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msclavel
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| Posted: Nov 20 2007 at 7:31am | IP Logged
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My son has fallen in love with watercolor pencils. We have a small set of 12, but last night he saw a tin o4 24 Derwent watercolor pencils (at the craft store) and could not contain himself, insisted this is "what he needed to be really good at it." They are pricey, but I have a 40% off coupon which makes them a perfect Christmas present.
So I'm wondering about the the quality. I've never used any pencils or supplies from Derwent, though I vaguely recall hearing good things. Anyone have an opinion they would like to share?
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Nov 20 2007 at 11:59am | IP Logged
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We purchased a set of regular Derwent colored pencils this Fall. We don't like them nearly as much as the Prismacolors and Ferby pencils. You have to push much harder and the colors aren't as nice.
I don't know about the watercolor pencils, though. But, given that experience, I'd tend to go with the Prisma watercolors.
Maybe a call to Blick Art supplies to ask their opinion??? They carry both (and maybe others that your craft store carries?) and know about their products.
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Suzanne in ID
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Lisbet
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| Posted: Nov 20 2007 at 12:01pm | IP Logged
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I hope this is not a hijack, but Suzanne, do you have trouble sharpening the Prismacolor pencils? I bought 2 sets for my kids recently, (pricey!) and they get to frustrated with them to use them!!
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Nov 20 2007 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
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MaryM did a review of the sharpener that most craft stores recommend and carry for Prismas on the Quality vs. quantity thread. It's a silver star-wars-looking thing and pretty inexpensive ($4 or so).
I ordered the Plastic Barrel Lyra Pencil Sharpener (scroll down to about the 8th line of products). This one is discontinued, a bit cheaper and solid instead of see-through. Otherwise, it's the same sharpener. We have 2 of these and they are GREAT! The best sharpener I've ever used. We use it for the super ferbys, and the prismacolors and all other pencils. The blade is very sharp and doesn't "eat" the soft prisma leads. I am the only one who sharpens the prismas.
HTH
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Suzanne in ID
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msclavel
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| Posted: Nov 20 2007 at 12:12pm | IP Logged
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Lisa, we get frustrated sharpening Prismacolors too! That's one of the reasons I thought of trying a different brand. We also use some artist quality pencils from Faber-Castell, we love those! Wonderful to sharpen. And they are triangle shaped, so my little girls can get a good grip. I am going to check at another craft store (that will honor the coupon too) and see about prismacolors.
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StephanieA
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| Posted: Nov 27 2007 at 8:44am | IP Logged
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We are sold on the Super Ferbys. Even the middle kids (10 and 12) use them. But the older ones (college) are getting a small set of Caran d'Ache for Christmas. They are soft, but don't break, like the Prismacolors.They are expensive, but they are tired of the breakage. That is even MORE expensive and frustrating.
The 15 year old will get the Staedtler Karat Watercolors. We like them better than the Derwent watercolors. You can use them as a regular color pencil also. He will also get the Derwent pastel pencils. They are nice when he does detail work with his chalk pastels.
Blessings,
Stephanie
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msclavel
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| Posted: Nov 27 2007 at 11:51am | IP Logged
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Oh Stephanie, I loovvve Caran d'Ache. I had a set about 20 years ago that I absolutely wore down to nubs. Karats are fantastic too (had a set of them also). I ended up with some pastel pencils for my son and super ferbys for my little girls. Thanks everyone for the advice.
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hereinantwerp
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| Posted: Nov 29 2007 at 2:26am | IP Logged
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we have the Derwents and they work fairly nicely. They do not work well as a "normal" colored pencil though. I haven't used other watercolor pencils to compare but I also have heard Caran D'Arche is nice. I am curious myself about the Lyra Acquacolors.
RE. prismacolors I think the problem is the leads break on the inside. It is frustrating. I have the prismacolor "scholars" which really work almost just as well, I tried the colors side by side with the normal prismacolors and you can hardly see the difference. They are much sturdier, sharpen well, and are half the price! Dick Blick always has excellent prices for all this stuff.
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: Nov 29 2007 at 11:10pm | IP Logged
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We LOVE the Derwent pencils. We have their graphites, colored, pastels, and shading pencils.
I think you have to look at what kind you are trying. The regular coloring pencils we all think work great- after two years we still have no missing (though some very short) ones. They do have softer colored pencils, but we find the regulars very nice to color with. We actually didn't like the prismacolour ones (sorry). We found them to hard!
One set of pencils that we just loved were the TICONDEROGA core lock colored pencils. They leads are locked in a grid inside so that they will not break if they fall. The color is good and rich and the pencils aren't super hard, so they give rich color to even little hands. My trouble is I can't find them anymore- we went to the art store here in our fairly large (Canadian standards) city and they didn't carry them. I am going to order them though for my 7yos who has been begging for his own pencil crayons all year.
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Kristie in Canada
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4Real Forums : The Arts in the Everyday
Topic: Derwent Pencils
