The first step in creating anything is collecting your materials. For mixing the graphite paint, you need more tools and containers than actual materials. Collect the following basic items:

• 2x 10 oz plastic cups or small disposable containers to mix paint
• Pair of nitrile gloves (graphite powder is messy)
• 1 Tablespoon measuring spoon (disposable)
• 2-3 popsicle sticks
• A few paint brushes (we recommend already used brushes at the end of their life)
• Something to paint on (paper, cardboard, the wall)
• Water dish for rinsing your brushes
• Air-tight container for storing leftover paint (mason jar or plastic container with a lid)

Pro Tip: Before mixing your conductive paint, we recommend covering your work surface by taping down butcher paper over it as well as wearing nitrile gloves. Graphite powder can be quite messy and time consuming to completely clean off of textured worktable surfaces. When you are done, just throw the butcher paper away!

To create conductive paint you need 2 different materials from the art store or your favorite online shopping site. 

• Artist Matte Medium
• Water Soluble Artists Graphite Powder

A couple of notes on both of these materials if you have never used them before…

Matte Medium

• Think of matte medium as paint without color. It is similar to white glue in terms of its material properties, but a bit thinner than glue.
• Matte is the finish of the material. You can also find gloss, as well as different textured artist pastes

Graphite Powder

• This is an artist's graphite powder. You can find other graphite powders at the hardware store that are used as lubricants, do not use those! You want an artist's grade, as it is more pure in graphite, with other binders, etc removed.
• This is a powder, and can be messy when spilled or spread on a surface. We highly recommend covering the work surface you are working at before working with it.
• As with any powdery material, we recommend washing your hands after handling it. 

When assessing the amount of each material to source, you will be mixing them in a 1:2 ratio of medium to powder by volume to start with. So, you will need twice as much powder as binder!

Pro Tip:  We tried different artists' mediums, please see the reference notes on the ones we tested and those outcomes. 

The mixing process is pretty straight forward and a similar process to making pancake batter or mixing any other powder into a liquid. We recommend the following process:

1. Measure out 2 tablespoons of graphite powder into 1 10oz plastic cup
   
   
   
   
2. Measure out 1 tablespoon of matte medium into the same cup as the graphite powder.
   
   
   
   
3. Mix with the popsicle stick until you get a smooth and even consistency. It may help to transfer the mixture to a clean cup and then continue mixing to make sure the graphite is completely combined with the medium. 
   
   
   
   
4. If the compound seems too thick you can thin it a little with a few drops of more medium. Don’t over-do it here, as you can make the paint less conductive in the process. 
   
   
   

With your paint thoroughly mixed, it is now time to test it out! Grab a paint brush and a piece of scrap paper. Using the brush, paint a line across the sheet with a shape at the end of it. The paint should go on thick enough that you shouldn’t see any paper (white) through your brush mark.

For this step, you can create multiple lines of varying lengths, widths and shapes. The main idea is to be able to test your paint’s conductive uses with your Makey Makey. The more variations you have, the more it will inform how you use the paint in an invention or project.

Let the paint dry completely,  then pull out your Makey Makey and a few alligator clips!

To test your paint we will use the “Is It Conductive” app on the Makey Makey website. Open the app by navigating to the following link:

Is It Conductive?

With the app open, plug your Makey Makey into your computer's USB Port. It should respond with the happy blinking green LEDs!

Using 2 different alligator clips; clip one alligator clip to EARTH and one end of the second clip to the SPACE pad on the Makey Makey. Test them to make sure they are connected by touching their two free ends to one another. The app should sound an alarm if everything is hooked up and working properly: BEEEEP!!!! You are good to go!

Now, using those free ends of the alligator clips, touch either end of your paint line with an alligator clip. You should get the same outcome of the app sounding the alarm and confirming that your paint is conductive!

If the app doesn’t respond to you touching the painted line, don’t panic! Here are a few things to check!

1. Make sure your Makey Makey is working properly by touching the two alligator clips directly to one another
2. Double check that the alligator clips are firmly coming in contact with the paint line.
3. If you are still not getting a response, move the clips closer to one another along the line. There may be a break in the conductivity and this will help you find that spot. 

You successfully created and tested your conductive paint. Now, it is time to put it to good use! Here are a few projects that we recommend you look at using your conductive paint with…

• Draw a Playable Instrument- This activity uses graphite in the form of a Makey Makey pencil. You can ditch the pencils and use your conductive paint instead!
• Interactive Self Portrait- This activity uses the pencils again… how about channeling your inner Picasso using your paint!
• Go Big or Go Home! - Use your conductive paint to create large switches and touch points in a BIG project like our friends at Gin Lin and Nicholas Leong in Melbourne!

All good things must come to an end, even using and playing with your conductive paint. But, that doesn’t mean you have to throw it all away and start over again when you want to come back to it. You can store it for a while in an airtight container, just like normal paint!

We recommend storing your conductive paint in a glass container that fits the amount of paint you have left for long term storage. If you have a large container with a little paint, the paint will still dry out. We recommend baby food jars or something similar to that. Your size will depend on the amount of paint you have. 

If you are looking to store your paint for a few days, you can use small plastic containers (usually used for condiments or sauces) that have lids. You can find these in the grocery store, or reuse clean containers from last night's take-out dinner. 

Your paint should last a few months in a well sealed container. The next time you open it, be sure to stir it really well, as the graphite powder may have started to separate from the medium, maybe add a bit of matte medium to thin it out and make it a little more workable. 

Now the worst part… Cleanup! The good thing is that the clean up process is the same as if you used basic acrylic paints. Warm soapy water is best for your brushes. Be sure to rinse them thoroughly before using it. If you used disposable containers to mix your paint, transfer as much paint to your long term storage containers and then throw the disposable container away. 

Wash your hands after you are done!

You know we couldn’t just make basic paint! When we saw the different textures and artists' pastes, the jars were at the cash register before we could even think about it! Here are our findings using different artists' pastes…

What we tried…

With some of these artist’s pastes, we know and understand that they can be expensive when compared to basic paints or even just the matte medium. We wanted to experiment and find the boundaries of conductive paints made through this process for you, so that you have options and can build something amazing with the information we have gathered and tested!