PENCIL SKILLS

SOLVENTS

NEED FOR CAUTION ! I am repeating here a similar warning to that attached at the top of the section on Fixatives. The only liquid that Coloured Pencils are designed for, is, in the case of aquarelle pencils, Water Very Few liquids in the Art world are manufactured specifically for Coloured Pencil use. This is notably so in the area of fixatives and solvents. There is one reasonably safe liquid I am aware of, made for dissolving wax pencil, and that is ‘Zest it pencil and parchment blend’. If you wish to add anything  else in liquid form to your artwork either as a brushed on or sprayed on material, first check the manufacturer’s instructions.   If it does not specifically say that the product is made for coloured pencil use, then it probably isn’t.   That doesn’t mean that the product cannot be used. Simply that before use, you need to test the liquid thoroughly on a similar surface which carries similar media to the one you wish to treat.   Do not risk your carefully worked artwork to experiments.  The treated area may not be archival, the treatment may result in colours fading.  It is all a bag of worms. HISTORY tells us we get nowhere without experimentation, and the use of most art  solvents for coloured pencil is generally a safe area.  Do be cautious, though, in treating any soluble pencil media with liquids other than water. The notes below are offered without any guarantees of effectiveness. They should simply guide your own research.

Odourless mineral thinners such as those sold for oil painting will also work but may leave more of a permanent oily mark on a paper surface.  If you are using a mineral based spirit ( Odourless Mineral Spirit is sometimes referred to as ‘OMS’) then be cautious about the amount you use.  This liquid can soak into the paper surface and stain it, leaving a ring of dark around the edge of the area treated.  For this reason the recommended technique is to use a paper stump to take a small amount of the liquid from a safe container that can then be used to manage the pencil pigment on the paper without wetting the paper surface Some of these liquids are also labelled as ‘Toxic’ in the USA and are inflammable In the USA and also sometimes available in Europe, the solvent ‘Gamsol’ can be used. This is a mineral based odourless solvent from a petroleum base that has a higher flash point than turpentine and is also generally sold as an oil painting thinner.  This product is advised as being safer than white spirit. It certainly has no smell and is available from several suppliers in the UK and Europe. The Spectrum Noir blending solution quoted above is manufactured by the Gamsol company ( Gamblin ) and my guess is that it is identical.  For more information on the SN product see the appropriate page in this website Turpentine Substitute - also sold as Turpenoid - is another option. Possibly a safer option to using thinners or solvents from a bottle is to use a pre-packed solvent in a fibre tipped ‘pen’.  These are sold by a number of art product firms such as Tombow, the Finesse blender pen, and Sanford’s own brand Prismacolor blender marker. This can be a dearer way of using solvent as the amount of liquid in a pen is small, but the more gentle application will probably be of benefit. The solvent is often alcohol based and they do work. If you are using any of these solvent options, be sure to test out a sample of the solvent on a similar paper and the chosen pencil brand colours.  Some solvents have been known to change the colour balance of the pigments. After treatment you may find that the solvent has bedded the pigment into the paper with a lot of the wax/oil carrier and the resultant picture surface may be matte where the treatment has taken place. This may stand out against the more polished surface of the rest of the picture. It is possible to work the solvent into part of your picture to soften the pencil colours, and then blend them using a wax type burnisher such as the fairly hard Derwent burnisher, the Faber Castell  burnisher, or the softer wax based Lyra Splender Blender and the Caran d’Ache Full Blender Bright  blending stick. Baby oil has featured in the past in articles about solvents for Wax pencils. I agree that it works … but it is inclined to leave a permanent oily mark on the paper. Not something I would either want or recommend There may well be other solvents suitable for CP use and sold throughout the world, let me know of any not listed and give details of known benefits and problems if you can. REMEMBER - all solvents need to be handled with care They may be inflammable and have a high flash point. They may also damage your health if breathed in - so a well ventilated work space is a must To Summarise the safety code Bear in mind the need to ALWAYS work in a well ventilated area if you are using any solvent. Use small volumes of liquid until you have assessed the effect of what you are using. Store any solvents you are keeping in a cool place Dispose of any fabric that is soaked in the liquid carefully  -  bear in mind there will be cautionary notes on any container that will need reading and understanding.  Some flammable solvents left on material and shut in a container may build up an explosive ability. Keep solvents off your skin If you use limited amounts of solvent on a felt pad, don’t dip the pad in solvent, control the amount of liquid by transferring liquid to the pad with a brush. Avoid wetting the support too much unless you are sure the solvent will not stain it. Solvent can take quite a long time to dry off the picture surface A link to a useful article on using solvent is on the ZestIt  web site -   http://www.zest-it.com/zest-it-pencil-blend.htm