Showing posts with label art supplies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art supplies. Show all posts

10/30/2023

Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil, Green Moss TC15


I love this colored charcoal pencil range. They're certainly charcoal, but made of a very soft one that spreads easily (with your fingertips or with water) and mixes perfectly with soft pastels and any water-soluble supply. They're wonderful to do charcoal sketches with a hint of color.
 
This color is one of the very noticeable hues in the range, with a beautiful soft olive tone that blends well with any of the other green and blue hues.

An average sharpener works well with these pencil as long as you don't over sharp.
 
I bought this item in a promotion, so the price was fantastic, but they're usually a bit pricey.

Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil, Mountain Blue TC11

This color is one of the very noticeable hues in the range, with a beautiful soft deep greenish grayish blue that blends beautifully with other blues and greens. The color of the pencil is shown on the top, which comes handy to choose.

These pencils are certainly charcoal, but made of a very soft one that spreads easily by using my fingertips or a wet brush. They are perfect to combine with soft pastels, water-soluble crayons, watercolors or just to use with normal charcoal to do sketches that are still neutral in nature, but have a hint of color.
 
An average sharpener works well with this pencil as long as you don't over sharp.
 
I bought this item in a promotion, so the price was fantastic, but they're usually a bit pricey.

Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil, Sunset Pink TC03

This colored charcoal pencil is one of the very noticeable hues in the range, with a beautiful soft pinkish tone that has a bit of lavender in it.

These charcoal pencils are made of very soft charcoal, which spreads easily either with my fingertips or with water and it is perfect to combine with soft pastels, watercolor crayons, watercolors or just to do soft-colored charcoal sketches.

An average sharpener works well with this pencil as long as you don't over sharp.

10/24/2023

Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil, Sand TC01

I love this coloured charcoal pencils. They are certainly charcoal, but made of a very soft one that spreads easily either with your fingertips or with water. This colour is my favourite in the range because it's actually the colour of those golden sand beaches that you find in some countries. It's perfect to ad subtle splashes of colour to any mixed-media piece, or to use them in combination with soft pastels (bear in mind that tinted charcoal pencils have way less pigment than soft pastels).  Also ideal for charcoal studies where you want subtle coloured highlights without the piece being fully coloured. I use an average sharpener with this, and it works well with these pencils. I bought this item in a promotion, so the price was fantastic, but they're usually a bit pricey.

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.

9/05/2023

Riot Arts & Crafts (Online Store)

 Riot Arts and Crafts, not Riot Projects, have amazing prices and a great selection of arts and craft products. Most of their stock is Australian art brands, some of them excellent like Matisse and Holcroft, for example, mixed with a smaller selection of international brands and a small selection of their products (Golden, Liquitex, Posca or Faber Castell for ex.) They have free shipping for orders over 80 bucks, which is an increase of 5 bucks since last time I purchased something from them. Still better than most online art supplies stores.

I've both from them many times and they deliver via AuPost. Product quality has always been good or great, except for one case, and the pricing excellent even when the products aren't on sale. But every time I check they're on some sort of sale. 

The main issue with Riot Arts & Crafts is that the dispatch time is ridiculous and can take over a week or more, depending on the time, to get the products dispatched, plus the time AuPost takes to deliver a standard parcel. If you need materials for a upcoming project, this is not a place you want to buy from as, more likely, you won't get them on time. However, it's a great place to take advantage of their offers and stock materials before the ones you already have run out.

Another downside is that, due to the fact that their prices for good brands is below most online sites, the products I want are always sold out or out of stock.  

My last parcel in April, took about 10 natural days to be dispatched. The last one, in September ditto. The shipping info on their website says that intercity or interstate takes average 7-10 business days, which is about 2 weeks, for the parcel to arrive to your place, and they cannot guarantee that either.

So, if they cannot fulfill the demand, why not stop, get more staff and reorganise the business? Most of the negative reviews online are on this issue.

Customer service by email is corteous but minimal, androbotic, full of vacuous wording. Last time I asked why it was taking so long to get the product dispatched the answer was 'we've changed our procedures at the warehouse' or were working on it kinda nothingness.  

