Goodbye winter and hello spring! I definitely have been waiting to say those words for a while now! I find that winter can be so depressing and the lack of saturated colour and overabundance of white and grey everywhere makes it my least favourite season. That’s why I am more than happy when it’s finally over. There is so much to welcome with the new spring season. Warmer weather and new greenery are definitely at the top of that list. To celebrate the arrival of spring this year my little men and I decided to make some extra colourful dirty pour plant pots.

What Is a Dirty Pour?

Now I’m fairly certain that the majority of my readers are scratching their heads asking “what the heck is a dirty pour?” And even though I’m certain there’s a ‘Dirty Pour’ listed as a featured drink at some obscure watering hole, I assure you our dirty pour is alcohol-free! A dirty pour is actually a painting technique where you add a bunch of different paint colours to a cup all at the same time. You then pour or flip the cup onto an object or canvas to let the paint flow over. This creates an incredibly unique painting effect. I love the results that are achieved using the dirty pour technique as no two dirty pours are ever the same and the end result can never be predicted.

Create Some Pretty Little Plant Pots

I actually first came across the concept of dirty pour painting when I was searching for ideas on how to create different epoxy tumbler pieces. After trying it on my own project, I decided that it would be a fun activity for the kids to try. This project isn’t super involved and doesn’t take long to do… so don’t expect it to be an activity to fill an afternoon. For us, it was just something that was quick and fun to do. I think my kids favourite part of the whole process was watching the paint dump over their flower pots.

Make sure to always supervise small children for this project.

Kids Dirty Pour Plant Pots

DifficultyBeginnerTotal Time20 mins

Supplies
 terracotta plant pots (we used smaller ones about 5" tall)
 variety of acrylic paint (I bought inexpensive ones from Michael's)
 smaller disposable plastic cups
 larger dispsable plastic cup
 stir sticks (craft popcicle sticks work great)
 Krylon clear coat sealer
 tinfoil or heavy cardboard
 tape
 scissors

Directions
1

Start by spray painting the outside of the terracotta pots white. The spray paint doesn't have to look perfect as it will be covered with colourful paint. Allow the spray paint to dry. I usually find it will be dry to touch after about an hour.

You could also probably get away with skipping this step. I like my colours to be really vibrant (especially where there are thinner areas of coloured paint) so I prefer to paint the pots first.

2

Using tin foil or heavy cardboard, cut out a circle slightly smaller than the base of the pot. Tape the circle to the bottom of the plant pot. Make sure the tape is only on the bottom part of the pot and not on the sides. This is done to keep the paint from draining through the hole on the bottom of the pot. Also, it helps keep the paint from pooling in in the indented part of the pot on the bottom.

3

In the small plastic disposable cups pour about 1 cm deep worth of paint into each cup. I would recommend using quite a few different colours of paint to create a good marbled effect.

For our project, we used 6 different colours. This amount of paint covered 2 - 5" plant pots. If you are using larger pots or want to do more pots you will need more paint.

4

Add a very small amount of water to each paint (about 1/2 - 1 tsp). Mix together well. You want the paint and water mixture to be a consistency of a thinner syrup. If you add too much water just add more paint to the mix.

5

This is where I let my kids get involved. * When doing this activity children must be supervised.

For the next step below - because the paint we used was a craft acrylic paint and not a non-toxic kid brand paint, I actually just let my littlest guy (2 yr old) pick the colours and I poured them into the cup for him. My oldest (4 yr old) poured the paint into the cups with some help.

6

Randomly in no order start adding the paint to a new cup. You can re-add the same colour to the cup again. To cover a 5" plant pot, the cup should be 1/2 full of paint.

7

Place your plant pot firmly into the cup that's full of paint. Have a disposable box ready with a larger cup in it. The box is to catch the excess paint that runs off the plant pot. The larger cup is used to rest the plant pot on top of.

8

While firmly holding the cup onto the bottom of the plant pot flip the cup and pot over together. Place the plant pot over the larger cup.

