Weber wOil

Hello Jim,

Weber is actually the largest paint manufacturer in North America. The W Oil brand is only about a year or so old and is actually a professional grade artist paint that targets Holbein as its benchmark for quality (Holbein is unquestionalble the best water-soluble oil on the market). I've painted some really good work with all of them including Weber. Also, I would recommned Silver Brush's "Bristlon" brand brushes for watersoluble oils, they are a 'tank' and will maintain their shape after many, many uses, and cleanings. I've found no better 'quality' brush for watersoluble oils (www.silverbrush.com)

Unlike, Permalba (Weber's professional grade regular oil paints), W Oil offers no colors with heavy metals (Cadmiums for example). That is the only drawback (or advantage). Holbein's original "Duo" offering also did not offer any Cadmiums but after consumer pressure for them, they added Cadmiums to the line. Weber may do so in time, don't know. Other than that -- Weber is generally less expensive than the imports because it is made here, in the USA, and they do not have the import costs assoicated with the forigen brands. Because theire price is low, many think it is a student grade, but if you try them you will find they are very good.

Enjoy!

Jim wrote:

Hi Janet;

I've made limited tests of yellow ochres, including Weber's. The tests included from-the-tube color swatches and another set of swatches with eye-ball judged equal amounts of white. The brands tested were:

W&N Artisan Yellow Ochre,
Holbein Duo Aqua Yellow Ochre,
Holbein Duo Yellow Ochre Natural,
Grumbacher Max Yellow Ochre,
Weber WOil Yellow Ochre, and
Lukas Berlin Yellow Ochre Light.
(The Cobra paints weren't available in the US at the time of the tests).

All but the Duo Natural gave similar direct-from-tube results. The Duo (regular), the Max, and WOil seemed to lay on a little bit darker value than the Artisan. The Berlin came out of the tube most easily and seems to push around the most easily. However, because of this it seemed more difficult to apply uniformly. With more practice, this would probably not be a problem. The Duo Natural did not cover uniformly or well (more transparent?).

The tests with white were very unscientific, but told me what I wanted to know. The Artisan gave a slightly lighter result than the Duo (regular), Max and WOil. I ran out of room for swatches on the board I was using, so didn't test the Berlin this way. As it went on less uniformly, and I had acceptable results from three other ochres, I wasn't concerned with finishing the test with it. The Duo Natural gives a nice color, but it is perhaps more akin to a Naples yellow than a true ochre.

I messed up on the drying tests I wanted to do (got involved with other things and didn't test for dryness long enough). I will reattempt this testing after I receive the Cobra yellow ochre.

For this color there appears to be slightly less pigment in the Artisan than the Duo, Max and WOil. However there is not sufficient difference to cause me to switch from Artisan on this basis alone. I should note that in similar tests with Cerulean, the pigment load in Artisan appeared to be very much less than that of the Duo Cerulean. Because of anecdotal evidence from other posts on forums about Weber (saying they are student grade), I will tend to stay away from them until I hear otherwise. However, should Weber have a WMO color that no one else did and it filled a need on my palette, then I would test it.

Regards,

Hi jimminet,

Welcome to the forum. We appreciate your input about Weber wso's and your suggestion about the brushes. We are all always looking for tools to help us create our "masterpiece."

We did a poll about the types of paints people use but had no one choose the Weber brand. Here's the link to the poll.

https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t7-what-brand-of-water-soluble-oils-do-you-use

You might find some interesting comments about different brands, and also may want to add more specifics about how Weber works for you.

We'd also love to see some of your work.

Judy

Hi,

I've tried Alizarin Crimson of Weber wOil and didn't like it at all.

Compared to Holbein DuoAqua and Lukas Berlin I usually use, wOil was very stiff, pasty, and dull color.

The strongest reason why I wouldn't buy it again is that the tube is made of plastic. While I was trying to squeeze the stiff paint out of it, the tube broke on the other end. Also, there's no way to roll up the tube as I use it. I don't know what Weber was thinking when they decided to put oil paint in a plastic tube.

Keiko