I love working with stencils. Drawing geometric designs tends to take my mind off of everything else because it requires so much concentration. The stencil below took about 45 minutes to complete. While I was working on it, I thought of nothing other than drawing the tiny, thin lines. I used Faber-Castell Pitt pens in XS and S.
The stencil I chose tonight.
Faber-Castell makes uniquely-designed stencils. They are very precise but they are made out of cardstock – not the plastic I’m used to working with. Even if you tape them securely with painter’s tape, they can still lift up while you are drawing. This could cause messy, uneven lines so you have to be very careful when using them.
Closeupof the stencil.
Regardless, they are so fun to use! I recommend them to anyone who likes zoning out while stenciling and coloring. They are a great way to break a creative block or just to try out new supplies.
Closeup of the finished line work. As you can see, there were a few places where the stencil lifted up.
I’m using Arteza gouache to paint it. The opacity is a wonderful way to hide any line mishaps. It’s going to take awhile to paint, but I’m enjoying it!
I explained how I made these bookmarks in my previous post. As a testament of how easy they are to make with the right tools, I made another one in the same night!
I used colored pencil swatches for this one. The top swatch is Faber-Castell Polychromos; the middle swatch is Prismacolor Premier Soft Core; and the bottom swatch is Caran d’Ache Luminance .
I recently made some Caran d’Ache Neocolor II swatches and wrote about them in a previous post. I used Color Combo stamps from Waffle Flower to print the layouts and spent about 2 hours coloring them in.
If you aren’t familiar with Neocolor II, they are highly-pigmented water-soluble crayons. You can use them dry or activate them with water.
Finished Neocolor II swatches.
I love making things with my manual die cutter and I have a steel rule die from Waffle Flower (obviously one of my favorite suppliers) that I use to make tags. I decided to use some of these swatches to create a bookmark.
First, I cut out the swatches I wanted to use. Then I glued them to the tag. As a finishing touch, I added a tassel.
I was so pleased with it that I decided to start on another one! It was an easy project when using the right tools.
Prismacolor Premier colored pencil swatch on Canson XL paper.
I’m going to use Caran d’Ache Luminance and Faber-Castell Polychromos to do the other two swatches.
I’ve been spending all my free time testing my new Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils. I’m going to write a longer review but I wanted to share some pictures of my tests.
Activated pencils on Canson Watercolor XL.Arches RoughInactivated on Canson XL
It’s no secret that Stonehenge is one of my favorite brands of paper. There’s good reason for that – they make high-quality, affordable products. There are also many varieties to choose from with each option coming in a variety of sizes.
Since I primarily make tiny art, I always search for the smallest pads I can find. Legion has many of their products available in mini-sizes. This pad of hot press is 2.5″ by 3.75″ which is slightly bigger than Strathmore Artist Trading Cards. These pads are perfect if you work on a small scale.
I want to spend some time with my set of oil-based Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils, so this test of Stonehenge Hot Press only pertains to those.
From the very first pass, I knew I was going to love it. It has the perfect amount of texture for the oil-based pencils, which excel on a medium-tooth surface. Even though I didn’t try wax-based pencils on Stonehenge Hot Press yet, I anticipate it to be a good substrate for those as well.
The Verdict: this an excellent choice for Polychromos colored pencils (and Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour Pencils, which I will discuss in a separate review).
Closeupof burnished color. I used a wax-based Caran d’Acheblending stick and a felt burnisher.
Caran d’Ache products are the crème de la crème of art supplies. Any item they manufacture – whether it be colored pencils, water-soluble pencils, graphite sticks, etc. – is a shining jewel in an art supply collector’s studio.
I was introduced to the brand while meandering through my local art store and stumbling upon a giant open-stock display of Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels. At the time, I had no idea how to use them, but the vibrant colors beckoned to me. I picked up a tin and went to my studio.
There was a bit of a learning curve. Actually, I’m still learning different techniques. Today, though, I just felt like coloring, so I did some swatches.
I used Arches Rough Watercolor Paper which turned out to be an excellent choice. Because the paper is so toothy, I only needed to make a light pass to get adequate coverage for filling in the squares.
Eventually, I’m going to cut these out and put them in my scrapbook.
