3/05/2022

Kaisercraft Colour Acrylic Paint, Sage

I have many of these tubes. Needless to say, they aren't acrylic. They're cheap gouaches. However, the pigments are great and they are great value for money. Great for beginners on a budget. The sage colour is really pretty, especially when dry, but I have noticed that this tube is way runnier than other pigments. I've used this straight from the tube, without mixing it with water, and it has poor coverage and is really watery. Due to being water-based, the pigment dries lighter than the colour you get fresh from the tube.

3/03/2022

Arteza Eraser Pencil with Brush and Sharpener Set

I have mixed feelings about this eraser. To be frank, I expected this to be excellent, because Arteza is a reputed arts supplier. However, this pack didn't match my expectations.

THE GOOD
> The rubber part is excellent and removes graphite traces that other good-brand erasers don't.
> These pencils are really perfect to erase small areas and for shading/ highlighting.
> I initially thought that the sharpener was unnecessary, as I have plenty of similar sharpeners. However, this one is especially designed to sharpen rubber and, after using it, I've realised that this is the one that sharpens the rubber perfectly.
> The brush is perfect to remove eraser/graphite dust.
> Good value for money as there are FIVE pencil erasers with attached brush plus the sharpener.

NOT SO GOOD
> When sharpening the eraser, part of it is wasted.
> If, by any chance, you use the sharpener a a bit over, the fine point rubber will break and it will be wasted.
> The brush is too stiff. I would rather have one stand alone medium quality brush than one bad one attached to each pencil.
> Due to the rubber waste mentioned above, these pencils last less than smaller fine push-up erasers.

2/27/2022

Suneke Blue & White Porcelain Paper Napkins, 20 Count (33×33cm)

These are artistic good quality paper napkins, They're quite large, have two layers and are true to the product photos. Perfect for fancy picnics, high tea or to use them when you have visitors. I use them mostly for decoupage, as a cluster image (by selecting one of the printed areas) or as background for some of my mix media collages. Pricey, but I'm very much in love with these. The back layer is easy to peal off. I specially like the blue and white bird item, but all of the ones I have purchased are fabulous and mini artistic pieces on their own.

Zelten Hedgehog Sloth Paper Napkins, 20 Count (33×33cm)

These are artistic good quality paper napkins. They're quite large, have two layers of tissue paper and the prints are good quality. They're perfect to impress your guests. I use them mostly for decoupage, as visual element accents in my mix-media collages, or as background piece for some of them. The Amazon-themed napkins are just stunning.

Kaisercraft KAKC002 Kaiser Colour Acrylic Paint, Antique White

I'm a fan of these acrylic water-soluble brand and tubes. I consider this more a gouache than a proper acrylic, though. It is a great product for beginners at a very affordable price, and the tube it has a generous amount of paint in it. The paint is a bit more liquid than other similar acrylics I own and the hue changes a bit when dry.

This antique white colour is just beautiful on its own and perfect to mix with skin colour hues and get a more natural look. It is a white warm, not beige, but it has a hint of beige. Actually, if I had to give it a name that perfectly describes the colour, I would say 'vanilla', as it looks like the colour vanilla ice-cream usually has.

The thing I don't like about this tube is that the top cap and base are too small and thin, respectively, to hold the tube vertically, so I have to store this horizontally and, this being the case, it takes a lot of space.

Kaisercraft KAKC017 Colour Acrylic Paint, Navy Blue

I'm a fan of these Kaisercraft gouache/water-soluble acrylic paint tubes, as they're reasonably good for the price and have a decent quantity of product in them.

I usually find the name the brand gives to the colours accurate as it reflects the known colour or it rightly hints to what we can expect. However, in this case I find that the blue is not navy blue, it is too light for that. The thing is, on the exterior, it actually looks like navy-blue, but the paint itself does not, as per my swatches above. On the other hand, this blue is just wonderful and can be diluted to get lighter blue tones as per my photo above.

MIND
> Liquid body not medium or heavy body acrylic. Almost a glaze.
> This is a water-soluble acrylic. I read this as a gouache, which is OK with me.
> The colour changes considerably when dry, this is because of the water-soluble nature of it.
> The tube cannot be placed vertically due to the cap being tiny, so it has to be stored horizontally.

2/20/2022

CrafTreat French Script and Floral Decoupage Paper for Crafts A4 , 8 sheets

I am very pleased with this set of decoupage paper. Good quality paper, printing quality and good value for money as decoupage paper is usually very expensive and you have 8 A4 sheets in this pack. The images are all vintage, but there are two clearly different styles, one if floral, and the other is textual. I like all the images, but the two sheets with small flowers are too busy. The paper reacts well with gel matte medium and Mod Podge. Overall a great set