Author Archives: leslie

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.)

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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.
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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.
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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.

Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

Welcome to the July 3, 2012 edition of carnival of pen, pencil and paper.

art supplies

ComfortableShoes presents Review: Platinum Carbon Black posted at Comfortable Shoes Studio.

Peninkcillin presents Noodler's Fox Red ink review posted at Peninkcillin – A cure for pen and ink addiction is needed.

Sandra Strait presents Life Imitates Doodles: Comparison of the Stillman & Birn Sketchbook Series posted at Life Imitates Doodles

Sandra Strait presents Review & Bleedthrumanades in the Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook posted at Life Imitates Doodles

Azizah Asgarali presents Review: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen for Calligraphy posted at Gourmet Pens.

pencils

Good Pens presents Knock, Knock? posted at Good Pens.

ComfortableShoes presents Review: STAD One Touch Pencil Extender posted at Comfortable Shoes Studio.

pens

East…West…Everywhere presents East…West…Everywhere: Fountain Pen Review: Sailor HighAce Neo posted at East…West…Everywhere.

An Inkophile's Blog presents The Kaweco Classic Sport, A Modern Pocket Pen posted at An Inkophile's Blog.

The Pen Addict presents The Pen Addict – Blog – Hacking a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Refill into a Retro 51 posted at The Pen Addict.

The Inked Nib presents The Inked Nib • Review: Lamy Nexx posted at The Inked Nib.

Peter Warrior presents Pilot B2P Ballpoint Pen Fine 0.7mm Review posted at Tiger Pens Blog.

Maybelline presents On Fountain Pens: Stabilo: Pen 68, point 88 and pointVisco pens posted at On Fountain Pens.

Cheryl from Writer's Bloc presents The Platinum Plaisir vs The Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen posted at Writer's Bloc Blog.

Azizah Asgarali presents Review: Pilot Parallel Calligraphy Pens: 1.5 mm, 2.4 mm, 3.8 mm posted at Gourmet Pens.

Azizah Asgarali presents Review: Render K Aluminum Custom Machined Pen posted at Gourmet Pens.

notebooks

Tim Leffel presents A Travel Writing 2.0 Conversation with Lavinia Spalding posted at Travel Writing 2.0

Okami0731 presents RAD AND HUNGRY – STMT X Denmark posted at Whatever.

EuropeanPaperCompany presents Guest Post: Sketching + Watercolor in the Stillman & Birn Alpha Art Journal posted at The European Paper Company.

lifeimitatesdoodles presents Comparison of the Stillman & Birn Sketchbook Series « lifeimitatesdoodles posted at lifeimitatesdoodles.

recordingthoughts presents The Leuchtturm 1917 Master Dots 4 Months Later posted at recordingthoughts.

miscellaneous

Travisthetrout presents to do lists (and drawing tick boxes) #filofax #icad posted at Notes in a Book.

Jonathan Milligan presents The Benefits of “Morning Pages” and Your Productivity posted at Simple Life Habits

Sandra Strait presents Life Imitates Doodles: New steampunk tangle pattern & Children's book posted at Life Imitates Doodles

Estivalia presents The Girl and the Goldfish posted at 365 Drawings Project"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of pen, pencil and paper using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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State of the Weekend: radiant

In stark contrast to last week this week has been pretty darn amazing. I’m shocked that so much positivity can be jam packed into one short week, but it can. At the start of the week I went to the Beverly Farmer’s Market and bought some great fresh produce from local  growers and it was amazing. I took a moment to sketch a tomato, see it on PioP. It seemed to set my week off on the right foot. Then in the middle of the week I received a package of Stillman and Birn sketchbooks, if you’ve read here, you know I am already a huge fan. I immediately cracked open a 4×6 hard bound Gamma and wow, just, wow. I’ll have a full review up on Thursday. I’ve been walking more consistently and my ankle is starting to feel better and I find that I have to wear my brace less and less. Which is a giant positive in this heat, since the brace causes much uncomfortableness.
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At some point during the week I talked to one of my friends about recent happenings and it caused a shift in my thought processes and a deep realization. I’ll share more in the upcoming weeks. Just know that this realization will involve some major life changes for me and I expect it will make some major differences in the blog, art journaling ning, and life in general.
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After the shift in my thinking things only went up from there. I got spectacular news on Friday. Friday night we walked up to Atomic expecting fiddle music only to find that the fiddle music is on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. We sat in the relatively quiet shop and chatted and ran into an old friend. The temperature and humidity were simply perfect for the night and walking.  We also got word that C got the extension on her fellowship.
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It’s not so much that I was super positive about things, it’s that I decided that a major and realistic change NEEDED to happen sooner than I had planned and expected. It seems that things are falling into place just as we need them to. This week I’m going to hold that in my thoughts, I’m going to look for one amazing thing and take time for it tomorrow and set my week off on the right foot.

Review: Stillman & Birn Alpha Coil Bound Sketchbook

I won the Stillman & Birn Alpha series sketchbook in an online contest presented by European Papers, an online seller of fine paper goods. I’ve had my eye on the Stillman & Birn series of sketchbooks for a few months, they boast thick paper and are bound in the US. I was never sure of what paper I wanted to try so it was nice to have the contest decide for me. I was sent a 6x8in Alpha Series coil bound sketchbook.
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Coil bound black sketchbooks remind me of my college days. Back when I studied art the students seemed to carry 2 types of sketchbooks- black with a coil binding or black with a hardback book style binding. I tended to carry the coil bound style.
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When the sketchbook arrived It was packaged securely in a priority mail box with plenty of packing paper cushioning the corners. The sketchbook itself was wrapped in a brown paper bag  with a small “European Papers” sticker holding it shut. Inside the bag the sketchbook was secured in a self sealing cellophane bag. I felt like I was opening a gift!

