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Review: Palomino Blackwing Pencils

I have been holding out on getting one of the oft lauded Palomino Blackwing pencils. I don’t know why I held out for so long. All my friends said they were great and I knew I loved the Palomino pencils I already owned.  I snagged a couple from a friend just to see what they were all about and not sure what to expect. I’m not going to go into the history of the pencil, you can read all about that here. I suspected going into this that this would be a good review. I've got many other Palomino pencils and I really enjoy their velvety smooth graphite core.

When I opened the package they were secured in some bubble wrap. When I peeled that away I was presented with some very unique looking pencils. The black paint on the Blackwing was matte and a nice black. the printing of the logo was crisp, though not indented and I could see where it was starting to flake off already. That doesn’t matter to me but occasionally I’ll notice a fleck of gold on my hand as I use the pencil. Like fairy dust...

The part of the pencil’s look that is the most noticeable is the ferrule that holds the eraser and the eraser itself. The Blackwing comes with a rectangular white plastic eraser set into a rectangular ferrule that turns round to attach to the pencil itself. It’s pretty cool and totally unique. (Of course the history lesson here will tell you it’s NOT unique, but I shall only say here, it’s unique to the market TODAY.) The eraser is easily removed and replaced should you wear it down to a nubbin. You can buy a 12-pack in white, pink, or black. I found the white eraser to work but was not the most effective eraser. I rarely use erasers on the end of my pencils but I found myself using these because they are cool.

The pencil sharpened easily with my KUM long point sharpener. It held that point through a sketching session without breaking at any pressure. The graphite was smooth and dark. Not a scratchy bit to be found during any of my sketching times. Light pressure yielded a nice result and heavy pressure a deep dark mark. Variation in tone was easily possible simply through varying my pressure and layering.

I also had a pair of Blackwing 602 pencils in my package. These have a nice gray paint job and black erasers. The graphite was slightly harder and lighter. It was just as smooth as the regular Blackwing. The black eraser seemed to be slightly gritty but erased much better than the white erasers. Sharpening was a breeze and thought I filled pages in my sketchbook I had no breaks nor crumbles.

I also did a little writing with these pencils, just because I had to. Little pressure produced a nice line. The regular blackwing produced a nice dark line even with little pressure. The 602 needed to be sharpened less often. Both were silky smooth to use.

Overall these 2 pencils are amazing for sketching or writing. They are attention grabbing that’s for sure. I know I saw someone in the coffee shop eyeing my pencils, so I made sure they were secured when I stepped away...

You can get these pencils from the European Paper Company here.

I purchased these pencils for review, they were not provided to me by European Paper Company, however if you purchase them through the provided link I will be compensated.

Review: Xtras for Creative Learning

This past Saturday I went to Xtras for Creative Reuse. It’s this place where you pay a small membership fee ($5) and then you can buy a full grocery bag full of stuff for $8. They have other membership levels taht allow you to buy full carts of stuff or several bags at a time. They get off cuts and useful waste from businesses and other things. They had the leftovers from an entire office that closed down, from footrests to paperclips. They also had leftover and miss embroidered items from a shop that makes patches. Large sheets of paper, fabrics and yarn. It’s basically a massive junk shop. If you think like me, it’s a toy shop.

To get there I had to travel into Lynn, MA and down a few side streets to a spot just off the Lynnway. I should have shot a few pics of the building. It was one of the huge old industrial buildings with high ceilings and 100 years of history. It was attractive in that old factory warehouse kind of way. The area is kinda rough and like much of Lynn kind of run down. Once I climbed the 3 flights of stairs to their suite I was surrounded by stuff. All kinds of great recycled cast off stuff. Entire offices had been dumped into this place, all of it mine for the taking provided I could stuff it into the shopping bag they provided. There was loads of old Reebok schwag, the kind of stuff company employees are given to make them feel good.

I found all kinds of great stuff for my art. If you have a place like Xtras near you you should check it out.

Next time I'm there I'll snag some pics.

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Review: Piccadilly Primo Journal

I was happy to see that Barnes & Noble has picked up the Piccadilly line of notebooks after the closing of Borders. On a whim I picked up an orange colored medium Primo Journal. The primo journals come in orange, black, brown, blue, teal and red. Not all of the colors are available at B&N. They only come lined. The book is 4.5x6.75 inches in size and ¾ of an inch thick. This size fits perfectly into my jacket pockets. It is smythe sewn so it will open flat and be relatively sturdy.

The covers are a rubbery textured vinyl imprinted with a grid pattern of imprinted of squares. The vinyl is glued to a flexible fibery material that feels substantial and comfortable in hand. The cut of the covers is not totally square to the imprinted texture. The covers are not well glued either. A small amount of glue stick stuck it back in place. Holding the journal shut is a round off white elastic that is threaded through two holes in the spine. The elastic as it came was loose. Getting it tighter was as easy as pulling the elastic through the spine and tying a knot in the elastic. The place marker is the same color as the cover. It is not glued in place well and came loose as I opened and closed the journal. It was an easy repair with a little white glue.

