Swirl keep running when i yank it out of the water.. help!

[HumanFuseBen]

Hey guys!


i've been practicing swirling on some small scrap pieces of wood before i dip my guitar. better safe than sorry! anyway, i'm kinda getting the hang of it, and the swirl looks GREAT on the water surface. problem is, when i pull the piece out of the water, it seems to be running like crazy. most swirl vids i've seen, it looks like the paint has already set by the time the guitar is pulled out of the water. what could i be doing wrong? here's my whole process so far:

- i'm using scrap pieces of wood. i haven't been sanding them first or anything, so they're a little rough to the touch. i spray them with a few coats of white spray paint and let them set for a day or two.

- using a bucket of warm/hot water. no borax or additives.

-paints are the little clear bottles of Testors model car enamels. i have been thinning them with paint thinner to get them to float, otherwise they just sink. i have used both gloss and flat colors with the same results. i dip as soon as i pour the paints in and swirl them. i clear out as much of a spot as i can before pulling the piece back through the water.

i guess thats all. could it be the thinning that i'm doing is just too much? i'm not thinning them out super hard or anything, just about to the consistency of 2% milk, if that makes sense. should i hold the piece underwater for a while before pulling it back through? should i pull it back through the water fast or slow?

thanks guys!