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Drying Oil Paint?

Started by · 14 ≡ · ↻ 5 years ago

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said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Hello everyone, I've got a question and i would like to see if anyone has an answer to it. I've recently been working on my academy 1/350 scale bismark and to get the decking to have a nice wooden look to it i used burnt umber oil paint. It has been about a week and a half since I've done tgis snd the paint is still wet. So, my question is, is there any way to speed up the drying process or could i clear coat it and seal it in.

Thanks for your time.
Adolfo Coelho said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Hi Noah (@Noah)

I do not know the answer to the question "how long do oil paints take to dry?".

What I can share is my own similar experience.
I do have oil paints that after over a month (I have stopped counting the time actually, so no longer sure for how long, but in some cases I know over a month, maybe even two) haven't still not dried yet! And the pieces I painted with these oil paints, in some cases, do get Sun light on them almost all day long (window exposed to the SW, with another larger glass door to the left, hence SE) .

I just don't know for how long it will take for them to fully dry.

Being Winter now, I think the cold temperatures may have some influence and increase even more the already known (compared to enamels or acrylics) long drying time of oil paints.
I know that for keeping a oil paint or mix in good condition for a longer period of time, is keeping it on the fridge, for instance.
So that is one possible explanation.
The other one being how these oil paints mixes we do use are diluted on thinners. There are some products for using with oil paints that reduce the drying time, something that (apparently, from my limited knowledge based on my own observations) the traditional (oil) thinners don't all necessarily do.
There are what is called "drying mediums", which include different kinds of products, brands, etc.
You may want to type in your browser "drying mediums for oil paints", and you'll get a lot of info and help on how accelerating this long drying time oil paints seem to have.

Hope it's of some help.

Cheers!

Dolf
Rob Pollock said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Best to apply oil paint in thin coats with spirit, which evaporates quickly and leaves very thin film of oil paint. If you have already applied too much, let it ‘tack’ a few days and mist-coat with either lacquer spray or acrylic varnish spray to seal it.
Adolfo Coelho said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Rob (@robbo)

Mix/dilute the oils with White Spirit, right?
I use it mainly for cleaning brushes.
What I'm somehow a bit apprehensive with using White Spirit as a thinner, for mixing it with the oils, is that White Spirit is better known as a cleaner, like Acetone and Turpentine.
Mixing it whith the oils doesn't kind of "dissolve" them in time? Or render the colors like yellowish?
I've seen this suggested by other oil painters.

As a thinner I do use Green for Oils, by Sennelier (this one: https://pontodasartes.com/pt/catalogo/pintura/oleo/auxiliares/medios/diluente-sennelier-green-for-oil/ ) . I'm not sure it helps to reduce the drying time, it's just a thinner, for diluting the paint as much as we want.

Yes, I've seen those varnish/other spray options (this one for instance: https://www.pontodasartes.com/pt/catalogo/pintura/oleo/auxiliares/secativos/secativo-para-oleo-em-spray-maimeri/ ), I may have to use those. But there are a few other products for helping oils dry faster on this drying process, such as these: https://www.pontodasartes.com/pt/procurar/?q=Secativo&subm=ok

It's taking too long for my oils to properly dry. And I don't usually use oils from the tube, almost always have them diluted (on occasion heavily) with my thinner.
Still have some of an old one I had, believe it's from a local manufacturer, which I lately have often used mixed with the one from Sennelier. Not sure if I should better not mix them, and instead use one, or the other, it may even help finding one that may help the paint dry faster. If not mistaken, before I started using this thinner from Sennelier, I used the old one I already had, and if memory not wrong, the oils then used to dry a bit faster. I'll have to test this again.
But the cold/the Winter is definitely a factor, if I'm not wrong.

I found this, it looks interesting:

http://www.artpromotivate.com/2012/11/how-to-speed-up-oil-paint-drying-time.html

Cheers!

Dolf
said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Hello everyone, thanks for your help, these have been very helpful to me. I have tried thinning the oil paint which helps it to dry in about 3 weeks. Also, I have posted this same question over at Finescale and have whatched some videos on it and it seems if you let it sit under a 60w lamp for a hours it decreases drying time. This still needs to be done in a well ventilated room so air can pass over it. I haven't really tried it much though so i don't know how fast it will dry but i heard it helps. Anyways, thanks for your help and suggestions, if anyone has any more suggestions or tips please let me know because, besides being annoying, it has made me curious about if there is a way of super speeding the drying time of oil paint.
Rob Pollock said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Yes. White spirit or Artists turpentine but the latter is very strong and must be used with some caution.
Pedro L. Rocha said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Noah, I use oils from fine arts brands and some from Abteilung as weathering mediums. I always dilute it in high proportion with White Spirit and the drying pattern time is within 24 hours. I find it’s better to give 2-3 hands highly diluted than use it as it comes. It also provides me the advantage of better control and precision of the effect I’m seeking by using them.
Adolfo Coelho said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Thanks Rob (@robbo) !

I'll give White Spirit a try.
There are different types I believe, some more "friendly" then others, if not mistaken.

Cheers!

Dolf
Adolfo Coelho said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Noah (@Noah),

Yes, I've also read about the hot lamp.
Earlier this year (Summer, Autumn) on my place it used to attract tiny small mosquitoes... which would glue to the wet paint... Annoying at least!

Maybe I'll try again now that it's Winter, cold and no mosquitoes 😉

Cheers!

Dolf
Adolfo Coelho said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Noah (@Noah),

Yes, I've also read about the hot lamp.
Earlier this year (Summer, Autumn) on my place it used to attract tiny small mosquitoes... which would glue to the wet paint... Annoying at least!

Maybe I'll try again now that it's Winter, cold and no mosquitoes 😉

Cheers!

Dolf
said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Thanks Pedro, I'll have to see i have some fine art oil paints, because I thought maybe the oil paint I'm using now is to cheap.
said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Adolfo, I let my wet pieces just dry in a room with a air vent or an open widow so that way no mosquitos or other bugs can get anywhere near them. And yes that why I started drying indoors, just because of those bugs. 🙂
Adolfo Coelho said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Noah (@Noah),

I dry all my paints (and assemble all mi kits/models) indoors. And usually closed windows (during the day time often open, at least a bit of time, which seems time enough for mosquitoes to get in and wait for the night...), so I can't imagine having my pieces dry under a 60W lamp, all night, on a room with an open window. Light (actually I believe they see it rather as a source of heat, associating light with a warm temperature) is the main source of attraction for all bugs. How do you manage to do that?

Cheers!

Dolf
said 5 years, 5 months ago:

Well, I most of the time just use the air flowing through the room from the AC or from a portable fan but if I do use a window I normally do it during the day. My windows have pretty small grates and I don't much mosquitos indoors, but I do get gnats and thats why a spider in my widow is always welcome. 🙂

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Drying Oil Paint?