Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts

10/29/2024

Canson Montval 300gsm/140lb Cold-Pressed Watercolour-Paper Wired Pad (20 sheets, 5.5x8.5in)

I love Canson watercolour paper pads as they're always very decent quality, affordable and perfect to use as sketchbooks. I've been using this pad often, and the paper quality is good  for mixed media, which is what I bought it for. I haven't used it with watercolours yet; mostly with acrylics paint, acrylic inks, crayons, pens, Posca ad Pitt Pen markers and it stands most things beautifully even without previous gesso priming. I love the pages micro-perforation as it allows me to use them as stand-alone sheets, or keep them  as a pad.
 
On the flip side, this Montval series is more like a student pad, so worse paper quality than other Canson pads I own and also re the quality of the front and back covers, which is quite bad. Besides, the paper doesn't handle rubbing well, and sometimes the paper sands off if not primed. That being the case, now I gesso the pages that I intend to rub or scratch. I would not use this pad paper for professional purposes.

For the rest a good affordable study or student watercolour pad with decent quality paper.

9/08/2024

Montana MXA324048 Acrylic Marker 2Mm Fine, Empty Marker

This is a very good quality refillable marker. This marker is easy to fill in/refill and has a metallic ball inside to prevent ink thickening. It is lightweight and the ink is easy to pump out. I used a mini funnel to fill in the marker and it worked perfectly. If I didn't have this funnel, I would have used a syringe. The bullet point works neatly and is very similar to Posca's.
 
Montana ink is great but also expensive, so I'm happy being able to use other acrylic inks that are less expensive and as good. Refillable markers are a need for me as I feel self-conscious about binning good-quality plastic empty markers. So I love that I can use this over and over.
 
A bit pricey for an empty marker, but happy to have it.

8/17/2024

Derwent XL Charcoal Drawing Water-Soluble Blocks, Set Of 6

I bought this sought-after set during one of the Prime Days offers last year, quite discounted to my delight. As the box was sent from Amazon UK, it reached my place with one of the blocks halved and partially shattered, which resulted in the staining of the white block. The box was sealed, but not properly protected either with bubble wrap or protective textured paper.  

The blocks are really yummy to use. They are almost creamy and the pigmented ones have rich yummy earthy colours. These are water soluble, so they can be used as watercolours. They are not permanent, so I use matt/gloss medium or fixative when I don't want the marks to smudge. Sometimes, the fun is in the smudging as the mixing of the pigment with other media creates wonderful textures, effects and depth. They're fun to play with but have a professional quality. 

8/10/2024

VGSEBA Gold Leaf Gilding Foil Sheets,100 Sheets 3.15" x3 .35" (8x8.5 cm)

These leaves are a good alternative to real gold leaf and at a fraction of the price. They look like a sunset gold or Aztec gold leaf, something I love. Each foil leaf is protected by a tissue-paper leaf.  The sheets are very delicate and break easily, so they're especially good to cover something, little by little,  by applying foil coats; not so good or easy to cover a specific shape (or at least I don't know how to do that). It glues easily with gloss medium and matt medium, but the first one is more befitting with a metallic product like this.
 
Good value for money as there are 100 sheets in the package and one sheet can be used as accent in a small painting. I wouldn't use this in art pieces for sale, but I  use it in my art journaling or small art pieces I want to keep for myself or for gifting.

7/08/2024

Plyco (Online Store)

I ordered some plywood panels (craft bundles) from this store, recommended by a fellow artist. I can confirm that they're good quality and good priced; way cheaper than similar products in specialised Art & Craft stores. 
 
Plyco is not a craft store. They sell timber, veneer and plywood for professional purposes (building, flooring, cabinetry, table and kitchen tops among other uses). What matters to me is that they have craft bundles from different timber and thickness that are perfect for painters. 
 
The good thing about their website is that it shows whether the different kinds of timber are in stock or not, when they will be, and the scheduled dispatches. You'll get your order sooner if you buy your product one or two days before dispatch day; otherwise, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Shipping fees and panels are excellent value for money.
 