The paper is relatively heavy and smooth. The lines are blue gray and not obtrusive. The color is a warm cream color. It’s easy on the eyes. gel ink, roller balls, and micro points do well on the smooth paper. Fountain pens fair less well. Ink glides on smoothly. I tested a variety of pens and nibs including a Pilot Prera M with Quink blue ink, a TWSBI 530 M with Diamine Chocolate ink, a Kaweco Sport M with Noodler’s Heart of Darkness. All inks and nibs feathered in the same weird spidery way they feather on a Moleskine. The larger nibs had plenty of show through and some soak through. I tested the inks on both sides of the page. One side was definitely smoother and showed less soak and show through than the other side.




The medium was $6.35 including taxes. Which I don’t see as a bad price for 288 pages of decent paper. With fine nibs the feathering isn’t a deal breaker, especially given the price. I really like the feel of the rubberized and flexible cover. This is a budget friendly journal good for scrawling down novel ideas or grocery lists. buying a journal for less than $10 isn't going to get you the kind of great quality spending $20 on a Rhodia webbie will get you but this is not a bad journal for the price.

Review: Pro Caulk

Over the last few weeks I’ve been using a unique tool to smooth down my collage bits. Usually I use a bone folder for this task but I’ve found something new. A month or so ago I picked up a set of those “as seen on TV” procaulk tools. The little blue rubber widgets that you use when you want to smooth out a bead of silicone caulking around your tub or shower. They are wonderful for that particular task. After it’s dried caulking peels off with ease.

After I used the procaulk tools for their intended task I threw them on my art desk intending to put them in the garage. They now have a permanent place on my art desk. When I use them to smooth out collage pieces glued down with anything- wet glue, glue stick, etc... They don’t mar the surface or change the texture of the piece. My bone folder will often leave a collage element shiny looking. Procaulk tools don’t.


Glue, modpodge, gel medium and glue stick peel off the tools after the glue has dried. That makes clean up super easy.

They are also awesome for scraping paint across a page or off a page. I’ve never applied a thinner amount of paint than I have with these. I can also scrape through paint to bare paper.


These weird blue as-seen-on-TV doodads are awesome. I picked mine up at home depot for about $7.

Review: Sargent Watercolor Magic Liquid Watercolors

I picked these up ages ago on a whim at Artist and Craftsman. I got a 6 pack of colors- red, yellow, blue, green, violet and black. One ounce of each color in a squeeze bottle with a flip top. Some of the colors are labeled with their name, others are not. The 6 pack is not available on their website, but the 4 ounce bottles are about $3 each. I think I paid about $7 for the 6 pack. Not a bad deal for wanting to try out the colors. For those of you who are metallic freaks, they have a line of these with loads of shimmer and metallic goodness, also inexpensive.

The good, the color is intense and concentrated. It slathers on the page smoothly and blends well. The colors in my box eloquently named red, yellow, blue and violet mix to make a variety of other lovely colors. They also blend when a wet brush is applied over a dried area of paint. They suggest that you can mix them with up to 4 parts water to extend them. I like them as is straight out of the tube. So bright!
These do not need to be shaken, there is no sediment in the bottom of the bottles. This tells me that the paint is dye based and not likely to be lightfast. This is fine for my use in an art journal but I would not use it on work that I’d be selling. Like spray inks? These could go into a spray bottle without fear of clogging.
The great thing about these is that they are so easy to use, a few drops on a palette and a damp brush later you’ve got loads of bright vibrant color. They are also very inexpensive so you won’t feel guilty about buying them and using them.

Review: Caran d'ache Metallic Watersoluble Pencils

These pencils have a very hard lead that wears well but lays down a decent amount of color for such a hard lead. Once applied they had a lovely metallic appearance, until I applied water. All metallic shimmery goodness disappeared when I used water to move the pigment. At that point they became sort of dull dark colors on the page. I tried blending them with other watercolors but to no avail. Even when I applied them to a wet page the shimmer wasn’t there as it was when they were wet.

I used these for a few accents here and there through my art journal. They were great for a hint of metal here and there so long as I avoided working with water over them.

Price point on these is about $10 for 6 pencils. That’s a lot of money for a pencil you can only use dry if you want the shimmer than should be there and is a rather boring color once you hit them with water.

Review: Derwent Inktense Pencils

In finally got my hands on some Inktense. I’ve heard nothing but great things about them. Maybe because all I’d heard was great, I was left a little underwhelmed.

First the colors are not named after typical artist colors, so we’ve got grass green and apple red instead of sap green or  alizarin crimson. This causes me to look around more than I want to for a color I want. It can also lead to some unfortunate color ,mixes. If I were to buy a tin of these I’d have to do a test to see how each of the colors would mix with one another, just so I would know what would make mud and what would not. The colors are also very bright, jewel toned in hue.

The good thing about these is that once you wet them, the color is set in place. No matter of water or scrubbing will move them or blend them. They layer really really well. I found it took way more effort to wet the dry marks and move the wet color around than with other watercolor pencils. In the end I tried a nylon bristled brush and was more vigorous in my effort. Even with that effort I found the marks made as I drew with the pencils stayed. if I were to use Inktense on a regular basis I’d make sure to create a texture or pattern.

I probably won’t buy a tin of these pencils, maybe a few singles  of specific colors. I can't think of a time when I’d use  them on a regular basis where regular watercolors won’t do the trick. The price point on these is about $1.75 per pencil. They are also available in blocks form. Which I might like more than the pencils.


