TEO DEGAS' REVIEWS: school supplies

Showing posts with label school supplies. Show all posts

5/12/2025

Kaslaider Silicone Bear Stand-up Pencil Case (Large)

This is a really cute vertical pencil case made of super-soft silicone. The design is really whimsical and the case feels expensive. It's well made and well finished (from the printing details, to the zip, to the inner erasers holder, to the opener chain detail). I wanted this covered case to put some pointy tools inside, like small palette knives, metallic clay tools, dot makers and so on. It can hold quite a big of stuff and protects my fingers from getting hurt as it would happen if I left some of the tools I put inside in the open. Good value for money and this model is way cheaper than other silicone animal pencil holders. The only let-down is the smell of the silicone; although not strong, it's a bit odd. No fancy packaging but I wasn't expecting that for the price.

TouchCool 3pc Acrylic Marker Set (White, Fine tip, 0.8mm)

I paid little for these three acrylic gel markers. I was not hopping much from them because they're from a brand that I don't know and there were no reviews when I purchased them. Glad that I had no expectations because these markers are just OK.

The first issue is that it takes a while for the ink to come out. When it does, it's really fine and clean. However, the ink doesn't always flow effortlessly, especially when working on mixed media, so that's the biggest let-down.

The second issue is that these markers are sold as waterproof and they aren't. Just today, I painted some lines on dry acrylic paint. Then, I came with a damp tissue and the marker lines went off easily. I'd say they're OK for school and crafts purposes, but you would need a sealer of you want them to be waterproof. .

The writing on the exterior gets off easily as well, but this doesn't bother me.

MÅLA 6-piece Brush Set

I decided to give this Mala set a try due to the low price. These brushes are really small and have different tips (3 round and 3 flat) and short wooden handles. They're intended for children, so they won't fit your hands unless, like mine, are very small. The wooden material is birch covered with a translucent lacquer coat that protects the wood. The ferrule is made of aluminium while the bristles are made of soft white nylon. I find them pleasurable to use in sketching and art journaling. They get stained when using strong painting colours if you don't wash them immediately.

DESIGNERS S Fager & C Tubertini.

LENNART Drawer Unit (30x34x56 cm)

I have three pieces of this Lennart drawer unit at home. I bought them because of the sweet clean simple design and great price. I can put these units under my desk or forming a mini console against the wall. I use them to store A4 notepads and loose paper sheets, acrylic paints tubes and inks. Despite its feeble appearance, this unit holds a lot of stuff and weight, 5 kilos per drawer, and a bit extra on the top.

Personally, I'd buy a different drawer unit if I wanted to store office documents or have it in a home office that receives visitors. However, this unit is great for arts and crafts storage, especially if you're on a budget and you expect paint splashes to fall on it. Said differently, I wouldn't cry if this got ruined by my paints.

Assembly is easy, and the resulting unit is light, cute and compact.

I suggest reinforcing the drawers base with thick cardboard to make it stronger.

DOWNSIDES

> The unit only has castor on the back legs. It had been great if it had it on the four legs. They are OK to move the unit, by lifting the front and rolling the back. Yet, if the drawers are full, they aren't the best rolling castors.
> The front lowest side has a lot of empty space that could have been used to place another drawer.
> The back crossbar doesn't properly protect the drawers rear. The bar is meant to act as a stop for the drawers not to fall off backwards, but the crossbar is a bit too thin and on the short side; shorter than they should be, I think.

Jon Karlsson.

ASSEMBLY LEAFLET

HARVMATTA Box with Lid (Anthracite, 24x35x6 cm)

This box is the largest in the Harvamatta box set. I can easily store up to A4-size documents, stationery, unused painting brushes, colouring pencils and pastels, among other things. They're a bit pricey, but also good quality.

The box is very elegant and minimalist, with a hint of formality. I love the contrast between the metal anthracite colour and the cork lid woody colour. As they are so stylish, I can leave them in full view even though they might contain a lot of crap that, otherwise, would be cluttering my office. These boxes pile on each other perfectly, and they look great on top of the Harvamatta letter tray.

The main downside of the Harvamatta box line is that they don't have any closing or securing system. On the one hand, this favours easy piling on each other. On the other hand, if the box falls down, you'll have its contents all over the place. I would have loved these boxes having some sort of vintage-like wired closure or fasteners; even a tight closure like those that pickle traditional jars have.

