
there is a lot of silicone on the sides,
too. Use the other side of the towel, paper towel, and dip it again.
If you see that there is a lot of pigment on your paper towel - stop and let it let the painting dry
for another week or two. Obviously, you painted, cured it. Or! Another possibility is that you added
too much alcohol. Because alcohol can reactivate the paint and it becomes a little sticky,
and obviously, it's not good. I have ruined some canvases like this a while ago when I was cleaning
just with alcohol. So cleaning just with alcohol also didn't work for me. Maybe the alcohol,
the percentage was too high. So gonna let this one sit for a few minutes,
and I'm going to proceed to the next one. I'm not using the same paper towel for new
canvas. Because I think there is some silicone on that paper towel, so I don't want to transfer
silicone from this canvas to the next one. I think it does make any sense. So I would
just add a touch more Windex and touch more alcohol. It's probably already evaporated.
This last canvas I'm not going to clean with this mixture. I'm going to show you the different
method for this little guy, so let's move it to the side for now. Okay, so first I
would just remove the excess water and soap with paper towel, and after that,
I clean it was just some water on paper towel. Okay, so most of the soap is wiped, so now I'm
gonna bring a bowl with just warm water and finish cleaning base. So here, this is just warm water,
and I'm gonna use paper towels again just to remove any excess soap from the canvases.
So sometimes, it takes several rounds to remove the dish soap from the canvas.
That's basically how we do it: it's just, you know, just water and paper towels.
I love those silicone mats for pouring. But they come in so handy for cleaning as well.
Because obviously, I make some mess with water and soap. And I really don't need to worry about
anything because I just wipe it after I'm done cleaning, and it's done. If you haven't checked
those silicone mats yet - link in the description, and I have five dollar coupon for you. So check
it out. So this method works really awesome for me. Of course, it's a little bit time-consuming,
but if you like to use silicone in your art... Well, this is the price you pay for all those
crazy cells. So once I'm done cleaning this way, I wait for the next day or wait for at least couple
hours when it's dry, and I look against a light, preferably daylight. Because you can really see
well if there is any silicone left and foresee any small spots of silicone. I would just repeat
the whole routine with that. And this method, even from one cleaning, is usually enough for me if I'm
planning to apply regular varnish. Like Liquitex gloss varnish or spray varnish. By the way,
I have video where I show how I apply finish on dry acrylic pour painting. So if you want
to check it out, I'm gonna include the link in the description. So this method is usually enough for
regular varnish. But resin is a lot more sensitive and a lot more demanding in this way. Even if you
didn't use silicone, even if you were touching the surface of your canvas with your bare hands
and you have some oil. We have some oil on our hands. Even the residue from the skin oil can
make this... can prevent resin from adhering and creating like, you know, small circles where risen
doesn't adhere. It's also called fish eye. Yeah, it's really a nightmare of those who uses resin
as a finish. So why not planning to work with resin? I like to take that extra step, and I apply
isolation coat. This is something I've been doing recently. For the past, I don't know four-five
months, and it works really well for me. So, in a nutshell, isolation coat is just the coat between
finished artwork and the varnish or any other type of finish. Essentially it was used to prevent
varnish to adhere into the paint. So that the varnish can be removed and replaced. Because some
varnishes yellow with the time or they also absorb dusts. But the isolation coat can work for us as
well because, basically, it creates the barrier between the resin and the surface of the canvas.
