Showing posts with label watercolor paper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watercolor paper. Show all posts

8/25/2024

Spiral-Bound 140lb/300gsm Cold-pressed Watercolour paper pad (26.5x26.5 cm, 20 sheet)

This large-ish pad is not only affordable and good looking but, most importantly, it has a terrific smooth watercolour paper. I've used it with Posca pens, collage, acrylic paints, water soluble materials, and stands most media without any gesso layer. Needless to say, I gesso the pages when I want to make sure that I can rub or lightly scratch the surface of my paintings. Acrylic inks will bleed if the pages are not gessoed.
 
I've  tried many watercolour pads and art journals as sketchbook, and this one is at the top of my list due to its quality and price. The only downside is the fact that I cannot open the spiral rings, which is a bit of an annoyance as I'd like to do that to work on each sheet individually without worrying about how to protect the pad from staining. Yet, I've found my way, and this is still a great sketchbook pad for watercolour, water-soluble media and acrylic paints of different viscosity.  

8/14/2024

Paul Rubens Hot-Pressed 50%-Cotton 300gsm Watercolor Journal (Pink, 5.2’’ x 3.8’’)

This is the second small journal I buy from this brand. I reviewed a slightly different journal in the past. This version has some of the design deficiencies I criticised in the other version sorted out.

The most important thing is that this journal has a wonderful thick smooth watercolour paper that is great for both watercolour and mixed media. I always gesso my pages with either white or transparent gesso, which protects the paper, gives it some tooth and allows me to apply wet media or scratch the paper a bit without any worry.
 
The satin pink cover is really pretty and girly; not the best quality but befitting the price.  I'm happy that this journal does not have the awkward inner pocket the other has because the journal opens/closes more naturally. The journal comes with the promised elastic band, which is necessary to keep all the sheets together once they've all been torn apart.
 
The main downside is that the dotted tearing indentation is not consistent throughout the journal pages, and some of them are badly punctured. That being the case, the tearing is not always clean and neat.
 
For the rest, a great mini journal for experimenting, doing small paintings or just as a travel sketchbook. The separated pages make great postcards too.

5/01/2024

Strathmore 400 Series, 12"x12" Cold Press Watercolor Pad, 12 Sheets

Strathmore watercolour paper has always impressed me because of the quality of their products and the good quality/prize ratio. This is also the case here.

 This pad has a great size for beginners, not too big or too small. The tone and texture of the paper are excellent. I use it mostly for mixed media, mostly working with acrylics, and I do nasty things to the paintings (rubbing, scratching, wiping). Yet, the paper resists almost everything and it is very forgiving. I always gesso the paper before working on it.

Perhaps not as good as other brands, but this is one of my watercolour paper pads staples.

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.