DESIGNER Ebba Strandmark.

Kinbom 6pc Detail Paint Brush Set (Red)

These medium-quality affordable detail brushes are better quality than expected. I've now used them for several months.

The set has two items of each size (5/9, 3/0, 2/0) and, although they are not liners, they make good lines, shapes and fine marks. They're great for corrections on small areas, for mark-making and to fill in small areas or corners in a journal. I use them with flat or soft paper surfaces so I don't know how they would react with canvas or wood panels. I always use them with acrylic paints/inks and no issues so far.

I tend to forget my brushes submerged in water for too long, from some hours to a couple of days. The bristles tend to bend and lose shape while left in water for a while, but they recover it easily by drying t hem with a paper towel and, at the same time, pressing them into their straight shape with my fingers. I initially feared that the red handle would lose its colour or break open, but that hasn't happened. So, I think these brushes are better quality than they look like. On the other hand, they look like a downgraded version of the brushes depicted in the product page photos.

Although unimportant, the brushes colour is more like burgundy, definitely not the beautiful red in the photos. I just wanted any coloured handle to differentiate these brushes from other small ones I own, so any colour would do.

In short, an economic student-grade set of detail brushes that are sturdy, durable, and versatile.

This is a generous set of alphabet stencils made of good quality stencil material and with different lettering styles, so you can use them on different projects. Due to their size, these stencils are great for art journaling, scrapbooking and school art projects. The quality of the cutting is good. However, there are some design inconsistencies within each template, something that bothers me. Good priced.

This Uniball Signo metallic gold gel pen is fantastic. It produces clean lines and is great for accents on craft and painting projects. However, this is not a lightfast or permanent marker, so you would need to use a fixative if you want the colour to stay. The gold colour is on the greenish side, not bad, but not my favourite tone of gold.

SuckUK Tin Food Truck Lunch Box

I love tin boxes for everything: for tea, pulses, sewing, crafts, office supplies, stationery, makeup or for any storage purpose. I find them more sustainable and durable than plastic, and way prettier. I didn't buy this box for my lunches at all, but to store some small items. SuckUp has the coolest looking boxes out there.

I've had this fancy tin lunch box in my Amazon wish-list for over 3 years because, although I love the design, the price has been ridiculously high (max of $60 and minimum of $40). Yet, patience paid off, and the box was finally sold during a flash sale at a fair $23, which is the lowest price I've ever seen it. "Seasons came and changed the time". The huntress was ready. "Bang Bang, I shot you down." After the flash sale the box went up to $48. "Bang Bang, you hit the ground." I thought I deserved a tiara or something.

The box is good-quality tin and the design is gorgeous, with all the details of the food truck printed; even the bottom is printed. The box is really spacious, more than the product page photos make you think. Would your lunch fit in? I think if you don't put the drink inside, yes. Perhaps a sandwich or two with some small chocolate bars an one or two small pieces of fruit. Yet, you can use the box for myriad other storage purposes.

The door opens like a food truck's does, upwards. But, right there, there is an issue. The latch and locking system are badly designed or just defective because, when the tin is unlocked, the cover protrudes up and does not rest down properly at all (see my photos). Even when it's locked, the door does not rest down completely. To close the door, you have to push the latch down and, at the same time, push the door cover inwards. This is not that practical, quite annoying and it does not always work. At this stage, ain't sure whether this is a design fault or just part of a faulty batch. "Bang Bang, that awful sound."

The handle is less sturdy than other tin's handles I own and it does not stand erect or can be tucked away inside the upper latches.

Furthermore, I was expecting the product to come in a fancy package to match the fancy price and branding. However, it arrived inside a generic brown box. A repurposed return? "Bang Bang, I hit the ground."

Now the big questions.

> Did the box disappoint me upon arrival? Yes, for the reasons mentioned above. "And 'till this day sometimes I cry."

> Did I think it was worth the waiting time? Perhaps not. Bang, Bang.

> Do I think that the usual high price is justified? Totally NOT. Bang, Bang. The price I paid for it is fair and what I think the product should be sold for.

> Do I recommend the purchase? Yes, if the locking system worked and the price was less than $25. If you fancy it, check it out in a offline shop so that you can verify that the latch is working properly

"Now he's gone. I don't know why." He has been returned, that's why.

