Liquitex Professional Acrylic Varnish, High Gloss, 946 ml

Product Information

Eden, water-based varnishes are tricky to apply properly, foaming and bubbling being difficult to avoid especially when you thin the varnish with water.

I can usually smooth the bubbles by dragging through it a few times, but I’m always scared it will start to cloud. I noticed that one of their products also recommends using an under-coat, or “isolation” coat, of gloss medium prior to the final spirit-based varnish. As a general principle though spraying finish is not always advisable anyway, as it’s unlikely to give total coverage if there is a lot of texture in your work. The superhigh gloss finish is certainly impressive, but we think it’s probably more suited to propmakers than scenic artists, or for areas where durability is key.Please note- Varnish should not be transferred into plastic containers, as it may damage the plastic. B]I used to just use gloss medium as the varnish but was told that coating the surface of the painting with that was a bad idea since it can not be removed. Mix into any acrylic paint to enhance the depth of colour intensity, increase transparency and gloss, ease the flow of paint and add flexibility and adhesion of paint film. This product cannot be used for wet-on-wet coatings (as are common in solvent-based high-gloss varnishing systems). It can be used as a non-removable varnish to protect your painting and establish a gloss sheen surface.

The products themselves would give you a good idea of their suitability for a given use/reversibility and if you want to take the time to contact the manufacturers (in case the ingredients are not clearly identified) they can be quite helpful. When finished spraying, turn can upside down and push spray button for 5 seconds to prevent clogging. The picture should always be flat when varnishing by brush, never vertical or tilted, which can result in runs, pooling, sagging and other problems. Sealing with a varnish as final step for thoroughly dried artworks, to protect it from the build up of dirt and grease, and the passage of time. Larger quantities of leftover product should be disposed of in the original containers in accordance with the applicable regulations.Most people don’t realise that your typical water-based acrylic varnish is not really removable from an acrylic painting, Liquitex at least acknowledge this fact by stating their acrylic varnishes are permanent.

The actual makeup of the varnish is what’s really important, not whether you spray- or brush-apply it (coat thickness will play a part too of course). Due to postal restrictions on dangerous goods, we are unable to ship pressurised containers ( aerosols), outside of Mainland UK. If I could I’d not use varnish, but since acrylics dry dull and darker, it makes the painting more vivid again to use a protective varnish. Unfortunately, from what I know I think you’re unlikely to find something that is really tough and flexible, since the two properties tend to be exclusive, but there might be things with a decent balance. The only difficulty I experienced doing it the second way was occasional really tiny bubble forming.Mike, everyone, if you want your work to last well I strongly advise you not to use acrylic emulsion varnishes as the final protection on your paintings, as I said they can’t be removed without damaging the painting.