Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
I have noticed everyone is starting to use prisma colour pencils and the results are absolutely beautiful! But I am a little bit confused, sometimes I see that metallic pencils are these from SU??) are used, and also gamsol? (unsure of what this is) then a stump?? Are all of these needed? I am assuming that you can buy all these from Michaels? It seems like everycard I look at lately uses prisma colour pencils and I really want to try but don't know where to begin?? Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!
Ok...prisma color colored pencils are an art quality brand pencil that you can get at most craft/art stores. My Michaels does carry them in all sized packages! Gamsol is an odorless mineral spirit that is used to blend the colors to get the gorgeous images that you see all over SCS...Michael's doesn't sell the Gamsol brand, but they do sell an odorless mineral spirit under the Mona Lisa brand name. And stumps....you can find these in the drawing aisle (with the prismacolors...) and they are paper 'stumps' (they look like a pencil made of paper, almost). You use the blending stumps to dip in the mineral spirits and then to blend the color. Does that help?
I think there is a great tutorial by Princess Ink on the tutorial page....link at the top of the SCS page! ;)
I wish I could give you all the answers, but I am also learning. I bought my Prismas and Gamsol and find myself using them more and more. I LOVE them, they are easy and can make an art dummy like me feel good. Will follow your thread and look for the answer about the metallic pencils.
Oh sorry I missed that....I don't know anything about the metallic pencils, I'm sorry!
As for the prismacolors....you know, I have a 12 pack of the prismas and I don't use them. Alot of people say that they only like the prismacolors, but I've used the Rose Art brand pencils(72 pencils for $5 or so) and I love those. I haven't had one problem with them, and the colors turn out beautiful, so I would suggest starting with those and then upgrading to the expensive pencils if you decide that you like the technique, go for the expensive pencils. Just my opinion tho. ;)
I kinda did the same thing, I bought an inexpensive set of colored pencils at Hobby Lobby ($3.99 for 36) to try. I liked them well enough, but I happened to grab 2 or 3 open stock Prismacolors at the same time. So I was able to try those too. SERIOUS difference! I went on eBay and found the largest set of Prismacolors I could afford. (I got the 48 set.) I do wish I had a larger set now, but maybe for my birthday or Christmas
I don't really know anything about the metallic pencils either sorry.
You will also want to avoid the stumps that are hollow and short. Get ones that are at least 4" long and double tipped. All of mine are Made in China and I haven't had any problems but there are those that say the ones Made in Taiwan are better. I find that I don't use the smallest size that much. Mostly the middle size.
__________________ Ann Here is my oily blog! CLICK HERE Certified Copic Instructor - Local ClassesI love cars, stamping and essential oils!
I just did a bunch of "articles" of sorts on my blog. I have been studying color pencils and thought I would share what I had learned. There are so many fabulous tips out on the internet, but I tried to compile them in one spot to aid people in the coloring process. I even did an experiment with the different coloring techniques to make a comparison.
Hopefully the information that is there will help those who are looking for more information.
P.S. - I too love the ones from China and I'm a lover of the small ones We are such a fun group - it is so fun to compare and learn from one another!
Oh shoot - I forgot to add that my sis lives in Canada and just purchased a set of 120 from Michael's using a 50% off coupon Canadians are having a hard time finding Gamsol specifically - I have tried to aid my sis by letting her know that it is made by a company called Gamblin. So if you get on the phone perhaps you will save yourself some driving - Michael's does not carry Gamsol they have other odorless mineral spirits. These work as well, but I do notice a difference in the quality. The Gamblin seems to "liquify" the pigment and allow it to move more freely on your paper. Also be certain you are using a good paper - it will make a difference in the whole effect of your coloring. HTH's and please let me know if you have any other questions.
I just bought my Prismacolor pencils yesterday from Dick Blick Art Supply here in Georgia. They had all different size packages from 12 to 120 and they even had the Metallics (pak of 6 in gold, silver, copper, purple, green & gold). Needless to say I had to get the them all. I ordered my Gamsol & stubs from inkyantics.com. I went to Hobby Lobby to check if they had the pencils to price compare and believe it or not Hobby Lobby's were $20.00 more for the 72 count that I bought at Dick Blick!!! They did not carry the Metallics. So, I feel I got a great deal all together. I'm a happy camper & can't wait to try them now.
My Prisma's are arriving today from Dick Blick they are on sale and really good deal. I also got a huge 12 set of stumps for about the price of two at hobby lobby. I should have ordered the Gamsol but I didn't want to pay for the Hazmat handling so now I can't even find any odorless mineral spirits at all. Hobby Lobby has odorer less thinner for as much as I would have paid for the Dick Blick shipping (I hate our Hobby Lobby). I found generic at Lowes and Home Depot but they have a little color to them - the folks were nice to open them for me. So is Gamsol a little tinted?
Gamblin's Gamsol is completely clear - it really does look like water, so you must always have it extremely well identified and out of reach of children I have tried numerous odorless mineral spirits and they all work, Gamblin's Gamsol does work the though. HTH's.
Oh shoot - I forgot to add that my sis lives in Canada and just purchased a set of 120 from Michael's using a 50% off coupon Canadians are having a hard time finding Gamsol specifically - I have tried to aid my sis by letting her know that it is made by a company called Gamblin. So if you get on the phone perhaps you will save yourself some driving - Michael's does not carry Gamsol they have other odorless mineral spirits. These work as well, but I do notice a difference in the quality. The Gamblin seems to "liquify" the pigment and allow it to move more freely on your paper. Also be certain you are using a good paper - it will make a difference in the whole effect of your coloring. HTH's and please let me know if you have any other questions.
