PRODUCT INFORMATION SHEET

cold pressed safflower oil

Product Description

Natural drying oil used as a traditional binder for grinding oil colours. Has increased wetting power and imparts flexibility to paint films.

Product Code: 040

Constituents: Safflower Oil. Extracted from Safflower seed (Carthamus tinctorus) using cold pressing method.

Product Application

Made by crushing the safflower seed under great pressure, it is considered, alongside poppy, to be the most desirable drying oil for making white, blue and other pale coloured oil paints. Low yield of oil from the seed using this extraction method.

Safflower oil is extensively used for pale pigments because of its’ very light colour that will alter minimally the colour of the resulting milled oil paint.
Paint films using safflower oil have very minimal yellowing with age.

Used even in small quantities, adds a loose, slippery quality when added to oil colours.
Safflower, like all artists’ drying oils, harden by absorbing oxygen. As it oxidises, it also polymerizes at a molecular level being changed into a non-reversable film.
Cold Pressed Safflower Oil is very slow drying. The paint film will stay open and is easily moved or reworked for up to 72 hours, the surface of the paint film staying wet for up to a week.

This can be problematic in severely slowing down the painting process. Cobalt driers may be introduced to accelerate drying rates, but the potential for increasing the yellowing of the paint film when driers are incorrectly added should be noted.

Safflower oil does not dry to as tough a final film as linseed and the use of safflower should be kept to a minimum as a medium to aid fluidity or transparency. Use sparingly, and if wishing to employ a traditional glaze technique Langridge recommends the use of Stand Oil, a virtually non-yellowing oil which dries to a tougher, more resiliant film than safflower, as the basis for painting mediums.

Langridge Cold Pressed Safflower Oil should be considered a slow drying ‘fat’ medium. It should not to be used for underpainting if oil colours with no additional safflower oil is to be applied on top.

Dries to a gloss finish.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT INFORMATION

Apparent darkening of oil paintings kept in dark storage.

When a painting has been stored for a period of time in darkness the artwork will darken. This can be reversed by re-exposure to sunlight. Exposure to sunlight will not reverse the long term effects of oil paint films darkening. Any reversal of darkening will occur within 48 hours of light exposure. Do not over expose artwork to excessive light for long periods of time, The pigments used in the oil paints, especially non-lightfast colours may fade.

WORKING PROPERTIES

Thinning
For best results thin with Distilled Gum Turpentine. However, Artists White Spirit or Langridge Low Toxic Solvent may be substituted. The use of the latter solvents will tend to reduce the fatness of stroke and the oil film will dry with less richness due to the partial destruction of the paint film.

Appearance
Langridge Cold Pressed Linseed Oil is a golden colour liquid with characteristic linseed odour.
The colour of the oil will slightly effect the oil colours with which it is mixed.

Clean Up
Clean brushes with any artists’ solvent (eg Gum Turpentine, Low Toxic Solvent, etc.). For further washing apply a small quantity of Marseille or other pure olive oil soap and massage the bristles of the brush to release any remaining colour. Wash thoroughly in warm water. Leave to fully dry before using for oil colours.

Drying Times
12-24 hours to touch dry.
Full film drying 3-6 months

Available in:
100ml (0011), 500ml (0015), Litre (001L), 4 Litre (0014), 20 Litre (0012)