Dammar (or Damar) varnish is a traditional oil painter’s medium, often used in glazes. Vincent Gordon takes us through the steps of how to make your own.
There are many schools of thought on what should and should not be used, when it comes to oil painting. A purist’s approach, for example, would be to keep the painting process as simple as possible and stick to mixing only oils with their paint, avoiding resins altogether for fear of surface cracks forming in the future. It’s worth noting that resins can become brittle with time, especially if used in excess at the time of painting. These issues could be avoided altogether through the use of acrylic paints, which is a very different experience, yielding different results.
Others are less precious and embrace some change in the appearance of a painting, considering this change as the natural life of an organic work of art.
For many a 5lb cut of dammar varnish is a staple of the studio, as it can facilitate many a painter’s need. High gloss mediums, glazing mediums, oil mediums and wax mediums can all be formulated with dammar as a base. So for those curious about making their own unique mixes, a dammar varnish is a good place to start.
How to make a Dammar (Varnish) Medium
The following recipe will make a thick 5Ib cut of dammar varnish, a very sticky viscous liquid, ideal for adding gloss and flow to your paint.
Ratio
1 part dammar crystals
2 parts turpentine
Formula by volume
100g of dammar crystals
200ml of turpentine (Gum turpentine or Rectified turpentine)
Easy Method
To make a small amount of dammar varnish:
Place dammar crystals in a jar, pour over the turpentine, cap and wait until the crystals have fully dissolved. Shake the jar every so often as encouragement.
Once dissolved, filter your dammar varnish into a clean jar through a piece of fabric. A coffee filter would work here.
Traditional Method
To make a larger amount:
Cut out a square of fabric, buttered (soft) muslin, cheese cloth or other suitable material eg. a pair of tights (student style).
Place the dammar crystals in the centre of the layed-out fabric and bring the corners of the fabric together to form a bag. Tie the corners together, either with a piece of string or by knotting the corners together.
Suspend the wrapped crystals in a stainless steel bucket, deep narrow pan or similar vessel, by tying the fabric to a piece of wood placed across the bucket (an old stretcher bar works well here). Try to get the bag of crystals suspended about an Inch (25mm) above the bottom of the bucket.
Once you are happy the bag is secure, pour the turpentine into the vessel. The crystals need to be submerged in the turps to dissolve, if they are not then your vessel is too wide, choose something narrower to bring the level of the turps up.
Cover and wait.
As the dammar crystals dissolve, most of the impurities will be left in the bag, some may drop through the fabric, so I recommend filtering, as mentioned above.
Uses
Add to oil paint or pigment to use as an oil painting medium. This general purpose medium will allow your paint to flow more readily, giving greater control over your brushwork. It will add high amounts of gloss, making colours appear brighter.
Less gloss can be achieved by adding more turpentine, either on the palette whilst mixing with your paint or by diluting your bulk varnish.
Use as an ingredient in other painting mediums. When made at the ratio stated here, 2:1, this varnish makes a perfect base for adding in a variety of artists oils. Linseed oil or stand oil are commonly used to change the characteristics of a dammar medium, but this is a whole other subject and something l can discuss in a future post.
Knowledge
Dammar resin takes its name from the remote Indonesian island of Damar, and is produced by tapping and bleeding coniferous trees. The resin oozes out and sets as it runs down the trunk of the tree, where it is then collected.
Dammar has been used as an artists varnish since the 1800’s. It is still valued by today’s artists because of its relatively slow yellowing characteristics and versatile nature. Traditionally it is dissolved in turpentine, but modern solvents such as an orange solvent or Shellsol T can also be used as a direct replacement for turps, with very little change to the end product.
Natural resin varnishes are often cloudy in appearance due to the waxes present in the resin. Once made your varnish will continue to clear, you might notice a residue building up at the bottom of the jar as the impurities drop out, try not to disturb these impurities as you use the varnish, or if it bothers you or the build up is particularly bad, decant the varnish into a clean jar, leaving the sludge behind. In theory the longer you leave the varnish undisturbed the clearer it will become but some batches will never clear completely.
