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Posted

I appreciate if you explain what is the rule of mixing oil color with oil varnish, and how I can find out if I can mix an oil color I have with an oil varnish I have.

thank you 

Posted

You should be able to add pigments mulled in oil (oil paint) to just about any oil varnish but it may change the consistency of the varnish and or the drying time. Also important to realize that pigment will become more condensed in the film as the varnish dries and thus more opaque.

Posted

Oil paints will mix well with oil varnish.
1- the paint should be high quality, maximum pigment, minimum fillers = expensive
2-use only pigments which are marketed as transparent
3- using too much of any, proportionally, will result in opacity
4- some pigments inhibit drying, some advance it
5- make sure you mix it extremely well, for instance on a piece of glass with a spatula to break up all the paint clumps.

Posted
3 hours ago, Michael Darnton said:

Oil paints will mix well with oil varnish.
1- the paint should be high quality, maximum pigment, minimum fillers = expensive
2-use only pigments which are marketed as transparent
3- using too much of any, proportionally, will result in opacity
4- some pigments inhibit drying, some advance it
5- make sure you mix it extremely well, for instance on a piece of glass with a spatula to break up all the paint clumps.

Good advice. I would add to #5.

Mull the pigment with a few drops of good linseed oil to a smooth, even viscous paste.

#6. Add a small amount to the varnish and mix thoroughly. Check the color.

Posted

I haven't tried it yet, but I will play around with Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Color by first diluting/dissolving it in Turpentine (or Mineral Spirits), letting it settle for a while, then using a pipette to siphon off the (hopefully) tinted top liquid to add to my Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Finish. By doing so, I anticipate adding a little (hopefully translucent) color as well as thinning the Tru-Oil some. 

I'm also going to try this with powdered rosin to try to add a little more solids as well as color.

Since there is nothing new under the Sun, has anyone tried this technique?

Posted

Adding solvent to your varnish is probably riskier than adding pigment and the color extraction you are describing is unlikely to impart enough color to be very useful. Ditto adding powdered rosin.  If you are going to use a commercial DIY type varnish perhaps asking the manufacturer about coloring options might be useful. While the only way to know if something works is to try it there are so many proven methods of coloring and varnishing fiddles that I suspect you'd do better to learn those first before heading off into uncharted waters.

Posted
16 minutes ago, nathan slobodkin said:

Adding solvent to your varnish is probably riskier than adding pigment

What are the risks of adding solvent?   I have thinned my varnish with turpentine.  

Posted

Commercial varnishes are designed to be used in certain ways. There are all kinds of thinners which could be used but they will all act a little differently and with proprietary finishes you may find weird things happening such as not drying, surface drying and subsequent crazing, orange peel, ropiness......... Mixing in a little oil paint probably won't change the varnish properties much but the more variables which are introduced the greater the chance of unpredictable results.

Posted
15 hours ago, Michael Darnton said:

Oil paints will mix well with oil varnish.
1- the paint should be high quality, maximum pigment, minimum fillers = expensive
2-use only pigments which are marketed as transparent
3- using too much of any, proportionally, will result in opacity
4- some pigments inhibit drying, some advance it
5- make sure you mix it extremely well, for instance on a piece of glass with a spatula to break up all the paint clumps.

Thank you very much 

Posted
5 hours ago, nathan slobodkin said:

Commercial varnishes are designed to be used in certain ways. There are all kinds of thinners which could be used but they will all act a little differently and with proprietary finishes you may find weird things happening such as not drying, surface drying and subsequent crazing, orange peel, ropiness......... Mixing in a little oil paint probably won't change the varnish properties much but the more variables which are introduced the greater the chance of unpredictable results.

Thank you very much 

Posted
16 hours ago, Michael Darnton said:

Oil paints will mix well with oil varnish.
1- the paint should be high quality, maximum pigment, minimum fillers = expensive
2-use only pigments which are marketed as transparent
3- using too much of any, proportionally, will result in opacity
4- some pigments inhibit drying, some advance it
5- make sure you mix it extremely well, for instance on a piece of glass with a spatula to break up all the paint clumps.

Michael may you please let me know if you know any brand that you or someone else used before … I searched,  but could not find transparent black oil colour, which I could I also check if someone else used it and worked before …. 
below is one I could find 
thanks again 

A5BF9EED-3524-4FC5-9125-0A8C62C0DA34.thumb.png.ca9270324eb46fae362e8a210932a42a.png

Posted

Transparency in pigments is tricky. You can think of pigment colors as musical chords comprised of multiple notes, when in harmony are transparent and when discordant opaque. This is just a useful metaphor.

If you smear out a pigment you can see the variety of colors. As you mix different pigments the likelihood of achieving a harmonious chord diminishes and the result is more likely to be opaque. The best way to determine the transparency of a pigment is to draw a dark black line on a card and paint your color or combination of colors over the line, it is then apparent how transparent it is.

Dye colors are inherently transparent even when mixed. The painting technique you are using is called ‘glazing’ in the art world.

An excellent, though possibly outdated book on color theory is “Blue end yellow don’t make green”.

Oded

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