Eiffy Brush Cleaning Oil
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Hop over to Eiffy, the kind solution and paint with peace of mind,
knowing that you are being
Kind to your health
Kind to the earth
Kind to your art
knowing that you are being
Kind to your health
Kind to the earth
Kind to your art
Buy a bottle today
Stop by one of my studio art classes and pick some up.
You can choose from a 16oz bottle for $20, or you can BYO container and buy it for $1/oz (class room only).
Out of town, or want to gift it to a friend? I am happy to ship. Contact me at idea.art.studios@gmail.com
Coming to an art supply store near you
You can choose from a 16oz bottle for $20, or you can BYO container and buy it for $1/oz (class room only).
Out of town, or want to gift it to a friend? I am happy to ship. Contact me at idea.art.studios@gmail.com
Coming to an art supply store near you
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In Art, Oil paint is my first love. And to think, there was a time I contemplated getting rid of all of my oils because I couldn't bare the toxic air. |
What can it do?It has a consistency close to water. It is highly effective in cleaning oil paint out of brushes during and after painting.
Small amounts can be added to the paint to thin it out without effecting the drying time of your painting. If too much is added, it will eventually dry, but will slow down the drying time. This oil solvent drys through absorption. The oil is absorbed by the paint pigments and gesso primer. Cotton canvas with acrylic gesso absorbs it well. Oil primed linen does NOT absorb it well, so less should be added to the paint if you are using an oil primed linen canvas. Though non-toxic, it has been stripped down to the point that it is a SOLVENT, so if contact occurs, it may irritate the skin or eyes. If irritation occurs, rinse the area with water. If rash occurs, seek medical attention. |
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What it can't do
Because this solvent is a cleaning OIL, in the world of painting, it is considered a "Fat". Therefore, it should not be used to create a wash for an underpainting. The timeless rule of "Fat OVER lean" applies here. Oil is FAT, so should be used sparingly in the first layers.
In the aspect of creating a paint wash, the soy based solvent does not replace turpentine or OMS. They create fast evaporating washes, and it is these evaporative "VOC's" (Volatile Organic Compound) that are bad to breath.
There are however, NON - TOXIC alternatives that will evaporate quickly for creating non - toxic paint washes.
The oil is difficult to remove from the brush, even with soap and water. TO REMOVE THE OIL FROM THE CLEANED BRUSH, use ISOPROPYL (RUBBING) ALCOHOL. Pour a few ounces into a cup and clean the brush by stroking it in the liquid.
You can finish with a quick wash at the sink with your favorite brush cleaning soap.
In the aspect of creating a paint wash, the soy based solvent does not replace turpentine or OMS. They create fast evaporating washes, and it is these evaporative "VOC's" (Volatile Organic Compound) that are bad to breath.
There are however, NON - TOXIC alternatives that will evaporate quickly for creating non - toxic paint washes.
The oil is difficult to remove from the brush, even with soap and water. TO REMOVE THE OIL FROM THE CLEANED BRUSH, use ISOPROPYL (RUBBING) ALCOHOL. Pour a few ounces into a cup and clean the brush by stroking it in the liquid.
You can finish with a quick wash at the sink with your favorite brush cleaning soap.
Jan Van Eyck, detail from The Ghent Altarpiece
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NON - TOXIC alternatives for paint washes#1 Before turpentine was widely used, artists used 100% Rosemary or Lavender Essential oils to thin their paints and to make "Imprimatura" washes. These two essential oils are perfect for creating a wash, they evaporate within seconds, creating a very "lean" paint layer, perfect for painting over with subsequent layers of oil paint.
Most artists could not afford the high expense of essential oil over the last few hundred years, so they used Turpentine as a cheap substitute. Modern technology has made essential oil very affordable. As a curtesy, I do ask students to refrain from using the essential oils in group painting classes, as some students are highly sensitive to smells of any kind. #2 For the most part, oil paint can be used just as it comes out of the tube. An "Imprimatura" (thin, transparent tone) can be made by scribbling plain paint on the canvas with a stiff brush and wiped into the canvas with a rag. #3 If you are painting on an acrylic primed canvas, you can tone your canvas with a watered down acrylic solution and paint over it with oil paints. |
Recommended NON-Toxic & NON-Odor mediums available at Art Stores that can be used in my art classes:
- WALNUT ALKYD MEDIUM by M. Graham & Co.
