Poly Vinyl Acetate

This is a substitute for rabbit skin glue that was used by the master renaissance oil painters. It helps protect canvas and linen from moisture ruining the canvas and is the first step in priming a fabric surface for oil painting.You can easily and quickly brush on two coats in one day. It dries pretty fast so just let it dry and then put on another coat. I think four coats is officially recommended and I have seen other artists use just three. One tip is to use the brush at an angle to get the fabric to soak in and fill in with the pva. Also good to do at least one coat on the back as well. To clean wash brush with soap and water after.Also, I highly recommend buying Gamblin Oil Ground (Oil Painters Gesso) as well to add after pva dries as a "gesso" foundation and for blocking absorption of your oil paint into canvas. This will help create a brighter and flatter surface for you to paint on especially if you are painting fine details. You can also use regular acrylic-based gesso before the oil ground (between this pva and the oil ground) if want to control more of your foundation for texture, etc.

I paint on large scale wood panel and this is the only size I will use. Love it.

I have been using this product for years to size papers for photographic alternative processes. All I can gather is that the people that have givin it poor reviews don’t know how it is intended to be used.

This product is fine and arrived intact in shipping box.

Good stuff, although it does run out very quickly. Can't really go wrong with Gamblin. Their customer service is good too.

good quality

I can't let the poor star rating in this product go unchallenged.This is the most recommended product available for sizing artist's canvases. It is pH neutral and is greatly superior to the more traditional rabbit skin glue according to conservators.This is a thinned pva to soak into the canvas fibers, fill any voids, and prepare the canvas for applying a ground (gesso). It is good for linen canvas, cotton canvas, and poly canvases. In short any canvas used in art. It can also be used to size other surfaces.You should not attempt to use the pva adhesives used for woodworking (white and yellow wood glues) because they are NOT pH neutral.The reviewer who rated it "useless" was most likely using it for the wrong application.

Good container. Easy to use does as you would expect.