Just as an aside I’ve read on multiple forums and blogs that the inktense are not lightfast, so something to consider if you are creating art for the wall.

Review: Derwent AquaTone Woodless Watercolor pencil

Jane and I had an art day. I went over to her place with some of my materials and she dragged out her materials and we tested them all out. One of those materials was the AquaTone woodless watercolor pencils.

They had a nice smooth texture as I used them on dry paper, laying down a nice even amount of color. When I used a wet brush on them they completely dissolved with a little scrubbing action. The colors moved around the page well. Used on wet paper the pencil lay down a generous amount of pigment and are still moveable with a wet brush.  

The colors are mostly named after traditional artist colors- burnt umber, scarlett lake, etc... The colors blend well. Cost is a touch higher than other watercolor pencils, around $22 for a 12 piece tin. The size of the pencil is quite generous, they are slightly longer than most colored pencils and the same diameter without the wood casing. I think the size and lack of wood makes up for the price.

I really enjoyed using these pencils, the nice texture and size make them a winner in my book.

Review: KUM Oval Pencil Shapener- 2 Hole

This is a compact brightly colored jelly bean shaped sharpener with a shaving receptacle. There are 2 holes- one for oversized pencils and one for regular sized pencils. The point delivered by the smaller of the 2 holes is relatively long, while the large hole delivers a short stubby point. the receptacle for shavings doesn’t hold a lot, but saves you from having to visit the trash every time you sharpen a pencil. Instead you’ll empty it every 3 or 4 times.


I enjoy it’s cheerful bright color and the fact that I can find it’s bright orange jelly bean shape on my messy art desk, or in the pocket of my bag. The holes have a convenient little cover that slides in and out. The cover prevents dust and spills from occurring in transport. A nifty idea and one that works remarkably well.


Should the blades on the sharpener get dull you can buy new blades, pull the sharpener out and replace them. The 2 hole oval sharpener body will accept a replacement sharpener.


I’m pretty happy with this little sharpener. I purchased it specifically for sharpening my colored pencils but I like the point it leaves on other pencils. The cost for this sharpener was $3.58. HIgh when compared to other less well made sharpeners. I’m a firm believer that you get what you pay for in sharpeners. The blades on my KUM sharpeners last for hundreds of pencils where I’ve had cheap sharpeners die after one or 2 pencils. I also like the fact that I can replace the blades as they dull.

I expect this sharpener to last a good long time.

Review: Colored Pencils

I’m working on the Journal Fodder 365 challenge over on my ning site. Feel free to go and join the group here. Good stuff. One of the things the JFJ suggest that I hardly ever use and didn’t have in my arsenal are colored pencils. I have some, but not many and a few select colors. I haven’t used CP in years. So at a recent trip to A&C I picked up a few singles of a variety of colors form a range of brands. I’ve used a few different brands of CP extensively- Prismacolor, Prang large core and Palomino. All are good, feature a large creamy core of intense color. I prefer CP that lay down a large quantity of color with ease. I despise Col-erase CP by Prismacolor.

I picked up the following: Koh-i-nor tricolor, Koh-i-nor progresso woodless, and Faber-Castell polychrome. The progresso woodless were the least expensive and are available at a variety of locations, so you can buy them with a coupon. The tricolor were in the middle in terms of price and are slightly less available but I have seen them at AC Moore. The Polychrome were the most expensive  and least accessible in that I don’t think I’ve ever seen them anywhere but A&C and Blick.

The progresso pencil was the most surprising of all. It’s lower price point led me to believe it would be the worst of the group. It was far from it. The lead was well pigmented and I was able to put down a  nice swath of color with ease and even pressure. The point wore well. It sharped with ease in a standard sharpener. The only problem I found with the progresso pencil was that if you drop them the colored core fractures and pressure will snap the pencil into pieces. I found this to be annoying but at the same time not a huge deal.


The Tri-color were the sturdiest pencils of the lot, I never broke the lead, even with heavy handed pressure. The thick wooden triangular barrel keeps the lead safe. The color was slightly weaker than the other 2 pencils. It also needed to be sharpened with a knife. I know it has a specialized sharpener but I didn’t purchase one. These would be a great pencil to use with kids, as they are super tough.
The polychrome was the best performer. Laying down a swath of color was no problem, it practically leapt to the page. And the color once applied was intense and smooth. The core on these pencils is the thinnest of the 3 purchased, so in addition to being the most expensive option it’s the lowest value. However the intensity of color is superb and the best of the lot. These are clearly artist grade and perform close to what I remember to be Prismacolor performance, a gold standard in my book.

I was surprised by all these pencils. I expected at least one of them to suck- be too hard, pale or a waste of money. Any of these pencils would be a good value. With the 12 pack of the progresso woodless being about $7 without coupon they take the crown of best bang for your buck. They also have the most amount of lead- in that the pencil has no wood, so its all color. The tricolor was slightly less soft and creamy, taking a little more effort to get pigment on the page, but still not a bad value. The polychrome was the best performer but the most expensive,

Per pencil price at A&C:
Progresso: $.57
Triocolor: $1.85
Polychrome: $2.43

Review: Faber Castell Gelato

I’d heard  a lot about Faber Castell’s Gelatos. I’d heard they were like a tube of smooshy rich watercolor. So I had to try them out. I went small and bought a 2 pack. The only packs the local Michael’s had were either 8 packs or 2 packs. The 8 packs are all matching tones in one shade or another, the 2 packs were the blending shades to mix with the colors. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the 8 packs and the 2 pack was only $3.50 and I had a coupon.

