What the Heck is Ox Gall?

[@artao5]

Ox gall is interesting stuff and certainly takes some getting used to. Way cool you've discovered it. On a technical level it decreases the surface tension of the water which causes it to flow more and stay wet longer; also soak into the paper more, so you gotta watch out for that. I generally use 2 to 3 drops per oz of distilled water and add a brushful of that to a paint mix on my pallette. Also be aware that using ox gall will make lifting techniques more difficult and scraping techniques almost impossible. Soap also decreases surface tension, but I doubt that it's archival. Also, it might interact negatively with pigments in your paint. Try adding honey as well as gum arabic (both or alone). Gum arabic of course is the standard medium for making tube watercolour -- the equivalent to linseed oil in oil painting -- but some brands also use honey. It imparts just a bit of gloss and just slightly different .... flow and settling. Gum arabic gives a slight gloss as well but not as much, and makes the paint more ... manipulable. Good for fine painting.

[@27Cherryz]

Great review! Thank you for showing the differences