I live in Canada and I bought my "Gamsol" (actually another brand name) from my local art shop. It was very inexpensive. You just have to ask for odourless mineral spirits.
__________________ I got a Nikon camera. I love to take photographs, so momma don't take my kodachrome away."
Paul Simon
I've been on the fence about the Prisma colors and this thread has been great! TFS ya'll!!
__________________ ~*~Heather~*~ Princess of all things SPAM In Mesopotamia or Ancient Troy there are cities built on top of other cities, but I don't want another city, I like this city.
I found my stumps at AC Moore, but they didn't have the Gamsol. Found it at Pearl Arts & Crafts -- but I don't know if that's a local art supply store or a chain. Bought my Prismacolors at Joann's with a 50% off coupon.
And I want to tell you that I absolutely love them!
I too like the stumps made in China....I bought the Rose art pencils and quickly switched up to Prismacolor.....HUGE difference. I use Gamsol and found it at an artists supply store....I have had soooo much fun with this technique and am still amazed by the outcome......I am a huge Fan Of Jamie Hayes (artist) www.jamiehayes.com and have been for many years...I love his vibrant colors and could not figure out for the life of me how he did it.....now I know. He confirms that his postors are prismacolored and spirits blended.....Now I invision my work to look just like his....lol.
I too have been experimenting with this technique and found that I like Turpenoid - an oderless turpentine substitute available at any art supply store - better than Gamsol. I also have Lyra pencils and Prismacolor and love them both.
If you want to order Gamsol direct, just type it into Google and you will find the manufacturer who is located in Cleveland, Ohio. They do sell retail and ship quickly.
I just bought a set of 48 of Prisma today at Michaels...they were 25% off and still have the 40% coupon that was in today's paper. I bought the Mona Lisa brand odorless mineral spirits and will try the technique this week. I'm excited. I have read so much on this topic and I'm really anxious to play now. Thanks, Ladies, for all of your advice and suggestions.
Just an FYI for those of you ordering your Prismas from Dick Blick, they also sell the Gamsol. Here's the link: http://www.dickblick.com/zz004/56j/
Then you can just purchase a Bingo dauber and pour a little in it.
And here's a link to the originator of the technique: http://www.sanford-artedventures.com...gimbel_mp.html
Now this page says she's been doing this for a year and a half but it's obviously not updated. She taught me this technique in 1999 when she was demoing for Inky Antics at a stamp convention. I've read Ellen's info (hey sugar!) and it's great! I just thought I'd include Debbie's link here on the chance that it might answer any other questions!
Hi,
is there a difference in Mineral spirits and odorless paint thinner?
New to this and have the odorless paint thinner , but not sure if i can use this with prisma pencils. Any help will be appreciated.
Smallcity
I didn't know the answer to your question smallcity and so I did my usual research and came up with the following information from trueart.info
"Odorless Paint Thinners are essentially the same as petroleum distillate or mineral spirits except that the unpleasant odor has been removed or masked. All are fine turpentine substitutes if you avoid using them with dammar or mastic.
Remember, however, that the paint thinner that is sold in hardware stores is not the same, and may contain other solvents that can destroy an artist-grade paint, ruin brushes, substantially increase health risks, or cause other dangerous or unpredictable results. One artist reports that she was using a paint thinner purchased at a hardware store, when all of a sudden the hairs were falling out of her brushes in clumps. She had been using hardware-store paint thinner without serious problems until this incident. After investigation, it was discovered that many of the solvents packaged for hardware stores under the name "paint thinner" may be changed by the manufacturer without notice. These changes may be perfectly satisfactory for hardware use, but in this case the last batch of paint thinner the artist purchased was, unfortunately, particularly good at dissolving the glues used to hold her brushes together."
Thanks for your help. I think i bought the wrong Prisma's. I have the verithin ,and someone said you can't use the verithin. The mineral spirits i bought at Michael's and it is by Mona Lisa and it says odorless paint thinner. I think i have the wrong items all the way around. I'll have to make another trip to the store. I have already sharpened all my verithin pencils, but i am sure i can use them for something. I appreciate all the help from you ladies.
Smallcity
The verithin pencil is wonderful for sketching or addint details to your "artwork". The Prismacolor color pencils you want are their "Premier" sets. Get the biggest set you can afford - you will not regret having all 132 of their colors Just be certain to look for a good sale or use a coupon! Have fun shopping!
Ellen
thanks so much for the input on the Prisma Pencils. The bottle of what i was thinking is the right stuff to use to blend is by Mona Lisa and it says it is odorless Paint Thinner. Is it going to say odorless turpentine on the bottle?
Also does it say premier on the prisma pencils? I think i bought a few where you could buy just one, but who knows if they are the right ones. Ha.
I really appreciate all your input.
Thanks again
Smallcity
the stamping stuff and I use stamping in my scrapbooks and I was wondering is this tech with pencils acid free and safe for scrapbooks?? Thanks. Kristy
Great info on the verithin pencils, Ellen! Now I need those to add in detail ;) Thanks alot!
and I'm sorry I don't have the info you need, smallcity, but my box was thrown away years ago. Ooh wait, here's a link to the box at Marco's Paper: http://www.marcopaper.com/prismacolor.htm
and I'm pretty sure this isn't an an acid- free technique ~ I seem to remember hearing Debbie Gimbel say that. . . but I could be wrong!
Prisma Colour Help!
