9/07/2022

Montana 45476 Ac Wide Empty Marker, 30mm

This is a great large grog marker with a very clean wide nib. The marker is intended to be refilled with the brand ink or with any other ink/high flow/pouring acrylic paint. I wanted this for my artwork, to make bold big marks and thick lines. It works beautifully for that. Also, the nib glides beautifully on all papers I have tried it on. The marker is cleverly designed. The opening instructions are on the barrel. The screw system is as simple as it gets; I had a bit of trouble opening it, though, due to the plastic being slightly glued on one of the sides, but this was easily fixable. There is an inner cap, with a pump system (a la Posca) to pump the ink/paint out, which also prevents any spilling. It has a small ball inside the barrel to keep the paint/ink liquid and prevent sedimentation. The cap is really safe too. On the downside, the price is high for an empty small marker.

9/06/2022

Touchfive A4 Letter-Size Portable Accordion Expanding File Folder

This is a very handy good-looking folder that I use to archive some of my A4 and A4+ mixed media works.

The materials are good overall. It has a sturdy exterior with a small pen pouch, a good quality zipper, and a very flexible accordion file structure. It comes with a sheet of coloured label stickers, enough to use twice. What shows on the promo photo as labels, is actually a demo cardboard written in Spanish, which you remove upon opening. The folder is quite light and can be easily filed vertically on any shelf. The stickers are easily stuck to the transparent labels in the inside and have very lovely colours.

The main downsides are, first, that the pouches are a bit tight, so I have to be careful when putting my watercolour paper sheets inside. This is less of a problem when I use standard A4 printing paper in. Besides, the sticker sheet, as per my photo, has an overgrowth of purples while I missed a more balance selection of hues.

8/18/2022

Vicks VapoRub 50 g

I got a viral infection recently and I was having problems sleeping due to my nose breathing being difficult and having a dry cough. This jar brings back so many memories from childhood that I thought I'd give it a try now, decades later. The smell is strong and pervasive, therefore, it stinks any clothes; that being the case, I used old worn out pajamas while applying the product. The rub really helped to keep my breath flow and to sleep better. It didn't help with my coughing, so I supplemented this with lozenges from the same brand. I noticed that rubbing the product on my chest wasn't enough, so I also rubbed it on my throat so the vapors would reach my mouth and nose, and there was a noticeable improvement. A little dollop goes a long way. Good value for money.

2x100 Sheets Japanese Chinese Calligraphy Rice Paper

I've used this paper for many months in my mixed media projects and is a great replacement for art tissue paper, which is way more expensive. This paper is great quality. It has a rugged face and a glazed one. The size is a bit over A4, so I trim it to use it in my ink-jet printer to print elements that I then integrate in my artwork. I use one sheet at a time, though, otherwise the paper gets jammed or just doesn't separate well. The paper prints beautifully even when using a normal printer and average settings. When I use it with matt medium, I have to be careful because, if I use the rugged side up it can rip apart, something that doesn't happen when I use the glazed side. This paper is a a bit thicker than tissue paper, too, so trimming the edges of any motif is important as, otherwise, there will be a 'halo'. I don't use this paper for calligraphy or with liquid ink, so I cannot comment on that. I buy this paper over and over again. Great value for money, too as this set cots just a little more than the single package.

8/05/2022

10pcs Empty Plastic Squeezable Liquid Dropper Filling Bottles Needle Tip Applicator

I love needle tip bottles as they're great for systemic writing and mark making in my artwork. I wasn't expecting these 30 ml bottles to fit heavy body acrylic paint in, for sure, but I have semi-fluid acrylics, quite runny. To my dismal, the bottle mouth is so narrow that it's extremely difficult to pour some of my acrylics in, so much so that I wasted lots of paint in the process. I first tried with a fitting mini funnel but it didn't work. Then, I tried by pulse, and no luck either. It might work well with inks or flow acrylics, but I don't own any of those. It is a pity because the bottles are good quality plastic and the tip is also good quality. Yet, they're worthless to fit in the many types of acrylic paints I own.

Mont Marte Flow Medium

I wanted a thinner to use with those bottles of paint that are getting too thick and dry, so adding a bit of this medium and shaking the bottle well works perfectly. I also use it to thin average acrylics so that they become liquid-ish still maintaining their pigmentation. I've never used this medium for flow acrylic painting, so I can't comment on that. It works well for me. It is a good size mini bottle, a little amount goes a long way, and it is great value for money.