I was really happy to have found a varnish that claims to be non-toxic, but I had several issues with it. The most important one is that this varnish could potentially ruin a whole painting because it will take oil paint off when you are applying it. And the paint will smear and create this white-washed look. It only happened with my oil paintings not with my acrylic so maybe it's fine for acrylic. But that ruined the whole product for me and I would not recommend it nor buy it again. It also has a yellowish tint which did not bother me for some paintings but could potentially change the aspect of a painting. I will say the smell is less unpleasant than regular varnishes. It is also more liquid than I expected. Overall, the varnish worked fine for acrylic but I was very disappointed that it ruined some of my oil paintings.
I used less dust in my clear gesso recipe than called for, as this was the first time experimenting with it. I am pleased to find that gripping power appeared to be there for oil painting.
Initially I used too much medium. Painting was still sticky after a few days even after using a heating tool. I then used much less and got a nice shiny surface. So I would say it’s a very good product, I just had to learn to use it correctly!
The easiest way I can describe my paints made with refined walnut oil is that they smell like salad instead of toxic waste. Being around commercial oil paints bothers me in a matter of minutes, but my natural earth oil paints do not bother me at all. The refined walnut oil is very good quality and mixes easily with pigments to make paint or thin already mixed paint. I am very happy with it and use it every day.
Eco-solve works great as a thinner and brush cleaner without nasty fumes. I cannot use mineral spirits because the fumes knock me out, but I can use eco-solve with no problems. I am so happy I found Natural Earth Paints because everything I have used so far works amazingly well and does not bother me in any way.