I finished the first page of my scrapbook over the weekend! The most fun part of this project is choosing the right piece of scrap to make an interesting composition.
This scrap on Arches Rough was a tester of Sennelier Indanthrene Blue mixed with Paul Rubens glitter paint and Finetec Iridescent Paint. The background is a wash of Mission Gold Indigo and Sap Green, with a little bit of Daniel Smith Mars Yellow. It looks moody, like tears, and I thought it was an apt way to start my scrapbook. I suffer from depression and art is very therapeutic for me. I don’t want the whole project to display my sadness—I want to keep it upbeat and colorful—but I do want it to be a true representation of who I am.
Anyway, here it is! I was really impressed with how the page of the Ranger Dylusions Flip Journal held up to the watercolor wash.
Full disclosure: I love every single Stonehenge paper product I’ve tried. They are perfection, plain and simple. The Aqua Cold Press is no exception.
Available in pads, blocks, and sheets.Closeup of textureSheet thickness
In Part 1 of my search for the best colored pencil paper, I described the differences between the 4 brands of colored pencil I’m using in my test: Caran d’Ache Luminance, Caran d’Ache Pablo, Faber-Castell Polychromos, and Prismacolor Premier Soft Core. The differences between the properties of pencils affect the way they will perform on the paper, so it’s worth a quick read if you aren’t familiar with the pencils.
Before I did a more methodical test, I just wanted to play a bit with gradients of my two favorite pencils: Luminance (wax-based) and Polychromos (oil-based). They both preformed exceptionally well, however Luminance applied more smoothly. It’s worth noting that the scraps I used were trimmed from the edges of a watercolor I was working on and, despite being banged up, they still easily accepted thick layers of color.
Left: Caran d’Ache Luminance; Right: Polychromos
Then I moved on to test all four of the brands I mentioned above. From left to right, the colors I used are as follows:
Polychromos – Rose Madder Lake
Polychromos – Skyblue
Prismacolor – Lilac
Luminance – Spring Green
Pablo – Orange *
Luminance –Anthraquinoid Pink
Luminance – Light Malachite Green
Pablo – Lemon Yellow
Prismacolor – Non-Photo Blue
Polychromos – Dark Cadmium Yellow
*I snagged the paper with a sharp pencil point on the 5th square. Despite it looking like a total mess right after it happened, I was able to use some Gamsol mineral spirits to smooth out the color.
The Verdict
Stonehenge Aqua Cold Press is an excellent choice for both oil and wax based colored pencils. I slightly preferred the wax-based pencils to the oil-based pencils, because they allowed a couple more layers of coverage. The application is velvety-smooth even after several layers of color have been added. There was virtually no wax bloom to speak of. This paper is at the top of my list for both watercolor AND colored pencil projects.
Here is a 🟢 BONUS DOT 🟢 showing 1) light, 2) medium, 3) heavy, and 4) burnished Polychromos application.
I set aside some time today to re-purpose colorful watercolor scraps to make some tiny art.
Awhile back, I made this dotty watercolor test out of some new Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolors I bought. I can’t remember what colors I mixed to make the background. I had it left over from a different project. The other colors are all Winsor & Newton straight from the tube and the list is as follows:
Manganese Blue Hue – PB15
Rose Dore – PV19, PY97
Indian Yellow – PO62, PY139
I used my beloved Arches Rough Watercolor Paper, which I wrote about in detail in a previous post (click here).
These are the steps I took to re-purpose this tiny scrap that was too colorful for the wastebasket…
Polkadotting the frame
My Spellbinder Platinum manual die cutting machine gets a daily workout. If you make tiny art, this is an invaluable tool to make mounts and frames. To make this frame, I used steel rule nesting dies to cut the ideal size frame for my picture. I used Astrobrights 65 lb/176 gsm bright white cardstock.
I decided that I wanted to make it extra dotty, so I used a Faber-Castell small-nib (0.3mm) Pitt Artist Pen to make tiny dots on the frame. The cardstock holds up well – there was no bleeding on the other side.
Closeup of the pre-glued frame
After I finished dotting the cardstock, I used Tombow MONO Multi-Liquid Glue to adhere the frame to the picture. Now that it’s dry, I get to find a home for it in my scrapbook!
The Color Chronicles 