- SOLVENT-FREE GEL by Gamblin
Reusable
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When it gets dirty you can pour it into a clean jar and let it settle, pouring the clean liquid back into your paint thinner tank and wiping the settled paint out with a paper towel.
Settling time can range from sever days to a few weeks, depending on the size of the pigment particles in your paint. Don't want to bother with it? Bring your dirty painting oil by one of my art classes at the Oro Valley Community Center, I have a gallon jug for Soy Cleaning Oil Recycling. |
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Are you as tired of killing brain cells as I am? Do you get headaches or feel ill after hours in the studio? I used to. Odorless mineral spirits, though “odorless” are terribly harmful to your health and weaken your paint. They are classified as a "narcotic" in that the side effects of breathing them can cause dizziness, confusion, headache, and nausea. They can also give your skin a chemical burn. My new cleaning oil is not harmful to breath for you, your family, pets, and fellow students. It is kid friendly and safe for the environment. |
How did Eiffy come into being?
Finally, after a 25 year search
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I am elated to share that, after diligently searching and experimenting I have at last found an oil paint solvent for regular oil paints that is 100% NON-TOXIC and is a joy to use!
My search started fall of 1992, my freshman year of art college when I first discovered a breakthrough product at an orientation fair, water soluble oils. At the time, MAX Water soluble oil paints were cutting edge and hard to find. Epic disappointment |
Christine as a Freshman in college
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I discovered a glorious way of getting my hands on some a couple of years later, art catalogs! This was before you could order online from places like Cheap Joe’s, Jerry’s, etc. So, I spent a fortune with Dick Black and got a handful of MAX paints. They were very difficult to work with, not at all what I had hoped. The directions said to mix no more than 20% water to thin them out. How was I supposed to do an underpainting? I had no medium with which to blend my paint, and water didn’t exactly clean the oil out of the brushes.
To make matters worse, my paintings darkened tremendously as they dried.
I tried several more paintings with the stuff and than swore off the disappointing, empty promise of water soluble paint.
They have come a long way, and I even renewed my hope in water soluble oils off and on over the last 10 years, but they are just not the same as regular oils!
Over the years I've tried many things including baby oil, canola oil, walnut oil, even some herbal concoction made by a local artist. The effects on the paint were all different, but the results were the same. They all made the painting process too difficult in terms of controlling the paint consistency and painting techniques. Nor did they clean my brushes effectively. So time and again I would return to the toxic Turpentine or Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS).
To make matters worse, my paintings darkened tremendously as they dried.
I tried several more paintings with the stuff and than swore off the disappointing, empty promise of water soluble paint.
They have come a long way, and I even renewed my hope in water soluble oils off and on over the last 10 years, but they are just not the same as regular oils!
Over the years I've tried many things including baby oil, canola oil, walnut oil, even some herbal concoction made by a local artist. The effects on the paint were all different, but the results were the same. They all made the painting process too difficult in terms of controlling the paint consistency and painting techniques. Nor did they clean my brushes effectively. So time and again I would return to the toxic Turpentine or Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS).
One of the brightest highlights of 2017
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Searching the internet, I found yet another product. I was afraid to believe that this time it would be any different, but still I had to try. I had been disappointed so many times in the past, but hope still lived on in my heart. Skeptically I tried this new "non -toxic" oil paint thinner, I almost just dismissed it, but something urged me at the last minute,
“What the heck, what have I got to lose. After all, I must turn over every stone. At least I can mark it off the list of things that don’t work.” It worked. Worked well. Like one in a dream I did painting after painting, experimenting with different techniques, using it with other non - toxic oil painting mediums for different effects. LOVE. Well, ALMOST. This thinner had two major draw backs: 1. Smell. It wasn't too bad at first, but became overwhelming with time. 2. WAY TOO AGGRESSIVE!!!! One of the ingredients in that thinner is a "Natural" paint stripper. It stripped the lacquer off of my paint brush handles and would pull dry paint off of the canvas, even removing the gesso! NOT GOOD. |
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I set about to rectify these drawbacks.
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After extensive research, I found that the main ingredient in the other thinner was a solvent derived from Soybeans. I found a source that makes the purest form. I refine and purify the soybean solvent further in my art studio.
I have now been using this new, non- toxic recipe in my art studio and painting classes since 2018. I am thrilled to have finally found a non - toxic cleaning oil that has almost no smell (faint vegetable oil smell) and NO harmful fumes. |