Torrit Grey

It seems these days that there are a million new companies that make paint. water soluble oils and all kinds of 'hand made' paint. Some I like and some I don't, but one company that I DO like is also impressive in their recycling efforts.

Gamblin Oil Paint makes paint...duh. For those of you who don't know how different paints are made, oil paint is made from dry powdered pigment mixed with a drying oil such as linseed oil. There might also be OMS, or varnish etc that change the gloss of the paint, but basically, without getting into a scientific discussion of paint, suffice it to say that oil paint is dry pigment mushed into linseed oil.

Well at the Gamblin factory, there would probably be an awful lot of colorful boogers with the massive volume of colors they make. Think about it. Y'know when you pour flour into another container, or sugar...or any powder, it makes cloud, gets in your eyes, your nose...(hence the rainbow boogers). But at Gamblin, they have an air filtration system called the Torrit air system.

This Torrit air system sucks all of the otherwise rainbow shnoz pigment particles into the system and collects them for a year.

Imagine every color you have, mixed together. What color would it be? Well, I can tell you that if you mixed every color that Gamblin made this year into one paint, it would be Torrit Grey. They take all of the dust from all of the pigment of all of the colors that they make and make it into a paint called Torrit Grey. Every year it's a little different. Sometimes, it's a brownish grey. Sometimes, it's very black.

And, not only do they recycle all of the particles (some of which would not be good to work their way into the water system if they were flushed down a drain or thrown in a landfill), but they have a contest every year to paint a picture, using JUST Torrit grey and white and black. There is a small cash prize each year and some of the entries are impressive.

The best part of Torrit grey is that it's FREE. or supposed to be. Some less reputable dealers make you buy X amount of stuff to get it, but if you ask at the counter of better art supply stores, they are supposed to give you a tube. gratis.

Check it out.

Recycling with a cool end product. Can't beat that.