Product Review Series | Black Widow & Scorpion - Wax Based Coloured Pencils

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I'd like to talk about the Black Widow and Scorpion wax-based coloured pencils by MediHealth. I had been seeing these pencils more and more in different social media groups and I wanted to know what the hype was about.

So sit back, grab a drink and read on. As always, this is going to be full of pictures and information!
For the purposes of this review, the image stamped is from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows" stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb white cardstock and 65lb kraft cardstock.

These pencils have recently gained a lot of popularity and I wanted to know why. So when Amazon (Canada) had these on a super sale, I jumped for them. At first I was confused about these - were they the same, was one set bigger? As it turns out the Scorpions are a continuation of the Black Widows, so as of this writing there are 48 different pencils between the two sets with plans for a new set in the spring of 2018.

• Wax-based
• Hexagon barrel
• Scorpions have a number and colour name right on the pencil, the Black Widows do not
• Both boxes include a colour swatch - though I found this to be relatively inaccurate
• Black wood
• Pre-sharpened
• Vibrant colour

As I mentioned, I tested these on 110lb white cardstock and 65lb kraft cardstock, I chose these papers as they are the most common papers I use in my crafting. For this image, I used two different shades of red.

I prefer to test with reds because reds are typically the hardest colour to use - no matter what the medium.

Some of my observations:

• The core is very soft - much like a pastel. I would argue that the core is softer than those in the Prismacolor Premier. However, the core is sturdier than the Prismas. It was a very different to use these. 
• The colour lays down incredibly smooth, and spreads nicely. Much like using pastels. I didn't feel a need to resharpen the pencils before I used them; which was also interesting as I am insanely picky about the sharpness of my pencils.
• The barrel is very smooth and the hexagon shape makes it feel smaller than a standard pencil in my hand. If you have read my other reviews, you'll know that I have some arthritic issues in my hand and I did find that using these for an extended period of time hurt me. So that is definitely something to keep in mind.

For the blendability test I chose one of each of the primary colours. The top was blended just using the pencils, and the bottom was blended with Gamsol.

Observations:

• I found that the pencils layer nicely, but didn't really "blend" together to create a new colour the way I expected them to. I found the colours just seem to lay around each other.
• When blending with the Gamsol the pigment melted very nicely and sank between the teeth of the paper and helped with blending the two different colours. You can see this in the orange and green areas under the line.

For the erasability test, I used the SC33 Blood Red with increasing layers and pressure as I progressed down the page. On the left I used a regular white eraser and on the right I used the Tombow Mono Sand eraser.

Observations:

• Both erasers did a relatively decent job of removing the lighter shading at the top. 
• The regular eraser would most likely remove a small, light mistake - we've all been there.
• The Tombow sand eraser was able to remove a lot more pigment, but it took a bit of work. Depending on the quality of your paper this could be fine or detrimental to your project.

Here I have all the colours swatched (post on swatching coming soon), as you can see for the first 24 colours they have no names because none were provided. I worked out the colour order as I prefer it on a separate paper and numbered them myself. I like to show varying pressure moving from left to right.

The Scorpions do have their names and numbers on the pencils - I emailed the company about this and was told that when they rerelease the Black Widows in 2018 they will have names and colour numbers, but were unwilling to provide me with that list at this time.

I used a thin piece of painters tape and just wrote the number on the end so that I could reference back to my swatch and determine the colour I want to use.

They do have a couple unusual names for some of the colours, Blood Red, Bug Brown and Pig's Ear, but this is not really consistent. They have some regular names but I think it would be fun if they took this further for the whole collection.

I wanted to include this close up picture from a card that I had completed a little while ago. I used the Black Widows and Scorpions for the Balloons in this Happy Hippos card.  I had wanted to use them for the entire card, however there is a very sad lack of greys.

Overall Conclusions:

• These pencils have an incredible value vs cost. They were very inexpensive and would be an excellent addition to any colourist's collection at any level. I'll definitely be getting the next set that comes out for the collection.
• I will be getting a pencil case for these because I hate the cardboard box the Black Widows came in and I like to keep all my pencils together.
• The pigment lays down beautifully, requiring very little pressure though blending takes some work.
• They sharpen very well, I use the T'GAAL multi-sharpener by Kutsuwa and I highly recommend it for every pencil that I have and it has not failed me yet.

