Thursday, January 31, 2008

Magic Colored Pencil / Gamsol Magic Technique

I have had some questions regarding this technique. Here are some links to explain it more:

Debbie Gimbel's Tutorial at " A Lifetime of Color"

Gina K Designs Blog - Prismacolor Pencil Tutorial - love this one - simple and clean

Gina K Video Tutorial - Wonderful!

Inky Antics - where you can find all your supplies! On front page there is a tutorial link in PDF format

Anna Wright's blog - I love this image and the shading! Her stamp designs are awesome!

Where the fascination all started for me at Splitcoast Stampers:

Splitcoast Stampers: Gamsol Magic


Notes from me: ( BEWARE my personal opinion and a bit of rambling - don't read further if you don't want to LOL!) - for the people who are very interested or have tried this technique.

-I bought my supplies in Canada and I am using Odorless Paint Thinner from an online art supplies store. A less toxic alternative is Zest-It, you can use rubbing alcohol/surgical spirits ( I tried it and my paper began ripping! but it did blend) or baby oil ( good when you are working on an area with a good lay-down of color, you must be careful in white/open areas - you can get oily spots). I am pretty sure I am using the "wrong" made in China stumps. They are working for me. In the future, I will try the Made in Taiwan stumps and see if they blend better.

-just about any waxy/or oil based pencil will work, the OMS breaks down the wax/oil to move the pigment around (NOT WATERCOLOR or AQUARELLE pencils). I shelled out for the 48 Prismacolor Premier Artist-grade pencil set - they are good but are soft and you must be very careful with sharpening - they break easily. THE SCOOP! I already had a 60 set of the Berol Prismacolor Scholar grade pencils ( Canada - less than $25 at Walmart or Staples) and the pencils and numbers pretty much coincide with their more expensive siblings! ($56 CAD for my 48) I tested the colors and blending.... almost identical! ( OK red was less intense - but not horribly so - I tend to blend several colors together and after this I found no real noticable difference) AND they didn't break nearly so much when sharpening - ok I don't remember them breaking LOL. ANOTHER SCOOP! If you are in Canada, we have a brand called Laurentien that is the brand we all bought in grade school to color with. I found my son's remnants from a 60 set we purchased, and I found they were also good and had great colors to supplement my stash like Kahki, Raspberry ( very vibrant) and some nice reds ( cherry red and crimson - very vibrant) and blues ( great variety). I have priced the 60 Laurentien set and it is well under $14 CAD! My personal opinion? I would have just bought a Laurentien Set ( great well rounded choice of colors) or a Prismacolor Scholar Set ( if I wanted the same colors as the expensive ones). Guess what? They are both made by Sanford! (company that makes the Prismacolor Premier) I have added a quick scan of a comparison in the reds ( the laurentien also has a crimson red but much darker).

1 comment:

Maureen said...

Thank you so much for this comparison! I really wanted to try this technique but thought I would need to buy some Prismacolor pencils. Being Canadian, I already have lots of Laurentiens on hand! I always looked forward to getting a new set for back to school. I still have a 60 pencil set, so I guess I'm all set!!