And if there is a little bit of silicone or oil left, which is still, it's better to get rid of
it. But if there is a little bit left, resin is not gonna react with it. And you're gonna have
flawless and beautiful finish with no problem even if you use silicone. So nowadays you can actually
buy the finished product - the isolation coat. But another awesome and quite traditional alternative
to more expensive professional isolation coat is actually gel medium. So if you've seen my video
using gel medium for stencil application, this is another way you can use gel. So I think it's
best to use gel by golden. That's softly gel. My gel with medium. It's a little thicker, but
it's still okay. So use it. The gel for isolation coat, you need to mix approximately two parts of
gel with one part of water. And I'm gonna show you how I apply the isolation coat, and after that,
I'm gonna show you one more method of cleaning and preparing for resin application. So make sure to
keep watching. So right now, I'm gonna quickly add some gel to this silicone bowl, and by the way,
this is bowl by the same brand that I'm using the silicone mat. I was going to show you how I apply
isolation coat on this canvas because it's very beautiful and it has a lot of copper in it. So I
think it would look really amazing with a layer of resin. But I didn't realize that I actually can't
apply any isolation coat right away because first, I need to let it dry completely. So I need to
wait for at least few days, a better week before I apply anything over it. So I can't show you, guys,
on this one. So I'm gonna use different canvas. I'm gonna show you on this one. Because this one,
I'm also planning to resin. I did not use any silicone here. So it doesn't really need
the isolation coat but just for the purpose of demonstration. I don't have any other unfinished
canvases right now. So I added some amount of gel. You don't need much. I know I'm talking a lot in
this video, but there is so much to tell, so much to share! Next, I add some water. I'm using
distilled water. I added approximately one part. I'm bowling everything. I'm just gonna mix it in.
Okay, so now I'm going to quickly cover the entire canvas with this gel medium.
And it's milky white when wet, but it's going to dry completely clear.
Yeah, never forget your sides because you want your sides to be also nice and pretty. And by
the way, if you didn't do very good work from the first layer, and you look against the light,
and you see you missed some spots - that's totally fine. You can do one more layer.
It's not a problem. Just do it the other way. Turn their 90 degrees and do the other way.
Okay, this piece is done. You're gonna let it dry, and it's gonna be ready to be resined. And I'm
gonna go wash my brush, and I highly recommend you to wash brush right after you gel because it dries
quick, and it dries hard. Now I'm going to show you one more method of cleaning and preparing for
resin that I'm using. And at this time, I'm going to use products that are designed especially. This
one is designed for cleaning, and this one - works as an isolation coat. It's called "quick" coat.
But basically, it works as isolation coat. So this stuff's supposed to remove the silicone from
your canvas, and this stuff you put over before you apply any type of finish. And at this time,
you might want to ask me: Why did I even bother showing you this whole hassle with dish soap,
Windex, alcohol, and everything else? And there is actually a special product designed for this
purpose by the brand that produces resin. So these guys supposed to know what works well to prevent
resin from reacting with oils. Well, this product works well. However, the reason I do not use it
very often - is because it has a pretty harsh safety instructions. And if you decide to use it,
I'm going to include the link in the description. Please, read all the instructions carefully,
all the safety recommendations. You can ask them to send your MSDS. Just to make sure you're using
it the right way. So you're supposed to avoid eye contact, skin contact, inhalation. So it says on
the bottle here that they recommend wearying the respirator you're in work with it and also working
very well ventilated area, which makes sense. So you know, it's a bit harsh to clean with something
it's probably very strong chemicals. If you're supposed to like very, very proper protection
for this stuff, and I honestly don't really like it. I do still use it. I tried using it several
times when I do chameleon cells technique. Because chameleon cells... You guys know this technique. I
use a lot of silicone with it. There is a lot of silicone, but I still like to apply resin
over. Because it looks so beautiful. So this is when I use the stuff just to be like hundred,
two hundred percent sure that even after like a whole lot of silicone, the canvas is ready to
be covered with resin. Otherwise, I'm honestly not using this stuff. First of all, I'm gonna
turn my air purifier on, I'm gonna open the door to the balcony, and I'm gonna wear my respirator
and the goggles. Both of those are available in my Amazon store. If you want to check them out, I'll
include the link in the description. So I need to remove my pretty earrings and put this guy on
All right, guys, it's been like one hour. I am NOT coming back to my studio right away if I use this
stuff. I really hope this today's video about how I deal with silicone was helpful for you. Please
let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear from you. And you are new to this channel,
go ahead and subscribe and turn the notification on if you want to see more acrylic pouring videos,
techniques, ideas, tutorials, and all the good stuff. And thank you so much
for watching! Happy pouring! And I'll see you in the next video! Bye! Bye!