How Do You Mix Rabbit Skin Glue?
 

Help.

Being the original Mr. Cheap, I ordered the lesser priced rabbit skin glue from Jerry's Artarama the other day. It arrived in a plastic bag with no instruction. Surely, it can't be that difficult, but I haven't a clue where to start.

Can anyone help?

Richard,
You have to heat it in a water bath. Take one big pot and fill it almost with water, then put another pot into the first one and heat the glue in that.

You mix it about 1part glue : 10 parts cold water. You heat it while stirring all the time. Don

Allen -- Thank you so much. 'preciate it. Dick

One other question: Can you mix a little extra, and keep it somehow? In the fridge? Does it "go bad" over time?

You'd better prepare it only before using it!
Why don't you try an acrilyc base, it is more practical than the glue for priming canvasses.

It will rot in a couple of days. I have

Is rabbit skin glue truely made from rabbit skin or is this name a hold-over from olden days and now they use a synthetic?

Yes, it is!
 

By definition it is a high quality animal glue produced from the unhaired skins of rabbits.

Depends.

The best rsg comes from Europe--Portugal I think--and is almost odorless and a pale yellow-grey when mixed. It is indeed made from rabbit hides. Other (cheaper) glues that you may find are probably "hide glue" and are made from hooves, cartilage, skin, and scraps from the slaughter process. Those smell dreadful when mixed and are darker.

Neither is synthetic but the real rsg is the good stuff. Some substitue pva glue--that's a synthetic.