Titanium White – Winsor & Newton Artist Oils – WARNING: SOLVENT

[Richard P]

Point taken, I will email W&N and see what they say.

Is there a way to test for a solvent easily?

[RomanB]

Is there a way to test for a solvent easily?

Precise scales to weight several grams of paint applied in thin layer with large surface area right after application and a few hours later. 0.01 gram precision is enough.

[Richard P]

Thanks Roman, I will try that

“Dear Winsor & Newton,

I have been using several paints for a painting and I suddenly realised I could smell a faint odour of solvents. I paint solvent free so I smelt all the tubes of paints I had used and I found that the faint smell was coming from the Winsor & Newton Titanium White. The smell was faint but stronger when spread out on a palette as more surface area was present.

I’m concerned as I paint solvent free and I can’t see any information on the tube or website to say it contains a VOC solvent.

Is this something you can look into please?

On the back there are numbers: 1214 644 in case that helps.

Thank you,

Richard”

Smells a little bit like acetone..?

[ianuk]

I just opened and smelled a tube of W&N titanium white and tube of W&N transparent white. The former does smell of solvent whereas the transparent white does not. There is also a warning on the titanium that it contains lead. These tubes could be anywhere between 3 and 10 years old.

[Richard P]

Thank you for doing that test ianuk. That suggests that there is an issue then.

[ianuk]

Thank you for doing that test ianuk. That suggests that there is an issue then.

You’re welcome.

[Pinguino]

W&N Titanium White is actually titanium-zinc white. It is my understanding that TiO2 can be refined in such a way as to leave very little lead contaminant, but there is more of an issue with ZnO.

Although it is very much out of date, this page might be of interest.

I don’t think W&N makes “Transparent White” these days, although something similar might be available in its student grade or by other manufacturers (I have it in Rembrandt).

[Richard P]

Does anyone else have a tube that they would like to test the smell of?

[Marc Kingsland]

Many years ago Cellini oil paints owner Robert Howard recommended in an online open discussion to Michael Harding, that he’d taken to using a solvent as a wetting agent for a synthetic organic red pigment, before running on the three roll mill. Michael Harding replied that he’d had no problem with making this pigment into oil paint himself by using the standard method. The natural inference being that that he felt no need to adopt this practice.

This does raise a possible source of solvent introduction into an oil paint though. One imagines that if this method was used and the paint was rushed through production and packaging before the wetting solvent could evaporate completely. Then a small amount of the solvent could perhaps still be held within the tubed paint.

However it’s probably just an odd smelling safflower oil.

insert pithy comment here.

[ianuk]

In the tube I smelled. This is not an odd smelling oil of any kind. It definitely has the smell of solvent. I checked twenty other tubes and they all smell of oil, not a hint of solvent.

[Richard P]

The same for me, which is why I posted this..

[WFMartin]

Judging from some past experiences with Winsor & Newton products, and their responses, I would rather suspect that they just may be introducing a bit of alkyd into their White, in order to accomplish something unknown to the user, such as faster drying, perhaps.

I’m not sure that paint manufacturers are obligated to list an alkyd as an ingredient in paint, and Winsor & Newton may be taking such an opportunity to do just that–especially when it seems to only involve a White.

Since many alkyds emit definite solvent smells, this may be the source of your dilemma.

Just a thought. BTW, does that White paint seem to be drying much faster than those without the smell? If so, then my guess would be an alkyd ingredient. For some reason manufacturers seem to not be able to mask the smell of the solvent that is a part of an alkyd. A solvent smell seems to be a sure indication of an alkyd in a paint. Tremendously fast tacking-up time is another one.

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https://williamfmartin.blogspot.com

[Richard P]

I am testing the drying times of all several titanium whites at the moment and I will see if it does dry faster.

[Anonymous]

Drying faster will indicate that this paint dries faster, that is all. It will not verify that it does contain a solvent, and certainly not that it contains any alkyd.

[Raffless]

I just took a whiff of the Winton range as i use the 200ml tubes and go through quite a few. I didn’t notice any solvent smell. I asked my wife and she didnt either. Although it does smell slightly different from the other W&N tubes. Maybe im not as sensitive to solvent.

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