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[Bobby Isosceles]

I'm experimenting with oil painting and turp-washes of oil pastels. I have found that petroleum jelly makes a pretty decent medium/paint thinner (and a fantastic way of cleaning up pigment from hands, brushes, spills etc). It also gives a certain gloss I like and a little goes a long way. Much like liquin, it doesn't run nearly as much as linseed oil.

Question is : other than slow dry/cure times, are there any disadvantages to using this as a paint thinner? Will it not cure at all? If so, would diluting it with turp or mineral spirits help?

[side_show]

I've been told it won't cure at all when I asked the same thing of an art instructor, but he could have just been saying that to prevent catastrophe (i.e.: 25 high school students painting with Vaseline)  It is great for hand cleaning though.  I would recommend visiting an art supply store for other options to mix your paint with - there's so many glossy, gel and texturizing mediums you can mix oil paint with these days, and the tubs of these mediums I've seen for sale aren't terribly expensive.  There's some unbelievably cool ones out there, and most claim only sightly increased curing/drying times and or only slight decreases in colour saturation. 

I've been wanting to try this out since I went to a show where there was up to an inch of paint on canvases, often with interesting items submerged or mixed into them, but I don't have the space of resources to do so right now.  Let me know if you have any success.

[Bobby Isosceles]

I've been told it won't cure at all when I asked the same thing of an art instructor, but he could have just been saying that to prevent catastrophe (i.e.: 25 high school students painting with Vaseline)  It is great for hand cleaning though.  I would recommend visiting an art supply store for other options to mix your paint with - there's so many glossy, gel and texturizing mediums you can mix oil paint with these days, and the tubs of these mediums I've seen for sale aren't terribly expensive.  There's some unbelievably cool ones out there, and most claim only sightly increased curing/drying times and or only slight decreases in colour saturation. 

I've been wanting to try this out since I went to a show where there was up to an inch of paint on canvases, often with interesting items submerged or mixed into them, but I don't have the space of resources to do so right now.  Let me know if you have any success.

The vaseline doesn't seem to have impeded the curing process, but mind you it was also diluted with turps for the base coat ("lean") and is since covered with plenty of oil-based medium "(fat)". It really seems to work magic when blending oil pastels into. It reminded me of liquin in its consistency, but acts more like a mineral spirit (which it is). So, while there are many other options out there. but none seem to have that magic combination of liquin/alkyd flow and mineral spirit solvency.

It also is very good for removing oil paint from cat tails.