Pen and Ink Ability is here to be your source
of knowledge to help you to improve your
abilities with writing, drawing, painting and even gilding
Zest-it Ability
Zest-it Brush Cleaner |
Zest-it Parchment Blend
| Zest-it Pencil Blend
Zest-it Clear Painting Medium |
Zest-it Damar Varnish | Zest-it Hand
Cleaner
Brush Cleaner
How
do I use the Zest-it Dilutant and Brush Cleaner is a question asked by
those new to Zest-it.
Well there are many ways it can be used, from thinning oil paint for a
background to mixing with oil paint to form a glaze, different people
use it different ways. It’s easy to use for cleaning brushes and other
painting tools.
I’ll list below a few of the ways it can be used.
As a Dilutant it can
be used to thin oil paint to a ‘wash’ consistency, for use when colouring
the background of a canvas.
Used to thin oil paint as ‘thin as ink’, for use with a brush
where very thin paint is necessary, it will also make it thin enough to
write with using a brush – just like ink.
Used
by Parchment craft artists for colouring the back of a piece
of Velum before working/embossing on the front.
It will also work very well with coloured pencils to give extra blend
ability to the applied pencil.
As a Brush cleaner it will obviously clean brushes
and other tools used in oil painting, it will also get oil paint out of
clothes, but of course you need to test it on the material first.
If left
to settle after brush cleaning it can be decanted and re-used making it
economical. It can be added to linseed oil to make a painting medium,
many people like to make their own medium, so giving quantities doesn’t
really help, as different properties are sought by the individual. You
can always experiment with the ratio of linseed to Zest-it, but for it
to work well you always need more Zest-it than linseed if you are after
a medium.
Zest-it
can also be used to dissolve Damar resin to make
Damar varnish, it is a
long drawn out process and prone to problems, so unless you are very
adventurous it is best to purchase this ready made.
For general use Zest-it will remove many adhesives, so when you end up with that sticky residue left from a label, a bit of Zest-it on a cloth will usually remove it.