Not a place you want to order from if you're in a hurry or have an upcoming project that you must do within a time-frame. For the rest, very good quality, prices and shipping prices. Timber arrived properly packaged, too. They also have several shipping options, which is great.   

On the flip side of things, Plyco's customer service is not great. They have a bot on the website. I sent a message through the bot that was never replied to. I rang them on a Saturday. The guy on the phone apologized for overseeing the dispatch of my order. I mentioned that I'd be happy to upgrade. I was told to call or email customer service on a week day. I did email them. No a reply whatsoever, just an impersonal request for payment for the upgrade. As the dispatch window had passed, it  took10 extra days to have my order dispatched. I found funny that, I forgot some items on the cart in one of my browser, but I purchased them through another browser; then, a more personal sales email reached my inbox. Also, they'll auto-subscribe you to their marketing newsletters, something that I really find annoying. 
 
Overall, happy with the pricing and quality of the products, info on website and dispatch procedure, but not really impressed with CS. 
 

5/01/2024

Edward Tools Paint Stainless Steel 12" Trim Blade

This is a great tool to get straight lines in my paintings. The sizing is perfect to work on paper medium size pieces, 12x12" for example, as it is not too large or too short. The sizing also allows me to store it easily or to keep it in the same holder as my large brushes. 
 
The blade is really sharp, so much so that I cut one of my fingers with it. I love that is made of stainless steel as this makes it durable. I clean it with a wipe or rage and looks as new every time.
 
Nothing fancy about the grip area, but it's strong enough, and it's getting nicer now that it has different splashes of paint on it. 
 
Good value for money.

2/22/2024

Jacquard Lumiere Halo Blue Gold Acrylic Paint 70Ml

Jacquard Lumiere is an awesome line of metallic paints and this colour is beautiful and interesting to work with. I love the fact that, unlike other metallic acrylic paints, this line offers a good coverage and the quality of the pigment is amazing. This colour is beautiful, but the colour you see from the bottle and what you get when you paint with the product are slightly different. I purchased this colour for the blueish golden green nature of it, which is what the bottle looks like from outside in real life. However, the paint is a multi-chrome with all the pros and cons you get from those colours. On the up side, it can be layered on many colours and looks different depending on the light angle, so it's versatile and interesting. However, this is more a green than a blue, and the yellow gold sometimes overwhelms the other pigments. For me, it's great when I want to jazz up some painting area, but not that good if I want a set colour to use. Good quality product overall.

Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic 6-Pack - Vibrant Set

Liquitex acrylic are amongst my fav acrylic paints in the market. I love the buttery nature of them as allow me to create oil-like strokes, marks and looks. They spread well and a tiny amount covers a lot of space. Pigments are great and lightfast. They last a long time, can be used undiluted to create oil-like paintings, or diluted with water or glaze to use for washes and glazes. They mix well among themselves. The colours in this set are very bright, almost fluoro, and a pleasure to work with them. I think this sizing is perfect as some of the colours might not be everyone's cup of tea. Great start taster, perfect to try before purchasing the full size product.  I bought this packet during the Boxing Day sale and they were very affordable, but they are on the expensive side.

12/04/2023

Zhu Ting 12-piece Flat Art Paint Brush Set

This is a great set of expensive-looking flat nylon hair brushes perfect for acrylic paint. The variety of sizes is great, but I miss one or two larger brushes. They are great quality. The bristles don't deform despite me leaving the brushes in water for days or using them with acrylic paint, gesso or matte medium.  The handle seems not to stain as quickly or badly as other brushes I own. They clean easily with hand soap under running water even when the paint is a bit dry on the bristles. They are great value for money as well. The only downside is that these brushes are on the small side, and a bit smaller than other brushes with the same sizing (see my photos).

11/19/2023

Mont Marte Watercolour Pad A5 300gsm 12 Sheet

This is an A5 paper pad of good quality 300 gsm paper. You know, there are good and not so good 300 gsm watercolour paper, and this is good paper, and great value for money as well. 

