S O LV E N T S A F E T Y G U I D E TA K E C A R E W I T H O I L P A I N T S O LV E N T S Solvents thin oil paints and clean brushes. There are lots to choose from, including those intended to be kinder to the environment and you. The table overleaf is a simple reference guide to help clarify the differences between the solvents that we sell but it always pays to employ a little common sense when working with any solvent. Nowadays there are 3 main varieties of solvent: white Spirit, turpentine, and citrus or plant derived solvents. Below is a description of how they differ and the variants found within each group. White spirit is a petroleum distillate. It is most commonly known as mineral spirits in the US/Canada,
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and mineral turpentine in Australia and New Zealand. Sometimes it is also called turpentine substitute, petroleum spirits or paint thinner. If you come across a solvent that has the word ‘mineral’ in its name, it is most likely to be a petroleum distillate, as opposed to a genuine turpentine (distillate from a tree resin). Artist white spirit can be used in painting mediums and to clean brushes. All forms of artist white spirit, including Gamsol, Low Odour Solvent, Sansodor and Shellsol T are more pleasant to use than cheaper household white spirit, that is found in your local DIY store. This is because they don’t smell as much and are purer, with less of a mix of hydrocarbons, and no recycled matter in their formulae. This is also
important for your painting mediums too because it doesn’t contain the impurities that may be found in household white spirit, artist white spirit can thin paint without causing yellowing or the cracking of paint in years to come. Artist white spirits are most effective when thinning or cleaning chemically composed oil painting mediums, such as alkyd resin, but is less effective when thinning natural resins such as copal, mastic or dammar. Turpentine is also sometimes called spirit of turpentine or oil of turpentine. It is slightly more viscous than white spirit, and is obtained through the distillation of resin obtained from live trees, mainly pines. Turpentiners remove the bark of the tree in order for it to