8/25/2023

Paul Rubens Hot-Pressed 100%-Cotton 300gsm Watercolor Journal (Black)

I wanted  a compact good-quality small notebook or journal just to do warm-up mixed-media exercises and experimentation, and this item seemed to fit the bill.
 
THE GOOD STUFF
> Very good-looking sketchbook.
> Good-quality off-white 300-gsm watercolor paper. I love its smoothness and tone. See details about my testing below. 
> Stitch perforated paper sheets, which tear off easily. 
>  It has a separator ribbon, something that I love because I use it a lot!
> The notebook measurements are 3.8’’ x 5.2’’, a pocket size that makes it perfect to carry in my small handbag or briefcase. Perfect for traveling as well. I wanted something that is easy to store and this can be stored anywhere easily. 
> Affordable. 
> Very lightweight.
DOWNSIDES 
> The product Amazon-page photo and description and what I got are not the same. I've already given feedback to Amazon as some of the photos and statements are misleading and don't t relate to the product I got at all.  
> Unrefined leather-like cover.
> The paper is excellent, but I wanted a good journal not good loose paper sheets.
> My item doesn't have the elastic band/strap mentioned/photographed in the description page. I find this not only deceiving, but also disappointing because it seems to be an issue not just with my notebook but with many reviewers'. A band is necessary in any small journal with detachable sheets because, eventually, they'll all be loose and the band is needed to tide them all up. 
> Bad quality binding, with some parts just glued and others loosely sewn (see my photos). The product page says that it's loosely stitched to allow the removal of the middle thread to have a double-spread or panorama sheet. That's good, but since the binding is so poor, not all the pages are thread-stitched, all of them are perforated and some of them detach on their own, how is this going to work?
> One of the sheets was already cut off when I opened the product. The pad came sealed (as per my photos) so ain't sure if that's a factory issue or the item was a re-purposed return.
> The separator ribbon edge is already loose-threading itself (see my photos). 
> The back cover inner pouch is glued with the opening facing the spine, which makes it not only difficult to use but also useless to me.
 
PAPER TESTING
I've tested the paper twice before posting this review. Herewith my first impressions. My first test was done with a non-gessoed sheet. As per my photos, I used watercolour pencils, waters-soluble crayons (Neocolor II, Tim Holtz) and markers (Posca, Tombow), oil pastels (Ohuhu), soft pastels (Munyo), acrylic ink (Liquitex), heavy and fluid acrylics (Golden) alcohol ink, alcohol markers(Faber Castell, Copic), archival ink refills (Ranger), Stabilo-All and China black pencils, my fountain pen; FC Pitt permanent-ink markers; metallic markers as well as an UNI white gel pen. The paper stood well, without bleeding, most things, included my two alcohol markers, which is impressive. I found the paper especially lovely and smooth when watercolouring Posca, Tombow, Necolor II and Stabilo All. Soft pastels extended well with water, even though they aren't water-soluble and cheap, but oil pastels were not good on this paper, yet my pastels are cheap. Alcohol inks bled (see my photo) and, in a lesser degree, archival undiluted ink.
 My second test was done on a sheet of paper with clear gesso added to it, as this is how I usually work. I used simple mixed media, acrylic paint mostly, but also aquarelle pencils and markers, and plenty of water. The paper was a pleasure to work with and it doesn't buckle at all. Truth to be told, I usually work heavily on the paper, more than in this case, adding collage, stitching and what's not; yet, I'm very satisfied with the quality of the paper. 
 
IN SHORT
I consider this Rubens journal to be a mediocre journal. The paper, on its own, is excellent. However, I'm not buying loose sheets of paper but a journal, so it defeats the purpose. I wouldn't give this as a gift, but it serves me well for what I need: to experiment with my paints and have everything neatly collected. I will have to supply the missing elastic strap myself and sew the separating ribbon. This journal seems like a degraded version of the advertised product, like a bad batch perhaps, and there are significant discrepancies between what it's described on the product page and what I got. Bear in mind that the same journal is listed on a separated page and marked as 'Amazon choice', but it's a bit more expensive. Either way, next time I buy this journal, if it's as it is now, I will return it.
 