If you are looking to try something new or get a "better" type of pencil at a great price for yourself or as a gift, I highly recommend these. At this point there is a terrible lack of grays and I am hoping that when the next volume comes out they will have a few more.

I hope you enjoyed today's review. If you have any questions about this product or a suggestion for a future review, drop me a line the comments section below and let me know. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future reviews.

*disclaimer: I am not sent products for review nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I personally use, that I find interesting and that I have paid for. I receive no reward, incentive or payment to create a review. All reviews are based on my experience and are my opinions only.

Coloured on Kraft Series | Hippo Birthday ft. MFT "Happy Hippos"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

As crazy as it sounds, I think the Holidays have me a little Lawn Fawn'd out. It wasn't until I was done the whole series that I realized 95% of the cards were based on Lawn Fawn. Whoops. It wasn't intentional. I just didn't get my hands on the Christmas stuff I wanted from other companies in time. (foreshadowing?)

Anyway, today I'm taking a little break from Lawn Fawn, don't get me wrong I still love them, but I just need to take a step back and take a different perspective. Today I have a card featuring MFT's "Happy Hippos" coloured on kraft with coloured pencils.

To begin, I cut down a piece of 65lb kraft cardstock by Recollections and stamped the hippo, balloons and hat from the "Happy Hippos" set with VersaMark ink. I chose to use embossing ink because it doesn't leave harsh stamping lines, and if you have followed this particular series for any length of time, you know just how much I love the no line colouring look.

I masked off the images and used my cloud stencil and soft blue pigment ink by CTMH to create the cloudy background. I had originally thought to make the clouds whiter, but that would have taken away from the panel being kraft - I mean, I would know and you would know, but would the rest of the world understand? So I left it as it was and I'm pretty happy that I didn't shake things up.

I started colouring the balloons using the Black Widow/Scorpion wax based coloured pencils (review coming) and was pretty happy with how they turned out. They lay down a little differently than other wax brands I have - but I'll get into that in the coming review.

For the Hippo, I used my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils - which are an oil based pencil and I'll have a review of those coming up in the new year as well. I used the warm grays to colour the hippo completely.

I can hear you now -- "what?? different brands of pencils? wax and oil? in the same piece???" Oh I know, not typically something I do. But here's the thing. Out of the 48 Widow/Scorpion pencils - there is one gray. One. And honestly, it isn't even really a good one - but again, I'll get more into that in the review. I promise. If I remember, I'll back link to this post so we can all be righteously indignant together.

To finish off, I mounted the kraft panel to the front of my A2 sized card base and then stamped the greeting from the same set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I could use some cheering today, so even a hello would be great!

Coloured on Kraft | Vintage Belated Birthday ft. Lawn Fawn "Gleeful Gardens"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have another card for the Coloured on Kraft series. I'm using new pencils today and while I haven't done a review of these yet, there is definitely one coming soon.

The pencils I'm using today are the Black Widow and Scorpion sets, at first I was a little put off as they aren't as vibrant on the kraft as the Prismacolor Premier pencils that I typically use, but as I worked through this piece, I found that I really liked the "vintage" look that they gave.

To begin, I cut down a panel of 65lb kraft cardstock by Recollections and masked off the bottom. I then stamped the images and greeting from Lawn Fawn's "Gleeful Gardens" using CTMH Cashmere ink.

I coloured the images with the Black Widow and Scorpion Pencils. I also used them to create my own grass to ground the scene and the dirt to fill in the bottom.

I tied a piece of soft blue baker's twine around the top below the greeting, and adhered my panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Product Review Series | Odorless Mineral Spirits; Gamsol

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I have received quite a few questions regarding Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS), which I use and how to use them. So for today's review I will be discussing Gamsol.

