So I was scrolling through some art forums and kept hearing about this legendary black paint by Anish Kapoor. You know, the one that's supposed to swallow all light? Figured I'd grab a small pot and mess around with it on my weekend off.
Getting Started With the Void
First thing - this stuff's wild expensive. Like "better not spill a drop" expensive. When the delivery came, I almost thought they forgot to include it. The container looked completely empty! Took me a second to realize the paint was actually inside that black hole of a jar.
Testing Phase Disaster
Grabbed an old picture frame to test. Dipped my brush in and... holy smokes. This paint doesn't behave like normal paint at all. Went on super thick and sticky. Made three big mistakes right away:
- Used a regular paintbrush (wrong!) - left ugly streaks
- Put it over white primer (double wrong!) - needed multiple layers
- Forgot gloves - stained my fingers for three days
Second Attempt Fixes
Switched to foam rollers and a spray rig I use for miniatures. Sprayed a thin mist coat first to seal the surface, let it dry completely. Then did two proper coats with the foam roller. The trick is keeping even pressure and never going back over wet paint. Takes serious patience waiting between layers.
My Cool DIY Projects
Once I got the hang of it, made some neat stuff:
- Turned a $3 thrift store vase into a light-sucking sculpture
- Sprayed the inside of an old lampshade - looks like a floating ring when lit
- Created a "black hole" jewelry dish that makes earrings look suspended
Final Takeaways
This paint's absolutely magical when you use it right. Makes objects look like Photoshop glitches in real life. But it's crazy unforgiving - sneezes cost about $20 in wasted material. Totally worth it though. That jewelry dish? Looks like some sci-fi prop shop charged me $200 for it. Best part? Doesn't photograph well at all - you gotta see it in person to believe the darkness.