8/21/2023

Hxyrxib 2Pcs Flat Silicone Paint Brushes

I've had this pair for a few months now, and I love them. The two-piece is perfect for my needs as I paint on small surfaces and I don't need anything bigger. The bigger brush is 2" wide, and the smaller 1". I find the larger one great to spread gesso, different mediums on larger surfaces, a whole sheet of paper for example, while I use the other one for smaller surfaces, to  glue collage pieces and to properly paint. Both are perfect for mediums because I can easily wipe them out clean with household/baby wipes. However, they're called 'color shaper' for a reason; that's because I can move the paint in ways that normal brushes don't allow me to and  I can create cool effects with the sides, the edges or part of the brush surface.
 
The handle is made of good quality material. Despite me leaving the brushes in water for long periods of time, they haven't deteriorated or pealed off. The product description page says that the handle is made of wood, but it feels more like sturdy plastic to me. If it's wood, the plastic coating is really good. 

The ferrule is made of good-quality metal and hasn't loosen up so far, something important because if the silicone brush gets loose, it loses precision and functionality.  
 
The brush part is made of good quality flexible silicone, and works well on watercolour paper. The main issue with these brushes, like most other shaper brands I own, is that they have a slightly convex shape on both sides, which tends to create 'pools' of product on the upper part. I've learned not to use the whole brush surface just the flat part, the sides or the tip. Yet, I've also found that some brands have one part convex and the other flat (see my photos), and that works better for me. Also, the brush part is not as flexible as other brands shapers.
 
Overall, I'm very happy with the product. Color shapers are never super-cheap, but this combo is affordable and good value for money.

8/12/2023

Jigong Mini Heat Gun Electric 300W 220V 50HZ Portable Hot Air

This is my first heat gun and I purchased it to replace my bulky hair drier, which I was using to speed up the drying time of the paint in some of my artwork. However, it can be used for embossing as well. 

THE GOOD STUFF
> Very light and small. It is a pleasure to hold. Way smaller and lighter than my small hair drier. See my photos against an A4 wallet and beside my small hair drier.
> It can be stored anywhere. See my photo inside a cable organizer box.
> Easy to use. You don't really need a manual. Click the power button and voila. The container box, though, has some tricks to use this gun in "shrinking'.
> Heating level is great for small pieces of art as it isn't too high or low. It dries things fast.   
> Low noise level if compared with my hair drier. 
> As the 'mouth' is small, it directs the air where I want to so it doesn't blow pieces of paper I have around.
> Great value for money.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS 
> The cord is ridiculously short. That being the case, unless you have a plug on top of your table, you would have to plug it to an extension cord, something that I hate because it creates unnecessary bulk and storage issues. If you don't have one, you'd have to purchase one.
> Just one speed.
> No storage pouch. 

If needed, I will update this review in the future.

7/20/2023

Tombow Storage Tote Bag

This is a lovey large, roomy, beautifully-made storage bag. The bag material is good-quality threaded nylon and the combination of colors, finishes and embroidered logo made up a very good-looking bag. Both the upper reinforced handle and the shoulder bag are sturdy, and the latter is easily adjustable. 

My photos don't make it justice to the amount of stuff I've been able to put in, and there is still room for more.

The two Velcro separator individual sheets come handy to create different spaces within the bag, and can be moved and/or re-positioned easily. There are two mesh external elastic pouches that can hold plenty of stuff, and I store all my crayons and pastels flat tins in the front pocket. 
 
I don't use it to store my markers but to store a good deal of art & crafts supplies. 
 
THE WEAKEST LINKS
I find that the bag has three design flaws that rest quality to the product if used for anything that isn't markers. The first one is the average quality of the zips, that aren't sturdy enough to carry a fully loaded heavy bag. This mostly affects the upper zip, which is pulled every time I carry the bag.
 
I find that other type of containers hold and organize my markers, pens and pencils better (either vertically or horizontally) and I won't store mine upright here.
 
Finally, although the bag cover is very roomy, it has no reinforcement inside, which seems necessary to me to counteract the pressure put on it by the holder when the bag is full; the sewn attachments aren't strong enough and might eventually  break through here.
 
