3/19/2023

SASHIKO Thread Thin 40M Card - Yellow 204

I love this thread because of its quality and strength. This is the thin version of the thread; having used this brand thread in both thicknesses, I can say that I prefer the thicker version over this one. However, this is still an excellent thread, perfect for stitching and mending in general, and for Shashiko stitching in particular. I bought it to use it in my artwork on paper or small pieces of fabric and does the job; it's great for flat stitching, not as much as as for embroidery as it doesn't have the volume and thickness necessary for that. I love the flat bobbin format, as it's easy to put away, the thread does not get entangled and it has a rabbet to hold the thread tip neatly. Needless to say, I love this thread bright intense colour. 
 

3/12/2023

SASHIKO Thread Thick 30M Card - Grey 217


I love this thread because of the quality, strength and thickness of the thread. It's great for stitching in general and for stitching on paper particularly, something I do often in my artwork. I love the flat bobbin packaging, as it's easy to store away and the thread does not entangle. This thread is perfect for Sashiko stitching and any other decorative flat stitching, but not for embroidery stitching.

2/24/2023

Hallmark Paper Wonder Pop Up Card (Displayable Bouquet)

I have given this card to a dear co-worker who is leaving my workplace. She absolutely loved it. The colours are beautiful, the size perfect to have it displayed on a work desk, and, as it's fully 3d, it looks like a cute pot plant. It looks as pretty as in the photo. I also love this cute card and I will buy it again. The only downside is that the card round base needs to be pushed up and clicked to get the plant standing and click and down to be folded, but I have to do this carefully, especially in the latter case not to break the base. For the rest, a wonderful card

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.

2/19/2023

Dermal Therapy Hand Balm for Very Dry Hands 50g

I've been using this cream for several months already and it has become one of my top-three hand creams. I find that so many creams promise the heavens on the package promo but never deliver. This is not the case here. I have dry hands. They become drier when I paint as I use acrylics and my fingers, so they become extra-dry. A tiny dollop of this cream makes wonders for me. I've noticed that if I put too much, I get itchy hands, and that's because a small amount is just enough. The cream has a buttery consistency and the smell is gender neutral I'd say. It absorbs well, but it takes a couple of minutes for the buttery coat to be fully absorbed. First time I bought it, I noticed results in a couple of days, like my hands were way less drier. The tube is quite small and a bit pricey, but totally worth it.

2/05/2023

Wordsworth & Black Fountain Pen Set, Medium Nib, Silver-gold

This is a beautiful elegant gender-neutral fountain pen. It comes in a very giftable faux-leather box with a pack of complementary cartridges in black & blue ink. The instructions booklet is quite useful and very nicely printed on quality glossy paper. The pen comes with an inverter (rechargeable cartridge), but I always prefer the pre-filled cartridges. These are easy to insert; however, you have to wiggle them a bit before they click in. The fountain pen looks expensive and the metal body is made of good quality metal. Most importantly, it writes beautifully without spitting any ink. My only 'but' is it's a bit heavy for my hands. For the rest, it's is a great pen at a great price.

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.
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