The tubes are hard plastic and hold a water soluble substance that feels a lot like chapstick, which makes sense that it’s in a chapstick-like tube. No holds barred, I went straight into my art journal and slopped some white onto a spot that I wanted to bring the neighboring area into prominence while blending the color back.

Once on the page I found the white was nicely opaque, thought it took a decent amount of product to get that result. I really liked the look of the product straight out of the tube, but found that without adding water it smudged with ease. Adding some water kept a lot of the opaqueness of the product but cut it’s greasy slick texture.

For those of you who like to stick your fingers into paint, these are nontoxic. I have not had a chance to test them for lightfastness, but will do so soon.

They lay down in a greasy thick and smooth feeling, not unlike writing on a wall with high quality lipstick... I’ll be honest after so many rave reviews I was expecting... MORE. Instead I was left feeling underwhelmed. The plastic tube is brilliant marketing for adults who don’t want to get their fingers dirty with Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels. They also have a more adult appearance than Portfolios, a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. They are also packaged in a way that will appeal to adults.

Underwhelmed is a good way to express how I feel about these. I’m not a fan of Portfolios. They are close enough to watersoluble crayons that I don’t see a reason to add them to my art arsenal. Instead I’ll stock up on more watersoluble crayons. I do like the white though for it’s opaqueness.

Review Redux: Davis Leatherworks Simple Notebook Cover

I've been using the Davis Leatherworks simple notebook cover for a little over a month now. Per usual I've put it through its paces and found it to put up with my abuses very well.

First off in the hot summer I was walking a lot on the weekends. On days when I didn't want to bring my bag with me it went in my right hip pocket. Since it was hot and I was walking... It occasionally got sweaty. Add to the sweat that I was constantly holding it in my left hand as I sketched the color of the leather has darkened dramatically. There are scuff marks from my pen rubbing under the elastic.

The leather itself is slightly softer than when I got it and its worn ever so slightly to the shape of my hip pocket. Since I don't keep it there often I'm sure that if I did it would be perfectly shaped.

All in all I'm very happy with my purchase but wished I'd opted to get one to fit 2 notebooks as that better fits my usage than a single notebook. Well worth the money spent.

Toner Transfer Journal Junky Style

The Journal Junkies use toner transfers in their journals. I'm always jealous of well done toner transfers, as mine have almost always failed. Goof off is the first product I've used that gives great results. Watch the video, and work in a well ventilated area away from flames.

 

Lightfast Test #2

Pens tested:

• Sharpie Brush Pens- Green, Purple, Blue
• Copic Cad Yellow Brush Pen
• Zig Clean Color Brush Pen: Bright Yellow, Prussian Blue, Green
• Uniball Signo DX .28 Bright Blue, Black .18, .28, .38
• Several Create-a-color 5.5mm Leads

 

Method:
I drew lines, scribbles, and a block of color on acid free archival paper. The page was cut in half. the loose page was placed in a south facing window that gets full sun for the majority of the day.I placed the sheet in the window on August 30th, 2012. I took it down on September 13th, 2012.

Let’s start with the good. There was no color shift in any of the Create-a-color leads. No worries there. The Uni-ball pens also had no color shift, not even the bright blue color. The gris Nuage ink by J Herbin also showed no signs of color shifting. This is a second test for this ink. I like to affirm my previous tests, just in case.

The bad. Let’s start with the Sharpies. Sharpie makes no lightfastness claims. They don’t even bother with claiming their markers are archival. No claims, no surprises. The green had major color loss. The purple was mostly magenta after 2 weeks. The blue showed off some major color loss and change. This was all expected. These are not lightfast. Do not consider it archival and do not use it in finished art.

The next on my list of bad is the Copic Cad Yellow marker. In the art world Cad Yellow is not considered a fugitive color. In fact if you find a painting with cad yellow in it from 200 years ago, that color is likely to be still true to the day it was placed, depending on where it was stored yada yada yada. The copic yellow marker had a major color shift in 2 weeks and lost much of it brightness. What was left was a pale yellow ghost. In some areas, where I’d had a light touch the color was completely gone. The layered areas also showed color change and loss. The Copic marker is not lightfast. Do not consider it archival, do not use it in finished art.

The next series of markers that are in the bad category were the Zig Clean Color Brush markers. Zig makes a great deal of archival markers for the scrapping market. I had to test them. In 2 weeks the color of the bright yellow was completely gone. As in a shadow remained, as in you couldn’t  tell a color had been there, unless you already knew. The Prussian blue and the green showed a great deal of color shift and loss. The black, perhaps the most disappointing of all, turned purple and was well on it’s way to disappearing. Zig does not advertise the Clean Color markers as archival, light fast or even acid free; simply watebased. As such I’m sure I can say with confidence that you shouldn’t consider them any of the above either. Again, don’t use these in finished art pieces.