Gamsol is an artist's grade OMS that can be purchased at your local art supply store or online for a relatively low cost. While it truly is odorless there are still vapors and you must use adequate ventilation. Do NOT inhale, taste, swallow or get in contact with eyes. Avoid contact with skin.

• Relatively inexpensive. I paid $16.40 for 16 fluid ounces (1 pint or 2 cups) at my local art store in Calgary.
• Absolutely odorless
• Clear liquid
• Locking Top

It's not really practical to keep it in it's original container for small crafty uses such as colouring with pencils. I have mine stored two ways.

• The first (left) is in a top press bottle - this allows you to press a small amount for dipping and avoids terrible spills. 
• The second (right) is in a small baby food jar. I added a craft sponge to the bottom so I can just dip my blending stub. This is how I carry it when I am travelling.

Always keep you containers tightly sealed and away from children and pets. It really does look like water so please be smart and safe whenever you work with any type of chemical.

For blending, I use very inexpensive blending stumps. The ones on the left are my preferred type; they are basically rolled up paper and can be purchased for just pennies a piece. The ones on the right are more compact and will absorb a lot more of the OMS, this is good if you are trying to blend a large area in the background or a large image, I don't typically do that - but I have a couple. Just in case.

I prefer to have one blending stump per colour so that they don't cross contaminate. There is nothing worse than going to blend a light colour and having a different colour smear over because there was pigment left over.

If having individual stumps is not practical for you, you can always clean off the stumps on a scrap of paper or by using a piece of find sanding paper.

For the purpose of this example I have stamped the dog from Simon Says Stamp's "You are Pawesome" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb cardstock.

The top image is coloured with Prismacolor Premier coloured pencils. These are a soft core wax-based pencil.

The bottom image is coloured with Faber-Castell Polychormos coloured pencils. These are a hard core oil-based pencil.

When using Gamsol with coloured pencils, I lay the colour down where I want the shadows to be the darkest (as you can see in the picture above).

Once I have my shadows places, I dip my blending stub in the OMS and work in small circles pulling the colour towards the centre. With both of these images I applied the Gamsol, then used a lighter brown and repeated the process, pulling the colour towards the centre again.

My observations:

• The Gamsol worked far better on the wax-based colour pencil (top) than it did on the oil-based (bottom). I found I had to work harder to move the colour with the oil-based pencils with less of a result.
• While the OMS did blend out the harsh lines in the oil-based image, it did not get rid of them completely and you are still able to see pencils lines even though I went over it a few times more than I did with the wax-based image.
• The colour stayed truer with the wax pencils, while it brightened the colour of the oil pencil. Handy to know if that's what you're going for.
• Does not leave a residue or "oily" mark on paper after it has dried.

Overall, I don't typically use OMS when working with coloured pencil. I will pull it out if I can't get the blend I want, or if I'm using a paper with a lot of tooth, but for the most part I use the colours themselves to get my blend. I don't use the blending pencils at all. 

If your paper has a lot of tooth (you can see this by the little white dots that get left behind after you lay down your coloured pencil) the OMS will help to get an even coverage by "melting" the pigment and allowing it to settle in those spaces.

If you're in a hurry to get something done or you just want to play around I highly recommend using the OMS - it will "dissolve" the waxy build up and allow you to apply more layers of colour. For me, I prefer to use a light hand and layer, layer, layer the pencil to get the look I want.

If you are going to purchase an OMS - go for the good stuff. Don't mess around with cheap products that give off an odor of paint thinner. You'll just end up with a headache and be unhappy with final result. Always work in a well ventilated area and close the lid of your container when you aren't using it. 

I hope you enjoyed today's review. If you have any questions about this product or a suggestion for a future review, drop me a line in the comments section below, I love to hear from you. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts.

*disclaimer: I am not sent products to review, nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I use and that I have paid for with my own money. I am not rewarded, paid or provided with incentive to do so. All reviews are based on my personal experience with the product and are my opinions only.

Coloured on Kraft Series | ft. Clearly Besotted's "Feeling Fruity"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I'm back with another Coloured on Kraft! While I'm still hanging out in the Clearly Besotted playground for my Kraft projects, I'm doing a critters today instead of flowers. Weird, right?

