Lead Whites

Most of you already heard the rumour. The artists paint sector is struggling with health and safety regulations regarding Lead white paints. The main reason for concern is the obligation to store lead white paint into a container one can only open with the help of a tool; this to discourage infants to access and eat the substance.

Most of the European paint manufacturers already switched their tubes of Flake or Cremnitz for tins. We were not eager to change our popular 225ml tube either, but in the end decided that we cannot hold the production any longer.

Our strategy is to provide the lead white paints in 250ml tins until a suitable alternative is found and accepted by the regulations.

The paint in the tins will have absolutely the same consistency as the one in tubes. However, due to the high number of artists that do not like to work with tins because of the skinning problem, we will add an anti-skinning agent. The agent will evaporate when exposed to air and has no permanent effects on the paint once the paint is removed from the container.

Which sizes and colours will be affected by this new rule?

40ml, 60ml and 225ml tubes will be discontinued at end of stock for the following colours:

Flake White No.2 will be discontinued over the whole line.

For those who want to read more about this

You can consult the documents at the Defra UK website : www.defra.gov.uk
You can read the full legislation text here www.opsi.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,