In the US, there are three major colored pencil brands that vie for the “most popular” spot in the professional/high-quality colored pencil category. They are colloquially known as the Ps: Prismacolors, Pablos and Polychromos. Prismacolors First up are Prismacolors which are currently called Prismacolor Premiers. These beloved pencils have been passed around to so many…
Review by Tina Koyama Since I don’t do much “real” watercolor painting – my main use of brushes is with water-soluble colored pencils – convenient water brushes serve me better than traditional paint brushes. Some new water brushes hit the scene recently at JetPens, so I jumped right on them: the East Hill line of…
Review by Tina Koyama If I have a serious gluing need, such as making a collage, I pull out a gallon jug of acrylic medium. But for casual gluing needs, I want something quick, easy and, above all, not messy. I gave up on glue sticks because no matter how neatly I tried to apply…
Sometimes, I just need to play with scissors and glue. I recently upgraded both my scissors and my glue stick so I thought I’d share my results. I had the matte black Allex S-165F Office Scissors with Fluorine Coating($18.50) in my cart on JetPens for eons and I finally decided to buy them. Their most…
When I saw the Iris Drawing Compass pop up on Kickstarter, I was intrigued enough to back the project. I have backed enough Kickstarter projects to know that no matter how optimistic the creators are, they will never hit their shipping date goals. So when it arrived right around the holidays, I was pleasantly surprised.…
Review by Tina Koyama Ana recently reviewed a range of sizes and colors in the Uni Pin family of pigment fine liner pens. “Just when I thought I’d reviewed every possible brand and variety of felt-tipped or fiber-tipped pen, I find another one,” she said, and I could have said the very same thing about…
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a young girl discovered her first truly unusual pen. It was the Marvy Le Pen. I was probably in grade school and along with hunting for Hello Kitty stuff, I found the exotic Le Pen. In the meantime, I’ve found many other pens that perform…
