PRODUCT INFORMATION SHEET Refined linseed oil Product Description Highest quality Dutch linseed oil used as a medium for oil colours. Increases gloss and transparency. Product Code: 002 Constituents: Product Application Highest quality Dutch alkali refined linseed oil. Made by crushing steam heated flax seed to produce greater quantities of oil than in cold pressing. Treated with alkalis post-pressing and water washed to remove the precipated salts. Langridge selected alkali refined linseed oil due to their low acid content which reduces the oils’ tendency to yellow. Linseed oil is the most widely used oil because when dry it forms the toughest, most resilient paint films.Linseed, 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. Alkali refined linseed oil is the most frequently employed oil for manufacturing artists’ oil colours*. Used even in small quantities, adds a soft, slippery quality when added to oil colours. The paint film will stay open and is easily moved or reworked for up to 24 hours. A disadvantage of oils in comparison to acrylic emulsions is that oils embrittle with age.
A second disadvantage of oils is that they yellow or darken with time, some more dramatically than others. For this reason it is recommended that the use of linseed oil, whether cold pressed or refined, should be kept to a minimum as a medium to aid fluidity or transparency. If multiple layers of linseed oil are introduced, in the mediums added to oil colours, so the effects of future yellowing will be exaggerated.
Use sparingly, and if wishing to employ a traditional glaze technique Langridge recommends the use of Stand Oil, a virtually non-yellowing oil, as the basis for painting mediums.
Langridge Refined Linseed Oil should be considered a ‘fat’ medium. It should not to be used for underpainting if oil colours with no additional medium are to be applied on top. Dries to a gloss finish. ADDITIONAL PRODUCT INFORMATION Problems with ambient temperature and humidity Because artists drying oils (oils that dry to a hard, non-reversable film) absorb oxygen to harden, so the ambient temperature and humidity have an effect on the speed and success of film hardening. Oils, oil paints and oil mediums should not be applied in temperatures below 10o F or above 40o F. Relative humidity level should not exceed 50%. Moisture in a high humidity environment will create a fine layer of water on top of the paint film preventing oxygen from being absorbed. This will dramatically slow the hardening of the oil, potentially weakining the paint film even when fully dry. Temperature and relative humidity can be controlled in the artists studio with heating/cooling devices and the use of dehumidifying devices. 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 rexposure 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 Appearance Clean Up Drying Times Available in: |
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