Gummi Arabicum

[Zaknafain]

Gummi Arabicum
So after some of the grand central academy guys recommended it to me I got some of that stuff but I dont know what to do with it:

First of: How much of that stuff should I use? Its a small bottle filled with an orange liquid. Should i add some drops into my waterglass? or do I dip my whole brush in it?

Also what exactly does it do?
I was told it would increase the chroma of watercolors. But that makes no real sense to me, this is not possible, is it?

So far I noticed that it slows drying time and makes colors very glossy and transparent (but then again I might have used way to much of it).

[kingdust]

It's like sugar in your coffee. Add to taste -except for the drinking it part... Do some test swathes of assorted pigments with different amounts of arabicum. I have limited experience with it, but put a few drops on a palette and pulled it into mixed pigment with my brush a little at a time when playing with it.

[Craig D]

gum arabic is the media watercolours are mixed up in. Its like oil paints have pigments ground in oil.

So adding gum arabic to your watercolours is like adding extra oil to your oil paints :)

[dbclemons]

Isn't it the land where gummy bears come from? :P

A glossy shine can give the appearance of the color being more vibrant, much like a gloss varnish can improve the surface quality of an oil painting. It can also interfere with it, depending on your point of view.

In addition to watercolor, it can also be used to make gouache paint, along with other ingredients, so look for recipe formulas for that. It should be used in small amounts and diluted with water, or else the paint film will crack. It's a very weak binder.

[SweetPea]

sry i dont know much about it, but was coming to learn as well

however i saw that you said it was recommended by those at the grand central academy, which is a school i was looking into for after graduating high school (im a junior). Could you tell me what the curriculum and teachers are like please?

[Qitsune]

Wouldn't it be good for making high density watercolour straight from a liquid dispertion of pigment or dry pigments?
http://www.kamapigment.com/
Kama has loads of info on making traditional paints at home, they have a section in english.