What does this all mean? You can go ahead and use these in your art journal and sketchbook- any place that will be kept out of sunlight, but be aware that these could shift color if exposed to any strong sunlight, really for any period of time. Let’s face it, even in the summer Massachusetts  sun is not considered all that tough and tougher pigments and dyes often outlast it. I’d also caution you to be aware of buying art from people who use Copics in their finished pieces, they were initially made for the marketing world, where finished art is often tossed after it’s been photographed. The markers did not need to be lightfast. Now that people are using them for other art, Copic should really consider making their markers lightfast.

Review: China Marker

In college I took a figure drawing summer course. The professor came up from the Savannah School of art to enjoy the Maine summer and teach 3 classes: figure drawing and 2 sections of monotype. In the figure drawing class he carried a simple china marker. He would, after asking permission draw on top of our sketches with his china marker. Je liked them because they wrote over everything, leaving behind a bold line. It also helped that they were dirt cheap. I don't remember what brand he used but he carried a variety of colors, red, blue and black.

A few weeks back I was in Artist and Craftman and found a cup full of them in a variety of colors, around 70 cents each. I  picked up a white and a yellow. The yellow is lightfast and I'd assume the white to be as well.

I've been using these on toned pages to add some delicate colors back into my ink drawings. They  look a lot like chalk but aren't dusty or smudgey.These are a great way for art journalers to add white to a page when they don't want the look of a ultra fine line pen.

I found multicolor 12 packs on amazon for less than $10.

Review: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen

I like Kuretake waterbrushes so I thought these might be neat. I order 4 colors: yellow, green, blue and black from Jetpens. Pricing was $3.30 per pen. I do not know if these are available anywhere else. They come in single colors from Jetpens as well as a larger package that has an attractive hard translucent case.

I got a mix of styles of these pens, some new and some old style. The new style has a clear cap and a matching color section on the pen itself. While the old style has a grey section and a color cap to match the color of the pen. I have to say I like the clear caps better, they simply look sharper. Not all of my pens came shrink wrapped. I think this is a just a matter of new and old stock being mixed in the same bin and it was no big deal.

The brushes aren’t as springy as say my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen or even my Kuretake waterbrushes but they provided a nice fine to broadline. The ink is watersoluble and when adding water to it you can get some really nice watercolor like effects. My favorite part of these were how well they responded to water.

The colors on their own are deep and bold. They don’t layer well, though they are mostly transparent. They just don’t mix well, which is sad, because they have so much potential to be a really cool sketching tool. If I could layer the blue and yellow and green to get various shades of color it would add another layer of depth. I did mix them with water and found that each color did mix to give a sort of primary school like color blend. A search found that there are 95 differnt colors available, many shades of the colors of I purchased. With a few more colors I'm pretty sure these would make for an expesive but complete sketching option.

Instead of using these like watercolors I decided to approach them like alcohol markers, layering them in bright bold colors, much like I did with the sharpie brush markers. The effect is much like with any brush marker, bright and bold, lots of great line weight and essentially looking pretty good. In another instance I worked them like watercolors and was pleased with the results. The ink really moves around on the page well.

These had a lot of variation in the amount of ink applied, when moving really fast I was able to get some nice texture from the paper.

I do not know if these are lightfast or not. I’ve got a card up in a window so I’ll know in a month or 2. I expect major color shifting across the week. In a month I expect major color loss as well. I do not expect these to be lightfast, though I know that other ZIG markers are lightfast. These are not made for the American market so it could be that they simply do not label them as such.


I like these, but like any brush marker they are for sketching only, at least until I know they are lightfast. I do really enjoy sketching with them. You get clean consistent color without fading like when you mix your own watercolors. If you get it on your hands it washes right off. The way the ink applies is great for landscapes and figure drawing. The pen is not refillable.

All that being said I find I’m being pulled in by these big bold colors. I’ve been working black and white or with lots of crazy color lately, these pens will add fuel to the crazy color fire  I’ve been burning.

Review: Sharpie Brush Markers

I purchased a few Sharpie brush tip markers to play around with after trying the prismacolor brush markers a few weeks back at the Sketchbook Project. For $1.50 each they were a great way to get my Jetpens order over the $25 mark for free shipping. YAY!

Out of the envelope they look a lot like any other Sharpie, a little chunkier and with some grooves on the cap. The end is hollowed out and there is a ring around the end of the marker. This lets the cap click onto the marker when you post it. Smart. Without posting the marker I found it a tad short to use. Posted it was just right. The markers are light weight.

The marker tip is short, relatively stiff, yet pretty responsive at the tip. It’s not as springy as a Prismacolor or Copic brush tip but it does the job. I did a few quick sketches with the markers in my Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook. The paper is a slight cold press finish. The Copic and Prismacolor handle this paper without complaint, the Sharpie is already looking fuzzy. I will admit to being less gentle with my brush tip markers, but in my opinion that’s exactly what these cry out for. Instead of drawing with brush tip markers I try to paint with them.


So that brings me to my next round of inspection, layering. Copic and Prismacolor markers are designed to layer over one another to build up color, so it’s much like working with watercolors. Sharpies tend to stand on their own. Each layer of color turns the tone darker and darker, without subtle shading. Sharpie brush markers are best for bold expressive shouts of color. Finding a Sharpie brush marker in yellow proved to be an impossible task, unless one buys the set of 12. *sigh* So I bought a Copic sketch in yellow.