IN SHORT 
Great storage bag. Good looking. Very spacious. It allows me to store tons of stuff. Yet, the upper cover and the zips are a bit of a let down as they seem fit for a mass-produced bag not for a Tombow product. I will update this review in the future if necessary.

7/03/2023

Comiart 4-piece Ball Sphere Stylus Set

Good quality set of large stylus that I use with air-drying paper paste/clay. Kind of heavy as the balls are made of metal. Easy to use and clean. I love that the tools are double sided and comes in a good selection of sizes. They complement well my set of small styluses from the same brand. 

5/07/2023

Kaisercraft KAKC031 Acrylic Paint, Black

Like the rest of the brand, this black Karisercraft paint is a fluid acrylic. It's perfect for crafts and art journaling but not for paintings as the paint is not light-fast and will fade if exposed to light. Yet, it makes a great black tube to experiment with when I want to try new things that might sometimes end in the bin or recycled. I've used it on my gel plate and it worked nicely. Great price.

4/15/2023

Strathmore 400 Series Toned Tan Artist Tiles, 30 Sheets

Although not made for water colour, this 4x4 paper stock is really fantastic for mixed media and zentangle. I use them to create tiny series of mixed media studies . The tan colour can be incorporated into the art piece but I usually gesso the paper and then work on it. It stands heavy, flow and high flow acrylics, water soluble crayons, water mist, drawing inks and basic hand/ machine stitching. I find that this paper is better than other similar tiles with more gsm. My only but is that these are usually a bit pricey.

2/22/2023

Quill, Q Series sketchbook, Spiral bound, 110gsm, A4

This is a nice paper pad at a very good price. After using it and testing it, I can say it's only good for drawing with coloured pencils and graphite, nothing water-soluble or needing of the slightly amount of water. I bought this pad due to the price and to the fact that use cheap pads to clean my paint brushes from paint, when I have some acrylic paint left after a painting and then I use the pages as collage paper in my artwork. I also try new water-soluble crayons colours on them. In both cases this paper fails. Even thick acrylics create bumps on the paper back and the paper corners buckle; the same can be said of water-soluble crayons, which barely require any water. If there is some sort of wet area on a page and I close the pad, the pages get stuck and the spot area breaks off badly. Needless to say, the paper is useless for water colour painting or anything requiring of added water or soft body acrylics. For the rest, this paper is warm white paper, as per my photo, not black. Actually, I bought the pad thinking that it was black paper due to the description info so I was quite disappointed when I received a white paper pad. I won't buy it again.

2/01/2023

Studio Series Artist's Tiles: White (75 pack)

I'm most disappointed with this pack of tiles supposedly 300 gsm good for dry and wet media. I normally use 300 gsm watercolour paper for my mixed media and this is a bit thinner than that, so I wonder whether the gsm on the label is a printing mistake.

The cards are smaller than average, about 3x3 inches. See my photo against a 4x4 grey tile.

I've done comprehensive testing on the paper, and it confirmed my first impression. You can see the photos I've uploaded for everything I say.

Re markers, it's good for my Sakura micron, for my fountain ink permanent ink, for my FC pitt pen, for my Fude brush pen and my Townbows. None of these bled. I tried one of my AS pigmented inks, one drop, and it worked well (the yellow stain on the photo) but my Liquitex acrylic ink (not on the photo) didn't spread well and the light rubbing with my finger sanded the paper a bit. I also applied my red Stabilo All pencil and then used a water brush to spread the colour and it didn't work well and sanded the paper a bit. Alcohol markers and inks DID bleed, as per my photo.

I did a simple abstract exercise using water-soluble crayons, which require barely any water, adding some pitt pens and non-soluble crayons. The paper doesn't have enough hold for the colour and the process of using these materials to be done without tearing or sanding. Needless to say, the paper buckled and deteriorated. As this test was done without gessoing the paper beforehand, I tried again and I did gesso the paper this time.

Gessoing the paper certainly helped with mixed media and acrylics and the results were definitely better. Paper curled a lot, though, and there was tearing and sanding in certain parts. I was careful with the paper due to the fact that I know isn't good quality after the first test.

I find the advertisement notes on the packaging misleading and inaccurate, as per the testing I've mentioned above, proven by my photos. The paper is not good for wet media or mixed media or anything that requires a bit of work on the paper.

