Testing Pure Earth Paint’s Pure Varnish on Oil and Acrylic

In the event you’re looking for a vegan and environmentally aware varnish to your oil and acrylic work, then the Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish often is the good resolution. Made in small batches with archival elements, it’s claimed to be fast-drying, clear, shiny, superb for retouching, and free from harsh fumes. On this overview, I put these descriptors to the check and discover its qualities by testing it on canvas and picket panel, with oil and acrylic.

Evaluate of Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish

Concerning the Pure Earth Paint Firm

Pure Earth Paint is an American artwork supplies firm based in 2009. The founder, Leah Fanning, began the corporate whereas deliberately pursuing a non-toxic portray observe throughout her first being pregnant. From there, she developed paints, mediums, primers, and polish utilizing pure pigments and elements that don’t include any fillers, heavy metals, or derivatives from the oil and fuel industries. A few frequent examples of those derivatives are acrylic polymer emulsion present in acrylic paint and alkyd resins generally utilized in oil paints; each are derived from petroleum.

The corporate additionally advertises its merchandise as secure for youths to make use of due to their non-toxic qualities. Alongside donating to quite a lot of charities, the Pure Earth Paint firm makes use of recycled and recyclable packaging, operates from photo voltaic and wind-powered services, and ethically sources pigments from sustainable, household owned harvesters. General, the model is a superb selection if you’re occupied with decreasing the environmental affect of your studio observe.

Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish 237 ml

Properties of the Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish

The Pure Varnish is available in three sizes: 118 ml, 237 ml, and 946 ml. The smaller two sizes are available in recyclable glass bottles, and the bigger in a tin. Because the product can be utilized to varnish all kinds of supplies – wooden, canvas, metallic, plastics, and stone – it’s equally as helpful for sculptors or these working with unconventional supplies as it’s for painters. Within the bottle the varnish is an amber color, and has a small screw high that couldn’t be any simpler to open. In the event you choose your studio supplies to have security lock lids, then this received’t be superb for you. Whenever you open the bottle you instantly discover a powerful alcohol odor, which is made extra pronounced by making use of it. By way of allergens, the varnish doesn’t include nuts, dairy, or gluten.

The label states that the product is flammable, which is sensible because of the alcohol content material. It additionally shouldn’t make contact with the pores and skin or be used while consuming and consuming. In one other description of the product, it says it’s ‘free from harsh fumes’, which doesn’t imply it’s free from all fumes. The consuming and consuming warning tells us that the product can nonetheless enter the air. Like all studio chemical substances, it’s greatest to make use of them in well-ventilated areas, whatever the ‘secure for youths’ labelling.

Because the color of the varnish within the bottle is golden, however the firm states that it dries clear, I wished to check the varnish on a white floor to see for myself. I painted it on a sheet from a Jackson’s 100% Cotton Canvas Pad, which is gesso primed, and instantly observed that it’s a heat yellow color. As soon as dried, the color is barely lighter, however nonetheless continues to be a light-weight yellow. The bottle states that it’s ‘fast-drying to a water-clear end’, which isn’t true – it could be greatest to say that this varnish leaves a yellow tint because of the pure elements.

Transparency check on Jackson’s 100% Cotton Canvas paper.

Utilizing Pure Varnish to End Oil Work

It’s vital to attend till your work is totally cured and dry earlier than you apply a ending varnish to grease work. This might take six months to a 12 months, relying on the oil content material of the paints, particular pigments, mediums used, and the thickness of software. You may check how dry a portray is by urgent your nail into the thickest space of the portray. This course of shouldn’t be performed in a rush as a result of varnishing a still-wet portray traps moisture and prevents it from respiratory, which may ultimately trigger rotting, flaking, or cracking. A ending varnish could be utilized in 1-3 skinny layers relying on the specified end.

The one ending varnish in the marketplace that’s marketed for use earlier than the complete drying interval is full is Gamblin Gamvar. It may be utilized as soon as the portray is contact dry, which can take from three weeks to a number of months. Gamvar comprises a light solvent that isn’t robust sufficient to dissolve a dry paint movie, which pure resin varnishes do.

Varnishing an oil portray on canvas.

To check its software as a ending varnish, I utilized the Pure Varnish with a Jackson’s Artificial Mottler Brush to a dried oil portray. I made certain to mud over the floor of my portray earlier than starting, to make sure that no particles could be caught in it. As soon as it was utilized, I elevated my varnished portray to a excessive shelf, in order that there was much less likelihood of mud deciding on it. Placing it on the ground or a low desk would virtually assure particles getting caught to it.

I instantly observed the odor of the varnish turned extra pronounced as I started to use it, nevertheless it rapidly evaporated from the floor of the portray. Simply twenty minutes later I couldn’t odor the varnish on my canvas anymore. On software, the varnish seems shiny, which didn’t boring because it dried. I used to be amazed that simply twenty minutes after software, the varnish already felt touch-dry. Per week later, it had the identical shiny sheen, proving that it doesn’t boring because it cures.

Utilizing Pure Varnish as a Retouching Varnish on Oil Work

A retouching varnish is utilized to a touch-dry oil portray earlier than it has utterly cured in a single skinny layer. This brings boring areas attributable to sunken paint ahead, and unifies the entire portray as you proceed to work on it. When utilized thinly, the varnish nonetheless permits the paint to breathe and treatment in its personal time, and isn’t as dense as a ending varnish layer. The Pure Varnish is described as a ‘good’ retouching varnish, which I wished to strive myself.