These will write on just about anything, just  like a regular Sharpie. They do seem a tad juicier than regular Sharpies, so might be a good choice for acrylic paint. Just be aware that if you write over gesso with these you’re pretty much going to scrub that brush tip. I found these really fun for fast observations and sketches. The 2 sketches I’ve shown here took all of 10 minutes each. These brush tips really allowed me to lay down a lot of color fast. You’ll notice there isn’t a lot of subtlety though. Sharpies lay down bright bold lines and lots of ink.


These are a great choice for someone who doesn’t want to invest in Copics or Prismacolors but wants that brush tip marker experience, they just need to be away it’s not going to be quite as good. Keep in mind they are probably not lightfast and are certainly not archival. Get them online at Jetpens.

Review: Davis Leather Notebook Cover 3.5x5.5

Chris Davis who I met through twitter and the face experiment has started a leather working studio. I've bartered with him for a leather pen pouch that I've been using now for 2 years. It's covered in ink and battered but his leather work has stood up to my abuse. I was very interested when I saw him posting a variety of nice things on his facebook page. I decided to jump when I saw him diving into the fray of notebook covers. You know I've made my own and use it on a daily basis. I keep anywhere from 3 to 6 notebooks shoved in mine.

The Davis Notebook Cover or DNC from now on, is designed to hold one notebook of the 3.5x5.5 pocket sized variety. Things like Field Notes, Moleskine Cahiers, and my jotters. And it does it well and with style. The DNC uses what look like black rubber o-rings to hold the notebook into the center of the flap of leather with some notches cut to hold it. Attached to the holder o-ring is another o-ring that slips over the notebook to hold it shut. Both do their jobs well. If you are worried about the longevity of rubber o-rings Davis Leather will send you news o-rings free of charge.

The leather is amazingly nice. When I opened up the bag I could smell leather. I admit I took a deep sniff of it. Yeah, nice. My DNC is whiskey tan colored and it is a warm reddish brown that is only going to get nicer as I handle it and beat it up. It's stiff enough to not flop around. He uses a really nice leather. It slips in and out of my back pocket with ease and really protects the notebook inside. I've had it only for a short while and I'm already in love. It is perfectly sized for one notebook.

I, of course, immediately added a second Field Notes*, one for sketching and one for writing. It handles this very well but is tight. There is no way I could get a 3rd in there. An additional 1/4 inch of leather on either side and it would hold 3 perfectly.

An even better part of this is that Davis has priced the DNC at a price where everyone can afford it. It was $15 +$3 shipping. If you've been worried about your notebooks getting beatten up in your bag, purse, or pocket this is a stylish and affordable solution to your battered notebook woes. Better yet it fills the hole for single notebook covers that is left between the Midori Traveller and the Pelle. Find his work on etsy and facebook.My recomendation is that if you want one of these, you buy it fast, I doubt this price is going to last. (Also like his FB page, he's got a coupon code going for his FB fans.)

*I used my rubberband method to add the 2nd notebook. See it here.

 

 

Review: Stillman and Birn Gamma Series

I came home a week ago and found on my doorstep a package. I was pretty surprised to have gotten a package since I had no recollection of ordering anything. Instead I’d been sent a box of Stillman and Birn sketchbooks for my use. I considered secretly hoarding these away and not telling anyone anything about them, I reconsidered and decided to make my gain yours as well by reviewing each and every sketchbook. I know, tough job, but someone needs to do it. (Please imagine me acting faint with my hand to my forehead for added drama.)

I’m reviewing the case bound Gamma series and I’m not going to mince words here, these are the best sketchbooks I’ve ever used. The paper is a heavy 100lb and ivory in color with a slight texture. The sleeve states it can take “light washes” of watercolor and is good for a variety of materials. I found all that to be true, plus it handled heavy applications of watercolor like a champ.

The covers of the case bound gamma are super tough and very sturdy. They hold up well to sketching in the hand while standing. Though it’s humid here they remain flat. The binding is perfect. I can find no flaws with it. The thread matches the paper color so blends in well and is not noticeable. The stitching is the same sort of binding that Moleskine sketchbooks use, smythe sewing. This also with some work allows this sketchbook to sit VERY flat. It does take some work to get it to open perfectly flat. That work is as simple as opening the sketch book up over and over again and touching the 2 covers to one another. Easy.

What I really like is how good everything looks on the paper. The warm color really shows off earthy colors and tones down bright colors. Watercolor layers on this paper wonderfully. It also lifts well. Nothing soaks through

It’s really nice to work in a sketchbook where I’m not constantly battling the paper with either my ink or watercolor. It’s nice to lay down a wash and KNOW how it will respond to either more color or to water being used to lift that color. I know that if I add more lines to the page how that ink will respond. While I adore my cheapo canson blue book for hashing out ideas and mind mapping, using paper I don’t have to fight with is the whole reason i got into bookbinding so many years ago. If Stillman and Birn had been around in 1998 I never would have started making books.

You can get them at EuropeanPaper.com Not sponsored just a happy winner of a sketchbook from them.

