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.

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.

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