Rabbit Skin Glue, fine grains

Made from rabbit hide.

Rabbit Skin Glue, fine grind, is a traditional sizing and adhesive prized by artists and conservators for its superior bonding strength and reversibility. This lot features a refined formulation with white particles that improve glue stability, ensuring consistent performance across applications. Ideal for canvas preparation, gilding, bookbinding, and archival work, it dissolves smoothly in warm water and sets to a flexible film that won't yellow. A professional-grade essential.

Painter's Note: This is a very concentrated glue. We recommend a ratio of 30 g to a liter (kilo) of cold water. Soak for 6 hours, stirring 5 minutes after dumping in the water so as to prevent clumping. Heat in a water-bath--a pot within a pot. The job here is to heat this gently, bring it up to temp. You should not pour boiling water; the shock can weaken the glue. Heat the glue until it reaches 130 degrees Fahrenheit, though somewhere between 120-140 is fine. 

Rabbit skin glue is made of animal collagen. It relies on long, complex protein chains to create its adhesive power and its ability to shrink and tighten your canvas. When the temperature pushes past 150°F, those protein chains literally cook and break apart (a process called hydrolysis).

Once those bonds are broken, they do not come back. Overheated glue will lose its "bloom strength." It might still look like glue, but it will fail to pull the canvas taut and, more importantly, it will fail to seal the porous fabric, leaving your canvas vulnerable to the rotting effects of linseed oil.

We have a lot more to say about RSG, but we'll keep it for a future The Wrong Color Journal post. One last thing, it is good practice to dissolve RSG fresh. Freshly made RSG will give you the most predictable results. 

Technical data of glues, from Kremer Pigmente GmbH & Co KG.