Note, The word ‘varnish’ is slightly misleading here. It is really a medium, being too thick and shiny to be used as a final picture varnish. A coat of this over your painting would result in that classic ‘over varnished’ look.
Please note: Ready-made Dammar varnish is also available at Jacksonsart.com.
Editor’s note:
The term “5 lb cut” (five pound cut) refers to the strength of dilution: 5 pounds of crystals to 1 gallon turpentine.
That is very interesting because I tried the same things. I bought a bag of Dammar crystals from Jackson’s and dissolved it in various mediums. And I also tried Dammar Gloss Medium. But I didn’t like the fact that the paint was slow to dry and even then, it seeemed sticky for a while. So I went back to Liquin which dries quickly but is matt. And then I can varnish the picture when it is finished.
Hi Steve,
It is true that dammar is a lot slower drying than Liquin…
Thanks for reading
Lisa
Dear Lisa, I tried to reply directly to your post. I am sure I will go back to the dammar because it is exciting playing with different mediums. Thanks again for the article!
Thank you for reading Steve! All credit to Vincent Gordon for his insight.
Best wishes
Lisa
Hi Steve, Liquin is best used in the initial
stages of you painting but the maxim “fat
over lean “ is important to get the richness
out of your paints,each layer should use
more oil than the previous one, it does
require patience with the waiting time but
as the old masters recognised it is well
worth the wait .
Hi Freya
Yes this is true, liquin is faster drying so therefore better suited to the initial stages of a painting process, or more dilute paint with solvent..although the alkyd resin in liquin will hold the paint together rather than solvent, which breaks the binder down in order to thin the paint.
Many thanks
Lisa
Thanks for the article and its simplicity.
II have some very obscure and
complicated recipes in the files!
I enjoy getting into trouble with
materials and methods that are not
100% as they should be. One learns and
often one stumbles on useful results
that are not on the approved list!
That’s true!! Thanks for reading Anthony.
Like to ask a question. What do you recommend to stop easels
from drying out and splitting wood parts when kept in cosy central
heated homes. Something I hope I could order from Jacksons. I
was thinking of sunflower oil. But dare not do anything until
advised by the experts.
hi Carol
If you treat an easel with fine paste wax it should keep it in good condition. https://www.jacksonsart.com/liberon-fine-paste-wax-150ml-neutral
If the easel is already pretty dried out you may wish to re-oil it. This involves removing any wax or finish on the wood, applying linseed oil with a rag (gradually to give the wood time to drink the oil up), and then finishing with a fresh layer of wax.
https://www.jacksonsart.com/jacksons-oil-mediums-refined-linseed-oil
Many thanks
Lisa
Hello. However, you have not considered a very important detail. During storage dammar resin accumulates moisture. And, if this water is not evaporated from the resin before the preparation of the varnish, the varnish in the storage process will become cloudy and cause turbidity of the lacquer film on the picture. Therefore, the crushed dammar should be dried: sprinkle a thin layer in a dry and warm place. Of course, in the drying process, the temperature must not rise so much that the pieces of damary was fried. The finished varnish is left to settle in a hermetically sealed vessel, protected from light. And to store better in darkness. After 6 months of storage dammar varnish may not be suitable for painting.
Turpentine may also contain some water, which is not allowed in the varnish. To dehydrate turpentine, it is necessary to put a little burnt lime, shake. Burnt lime will bind all the water, and pure turpentine can already be used.
Dear Ruslan,
Thank you for your comment… certainly filtering will help with the clarity of the varnish, and storing the resin and subsequent varnish at room temperature in a sealed jar will avoid the accumulation of moisture.
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I made dammar varnish and it went
cloudy in the jar. How can I remove
moisture at this stage, or is it wasted
now? Thank you.
hi Mark,
Dammar varnish is usually cloudy in appearance as a result of the presence of non-soluble waxes found in the resin. The cloudiness will not affect the performance of the varnish. However, cloudiness can be reduced with a few drops of acetone or rubbing alcohol.
