Q: What is balsam medium, where can it be purchased, and does it have to be mixed?
A: Balsam is a thick, viscous, saplike plant secretion.
It is, unlike a hard varnish resin, soft and sometimes semi-liquid.
Balsams can be mixed with oils and solvents, but they do not mix with
water. They are good additives for oil and encaustic techniques, and
they can be used as the oily ingredient in egg-tempera emulsions.
Sennelier makes a very good Venice turpentine that can be found at ***
Blick stores or online.
--by Camille LaPointe-Lyons