I've tested the paper without pre-gessoing the surface, which leaves the paper more exposed to the media I used. I've used both acrylic paint and acrylic inks, adding quite a bit of dripping and the paper stood everything wonderfully and I was totally surprised at how well it took acrylic paint and acrylic inks, without buckling or deteriorating. I like the paper texture and the fact that the pad is glued just in one of the sides, but I'm not a fan of the paper colour. Yet, it doesn't really matter, because I will be painting over it and I can change that easily.

GAIA Skin Naturals Bamboo Baby Wipes, 80 Piece

I love Gaia products. They never disappoint me. This is also the case with these sensitive bamboo-based wipes. I don't have children, so I bought these wipes to use in my art practice. I have been using cleaning household wipes, critic acid based, and they are great, but they're not environmentally friendly and are sometimes too harsh on painting surfaces, so I thought I would give these Gaia a try.
 
These bamboo wipes have a lovely soft texture and a sweet creamy scent that I love. They are not too dry or drippy, still wet, so they're perfect for smudging and blending different kinds of media on paper without wiping off the whole thing or destroying the surface. They are also great to use with stencils as they wipe off paint and leave clear marks without leaving watery residue or blotting the paint. They are lovely to clean off residual paint from my painting brushes (both silicone and synthetic bristles) after I have had them submerged in water for a while, or to remove medium or gesso from my silicone brushes easily.

They don't work as well to wipe off almost dry paint completely or remove stubborn dry paint on my hands, table or brushes, though.
 
I love that these wipes are plant-based and environmentally friendly. I bought the small package just to given them a try, but I will definitely buy them again in a large package.

10/24/2023

MEEDEN 7-Well Studio Porcelain Paint Palette Tray

This is such a great idea and design. I use many things as palette, from palette paper to plastic reused lids to oven paper. Yet, sometimes my table is covered with clutter that limits my working space. This almost fixes the problem as I don't need to use big surfaces unless I'm using a roller or painting on larger surfaces.
 
This tray is very small (see my photo against my mouse), but it's perfect for me to hold in my small hands. The recesses of the flower shape are great for my fingers to grip the piece comfortably. I tend to use many colors when painting, so this is great to put all my acrylics, gesso and medium in one single container. The little wells are great for the quantities of product that I usually use.
 
As it's porcelain, it cleans easily with average household dish-washing liquid and water. I wash it by hand, not in the dishwasher, so I don't know whether is dishwasher-safe or not.
 
 Very happy with the purchase and with the fact that is porcelain not plastic, and therefore environmentally friendly.

9/25/2022

Comiart Feather Wire Texture + Pro Needle Detail Tools

I don't use these for sculpture but for my mixed media artwork. I paint on thick watercolour paper, so I can use these without a problem to make marks, but minding the pressure I put as they can be quite 'abrasive' on the paper. Both tools are made of good quality metal. The needle tool comes with a protection cap, which is needed as it's really pointy and I could harm myself if I placed it in my pen holder without any protection. I wish the fan tool came with a cap and the 'hairs' were a bit more flexible. Overall, a good must-have set for abstract painting

9/11/2022

Meeden Flat Paint Brushes Set Short Handle, 7-Piece

I've had this set for a few months already and use all the brushes on a weekly basis. This set has a good selection of flat sizes. I especially love the two smallest ones, but all of them are good. The flat shape is wonderful for most painting purposes. I tend to leave the brushes in water for a long time, and the handle and ferrule haven't been affected or deteriorated. The synthetic hair perfectly stands all the acrylic paints I use (heavy body, flow and high flow) and the hair recovers its shape easily once it is cleaned. I clean them with hand soap and water under the tap when they're really stained, and they wash beautifully. The only downside is that the hairs are not as flexible as I'd like to, but, for the price, they're great and beautifully designed.

9/07/2022

Comiart Clay Silicon Color Shapers Brushes Size 6

I'm most disappointed with these paint shappers. I wasn't expecting these to be top notch quality for the price, for sure. Truth to be told, the silicon nibs and metal ferrule parts are OK.
They allow me to experiment with different brush strokes and techniques and are helping me make my mind about those that I 'd d like purchased good quality. I also like that each brush has a different coloured handle.