9

Now it's finally time for the dirty pour!

Slowly remove the cup of paint off the bottom of the plant pot. Get ready for the paint to run all over and flow down the pot (see our video of this at the bottom of the post).

10

Put in a safe spot and allow the painted pot to dry (I would recommend for at least a day). Once dry, remove the tape and tinfoil circle from the bottom of the pot (be careful as this paint might still be wet if it has pooled).

11

Spray the plant pot with the clear protective Krylon clear coat. Once the Krylon clear coat is dry you're ready to use your new plant pot as a cute planter.

To preserve your new masterpiece I would recommend avoiding placing in a spot where the pot is exposed to elements like rain.

Ingredients

Supplies
 terracotta plant pots (we used smaller ones about 5" tall)
 variety of acrylic paint (I bought inexpensive ones from Michael's)
 smaller disposable plastic cups
 larger dispsable plastic cup
 stir sticks (craft popcicle sticks work great)
 Krylon clear coat sealer
 tinfoil or heavy cardboard
 tape
 scissors

Directions

Directions
1

Start by spray painting the outside of the terracotta pots white. The spray paint doesn't have to look perfect as it will be covered with colourful paint. Allow the spray paint to dry. I usually find it will be dry to touch after about an hour.

You could also probably get away with skipping this step. I like my colours to be really vibrant (especially where there are thinner areas of coloured paint) so I prefer to paint the pots first.

2

Using tin foil or heavy cardboard, cut out a circle slightly smaller than the base of the pot. Tape the circle to the bottom of the plant pot. Make sure the tape is only on the bottom part of the pot and not on the sides. This is done to keep the paint from draining through the hole on the bottom of the pot. Also, it helps keep the paint from pooling in in the indented part of the pot on the bottom.

3

In the small plastic disposable cups pour about 1 cm deep worth of paint into each cup. I would recommend using quite a few different colours of paint to create a good marbled effect.

For our project, we used 6 different colours. This amount of paint covered 2 - 5" plant pots. If you are using larger pots or want to do more pots you will need more paint.

4

Add a very small amount of water to each paint (about 1/2 - 1 tsp). Mix together well. You want the paint and water mixture to be a consistency of a thinner syrup. If you add too much water just add more paint to the mix.

5

This is where I let my kids get involved. * When doing this activity children must be supervised.

For the next step below - because the paint we used was a craft acrylic paint and not a non-toxic kid brand paint, I actually just let my littlest guy (2 yr old) pick the colours and I poured them into the cup for him. My oldest (4 yr old) poured the paint into the cups with some help.

6

Randomly in no order start adding the paint to a new cup. You can re-add the same colour to the cup again. To cover a 5" plant pot, the cup should be 1/2 full of paint.

7

Place your plant pot firmly into the cup that's full of paint. Have a disposable box ready with a larger cup in it. The box is to catch the excess paint that runs off the plant pot. The larger cup is used to rest the plant pot on top of.

8

While firmly holding the cup onto the bottom of the plant pot flip the cup and pot over together. Place the plant pot over the larger cup.

9

Now it's finally time for the dirty pour!

Slowly remove the cup of paint off the bottom of the plant pot. Get ready for the paint to run all over and flow down the pot (see our video of this at the bottom of the post).

10

Put in a safe spot and allow the painted pot to dry (I would recommend for at least a day). Once dry, remove the tape and tinfoil circle from the bottom of the pot (be careful as this paint might still be wet if it has pooled).

11

Spray the plant pot with the clear protective Krylon clear coat. Once the Krylon clear coat is dry you're ready to use your new plant pot as a cute planter.

To preserve your new masterpiece I would recommend avoiding placing in a spot where the pot is exposed to elements like rain.

Dirty Pour Paint Pots

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2 Comments

  1. Nisha Nayyar April 26, 2019 at 6:13 PM

    Looks so awesome! Going to try!

    Reply
    1. Trina Vanaalst May 1, 2019 at 9:07 PM

      Do! It’s pretty fun!

      Reply

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