Retouching an oil portray on panel.

This system is right when you’ve got a portray that you simply’d wish to exhibit quickly, however the darkish colors in its palette have dulled, and it hasn’t cured for lengthy sufficient to use a ultimate varnish to. The retouching varnish layer will convey the colors again to life, with out compromising the archival worth of the portray. I ready an instance of a darkish portray the place the colors dulled because it dried. As you’ll be able to see, the varnish instantly returned the portray to a extra vibrant state, giving it a gloss end and deepening the darkish colors. Once more, I used to be amazed that the floor was contact dry inside twenty minutes, which means there isn’t any distinction in drying time between work on canvas and panel with the Pure Varnish. After per week, the colors within the portray nonetheless appeared as wealthy and deep as once I first utilized the varnish, with a constant shiny sheen.

You too can add a retouching varnish to a portray you intend to maintain engaged on – it helps reveal the standard of sunken colors earlier than you paint additional. Generally it’s onerous to make a brand new layer of paint adhere to a dried oil portray that you simply’d wish to proceed engaged on, and including a layer of retouching varnish can even return essential adhesion to the floor. The layer of paint following the retouching varnish must be fatter than the layers under it to keep away from cracking.

Including highlights to an oil portray after varnishing.

For this instance, I continued engaged on high of the portray from the earlier instance, deciding so as to add highlights to the moon and the grass it’s shining on. The paint adhered very effectively as if I had been portray straight onto the panel, and the darker tones that had already been introduced out by the retouching varnish allowed me to determine how vibrant to make the highlights.

Utilizing Pure Varnish to Seal Acrylic Work

A good thing about engaged on acrylic work is that you would be able to varnish them virtually instantly. One of many intentions of the Pure Earth Paint firm is to keep away from petrolates, which are sometimes present in acrylic paints, in order that they created their very own vary that’s free from these elements known as Acrylik Paints. Regardless, their Varnish is okay to make use of with any acrylic paints, and I’ve examined it right here with Jackson’s Skilled Acrylic Paint on Jackson’s Premium Cotton Canvas.

Varnishing an acrylic portray on canvas.

An identical to the drying time of varnishing my oil portray on canvas, the varnish on the acrylic instance was touch-dry very quickly – inside twenty minutes. I used to be extra at this stage whether or not the Pure Varnish on the acrylic portray may dry to a distinct end than the oil instance. After per week the extent of sheen seems similar on each work. In the event you work throughout mediums and need a unified end between them for show, the Pure Varnish will give your work visible consistency.

Evaluating Pure Varnish to Different Varnishes

To visually examine the end of the varnish, I utilized it alongside a few others on a picket panel. I utilized a layer of Van Dyck Brown acrylic paint, allowed it to dry, and divided the floor into 4 strips. From left to proper, the sections are: no varnish, Jackson’s Acrylic Varnish Gloss, Gamblin Gamvar Image Varnish Gloss, and the Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish. I utilized every part in two layers, and the one varnish to seep exterior of the part I painted it in was the Gamvar varnish, which you’ll be able to see encroaching on the Jackson’s aspect.

L – R: No varnish, Jackson’s Acrylic Varnish Gloss, Gamblin Gamvar Image Varnish Gloss, and Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish.

The Pure Varnish is sitting the proudest on the floor of the panel, obscuring the feel of the wooden grain probably the most. It has a vibrant, shiny end, though I did discover that it dried barely patchily, retaining some brushmarks and pooling collectively in some areas. In distinction, Gamblin Gamvar Image Varnish dried extraordinarily evenly, and provides the wooden a pleasant sheen, with probably the most wooden grain nonetheless seen of the three. The Jackson’s Acrylic Varnish seems just like the mid-point between the opposite two varnishes by way of sheen. Comparably, the Pure Varnish may be very shiny.

L – R: No varnish, Jackson’s Acrylic Varnish Gloss, Gamblin Gamvar Image Varnish Gloss, and Pure Earth Paint: Pure Varnish.

Utilizing the Pure Varnish to Seal Wooden

The Pure Varnish can be utilized to seal all types of wooden – some individuals even apply it to out of doors furnishings. This can be helpful if you happen to make picket sculptures or wish to seal the perimeters of a panel portray. Right here I’ve examined making use of it to the perimeters of one of many picket panels that I painted within the earlier examples. I observed that the drying time was simply as fast as on the panels, and that it gave the wooden a satisfying hotter hue.

Sealing the perimeters of a picket panel.

Cleansing up the Pure Varnish

The Pure Earth Paint firm recommends cleansing up the Pure Varnish utilizing rubbing alcohol, which I examined by decanting some right into a small jar and swirling my brush in it, earlier than wiping it off right into a rag. I repeated this motion a number of occasions earlier than rinsing it via within the sink. It’s secure to scrub alcohol down the drain, flushed with water, because the elements are pure.

The Pure Varnish is a flexible, shiny, quick-drying, vegan, and environmentally aware selection for varnishing your work. I’d suggest it to all painters who take pleasure in a shiny end on their work, and those that wish to experiment with utilizing a retouching varnish. It holds up effectively compared to different varnishes, so is a superb step in direction of having a extra sustainable observe with out compromising on high quality.