Waxes, Adhesives and Sizes
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Rabbit Skin Glue
Starting at: £13.00
For sizing canvas prior to priming with an oil based primer. Do not use under acrylic primer. Soak overnight in water. Heat in double boiler (do not boil). Ratio water:size 13:1. Use while still warm. Rabbit Skin Glue do not contain any preservatives. 340 - 360 Bloom Learn More
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Pearl Glue
Starting at: £6.50
Pearl Glue is a traditional animal-based wood glue used for veneering, joinery and antique restoration. 170-200 bloom. Learn More
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Gelatine Leaf
Starting at: £5.30
A pure form of glue from animal tissue. Used for sizing paper. Used in gliding and for weak sizes in isolating layers in tempera painting. Learn More -
Carnauba Wax Yellow
Starting at: £6.50
Carnauba Wax is the hardest wax commonly used in the production of artists' materials, with a melting point of 83-86°c. It is derived from a tree native to South America, and is available in a natural colour (grey), or a refined colour (pale yellow). Small amounts of carnauba wax are commonly used in both oil painting mediums and encaustic painting, usually in conjunction with beeswax to add toughness, durability and sheen to the paint film. It creates an inflexible surface, so works best on rigid supports such as gesso panels, and it should be noted that it will raise the melting point of encaustic mixtures. It can produce a glossy finish; as such it is used in waxes and polishes for shoes, cars, musical instruments, furniture, and wooden floors, especially when mixed with beeswax and turpentine. Learn More -
Carnauba Wax Grey
Starting at: £8.40
Carnauba Wax is the hardest wax commonly used in the production of artists' materials, with a melting point of 83-86°c. It is derived from a tree native to South America, and is available in a natural colour (grey), or a refined colour (pale yellow). Small amounts of carnauba wax are commonly used in both oil painting mediums and encaustic painting, usually in conjunction with beeswax to add toughness, durability and sheen to the paint film. It creates an inflexible surface, so works best on rigid supports such as gesso panels, and it should be noted that it will raise the melting point of encaustic mixtures. It can produce a glossy finish; as such it is used in waxes and polishes for shoes, cars, musical instruments, furniture, and wooden floors, especially when mixed with beeswax and turpentine. Learn More -
Natural Beeswax
Starting at: £11.20
Beeswax is derived from melted honeycomb, and is available in two grades. Bleached Beeswax Pellets are white, having been bleached by the sun, and are an appropriate choice for using with pale colours, although they may revert to yellow over time. Natural Beeswax Pellets are yellow in colour, and offer a more flexible structure with a higher resin content. Beeswax has a melting point of 63-66°c, and may turn brown if over-heated. It is the most widely used wax in artists' materials, having a wide range of applications. Please see below for more details.
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Bleached Beeswax
Starting at: £12.30
Beeswax is derived from melted honeycomb, and is available in two grades. Bleached Beeswax Pellets are white, having been bleached by the sun, and are an appropriate choice for using with pale colours, although they may revert to yellow over time. Natural Beeswax Pellets are yellow in colour, and offer a more flexible structure with a higher resin content. Beeswax has a melting point of 63-66°c, and may turn brown if over-heated. It is the most widely used wax in artists' materials, having a wide range of applications. Please see below for more details.
Learn More -
Parchment Clippings
Starting at: £9.90
Parchment Clippings, usually waste goatskin vellum, were utilised throughout the Middle Ages to make an animal hide glue. This continued to be commonly used as a sizing for canvas before rabbit skin glue came to prominence in the nineteenth century. Parchment glue is comparable to isinglass glue, as it also produces a very pale, almost transparent glue with a degree of flexibility. Our parchment clippings are a mixture of vellum scraps, and may include goatskin, calfskin and sheepskin. Cennino Cennini gives a recipe for gesso using parchment in his treatise about painting; please see below for our recipe. Learn More -
Isinglass
Starting at: £20.00
Isinglass is derived from the dried swim bladders of fish, with Salianski Isinglass being the highest grade available. In the Russian Icon tradition, it commonly provided the glue component in gesso recipes, and was sometimes mixed with pigment to make tempera paints, due to its high binding strength. It can be used to make a pale, clear glue, which is less prone to darkening than other animal glues, and which is particularly flexible, making it a useful material for repairing textiles. Learn More -
Casein Lactic
Starting at: £18.30
Casein is a protein derived from dried milk, which has been used in painting since ancient times. It can be combined with Ammonium Carbonate to form an emulsion, which acts as a durable, non-resoluble binder for pigments, producing a matte, fast-drying paint, similar in appearance to egg tempera. We use casein as a binder for our L. Cornelissen & Son Pigment Colour Charts, as it is a medium that clearly showcases the characteristics and behaviour of each pigment in its pure form. Casein paints can be applied in thin layers to watercolour paper, but would require a more rigid support, such as a gesso panel, to be applied thickly, as the comparative inflexibility of the paint layer means that it can be prone to cracking. Subsequent layers of paint should be more diluted to aid adhesion, and impasto effects are not recommended. It is possible to varnish casein paintings using an acrylic or damar varnish to obtain a glossy surface if desired, although this is not a necessary step. Casein can also be used as an ingredient in gesso, and is a suitable binder for fresco secco techniques.
Some pigments may require a wetting agent in order to fully disperse within the binder, in which case alcohol may be used.
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Carrageen Moss
Starting at: £51.00
Carrageen Moss is a seaweed that is gathered from the Irish coast, whose natural thickening properties are often exploited by the food industry. It is also used as a size in traditional paper marbling, as it allows colours to float and be manipulated on the surface of the water. Learn More -
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Ammonium Carbonate
Starting at: £9.70
Ammonium Carbonate is a highly Alkaline substance that reacts with the lactic acid present in casein to form a robust binder for tempera paints. It should only be used in a well-ventilated area, please see below for the Material Safety Data Sheet. Learn More -
Paraffin Wax
Starting at: £6.60
Paraffin Wax is a by-product of the petro-chemical industry. It has a low melting point of 50-60°c and a brittle texture, making it unsuitable for encaustic painting or as an additive to oil paints, but it can be used to impart softness to lithographic crayons. As a petroleum product, it is more inert than animal or vegetable waxes, and is therefore not saponified (turned into soap) by alkali substances. Learn More -
Microcrystalline Wax
Starting at: £8.50
Microcrystalline Wax is related to paraffin wax, and is used as a plasticiser in some recipes. It is characterised by the fineness of its crystals in contrast to the larger crystal of paraffin wax. It is generally more viscous, denser, tackier and more elastic than paraffin waxes, and has a higher melting point. Learn More -
HMG B72 Restoration Adhesive
£7.70B72 Acrylic Adhesive is touch dry in 3-5 minutes, surface dry in 1 hour and hard dry in around 6 hours. Not having instant grab, fragments can be easily re-adjusted and surplus adhesive removed with acetone, making any joint virtually invisible. It’s ideal for repairs to pottery, wood, metal, glass, ivory and many porous substances. 14ml. Learn More -
HMG Acrylic Restoration Adhesive
£6.00HMG Acrylic Restoration Adhesive. Heat and waterproof adhesive for repairs to pottery, wood, porcelain, leather etc. Not suitable for use on rubber. 14ml. Learn More