We've added two new mediums to the range, and both do the same clever thing from opposite ends of the studio: they take the acrylic paint you already own and turn it into something new. One becomes screen printing ink, the other becomes thick, sculptural texture. If you've ever wondered what a printing medium actually does, the short answer is that it changes how your paint behaves so it's fit for a particular job, without you needing to buy specialist supplies.

Screen Printing Medium: acrylics straight through the mesh

Screen printing has a name for being kit-heavy and fiddly, and the cost of dedicated screen printing ink is often what stops people trying it. Our new Screen Printing Medium removes that hurdle. Mix it with any acrylic, in any proportion, and you've made screen printing ink — no specialist inks, no fixed ratios to work out.

The clever part is what it does on the screen. Acrylic on its own dries fast and clogs the mesh halfway through. This medium slows the drying time, so the screen stays open and the colour keeps flowing through a full run. You can pull several prints in a row before stopping to wash out. Add more medium and the colour turns more transparent, which is what lets you layer prints and build depth.

It comes in a 250ml jar for individual work and a 1 litre tub with a carry handle for studios and classrooms. It's water-based, non-toxic, cleans up with water before it sets, and doubles as a paper glue when you need one.

Impasto Medium: thick texture that holds its shape

From print to paint. Our new Impasto Medium is a heavy-body texture paste that mixes into acrylic to build bold, three-dimensional brush and palette-knife marks. Unlike a gel medium, it's a modelling paste, so it holds raised peaks proud as it dries with no real slump or shrinkage.

It mixes with any acrylic in any proportion, and because it's pigment-free there's barely any colour loss, even at equal volumes. Your colours stay vivid while gaining real texture. Once dry it cures to a low, water-resistant sheen that sits naturally under the paint surface rather than looking like an afterthought. Reach for a palette knife and it's an easy way into expressive, textured work.

See it in action

Impasto Medium makes more sense once you've watched it move. In the short reel below, you can see how it holds a palette knife's edge and keeps its peaks as it's worked into the paint.

Made for home studios and classrooms alike

Both mediums share the same advantage for schools and colleges: they work with standard acrylic paint, so there's no separate budget for specialist inks or pastes. The water-based, non-toxic formulas are straightforward to manage with a group, the slower-drying screen medium gives students room to work without a setting screen, and the impasto paste lets even younger hands get striking results with little technique. The 1 litre screen printing medium is good value for shared use, and education accounts bring the cost down further.

Already in the range: Block Printing Medium

If relief printing is more your thing, our existing Block Printing Medium works on the same principle as the screen medium. Mix it with acrylic at roughly equal parts to make your own block printing ink for lino, wood, or soft block, or use it to extend printmaking inks you already have and control their transparency. It's a useful companion if you're building a printmaking kit rather than a painting one.

Try them out

Both new mediums are the low-cost way to stretch the acrylics you already own further. Browse the full mediums range to get started, and if you make something with them, share it with us on Instagram using #artwaysupplies — @artwayltd.