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Gum Arabic

Filed under Art History

I enjoyed the story on NPR this morning about gum arabic. I knew about the artistic uses, but didn’t know all the food products it’s used in.

From Wikipedia:

Gum arabic is used as a binder for watercolor painting because it dissolves easily in water. Pigment of any color is suspended within the gum arabic in varying amounts, resulting in watercolor paint. Water acts as a vehicle or a diluent to thin the watercolor paint and helps to transfer the paint to a surface such as paper. When all moisture evaporates, the gum arabic binds the pigment to the paper surface.

  
Posted by Leslie, June 22nd, 2007

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