Head to the European Paper’s blog to read the rest of my review!

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The Watercolors I Use

PJ asked me what I use for watercolors. I’m not brand loyal with watercolors and I’ll try anything generally in a tube form. The biggest part of my “collection” consists of a lot of older Cotman watercolors as well as Grumbacher Academy. I bought them back when I was in college and they represented a good value at the time. They were also easily found. I’m also a sucker for clearance rack stuff and bought a bunch of Academy paints on clearance.

As I’ve used watercolors more and more and I’ve discovered what colors I like I’ve been adding to my modest collection with a variety of higher priced brands, namely Winsor & Newton and Holbein. Mostly because I can walk into Artist & Craftman and peruse the shelf and pick up one color and then put it back and then pick up another and another. I'll splurge and reward myself with a tube of Holbein or use it as a pick-me-up at the end of a rough week.

I keep a list of paints that I’m running out of in my planner so that I always know what colors I need so I never run out. If I’ve got a coupon for AC Moore I’ll use it to replace one of my tubes with the higher priced Winsor & Newton.

I also snagged a sample of Sennelier watercolors through their website. I really like those so I’ll be looking for some of those to add to my collection. (Samples are no longer available.)

I’ve also tried out Koi watercolors both in pan and tube. They are good for student grade colors. They are also very reasonably priced. Van Gogh brand watercolors are another student brand that I like very much. They are also VERY reasonably priced and have great intense colors.

My favorite splurge watercolors are the Holbein. I  have them in a variety of my watercolor sets and I like that they always rewet easily. A touch of the brush to the blob of dried paint leaves me with a nice amount of paint on my brush. I don’t need to scrub the blob to get the color going, just get it wet. It’s a really nice feature especially if I’m using one of my mint tin watercolor sets to paint in the cafe or park.

When I’m testing out a new brand I buy one of my 2 favorite colors: sepia or indigo. I can then compare how that brand’s version of the color looks and performs.

I have 3 brands of pan colors: Koi, Angora, and Cotman. I prefer the Cotman over the other 2. The 2 Angora sets I have are the smaller pocket size that they no longer make. I really like the size and portability of these 2 sets. They are the perfect size for sketching in the park or cafe. I was looking for a new version of these and was pretty sad to find they are no longer made. The Angora paints are more like a pan gouache than watercolor. The colors are very chalky and opaque. The Cotman colors are pretty traditional and work very well. I prefer the Pocket Sketcher’s set over their other sets. Their colors are pure and mix well. The koi colors are very bright and I find do not mix well. The colors are nice and bright though. I find the plastic of the koi set to be heavy.

For travel sets I really prefer to make my own and put my own color in from tubes.

My must have colors to always have on hand:

  • Cad Yellow light* and medium
  • Yellow Ochre*
  • Red Earth*
  • Hooker’s Green*
  • Perm Green (a light yellow green)
  • Quin Magenta*
  • Cad Orange
  • Cad Red Medium*
  • Turquoise blue
  • Ultramarine*
  • Raw Umber
  • Cerulean Blue
  • Payne’s Gray*
  • Sepia
  • Indigo

I’ve starred the colors I think are starter colors. If I were suggesting to someone just starting out with watercolor I’d suggest that they purchase those 8 colors and add to the set from there.

A Busy Week and Some Drawings

So the state of my week has been… a total pain in my rear. First our VW breaks down in only the way a VW can- expensive and then the muffler on my Versa decided to jump off. This is right after I order both my new video camera AND a new laptop with some of my stock option money from my DayJob, I gave myself a budget! I shopped around and found the best deal on both the laptop, quad core ASUS for just under $450 and a refurbished Canon VIxia HF R200. All told I spent less than half on them than a fancy new DSLR would have cost, mostly because I have been researching these 2 items for months and months. I did have some buyers remorse when the VW broke down. Luckily the rest of my stock option money came through to help with that bill. Then the muffler… Sometimes you just can’t win. Such is life though. I’m happy that I have a great DayJob with benefits like stock options to help me through these tough times.

Anyway, on the positive side of things the new laptop kicks some serious ass. I can process longer videos faster and with color correction and speeding things up. Crunching a 35 minute video of me drawing down to 2 minutes now takes about 20 minutes whereas with my old laptop it took several hours and I couldn’t add any effect or correct for brightness and contrast.

The new camera, well, it also kicks ass. I am able to shoot bright focused videos with only my 2 halogen bulbs lighting my work area, which means i’m not getting blinded. No matter how many lights I had on my old camera just couldn’t shoot anything bright and it would go out of focus a lot. The old camera does okay outside but just didn’t do anything nice inside. So I’m really excited about that. the last camera I bought with a small amount of research this camera I took months to decide on.

Here are some videos shot with the new camera and processed on the old laptop:

 

 

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.
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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.
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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.
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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

P6174362Platinum 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?

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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.
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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.