(NB/ My Amazon review is obviously less Bang-Bangy for obvious reasons).

Stabilo Woody 18 Assorted Colours with Sharpener and Paint Brush

I've been dying to get my hands on one these sets for years. They're quite expensive, but I got this half price on Prime Day. The set contains 18 beautiful bright colours, an XL sharpener (which is great to have as these pencils aren't standard size by any means) and a good quality brush.

Stabilo Woody pencils used to be cheap, as they were a product created for children. This was until artists noticed their quality and versatility; then, prices rose to match artists' pockets. They are non-toxic and can be used on paper, cardboard and glass.

The pencils are chunky, have velvety great-quality pigments and are water soluble. They are a hybrid between watercolour pencils, crayons and oil pastels. This set has a great selection of vibrant colours, two metallics, and three neutrals, which is more than I need. They work wonderfully as watercolours, and they dissolve and spread uniformly. Besides, the colours keep their vibrancy once dry.

As per my photo, all the pencils in my set have their lead point deformed. The points look like a volcanic outburst. It's a bit annoying as I wanted the point to be pointy obviously. The set seems to be part of a faulty batch, and this might explain the price reduction. For a second, I thought that the set might be forfeited, but after using the pencils I'm sure they're genuine due to their pigment quality and workability.

It was not crystal clear to me from the packaging whether these pencils are lightfast or not. After some online browsing, I've found that some of the colours are and others aren't. The lightfastness rating is shown as a number of stars on the pencil barrel after the colour number. This being the case, I'm inclined to use them in sketches and art journaling not as much on anything that I might consider precious. If you work on mixed media, you'll need to seal the colours with matte/gloss medium so that they don't smudge when applying a layer of any other material on top of them. UV varnishes also improve the life of any paint.

The pencils original box is great for shipping as the wallet holds the pencils tight. After an intercontinental trip, they arrived in perfect conditions, not damaged or scratched as I feared. At the same time, the wallet is bulky, not really storage-friendly, so I've binned it and put the set in a small fabric pouch.

This is such a cool idea. Initially designed to hang up children's drawings, I bought it to store and display some of my small artwork at home. It has a storage back, behind elastic bands where you can store several A4 items. It comes with 4 different types of passpartout, which are ideals to display paintings with narrower or wider margins; besides, they make great viewfinders. The magnetic 'buttons' clip on/off easily and keep everything secure. I can display the frame horizontally or vertically, or hang it from the wall, all of which makes the frame very versatile. The cover is real semi-glossy glass, which makes everything looks great and it isn't too glare-ish.

Having said that, I want to pinpoint a few let-downs. The first one is the fact that the hinges are really visible and chunky, so this rests finesse to the display, and makes the frame unfit for main areas. Yet, it's alright my studio or in a child's room The second let-down is that getting the items behind the elastic bands is something tricky, because they tightly fit the storage space but, due to the elastic bands acting as resistance, getting the paper out without damaging the edges can be tricky. Needless to say, this might not be relevant if you store not valuable stuff. Finally, the coating is not good quality paint and not thick enough, so I can already see that the edges show some tiny imperfections.

I bought this heavily discounted but I think that the average price is a bit too high for some of the flaws mentioned. Ikea's frames are way cheaper and better quality; yet, they aren't the same versatile design.

These batteries are perfect for the many small led tea-lights and battery-operated Xmas figurines and decor elements that I own. Price is unbeatable if compared with most brands producing this type of batteries. This two-package is just perfect for my Christmas needs and the batteries work perfectly.

I got this to have in my office drawers. These are terrific cheap all-purpose scissors. For the price you don't get the best quality of materials, but the blades are still made of stainless. This pair is not for professional purposes but great for most office and school purposes. I find the handle size perfect for my small hands and the overall length good for most purposes. They are very light due to the handle being made of cheap plastic. They have a 2-year guarantee, which is impressive for a $4 pair.

I don't get the brand bragging about this pair being made of 60% recycled materials. Really, if you have to brag about anything, brag about having your products made of 100% recycled. That would impress me.

I've had two types of needled bottles before getting this set, the original expensive brand and a generic brand. However, this Expesumas set is my favourite by far. These little bottles are fit for both glue and paint, but I only use them with fluid/flow acrylic paint, for which they are great.

