<p>Yes, you can make it wet again.</p>
<p>Using a moist cloth you can wipe the backside of the paper. If you want to work very carefully, you probably want to use a piece of cloth you know is clean or new, and distilled water.<br />
Microfibre cloths I believe are more suitable than, for example, cotton cloths, because the latter tend to shed more fibres.</p>
<p>Printmaking paper allows for paints to penetrate the fibres, so I think your layer of acrylic paint should be fine.</p>
<p>I wonder, though, if your paper actually needs to be wet for the additional printing: you can't soak the acrylic paint, and if the oil-based inks are only covering the acrylic paint, there is no use for the paper to be moist.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-02T13:09:21.293Z
2024-03-02T13:09:21.293Z
Joachim
<p>You can make the paper wet again but the acrylic paint will resist the water, you cannot make dry acrylic paint &quot;wet&quot;, so those areas will not take up the ink in the same way. The acrylic will also increase the stiffness of the paper so intaglio techniques may not work since the paper cannot compress and release into the cuts to absorb the ink.</p>
<p>Wetting the paper, depending on how the acrylic is applied, may actually cause the acrylic layer to release from the ground.</p>
<p>If you are doing monotypes the mix of the two may create interesting results and is certainly worth some experimenting, but it is unlikely you would get the same result as printing without the acrylic in there.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-10T20:57:30.230Z
2024-03-10T20:57:30.230Z
rebusB
<p>I want to print a block of color in acrylic paint on a sheet of printmaking paper. Later I would print oil based inks on top of the acrylic, but both kinds of printmaking require the paper to be wet. So after I have printed the acrylic on the first go of wet paper, how can I rewet the paper, leaving the acrylic paint intact, so that I can make the ink print?</p>
<p>Or any suggestions as to how to make this work?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-10T20:53:27.853Z
What type of printing technique are you using?
rebusB
<material-selection><acrylic-paint>
Can you rewet paper with dried acrylic paint on it?
Gregory Ledger
# Can you rewet paper with dried acrylic paint on it?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-03-01)

I want to print a block of color in acrylic paint on a sheet of printmaking paper. Later I would print oil based inks on top of the acrylic, but both kinds of printmaking require the paper to be wet. So after I have printed the acrylic on the first go of wet paper, how can I rewet the paper, leaving the acrylic paint intact, so that I can make the ink print?

Or any suggestions as to how to make this work?

**Tags:** material-selection, acrylic-paint

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What type of printing technique are you using?  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-03-02. Score: 4

Yes, you can make it wet again.

Using a moist cloth you can wipe the backside of the paper. If you want to work very carefully, you probably want to use a piece of cloth you know is clean or new, and distilled water.  
Microfibre cloths I believe are more suitable than, for example, cotton cloths, because the latter tend to shed more fibres.

Printmaking paper allows for paints to penetrate the fibres, so I think your layer of acrylic paint should be fine.

I wonder, though, if your paper actually needs to be wet for the additional printing: you can't soak the acrylic paint, and if the oil-based inks are only covering the acrylic paint, there is no use for the paper to be moist.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2024-03-10. Score: 1

You can make the paper wet again but the acrylic paint will resist the water, you cannot make dry acrylic paint "wet", so those areas will not take up the ink in the same way. The acrylic will also increase the stiffness of the paper so intaglio techniques may not work since the paper cannot compress and release into the cuts to absorb the ink.

Wetting the paper, depending on how the acrylic is applied, may actually cause the acrylic layer to release from the ground.

If you are doing monotypes the mix of the two may create interesting results and is certainly worth some experimenting, but it is unlikely you would get the same result as printing without the acrylic in there.


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