Your Pith covers look soooo lovely. Thanks for reminder to declutter supplies we don’t love. I definitely have some things taking up space that I absolutely never use.
Absolutely- mine survived a night out on its own in the wild, when I accidentally left it in the park overnight. Luckily when I went back the next evening (with a torch) I found it!
This is great, I think I'm going to do a review and 'stock check' off all my materials. I also lean into ink, it's my happy place! I'm inspired to do more painting - thanks!
The kind of posts that make me instantly happy 😁😍 I am going for a low buy this year, I will buy art supplies for sure but they will be selective purchases, at least that’s my intention! P.S. - I can’t stand soft pastels too 😬
Glad it made you happy! I also am aiming for a low buy year 2, BUT the list of items in my wishlist is already SO BIG. I think I need to create some guardrails and rules around what I buy. Soft pastels - they are annoying, right?! Have you tried Pan Pastels? They seem more appealing to me, but I am resistant to buy them in case I love them and then I have another addiction to tackle…haha.
Great review, thank you!! I got rid of my soft pastels too! 😅 I wanted to ask you, do you use only "regular" inks or acrylic inks too? At the moment I'm using both (I have only one bottle each, to experiment) in a sketchbook and trying to understand which ones I need in a larger palette!
Hi Lisa! So far, I have resisted acrylic ink, only because I was focussing on what I already owned. I knew that if I dipped my toe into acrylic inks, things might get out of hand.🤣 HOWEVER, I think I am ready to try them now! I have asked a few friends who use acrylic inks regularly which I should try, and I will probably purchase 1 or 2 key colours this year and add them to my collection. Which are your favourite acrylic inks? Any that you would recommend I start with?
Haha thank you for your reply! I understand, things can get out of hand very easily when it comes to art supplies 🤣 I have a bottle of ultramarine from Amsterdam inks and I really love the brightness of the colour, I bought it at Boesner, they have a nice range of colours!
FW Ink in Antelope Brown has also been recommended to me - but I will probably by another Blue, because my default setting in art stores is to buy Blue!
I was just about to record a video with my own favourites of 2024, and then I saw this post. The Kakimori pen 😍 A thing of beauty, even before you use it! You might change my mind this year about my current favourites 😅
Oooh I'm excited to watch your favourites video! Do yours change much year on year? I feel a bit bad 'influencing' people on the kakimori - but I am TRULY in love!!!
I think I'm pretty consistent with what I use, but this is the first time I'm making a favourites post, so we'll see next year :) Is the kakimori like a glass dip pen? It looks a bit like it, but much more sophisticated and more designed (so hopefully better :)?
yes it does work very much like a glass dip pen, but without the danger of chipping and breaking, so its much more hard wearing. I find that with the kakimori I can get quite a wide line and a very thin one, so the variation of line is more varied than what I found with a glass dip pen. Plus the 'well' in the nib holds more ink, so one dip lasts longer. You get a weird balance between controlled line and unpredicatable, which is also lovely! I will do a proper deep dive review video on it very soon!
Your Pith covers look soooo lovely. Thanks for reminder to declutter supplies we don’t love. I definitely have some things taking up space that I absolutely never use.
Thanks for reading!
I have that brass pencil sharpener and it’s great!
It's a solid trusty and beautiful object, isn't it?
Absolutely- mine survived a night out on its own in the wild, when I accidentally left it in the park overnight. Luckily when I went back the next evening (with a torch) I found it!
If that’s not resilient, I don’t know what is!
This is great, I think I'm going to do a review and 'stock check' off all my materials. I also lean into ink, it's my happy place! I'm inspired to do more painting - thanks!
Thanks Rachel! Ink is the best, isn't it?!
The kind of posts that make me instantly happy 😁😍 I am going for a low buy this year, I will buy art supplies for sure but they will be selective purchases, at least that’s my intention! P.S. - I can’t stand soft pastels too 😬
Glad it made you happy! I also am aiming for a low buy year 2, BUT the list of items in my wishlist is already SO BIG. I think I need to create some guardrails and rules around what I buy. Soft pastels - they are annoying, right?! Have you tried Pan Pastels? They seem more appealing to me, but I am resistant to buy them in case I love them and then I have another addiction to tackle…haha.
I have Pan Pastels on my list, but I am very reluctant to try them...the dust just give me itch! The price have been helping to resist them :D
the price is also a major barrier for me! quite glad they are expensive, makes it easy for me to pass 😅
Before you ditch the soft pastels, have you tried using them like paint?
I have tried that - it still gives me the ick - should I crumble some into a pan and try them that way? Any tips - I am all ears!
I just use a wet brush against the pastel sticks. I love the texture
I will have to try this - the colours are so so beautiful, would be a shame to give up I guess!
Great review, thank you!! I got rid of my soft pastels too! 😅 I wanted to ask you, do you use only "regular" inks or acrylic inks too? At the moment I'm using both (I have only one bottle each, to experiment) in a sketchbook and trying to understand which ones I need in a larger palette!
Hi Lisa! So far, I have resisted acrylic ink, only because I was focussing on what I already owned. I knew that if I dipped my toe into acrylic inks, things might get out of hand.🤣 HOWEVER, I think I am ready to try them now! I have asked a few friends who use acrylic inks regularly which I should try, and I will probably purchase 1 or 2 key colours this year and add them to my collection. Which are your favourite acrylic inks? Any that you would recommend I start with?
Haha thank you for your reply! I understand, things can get out of hand very easily when it comes to art supplies 🤣 I have a bottle of ultramarine from Amsterdam inks and I really love the brightness of the colour, I bought it at Boesner, they have a nice range of colours!
FW Ink in Antelope Brown has also been recommended to me - but I will probably by another Blue, because my default setting in art stores is to buy Blue!
Oh I’ll take a look at that one too, thank you!
I was just about to record a video with my own favourites of 2024, and then I saw this post. The Kakimori pen 😍 A thing of beauty, even before you use it! You might change my mind this year about my current favourites 😅
Oooh I'm excited to watch your favourites video! Do yours change much year on year? I feel a bit bad 'influencing' people on the kakimori - but I am TRULY in love!!!
I think I'm pretty consistent with what I use, but this is the first time I'm making a favourites post, so we'll see next year :) Is the kakimori like a glass dip pen? It looks a bit like it, but much more sophisticated and more designed (so hopefully better :)?
yes it does work very much like a glass dip pen, but without the danger of chipping and breaking, so its much more hard wearing. I find that with the kakimori I can get quite a wide line and a very thin one, so the variation of line is more varied than what I found with a glass dip pen. Plus the 'well' in the nib holds more ink, so one dip lasts longer. You get a weird balance between controlled line and unpredicatable, which is also lovely! I will do a proper deep dive review video on it very soon!
Ok that sounds like a dream - can’t wait to see your review!