Review: Platinum Carbon Black

I picked up a bottle of Platinum Carbon Black ink from a new vendor, Gumwater, more on them at the end of the review. When the ink arrived on my doorstep I immediately cleaned out my fine nibbed TWSBI 540 fountain pen and loaded it up. I found the ink to be black, very very black. It’s relatively well behaved on all my sketchbook papers with some minor soak and show through on my Field Notes, but that is to be expected with Field Notes. I didn’t notice feathering on any of paper that I’ve tested it on so far.

I did notice some lift when I was putting a watercolor wash over the top of it. I suspect this is because it hadn’t dried fully. What little did lift was a neutral gray color and thus didn’t turn the color of the watercolor off.

The ink lubricated the pen well. I never felt like I was writing on sandpaper but I didn’t feel like I was writing on glass either. That might change if I was loading it into a different pen.

If I were to rate the darkness of the black inks I have in my possession I’d rate them as follows:

1. Platinum Carbon Black
2. Noodler’s Black
3. Noodler’s Heart of Darkness
4. Pelikan Fount India
5. Chelpark Permanent Black
6. Pelikan Black in International Long Cartridges

Platinum Carbon Black is a carbon basesd ink, which means it's pigmented with microscopic particle of carbon, which gives it the deep black color. Pigmented inks are a little more high maintenance in fountain pens. If you put a pigmented ink in your pen you'll need to clean the pen a little more often and watch to be sure it's not getting mucked up. Honestly though, I've been using Pelikan's Fount India regularly for 6 months now and I can say I've noticed no long term ill effects from using a pigmented ink in my pens, and I don't clean my pens regularly, nor do I use them everyday. I take all dire fountain pen warnings with a grain of salt.

The price of Platinum Carbon is, well, not cheap. I pulled the trigger on it because Gumwater was having a sale on it in their “Daily Drop.” Their daily drop puts one item in their inventory on deep discount for a day. The ink itself was $16.50 for 60ml, minus my Fountain Pen Network discount of 5% for a total of $15.68. Which if you look at a few places on the ‘net you’ll find that is anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 the regular price of Carbon Black. Shipping was reasonable as well $4.41 for priority mail shipping. So I got a very expensive ink for $20. If you order over $50 Gumwater does shipping for free. If I’d known I was going to like the ink as much as I do I’d have ordered 3 bottles to get it over the $50 mark.

The ink was packaged very well. The small ink bottle was nestled in it’s own box and swaddled in bubble wrap then put inside a small sturdy box. The box arrived in good shape and quickly. I ordered on June 6th and received it on June 11th.* It was fast shipping. Overall I was pretty happy with Gumwater’s service. Their prices are reasonable, they packaged the items well and they arrived to me fast. One thing that I didn’t like was that every interaction with them was peppered with bible quotes. I’m not against religion but I’m against it being shoved in my face at every turn. I find religion to be a very personal thing so to have it on an invoice and packing slip feels a little strange to me. I mean why risk offending a customer with a differing religion?

Review: Ink Lightfastness

This winter I decided to test the lightfastness of many of my inks and a few pencils. I thought I’d lost the test sheet but it turns out I had stuck it to a different window when I had checked it. The results are interesting.


Not lightfast, showing large color shifting or significant fading:

• Chelpark Turquoise
• Camlin Royal blue
• Pilot G2 blue
• Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Blue

Color shifting but line seems the same:

• Loew Cornell Fine Point Marker
• Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Black
• Flying Colors Focus 0.5mm
• Corner Office Black

No change:

• Pentel Hybrid Technica
• Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (pentel ink)
• Permapague black fine point
• Faber Castell Pitt Pen Sepia
• Staples Gel mini- black
• Sharpie China Marker
• Derwent Graphitone
• Derwent Pastel Pencil
• Pelikan Fount India

The handbook paper which is acid free and a bright white color is now slightly  yellowed.

Review: STAD One Touch Pencil Extender

I picked up a STAD pencil extender from Jetpens last week and as my usual review style, I put it through it’s paces before I wrote a review.

I’ll admit my first impression was not good. Looking at the package I was expecting some weight and this extender while chunky is very light weight. I tried stuffing a vintage FaberCatell Design 3800 4B into its grasp and the little white plastic cap didn’t like it, or the extender didn’t like it, whatever it was the pencil is now in hiding and I can’t find it. (Turns out it was just hiding lower in the pencil cup...) Every pencil I stuck in it’s jaws seemed.... Loose.

I took a look at the back of the package. There were some diagrams on the back with all the writing in Japanese... Picture #3 shows some fingers touching the jaw. I thought maybe in that image the fingers are squishing the jaws to the pencil, so I tried it. Oh baby, what a difference. The extender went from loose to thighs of steel. It grips all my regular sized pencils, from my Palominos to Vintage FaberCastell Design 3800s to PrismaColor Col-erase with an eraser.



When you are done drawing or writing you can flip the pencil point into the extender and protect the point from breaking and you from being stabbed. WIN! This holder, like others, allows you to use your pencil down to the last tiny nubbin. The smooth grooved barrel is comfortable to hold and use. It's diameter makes it seem as if you are writing with a nice mechanical pencil or pen. Fancy.
(Protip: When you get down to the end of your pencil, use a sharpie to write the hardness on the top of the pencil so you always know what pencil nubbin you’re using.)

