rosin

ROSIN

Natural resin or rosin:

Natural resin, also called Greek pitch. The resins flow spontaneously through cracks in the trunks or incisions made for this purpose in the trees that produce it, generally pine trees. It can also be obtained artificially by distilling the turpentine from pine resin.

Rosin appears in irregular cakes of varying colour, from light yellow to reddish yellow to brown. It is semi-transparent, fragile and easily to pulverise. It is soluble in turpentine, alcohols, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents.

In printmaking, it is used as a very fine-grained powder in the aquatint technique. It is also a common component of various varnishes. Its most common use is in the preparation of the glue that is added to the paper during its manufacture.