Titanium white thinning

Mikep

I have titanium white made with sunflower oil. If I use refined linseed to thin it, will it stuff it up???

paultorrescom

Some paint manufacturers  like to mix Titanic white with sunflower oil because it is one of the least yellowing oils if you're going to mix linseed oil with that it's no longer going to be that bright of a white it's going to be a little bit darker white does that make sense

Observer

Not sure if's sunflower/linseed reaction, but I've had horrible issues mixing Titanium White with the "standard" medium that works fine with other colours. It's OK for the first session, but then turns into a thick, almost putty-like consistency.

Mark hints at this in one of his videos, and the medium recipe he proposes is different:

http://www.drawmixpaint.com/supplylist/international.html

Not sure why clove oil makes a difference, but this seems to confirm the issue:

http://forum.drawmixpaint.com/discussion/4530/no-clove-oil-in-sdm-for-titanium-white

Richard_P

I use walnut oil with clove oil as a medium for tubed titanium white. I've never had a problem.

Roxy

@paultorrescom, I successfully mix linseed with safflower-base TW without any obvious ill effects, and many commercial mediums have a linseed base, so i can't imaging its a big issue, though others here are more knowledgeable. 

@Observer, your experience in turning TW to chewing gum with standard SDM is well known and has cropped up a few times here, and it happened to me too. From my fiddlings the presence of safflower oil is certainly a factor (I've had a similar experience with safflower-based ultramarine blue, though not as extreme), but its not the only factor. The age of the clove oil is also important - it needs to be clear and fresh. Some options are to either use the SDM-TW recipe, or give @Richard_P's recipe a go, or try out some different brands of TW and see how they respond. Interestingly, some linseed-based lead white that I have turned to a brick almost instantly with SDM, suggesting a possible complex set of chemical reactions underlie this.

Richard_P

A lot of titanium white's are ground in safflower oil though, so maybe it's to do with the venice turpentine?

Roxy

I think I tried mixing paint with pure VT and pure clove oil and the only reactions I got were with the clove oil. I might try it again tho just to check.