Comparisons are unavoidable. I recently reviewed some paper tiles with, supposedly, less msg and they stood anything I did to the paper without any damage, so it makes me wonder.

This paper tiles have been a waste of money and time, as I do mixed media no zentangle or colouring, I'll have to use these tiles for something else, and I won't buy them again. The paper is good for pencil, most markers and, archival ink. It is not fit for wet media, alcohol marker, alcohol inks or anything that requires a bit of work on the paper, slight rubbing etc..

1/22/2023

Uni-Ball UM 153 Signo Broad Point Gel Pen - White - Pack of 3

This is the best fine point white marker I've used so far. I have two similar fine-point white pens from other brands and they fall behind this regarding the 'ink' quality and how the ink reacts when used on acrylic painting.. I've tested this Uniball against the others on black paper, as per my photo, and this one is my fav. Lines are full, neat and clear. The ink flows effortlessly on the paper, more so than the other two brands that I use, and I don't have to keep pumping the ink out every time I write. Great price for a 3-piece pack set, too

Uni Posca PC-1MR Marker White Ultra Fine 0.7mm Tip Nib

These are my least favourite of the Posca white range of markers. I'm a devotee of the brand and of their white markers, but this ultra-fine point one has been quite a disappointment. I bought these markers at a good price to use them in my mixed media projects to write and draw on acrylic paint. Like any other Posca marker, I have to pump it out the first time I use it for the ink to flow out. However, unlike the other white Posca markers, whose nibs retain ink for while and you have to re-pump them once in a while, these ones don't retain ink in the nib, so the ink doesn't flow naturally and I have to pump them out or shake them continuously. What's worse, the quality and saturation of the lines are deficient. Just frustrating. I won't be buying this finer point nib again.

1/21/2023

Laciteny Artist Detail Paint Brushes Set-12 Pcs

This brush set has a good mix of small size brushes with different nib shapes. The handle is very ergonomic and the overall size of the brushes is perfect for my hands, so I enjoy working with them. The filaments are good quality, and they don't lose colour or shape when I use strong colours or after washing them.

My two main issues with these brushes are:
1- The ferrule tends to separate from the handle after little use; it seems it was poorly glued or pressure stuck, so I have to secure them with insulating tape when that happens. It wasn't because of this, my rating would be higher.
2- The selection includes sizes that I don't necessarily consider detailed brushes, like those over size 2. These bigger small brushes are quite common and easily found and included in any cheap set. This being the case, I would have loved the set to include only sizes that go from 2 down, and nothing above size 2.

Good price for the set and they brushes look expensive.

27 Feb 2023 UPDATE
The black coat that covers the handle comes easily if you wash the brush after use or leave it in water for a while as crackles the paint and exposes the woody part. Not happy about that. I had to use insulating tape to cover it. A star removed because I don't use these brushes too much and they deteriorate rapidly after barely any use.

1/19/2023

Strathmore Artist Tile Pack, Toned Gray, 400 series

I bought this grey card pack just because it was cheaper than the white paper one and not sure what the real colour was as the product page doesn't show it. The cards are toned in a lovely warm grey as per my photos. The card stock is sturdy and has resisted everything I've done to it today without tearing.

Things I've done to the paper just to try it:
> Covered the cards in white high tooth gesso.
> Added a coat of heavy-body acrylic paint.
> Glued several layers of collage paper using matte gel medium.
> Glued a small piece of fabric.
> Stitched French point using embroidery thread, previously using an awl to perforate it.
> Added a glaze of acrylic paint and rubbed it with my fingers.
The paper has resisted everything. The stock is 215 gsm and not 300, which is ideal for mixed media, and that shows in the fact that the paper corners curl a bit.

I've also tried the paper without gesso and also resisted everything.

The third experiment I've carried out is stitching and doing basic sewing and embroidery on it, without gesso added. I also added heavy-body acrylic paint and rubbed water-soluble crayons. The paper stood everything as per my photos.

For the rest this is an excellent artist paper, versatile, and it can be used as it is, in the original toned colour or covered in paint , gesso or anything you want.

Yet, it's a bit expensive taking into account that the pack only has 30 tiles.