Air flow is your friend here. A fan blowing air across the paint is the best method to speed up drying time. Fire method is not safe, you can try to use a space heater or hair dryer but be sure to monitor it at all times.
Keep the air moving
Turn on a ceiling fan and/or position a few portable fans strategically around the place – good air circulation will accelerate the evaporation of the moisture in your paint and ensure it dries as quickly as possible. Open the windows too, unless it's particularly humid outside (more on that below).
Use a Hairdryer
This is going to be your new best friend if you want your acrylic paint to dry faster.
Mix an equal amount of an absorbent material such as cat litter into the paint can and allow the paint to dry. In addition to cat litter, you can use sawdust, plaster of Paris, Oil-dri, or a product called waste paint hardener which can be purchased at home improvement stores.
If there's a lot of humidity in your project space, you can use a dehumidifier for drying paint. Air-conditioners also act as dehumidifiers. Both individual units and central HVAC systems are a tremendous help in speeding up the drying of paint on humid days.
The incorporation of metal salts or driers accelerates the drying process. This in turn increases the hardness of alkyd systems. For example, metals like cobalt or manganese. Adding functional glycol ethers also increases the hardness and block resistance of coatings.
Does paint dry quicker in heat or cold? Paint dries quicker in heat. However, high humidity doesn't allow paint to evaporate adequately. Dry heat, as opposed to humid heat, is best.
As lovely as it is to have the sun on you whilst you work it can be very detrimental to your paint. This is because direct sunlight will cause your paint to dry too fast. Although this sounds like something you would want, you actually want paint to take a while to dry.
To aid in the drying process, you can place your project in front of a fan but be careful not to be too close to disturb the paint. Also, be sure your room is dust free to avoid blowing dust into the wet paint. You can also use a blow dryer, using the lowest speed, and stay away at least 6 inches from your project.
Turpentine accelerates the drying time faster than most paint thinners or mineral spirits among other things because it accelerates the polymerization of the oil film since it incorporates oxygen into the mix oxidizing the paint layer from the inside out .
The rate at which the material dries is dependent on: External factors: the drying-air temperature, humidity, velocity and turbulence; the material surface area and thickness.
Nothing dries paint faster than heat and air circulation. With its ability to increase both of those factors, a heat gun will be your most valuable tool in drying paint quickly and easily. Start farther away from your painted surface, slowly moving more closely, ever vigilant to prevent any actual burning of the paint.
Although one thin coat of Saltwash will help your project dry more quickly, it may leave you wanting more in the way of the layered and textured look, so this second coat of your Saltwash mixture will fix that! The size of your project can also play a factor in your drying time.
Using Heat Lamps
Infrared heat lamps can significantly speed up the drying process by heating the car's surface and helping the solvents in the paint to evaporate faster.
The type of paint you're using, the thickness of the paint coat, the temperature and humidity of your environment, and the type of surface you're painting all affect how long it will take for your paint to dry.
Wind: Air movement speeds drying because fresh air passing over a wet paint film helps liquids in the paint to evaporate; dry times are generally specified assuming little or no air movement.
just a tip to save time, go grab your hair dryer out of the bathroom. and use that on high heat. to dry your paint in between steps. with acrylic craft paint, you can do this.
The chemical formula varies for each type of paint, so each has a slightly different dry time. Generally speaking, latex and acrylic paints dry faster than oil-based paint. Latex paint will feel dry to the touch after an hour, but it is recommended to wait four hours before applying another coat of paint.
Too cold or too humid temperatures. Lack of ventilation. Coating applied too generously. Application of a quick-dry varnish on a different type of varnish.
Mix saw dust or cat litter into the paint. Stir with a stick until well blended. (Alternatively, you can use a commercially made paint hardener, purchased from a paint or hardware store) Add more sawdust or litter as necessary, until the consistency of the mixture is crumbly.
When paint remains tacky to the touch and refuses to dry, the issue often lies with quality of the paint. But the problem may also be linked to your painting environment (in terms of humidity and temperature) or application issues like failing to prepare the surface properly or not letting the paint dry between coats.