Hi,
I’m a painter using acrylics and am thinking about incorporating wax medium (typically geared towards oil paint) into the acrylic paint. Will the wax medium merge well with polymer based paint?
I agree with the Moderator that the best approach is to think more specifically about the desirable effect you expect to achieve with wax and find a reliable additive that delivers the same for acrylics, in terms of rheology or surface finish (e.g. stiffness, shortness, low reflectivity). There are many factory-prepared mediums that will deliver these effects while ensuring durable results. To better understand why wax is a poor choice for use with acrylics, think about how acrylic dispersion paint forms a film: water and dispersants leave the paint, allowing polymer microparticles to physically attach to one another, just like two painted surfaces sticking together on a hot day. Anything that interferes with this contact between particles can result in a weak, brittle film with poor adhesive power. Matthew Kinsey, Utrecht Art Supplies
I do not think that this is a good idea at all. wax and the acrylic dispersion medium would not naturally even com. I am sure that there are ways to get this to happen (eg adding large amounts of surfactants and emulsifiers or saponfication of the waxy component with an alkali) but I would believe that this would drastically alter the acrylic dispersion binder, likely in very negative manner. Acrylic dispersion paints are very complicated in their formulations as compared to more simple paints like oils and watercolors. What effects are you trying to achieve with the wax addition? There really are a great wealth of acrylic dispersion paint mediums and modifiers available on the market. I would bet that one or more of them would give you something approximating the effect that you are searching for without compromising the paint film.
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