While I’m pretty attached to my Col-o-ring products, I do sometimes like to see what else is out there and how it compares. So when we picked up some Wearingeul Color Swatch notebooks and sheets from Vanness, I was excited to give them a try.
The Wearingeul Jacquere Impression Color Swatch Book ($9.20) is a fun A5 size spiral bound book, preprinted with ink bottle outlines and lines for writing ink manufacturers and names. The notebook has 40 pages of super smooth 200 GSM paper and 9 ink bottles per page, allowing you to swatch 360 inks in a single book.
The paper is thick enough that it has a cardstock feel, and it handles the ink beautifully. On one swatch, I added enough ink that the back of the page distorted slightly, but there was no show through on any of them. And to be clear, I was using cotton swabs so there was a lot of ink involved! Though you may not be able to see it in the notebook, the paper is great for shading, sheening and sparkle inks. Emerald de Chivor sparkles and sheens in all its glory (see the photo in the next section!).
The second product I’m adding to this review is more or less the same, minus the spiral binding. Wearingeul Color Swatch Sheets ($6.00) come in your choice of a few bottle patterns, and each pack contains 20 sheets. The paper is the same, 200 GSM, and the same size (of course the binding doesn’t eat up that half inch or so). The loose leaf sheets are printed slightly differently and contain 10 ink bottles per page. On the loose leaf sheets I’m better able to show you how the ink sheens!
I don’t have anything different to say about these sheets, other than that I slightly prefer the notebook, just because it helps me keep them all corralled.
Just for comparison’s sake, I thought I’d show you what I use as my own spiral notebook tracking. A long time ago, I decided to turn my Col-o-ring Oversize ($15.00) into a swatch notebook. So I sat down and organized by inks by color, and started pages in my Oversize for each color range. I haven’t updated it in a while, and it’s not as neat or fun as ink bottles, but it does show me at a glance all the different shades I have in my collection. The paper is quite different – it’s toothier and possibly not quite as thick, but I’m a fan.
Overall, I really like the Wearingeul products and, while I’m not likely to switch to them because I’ve already started my own swatch notebook, I think these sheets or notebooks would be a fun addition to your supplies.
- Papers: Wearingeul Jacquere Impression Color Swatch Book ($9.20), Wearingeul Color Swatch Sheets ($6.00), Col-o-ring Oversize ($15.00)
DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