The bottles are good quality plastic with three indications of ml levels. Each bottle comes with a luer-lock cap (connector cap) where to insert the needle tips, a cap for this lock, plus the 4 different needle tips sizes (3 items for each size).

I use the connector cap as a controlling dispenser to use small quantities of fluid acrylic paint; this allows me to do this without leakage and without blocking the pout. This saves me product as many of the flow acrylics I own squirt out of the tub on their own, wasting product and even staining my hands and clothes. So these bottles are awesome to store those paints, dispense them properly and prevent spillage. Filling them with paint is also great because the only thing you have to do is unscrew the lock cap and them screw it back.

One of the main issues with other needle bottles I've used in the past is that the acrylic paint/ink tends to dry inside the needle, clog it, and eventually ruin the whole cap system, which ends either in wasting the bottle or having to pay for new caps. However, these needle bottles' locking system is great. These needles are easy to "plug"/"unplug" and easy to clean, so you only plug them when needed.

Good value for money, as well. I've already bought two sets.

Uni- Ball Signo 1mm Gel Pen -- Silver (UM153.26)

This is my preferred silver marker among the ones I own. I don't lime most of my acrylic silver markers. However, this one won me over for many reasons. The metallic silver colour is really noticeable and the colour it should be, not too dark not too clear, just a beautiful silver tone. Also, the ink flows effortlessly and cleanly. The marker draws crisp neat lines, which makes it perfect for highlights or accents on any acrylic paint if the pieces are dry; Otherwise, it would smudge and the nib would get ruined. The marker is made of good quality material and the to cap fastens well.Well priced, too.

Ain't sure about the pigment lightfastness but the information I've found online seems to indicate that is more so than other types of markers. It is not a waterproof marker I would say but it gets fixed using a fixative once it has completely dried.

This is such a great value-for-money set. The two colours pen-looking mechanical pencils came in two gorgeous colours. They hold medium-thickness lead (7m), something I love as it's allows for very smooth and velvety writing. The pack comes with a refillable leads tub and a replacement erasers tube so these are kept tidy and safe. The pencils are very plastic looking but also very light. Nothing I would use to impress anyone, but just what I needed.

Elephtree Fish-Shaped Pencil Case

I bought this super-cute fabric pouch heavily discounted on a Prime Day. I just wanted something light to put it several some of my left over markers. The pouch design is playful and original; the colours are muted, close to pastels, and perfectly captured by the product page photos. I was able to store 9 average markers and 2 size-5M Posca markers. There is still room for two or three fine ones, a small eraser or a small sharpener.

I would use this for a getaway trip for either some markers/pens/pencils or small items of makeup. Despite the photos showing large items of makeup in the product page, this pouch would not hold anything large and round, mostly linear pencil-like items and small eye-shadow or lipstick containers.

Both the outer and the inner lining are made of plain fabric, no canvas or a strong material. That being the case they aren't liquid or spill proof; the material can be easily stained outside and, destroyed if any of the markers leaked inside. Also, the pouch has limited capacity as the fish tail is just decorative and does not hold anything, and the fish mouth has limited storage space.

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.

Aquarius Peanuts Snoopy Carry All Tin Lunch Box

This is a very lovely box made of good tin with Snoopy illustrations all over; those on the top lid are engraved. Really cute for children or adults alike, especially for those of us who love Snoopy. The best thing is that I can use this box for many storage purposes not just as a lunch box.

I bought this box to store some art supplies and small pieces of collage paper, so it's great for that. I love the fact that the handle can be tucked in flat and that the lid lock allows me to store the box vertically without fear of the contains getting out or the box self opening.

I have similar tin storage/lunch boxes and this one is a bit narrower and taller than the others I own.

A bit pricey for a tin box, but I'm sure the illustrations are copyrighted and that's part of the issue. Yet, it's value is very similar to other similar tin boxes out there.

I was a bit worried about the reviews re the lock being faulty and he box damaged. However, my tin box arrived in perfect conditions.

Fanta Pineapple Zero Sugar Soft Drink 6 x 250 ml

This is the first time I try this Fanta variety and the last one. I love the small size packaging, which makes the tins perfect to carry in lunch boxes or in my bag when I have to do errands around and don't want to spend money on drinks. The flavour tastes, to me, of those ampoules with medicine that my mother use to give me when I was a kid. A very chemical non-pineapple over-sweet flavour.

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