- Ellie Taylor
The February 2019 ArtSnacks Box
The February ArtSnacks box featured some high quality pastels. Pastel is one of my favorite mediums to work in so this was exciting! For those who want to try out these supplies for themselves. I have included my Amazon Affiliate links down below including my UK and Canada links.
When you open the box this is what you see. Hmm, a Zebra mechanical pencil with unbreakable lead. I gotta test that out!
Cutie Boots was looking for bugs. That's his current interest. He said, "There's no bugs in here! I want a bug!" (Sometimes he eats them. Poor bugs!)
The first item I received was a set of soft half stick Rembrandt pastels. This month's ArtSnacks box is getting an exclusive first look at some new sets that Rembrandt is putting out. I received the Lush Greens set of 5 pastels. The half sticks are available on Amazon in sets of 30, 60, 90, and 120. The set of 30 runs about $37.94 and full sticks are available open stock on dickblick.com for $3.12 a piece.
Then I got a closer look at the Zebra mechanical pencil. It takes 0.5 mm lead and has a spring system that is supposed to cushion the lead and keep it from breaking. This pencil retails for around $6.38 on Amazon.
A new white pen from Faber-Castell was also in this box. It had a 1.5 mm bullet nib and was one of their Pitt Artist pens. These pens are waterproof and lightfast with India ink in them. They are available in a pack of 4 for around $13.25.
Finally, there was a strip of Stonehenge Kraft paper and a Faber-Castell kneaded eraser. The erasers are sold in a 4 pack on Amazon for around $7.38.
Cutie Boots played his favorite game of hide the pen in the blanket.
Here it is. I found it, Cutie Boots! We have to test it out for our blog.
There was also a supplies list, an ArtSnacks sticker, a coupon for Faber-Castell products, and some Smarties candy.
Doodlin ' Time !
Rembrandt Pastels are high quality pastels and these were soft with good coverage. The new color sets that they are making with different color shades are really nice and can be an economical way to use these pastels. You can just pick the color shades that you want and don't have to get a big set. The Zebra mechanical pencil is nice, but the first thing that happened was the lead broke. So it's not exactly unbreakable, but it does write nicely and maybe doesn't break as much as other types of mechanical pencils. The Faber-Castell Pitt pen does actually write over the pastel or pencil. Of course, the Faber-Castell eraser worked fine.
'Tree Sketch'
by Ellie Taylor
I used the small piece of Stonehenge Kraft paper to sketch a tree on. I sketched out a tree shape with the Zebra mechanical pencil and used the different shades of green for the leaves. I used the white Faber-Castell Pitt pen to add the highlights and it worked great until the nib got jammed into the barrel. I did not even put much pressure on it so that pen must have been faulty. I painted in the different shades of grass with the pastels and added the final details with the Zebra mechanical pencil. I really liked the Stonehenge Kraft paper because it worked great with the Rembrandt pastels. Rembrandt pastels are very nice and high quality and if you are a professional pastel artist, I would definitely recommend adding these to your work tools.
If you want to try out this subscription box company, their website is http://www.artsnacks.co/ The boxes start at $24 a month with free shipping to the United States. International shipping is available for $34 with free shipping.
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