As Mod Podge continues to exponentially grow its market share amongst the arts and crafts community we have noticed more and more people asking a number of questions about Mod Podge. One of the main questions that we have seen recently is for ways on how to thin Mod Podge and the advantages of thinning Mod Podge over using it right out the tub.
Due to this being a popular question that is seemingly being asked on an increasingly frequent basis, we have decided to publish this article going over how you can thin Mod Podge, As we have seen a number of variants of the question, we have decided to cover those in this article as well in the hope that we are able to help as many of our readers as possible.
At the time of writing, Mod Podge is probably the best PVA style glue on the market and is growing its user base at a rapid pace with each month that passes. Due to this, we only expect more and more people to be asking about thinning Mod Podge in the future so hopefully, this article will be able to help you.
Should You Thin Mod Podge?
Before we go into how you can actually thin your Mod Podge, we want to quickly go over if you should thin your Mod Podge. Although there are a number of different Mod Podge formulas on the market these days, they are all designed to be used directly out of the tub and then applied to the surface that required gluing or sealing.
Although you are able to thin your Mod Podge for some use cases, we usually recommend against thinning it for things such as sealing artwork. This is due to thinned Mod Podge often having a wrinkled appearance and not offering your artwork the same protection as it could if you left it as it directly out of the tub.
That said though, for general glaring or in other niche cases where you think that you will need to apply thin layers of Mod Podge, you are able to thin it with ease. Although we have seen a number of different people report using a number of different substances to thin their Mod Podge, we only ever recommend that our readers use water to thin their Mod Podge.
How To Thin Mod Podge!
To thin your Mod Podge you simple need to add your glue to a suitable mixing container, add some water in a ratio of four parts Mod Podge to one part water and mix it. This tends to let you thin your Mod Podge while still keeping its consistency good enough to not end up with issues in its adhesive properties.
Although you can try to tweak the ratio of Mod Podge to water if needed, we usually recommend that you don’t go above one part water to four parts Mod Podge due to issues with consistency. You can go with less water as required though as this will keep your Mod Podge thick while letting you water it down by a small amount.
When mixing the Mod Podge with the water to thin it, we usually recommend that you just use a spoon, folk, or other mixing device. There is no need to use an electronic mixing device and this can often cause issues with the Mod Podge by adding too much air to it during the mixing process forcing you to leave it for a little while for the air to work its way out prior to using it.
Can You Thin Mod Podge With Water?
We would only ever recommend that our readers use water to thin their Mod Podge as it is safer and helps to ensure that your Mod Podge will still work correctly. We have seen people report having countless problems with solvents or oils when trying to thin their Mod Podge and there is simply no need to use anything other than regular water.
As we mentioned back at the start of the article, most people won’t even need to thin their Mod Podge and they should easily be able to just apply it directly to the required surface with a brush from the tub. If you are working in one of the more niche areas that does require your Mod Podge to be thinned then just stick to water.
We get the idea of using oils and solvents, especially if you are from an oil painting background but the problem is that the oils and solvents cause problems with the Mod Podge formula. Solvents in particular can end up preventing the Mod Podge from sticking and oils tend to cause streaks and strange colors once the Mod Podge has dried.
The Advantages Of Thinning Mod Podge!
If you are working in the more niche cases with Mod Podge then there are some advantages that thinning your Mod Podge can offer you. That said though, the main two can be done without having to thin your Mod Podge in some situations too so keep that in mind.
The main benefit is that thinning your Mod Podge slightly by adding a small amount of water helps you apply thin layers without issue. Some specific use cases for Mod Podge do require very thin layers to be applied and then once the initial layer is dry, you apply the next layer and so on. This can be tricky with Mod Podge directly out of the tub, especially with a larger brush so thinning it can help.
The second benefit is to apply your Mod Podge without streaks but as we touched on above, you can only thin your Mod Podge with water for this to work. We have a more in-depth article on how to apply Mod Podge without streaks though if this is something you will be doing.
Conclusion
That brings our article on how to thin Mod Podge to a close and we hope that you have found it helpful. Although the majority of our readers should be fine just using their Mod Podge directly from the tub, some people may need to thin it. Just remember, always use water to thin your Mod Podge and only use it in a maximum ratio of one part water to four parts Mod Podge.
