Watercolor tube paint

[lovepug2]

I found a small pack of watercolor tubes on clearance recently at Hobby Lobby. It was only 3.50 so I thought they would be fun to play around with.  I went to use them recently and the smell is overwhelming. It's so strong, sort of like turpentine. I'm not sure if it's normal but I can't use them because of this. I can't recall the brand, it's not one I'm familiar with though. Has anyone used the watercolor paint that's in tubes and have this issue too?

[Yankee]

I got some tube watercolor at Michaels and the second time I went to use them, I couldn't get them out of the tubes.  So I went back to the kids paints, I have three or four brands so I can get different shades of any color.
But the paints did not smell bad.

[lylacfey]

That is really weird. I know that watercolor paints can have gum arabic in them. That doesn't smell like turpentine. You think maybe the company could have got their labels mixed up and you have oil paints? That's the only paint I can think of with a turpentine smell.

I love Hobby Lobby but I noticed with their fine art supplies they have some really quirky stuff. I have gotten some weird things out of there too.

[lylacfey]

I asked my DH if turpentine is in watercolor or oil paints. He said definitely no. He's thinking somebody spilled something in them or on them. Can you take them back to the store?

[yellowcherrios]

LeighAnn I have some watercolor tube paints----a few different companies too and none smell like turpentine or chemically (for lack of a better word).  Some colors DO have a smell that reminds me more of chalk or dirt perhaps and other colors do have a weird smell (that to me stinks), but none that I can remember have that "shoot-up-your-nose" smell/feeling like turpentine or ammonia does to me.  I would not be able to use them if they did! 

If you cannot/don't want to take them back, then I would perhaps get a piece of wax paper/parchment paper/old plate no longer going to eat off of and you can squirt out a little of each colors to make a pallette and then let them air dry in another room/outside and then use later---it might get rid of the smell….but then the smell might also get "reactivated" when wetted again----and to contribute to my long run-on sentence-----this suggestion might also void the whole point of buying the tube paints to begin with.     Though tube paints are suppose to be richer I have read so it might not be so bad if you have to let them air-dry before use…any leftover watercolor paint I "squirted" out of the tube I just leave and use later on. 

[lovepug2]

Thanks ladies! I didn't think that was normal. I plan to take them back next time I go to Hobby Lobby. Lol, maybe the smell is why they were on clearance in the first place!