This set is just too cute and those little faces will make the most perfect Thanksgiving cards. Like a bunch of little fruity mice hanging out around some harvest flowers. Hmmm, maybe I'll do that sometime soon.

To begin, I stamped the strawberry mouse from Clearly Besotted's "Feeling Fruity" stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black in on 65lb Kraft cardstock, then masked him off and stamped the berry mouse on either side. The greeting is also from the same set in Memento ink as well.

I then coloured all of the mice with Lyra Rembrandt coloured pencils. These pencils are an oil based core that layer wonderfully (there will be a review on these in the future because they are awesome and not nearly as expensive as Polychromos).

I used a length of red and white twine to add a little accent bow on the side.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge

Challenge #6

Product Review Series | Paper Comparison

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I will be doing a paper comparison to show how the same images will look vastly different depending on the type of paper you use. I will show the finished card for each paper type. I will also discuss how the paper responded to the pencils and my impression of each.

I'm going to apologize in advance -- this is going to be a long post; hopefully it will help you choose the right paper for your project, and maybe be less afraid to try something new.

For the purposes of today's review, I will be creating three cards using identical methods and products. The only difference between the cards will be the type of paper used. In the top left I have Recollections Kraft 65lb cardstock. In the bottom left I have Staples 110lb cardstock, and finally on the right I have Strathmore Toner Grey 80lb cardstock.

The images come from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows" stamp set, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, using the MISTI. And the greeting comes from Lawn Fawn's "Party Animal" set, also stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

To colour each of the images, I used Lyra Rembrandt Oil based pencils. The technique I used to colour each image is exactly the same - despite the temptation to add more to certain panels. I'm sure you can immediately see why this temptation arose.

First up I have the Recollections Kraft 80lb Cardstock. I got this from Michaels Craft store. It comes in a pack of 50 for about $5.00. This is the only Kraft cardstock I buy and if you look back through previous posts, this is the one you will see when I use it.

At 65lbs it's a thicker paper. It takes stamping well, but I would certainly not use Copics on it. They bleed out almost instantly. However I love the way the pencils took to this paper. I find that Kraft lends a warmth to the piece as well as a rustic look. As it isn't white, the colours aren't as vibrant as you will see below, but there is a richness to them.

Next up I'm using the Staples 110lb cardstock. I get this from my local Staples for about $20 for a pack of 250. I use this for all my card bases as well as any time I'm colouring with Copic markers. This paper is incredibly sturdy and can handle layering very well.

While the pencils look for vibrant - remember I used the same pencils for all the cards - it felt unfinished, if I were going for a sketchy look this would be great, but I'm not. The surface of this paper is incredibly smooth and the pencils don't grip the paper very well. It was very difficult to not pull in additional colours to bring more life to the flowers.

Finally, I have the Strathmore Toner Grey 80lb cardstock. I got this pad of 36 sheets for about $13 at an art store in my city. First off, this is the thinnest 80lb cardstock I have even seen in my life. I honestly was very disappointed when I opened this package. My first thought was "well, this is never going to work", but as I had committed to a review, I trudged on.

I was terrified of tearing the panel, but the paper ended up being surprisingly tough; it isn't anything I would ever use as a card base, though. Cutting this paper was the same as cutting regular printer paper.

Then I started to apply the colour. Despite being very thin and relatively smooth, the pencils gripped this paper as well as on the Kraft shown above. This paper creates a lovely balance between the two others. Because of the light shade it still allows for the pencils to be vibrant as well as giving some of the warmth that Kraft lends.

When I looked at all three completed panels, the white just stared at me. It was a glaring contrast from the other two. To make it feel more complete I added the twine bow to the right side. I didn't feel that the Kraft or the Toner Grey needed this finishing touch, but I couldn't let that white be left in the cold.

I then matted each of them with a deep yellow cardstock and adhered them to standard A2 sized card bases.

I hope you like today's review. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar, if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View Web Version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. If you have any questions about any of the papers, or have a suggestion for a future review toss me a line in the comments section below, I would love to hear from you.