Tuesday, April 10, 2012

What I learned today...

 I thought I would share my ah ha moment of the day.

 Today I learned....

Fluorescent paint goes bad faster than regular tempera paint!

I put paint in yogurt cups and then seal them into small plastic tubs with lids when we are not using them.  I typically can keep tempera paint in this condition for over a month and still have the paint usable.  But as I discovered today when I returned from spring break... those rules do not apply to fluorescent paint.  :(

I started to prep for my first class and was getting the paint tubs out and as I was removing the lids I discovered all the fluorescent paint had not only separated, but it had gone moldy!  NOOO!

Such a bummer- I hated throwing all that away.  Such a waste...  oh well.  Now I know better... and that concludes today's what I learned moment.  (There were other things I learned today of course, like the first day back from Spring Break feels like the last day before Spring Break- chaotic!)

Any new or big ah ha moments for you lately?

2 comments:

  1. OOH I thought I had already left a comment here - but anyhow - I think part of what happens is warmth and possible contamination. I have the worst spoilage problems with my school acrylics. I've never had tempera (even fluorescent) go sour but boy I've had some NASTY stuff grow in my acrylics that I left over vacation. I use plastic solo cups to save paint mostly, but have also used other containers. Oh, and the liquid watercolors I made from old markers went sour in baby food jars and grew a nasty gelatinous layer, like a science experiment gone wrong!

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  2. Maybe that's my problem... I think my fluorescent paint is acrylic. That might explain why it behaved so different from my tempera. Thanks Phyl!

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