Review: Uni-ball Kuru Toga High Grade Auto Lead Rotation Mechanical Pencil

I just got my hands on a Uni-ball Kuru Toga mechanical pencil from Jetpens, a great place to buy Japanese office supplies. This is a pencil that rotates its lead for you, so you don’t need to rotate the pencil to keep an even thickness. This is more of an issue, if like me, you write with your mechanical pencils at an angle. I will admit to being skeptical to the necessity of this mechanism, having tried it, I see a huge difference in the evenness of my writing.

It’s a sharp looking (see what I did there) pencil. The point area is shiny chrome with an inset o-ring in the same color as the colored part of the body. Moving up the grip area is matte aluminum with some wave like indents. I was skeptical that this would feel good, but I was proved wrong, after an hour of sketching and writing I found that the wave like grooves were quite comfortable. At the lower part of the grip is a window to an orange piece. I couldn’t figure out what this was until I started to USE the pencil, there is a little icon that every 20 strokes of the pencil circles through the window, showing you that the lead is in fact rotating. Pretty cool stuff. Without this I’d be hard pressed to even notice that the lead was moving.

The body of the pen is a shimmery pink. This pen is perfect for people who like shimmer mists spray ink, it looks like a solid version of glimmer mists. It shimmers in the light. You know how I feel about shimmery stuff... For a pencil I can allow it, I might even like it.

The clip is shiny silver and sturdy, it has held the pencil to my MTNKO and in my bag without issue. The “knock” or clicker thingie is plastic affixed to a tube of metal that when removed reveals a mini eraser. Uni’s mini erasers are actually quite effective at removing pencil lines, but since mini eraser is mini, it gets used up fast. I always keep a click eraser nearby when using mechanical pencils. The click or knock itself is a satisfying clicky noise that pushes out roughly .5mm with a click.

I really like this pencil, I really like how my writing stays even when using it. It’s not the best for sketching that utilizes a lot of subtle shading as shading and a soft touch defeat the rotation mechanism. To rotate the pencil needs to be lifted from the page, the pressure of your writing or sketching is what causes the rotation. If you write in cursive you are not going to activate the rotation. This pencil is great for printing and works best when doing so. However for my abysmal printing cursive (in which I connect a lot of my letters and print many too) it works great. It also works well for cross hatching and general sketching. Being able to defeat the rotation mechanism and shade softly is a nice touch while sketching.

Uni offers several different versions of this pencil at a variety of price points, you really need to click over to the Jetpens page and scroll to the diagram section where there are several cartoons of frustrated students using other pencils that don’t rotate. Worth the laugh. For those of you who like flowers they offer this pencil with flowers on a shimmery barrel. You can thank me later.

Review: Canson XL Recycled Drawing Pad

Basics:

• 9x12 inches, 60 Warm White sheets to a Coil bound pad
• $8.99 at AC Moore
• 70ld/114gsm
• Perfed pages
• Acid free blah blah blah

It seems Canson has a “true to size” sheet thing on almost all of it’s pads now. So if it’s marked 9x12 inches on the cover the sheet you tear off is actually 9x12 inches. This is a really really great thing. I always have hated that many pads would lose a ½ to full inch to the perf. I really like that.


The paper responds well to ink, nibs are true to size and there is no spread or feathering nor soak through on these pages. The paper is not glassy smooth but has enough tooth to accept pencil and charcoal well. It accepted watercolor well, but did show some cockling that did not even out completely when dry. Though it did flatten quite a lot, so that it’s just slightly wavy.


I really enjoyed how this paper accepted ink and watercolor. The watercolors really look great on it’s warm white color and ink melds with the paper in such a way to just look like it’s been there awhile.
 
I’ve been testing several new pens on it and I really  like that the nibs stay true to size and don’t spread all over the place when testing them. Even when my Noodler’s flex pens were flexed to their widest and bleeding ink onto the pages, there was no soak through or bleed through. I can’t stress that enough. It was pretty amazing to find an easily available pad that accepts ink as well as this and for a relatively inexpensive price compared to other fountain pen friendly paper.

 

Review: Canson Classic Cream Drawing Paper

Basics at a glance:

• 9x12 inches
• 24 ivory colored sheets to a coil boundpad
• $7.50 at AC Moore
• 90lb/147gsm
• Acid free blah blah blah

The paper is a warm ivory color and the texture is smooth to the touch with a little visual texture. Pens offer some feedback on the surface and work well. Most ink does not soak through and most lines do not spread, staying true to the nib width. The paper is stiff and heavy, and at 90lb/ 147gsm it is a stiff paper.Light and medium heavy watercolor washes did well without soaking through the page. The paper did cockle while wet.

The paper would make a great art journal due to the lack of show through. Another thing I really like is that the sheets are truly 9x12 inches as the perf is at the 12 inch mark unlike other pads which have the perf at 11.5 inches with the last half inch including the coil binding. Some of the inks I tested on the pad feathered, but most did well. Watercolor performed well and looked good on the page. I’m going to have to test this pad out a little more before I decide if it’s a buy or not. At $7.50 for 24 sheets it’s a tad on the pricey side for general sketch paper and I’m not sure it’s a splurge or not.

 

Next week I'll review another Canson pad, the XL Recycled drawing pad.