The Quest for the Perfect White

[Michele Rushworth]

I'd been thinking that the perfect white oil paint didn't exist. I wanted one that was a good clean white, easily brushable and fast drying (but not an alkyd -- I don't trust those newfangled ingredients!) I don't know anything about lead dryers or how to use them so that wasn't part of my equation.

This probably was going to mean flake white and that's okay since I don't eat the stuff, so I'm not worried about the lead. However the flake whites I tried in the past were way too stiff. If I added linseed oil to make them more brushable the drying time got too long and I was back to where I started.

I also wanted a white that didn't necessarily have zinc in it since it sounds like that makes for an inferior paint film and seems to be used as just an inexpensive filler ingredient by some manufacturers.

So I did a test. I bought seven different whites and tried them out. I brushed a square of each white on a small canvas, and wrote down what happened. I also made note of the weather since that affects drying time. The high each day was about 60 degrees and it was cloudy most of the week. (Hey, it's Seattle!)

Here are the results I got:

-- Winsor Newton, Titanium White, contains zinc, took 1 full week to dry, nice clean bright white, too slow to dry for me, though.

-- Winsor Newton, Flake White #1, contains zinc, a little stiffer, less brushable than the Titanium White, took four days to dry.

-- Winsor Newton, Flake White #2, contains zinc, may no longer be available, I had an old tube but couldn't find it online or in stores, took three days to dry. More brushable, slightly warmer in color than the W/N titanium white.

-- Daniel Smith Titanium White, no zinc, took almost a week to dry.

-- Grumbacher Flake White, contains zinc. Awful stuff! Dried very yellow, almost like a Naples Yellow, took well over a week to dry! I'll never use this paint again.

-- Blockx Flake White, lead white with no zinc, is quite purple however, not a clean white. Took four days to dry.

And the winner is.......

-- Winsor Newton Cremnitz White, is a pure lead white with no zinc, dried in a day and a half ( ! ), nice clean bright white, and was quite brushable.

Anyway, thought you might be interested in my little study. Your results may vary, depending on the weather and how thickly you brush the paint on.