You' ll pay a bit more, but I think the Bohning paints for arrows are the best stuff around. It' s only a few bucks difference than using cheap paint, and it will last a long time- why not use the best? Very durable and adheres to the shaft well with proper preparation. You can buy their paints lots of different archery places.
www.bohning.com
Their flourescent colors are SUPER bright- highly recommended. If you are doing any colors, be aware that you HAVE to have a good undercoat of white for the color paint to go on top of.
Bohning also has very good thinner to go with their paint. When dipping shafts (make sure you plug the ends before dipping) I thin the paint down quite a bit. It' s better to have multiple dips of thin paint than one thick coat. As the paint drips off, it can tend to build up right at the bottom- and if you have too thick of paint, it will really bulge as it runs off the bottom of the shaft. Not to mention added weight at the back of the shaft.
After doing it a few times, you' ll get the feel if the paint is too thick or too thin. Use a 1/4" wood dowel to " test dip" to see how the paint runs off and how thin it is. When you pull the shaft out of the dip tube, it will have paint running off of it and will eventually trickle down to a drip. The way of testing how thin the paint is is to note the time it takes for it to start dripping after pulling the shaft out.
My latest batch had quite a bit of paint work on them and it added about 20 grains to the arrow. It all depends on the amount (distance) you dip, the thickness of the paint, how many coats, etc....
I crest a lot of arrows after dipping, it really makes the " look" of the shaft. But if all your doing is dipping, you' ll need some dip tubes, shaft plugs, paint, thinner, and make-shift drying rack. Test dip some cheap wood dowels or old discarded or used arrow shafts to get the hang of it before trying your real shafts. Let yourself learn how thick/thin the paint in the dip tube needs to be to give a good coat that is thin enough to run off the shaft, but thick enough to give some decent coverage.
I can post a couple of pics if you would like-