Article: Watercolors will give your design a muted, cloudy image, while acrylic paint will produce richer, more vibrant colors. If you want a more precise design that’s easier to control, use acrylic paint. If you like more abstract and blended designs, use watercolors. The way that these paints act on canvas or paper is similar to how they will react on your sand dollar. If you’ve painted with these mediums before, use your past experience to determine what kind of paint to use. You need water to clean off your brush when switching colors. You’ll also need to use water to mix and apply watercolor paint. When the water starts to get a murky brown or gray, empty the cup in your sink and refill it with fresh water. If you’re using paint from a tube, you’ll need a wooden, paper, or plastic palette to mix your paints. Unscrew the cap from the paint and slowly squeeze the bottom of the tube over your palette. Squeeze 1-2 drops of paint for every color that you want to use. You only need 1-2 drops of paint when starting off. Softly drawing an outline will help give you an idea of what kind of design you want before you start painting. After you're done creating the outline, you can fill in your drawing with different colors. Make sure that the end of your brush is fully saturated. You’ll need a decent amount of water to activate watercolor paint and keep acrylic paint from drying out. Take the brush and swirl it around in the paint to transfer it onto your brush. Once your brush is loaded with paint, you can start applying it to the sand dollar. Use small strokes at first to see how the paint reacts to the sand dollar. Follow along with the outline that you drew or follow the natural contours of the sand dollar. If you’re using watercolor, you’ll have less control over how the paint will react once it makes contact with the sand dollar.  Clean your brush in the cup of water before you switch colors or it could make your design look murky and brown. If you want to paint the top and bottom surface of the sand dollar, make sure you let it dry before flipping it over. If you're using acrylic paint, let the paint dry before applying a second coat so that the colors don't blend together. Sit the sand dollar out for 3-4 hours and let it fully dry. Touch the surface of the sand dollar to make sure that the paint has dried before handling it or you may smudge the paint.
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Decide whether to use watercolor or acrylic paint. Fill a cup up with water and sit it next to your workstation. Squeeze the paint onto a palette if you’re using tubed paint. Create a design on the sand dollar with a pencil. Dip your brush in water. Dip your brush into the paint. Apply paint to the sand dollar with small strokes. Let the sand dollar dry.