However, the handles come off easily even before using them, all of them, as they are screw-like but not really screwed as per my photo. They can be put in easily, but I have to take care that they don't come off when I'm painting. So I'll have to glue them or cover the joints with insulating tape.

UPDATE 14/10/22
What I said above still stands. However, I put insulating tape around the ferrule, in the part that connects to the handle, and this has made the trick. I keep the brushes in water for quite a while and no issue. For the rest, I use these brushes all the time, almost on a daily basis, with acrylics, adhesives and different mediums and they're great. I hope they fix the handles-tip connection because they are great for the rest. I've added an extra star to my rating.

8/05/2022

10pcs Empty Plastic Squeezable Liquid Dropper Filling Bottles Needle Tip Applicator

I love needle tip bottles as they're great for systemic writing and mark making in my artwork. I wasn't expecting these 30 ml bottles to fit heavy body acrylic paint in, for sure, but I have semi-fluid acrylics, quite runny. To my dismal, the bottle mouth is so narrow that it's extremely difficult to pour some of my acrylics in, so much so that I wasted lots of paint in the process. I first tried with a fitting mini funnel but it didn't work. Then, I tried by pulse, and no luck either. It might work well with inks or flow acrylics, but I don't own any of those. It is a pity because the bottles are good quality plastic and the tip is also good quality. Yet, they're worthless to fit in the many types of acrylic paints I own.

5/08/2022

Meeden 5-Piece Painting Knife Set

I've never used painting knives before, so my review cannot take into account any professional knives out there or make any comparison. However, I've used these knives extensively in the last weeks and I think they're perfect for beginners.

GREAT
> Good looking set, with a beautiful wood handle that looks elegant and expensive.
> Flexible stainless steel metal that I can safely bend and use in different ways.
> Easy to clean under water or with average cleaning wipes.
> Lightweight.
> The mix of shapes allows me to create different textures and shapes on paper and are also ideal to make painting marks.
> Great value for money when I bought them.

OK
The golden letters on the handle are cheaply made so the gold leaf is already peeling after less than a month in my hands.

5/06/2022

Aifuda 3Pcs Rubber Brayer Set (1.37, 2.36 & 3.93 Inch)

This is a great set of good quality brayers. I use them for my mixed media projects and I'm very pleased with them. They're as heavy as the materials they're made of, which is sturdy plastic, rubber and metal. You can get an idea of the real length of the rollers by looking at my photo taken by a pencil. My only criticism is that the smallest brayer came used or slightly damaged, ain't sure, as per my photos. Great value for money.

Ohuhu Dual-Tip Brush Pen & Fineliner Color Markers, 36 Colors

This is an amazing value for money set The variety of colours is wonderful. These markers are like mini Tombows minus the price tag. Most of the caps match the real marker colour. I've compared and tested them against my Tombows and here are the results: 1/ The Ohuhus have a finer fine point nib, but the brush tip is very similar although smaller. 2/ These markers are shorter, so I'm just guessing that the inner barrel contains less product, which can be expected for the price. 3/ As the Ohuhus are shorter than the Tombows they're easier to store vertically in my pen holder. 4/I have tested them with water, and they react the same to water and on the same paper, no noticeable difference, as per photo. 4/ The external barrel material is cheaper and lighter, which has its pros and cons.

The colour chat that comes with the set is not really good as the real colours look different, as per my photo.

The packaging is OK.

Most pleased with this markers set and with the brand, as this is the third product that I buy from them and it has a great quality/price ratio.

5/01/2022

ScotchBlue Original Multi-Surface Painter's Tape, 18mm x 54.8m

I've given this a try due to being labelled as an artist's tape. It is a good as my other cheaper masking tapes but at higher prices. I love the colour, as it makes easy to distinguish the edges from the paper. I also love that it is scented. My main issue with this tape is that destroys my 180 mg and 200 mgs mixed media and watercolour paper if you let the tape stay for a day or two. The second issue with this roll is that it is unnecessarily bulky, like double the diameter than my other big masking tapes, and it requires a lot of storage space. if the hole in the centre was way smaller, the roll would be thicker but easier to put away. I won't buy this again.