Hope this helps,
Many thanks
Lisa
Please advise which is best to use to protect
a ‘liquid leaf’ paint from tarnishing by
overcoating Liquin or Dammar?….as an
alternative to the relatively expensive sealer
sold for this
Hi Tony, both liquin and dammar varnish are mediums rather than permanent varnishes, and you would be better off trying a spray picture varnish. But nothing beats the sealant that is purpose made.
Many thanks
Lisa
How do you make glazes
There are lots of ways, however i personally find mix the same quantities of linseed stand oil and turpentine together, and then add roughly 10% of that volume in dammar varnish, makes a fluid glaze medium. T
Many thanks
Thanks it’s very helpful
Can i use distilled turpentine for it.
Yes distilled turpentine is ideal. Many thanks
Distilled turpentine is the best
turpentine because it has so little
residue. I did a test between distilled
turpentine, gum turpentine and
lavender oil to find out how much
residue there was and the distilled
turpentine came out with very little
residue the other two were around 8
to 10% and they take a long time to
dry if you mix them with paint
because they have to oxidize as well.
The distilled turpentine Just
evaporates Away leaving everything in
there that you want to be in there not
a load of non-volatile oil compounds.
Thanks Lisa and Vincent! There is medium in Nevskaya Palitra (Russian
manufacturer) that contains all three substances: dammar varnish, linseed
oil and turpentine. I wonder how long will it take before it shows yellowing
of the painting especially blue colors and whites. Dammar and linseed both
yellow. So question is do you have any data that show how this medium
affects stability of the colors in the long term? I did research and it looks
like Western world does not use that kind of medium a lot. Nothing that I
found on the internet. Thank you for the great article.
There is no definitive answer to this question. We know that linseed oil and Damar resin will begin to yellow within around 2 years of application. The yellowing is usually only visible when compared to a fresh application of paint, so may not be visible for many years after.
The rate of yellowing depends on many factors such as, the amount of oil and resin in the medium, type of linseed oil, thickness of application and environmental conditions such as humidity and light.
Turpentine, oil and resin is a common combination for a traditional painting medium such as a glaze medium.
Hope this helps.
I made Dammar varnish using a ratio of one
to two, but the mixture has become reddish,
can you advise me of the substance that
should be added to purify the mixture?
Thank you
Hi Kareem,
This reply is from Vincent:
Natural resins such as Dammar vary in colour and clarity from batch to batch, from a pale straw yellow to golden brown/red. A reddish tinge is very common and nothing to worry about and is due to the amount and type of impurities in the dammar crystals. In my opinion it’s not worth trying to clarify the varnish as you would just be adding harsh chemicals such as methanol. The colour of the varnish in the bottle has some affect on the clarity of a painted layer but this is barely noticeable to the naked eye.
Many thanks
Lisa
Thanks Lisa and Vincent for your help
Hello- I’ve read about using a 6.5 lb cut if
you prefer more varnish. What would be the
ratio of turs to dammar?
Thank you
Hi Diane,
130g of Dammar Resin to 200ml of Turpentine will make a 6.5lb cut.
Approximately 1.5 parts resin to 2 parts solvent.
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi Lisa and Vincent, Hello from the US. I
followed the instructions to make the damar
medium (varnish) and the last few large
chunks of resin aren’t dissolving. It has only
been 24 hrs. I have also lightly shaken the
mix. Do I need to wait longer or should I have
broken my larger pieces first?
Hi Nate
The last few Dammar Crystals always take a bit longer to dissolve than the rest because there is less pure solvent left in the mix as the resin dissolves. You can either just leave it longer to fully dissolve or to help the process along; wearing waterproof gloves, gently lift out the suspended cloth and break up the Dammar lumps with your hand, you will find they are quite soft now. Hope this helps.
Many thanks
Hello Lisa,
The Damar i have has hone brownish in
the jar. Will this dull a painting or
otherwise affect my color or painting?
Dear Joan,
If the varnish has turned brown it sounds like the solution may have impurities in it that may have caused the discolouration over time. Mineral spirits may have been used in the varnish in place of turpentine. You could try adding a little acetone or a very small quantity of methanol which may clarify the solution. So long as the varnish is no darker than straw colour and reasonably clear it will be fine to use.
Hope this helps.
Many thanks
Lisa