Prismacolor Chatter

[cjzim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by casslarson

Does Prism have different quality papers? My LSS switched from Bazzill to Prism many months ago and I thought it was horrible!! No weight at all for a card base. But I hear all the time that people love Prism......

I would like to know the answer to this as well; I bought some Prism white cs and I thought it was terrible as well, and definitely inferior weight for a card base. Also, not a nice bright white. So....are there different qualities or lines of this paper?

[scrubbybubbles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by casslarson

Does Prism have different quality papers? My LSS switched from Bazzill to Prism many months ago and I thought it was horrible!! No weight at all for a card base. But I hear all the time that people love Prism......

Well, the prism paper I ordered from HERE is called Prism Packs. I didn't want to invest a lot of money in it if I didn't like it but, I was wrong and it seems to make a nice card base for my cards IMO.

[scrubbybubbles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjzim

I would like to know the answer to this as well; I bought some Prism white cs and I thought it was terrible as well, and definitely inferior weight for a card base. Also, not a nice bright white. So....are there different qualities or lines of this paper?

Here's a review I found on it on Craft Critique. I love this blog. I go there all the time to check before I buy.

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrubbybubbles

Your right. I didn't think there would be much of a difference but, I was mistaken. Yanno, it's funny but, I was just talking to my boyfriend pat last night and realized that I have slowly been switching some of my supplies over from "what I could afford to start with" to "some nicer quality products"...Now I'm doing it with my cardstock. I just tried some colored CS from prism and I love the quality. Same with the PTI white CS. lovely!

<laughing> I'm a total supply snob. It's amazing what a difference high quality supplies make to your projects. It's not that the cheaper stuff doesn't work. If it's all you can afford, you can still get good results. But once you can afford to pay a little more for those supplies, I say go for it!

I'm on a pretty tight crafty budget. I hoard every penny and spend forever agonizing over my carts until I can get every little penney's worth. My husband teases me about it sometimes. I could get more stamps if I just went with the Georgia Pacific cardstock from Wal-Mart. We keep a stock of that in the house anyway. I often use it for card bases as I feel like I'm totally wasting my precious Pure Lux CS by using it that way! My "good" cardstock is for coloring. The cheap stuff is for everything else.

I just got the Vanilla in Pure Luxury base weight and I can't wait to do some coloring on it. I want to try sepia tones with brown ink for a vintage look. And Gina released the stuff in black last month, so I snagged a pack of it as well. I love Jenn's chalkboard technique with Prismacolors. Now I just need a really good white ink pad so I can try that out.

V

[scrubbybubbles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by just_v

<laughing> I'm a total supply snob. It's amazing what a difference high quality supplies make to your projects. It's not that the cheaper stuff doesn't work. If it's all you can afford, you can still get good results. But once you can afford to pay a little more for those supplies, I say go for it!

I'm on a pretty tight crafty budget. I hoard every penny and spend forever agonizing over my carts until I can get every little penney's worth. My husband teases me about it sometimes. I could get more stamps if I just went with the Georgia Pacific cardstock from Wal-Mart. We keep a stock of that in the house anyway. I often use it for card bases as I feel like I'm totally wasting my precious Pure Lux CS by using it that way! My "good" cardstock is for coloring. The cheap stuff is for everything else.

I just got the Vanilla in Pure Luxury base weight and I can't wait to do some coloring on it. I want to try sepia tones with brown ink for a vintage look. And Gina released the stuff in black last month, so I snagged a pack of it as well. I love Jenn's chalkboard technique with Prismacolors. Now I just need a really good white ink pad so I can try that out.

V

Sounds like you have some good stuff there as well! I'm like that too...analyzing my purchases but, I want to also know I'm getting the best deal yanno? My boyfriend is ALWAYS telling me "do your homework honey!" he's right too. I can't tell you HOW many times, if I just take the time to search a little, that I end up finding something either at a better price or more of it for less money.

Let me know what white ink pad you go with. I have 2 and they both STINK! One is Stazon opaque in cotton white...AWFUL!! and the other I just bought not too long ago and it's awful as well! it's called versamagic multi-surface chalk ink in cloud white. Looks absolutely TERRIBLE when stamped. I've ruined cards trying to use them. I'm very disappointed. :(

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrubbybubbles

Let me know what white ink pad you go with. I have 2 and they both STINK! One is Stazon opaque in cotton white...AWFUL!! and the other I just bought not too long ago and it's awful as well! it's called versamagic multi-surface chalk ink in cloud white. Looks absolutely TERRIBLE when stamped. I've ruined cards trying to use them. I'm very disappointed. :(

From what I understand the PTI Fresh Snow pad is excellent. It's biggest problem...it's perpetually out of stock. <sigh> I'm hoping it shows up in stock about the same time as my birthday pennies. ;)

V

[stamp2u]

I LOVE my Prismacolor pencils. I have the 120 set and Gamsol. I've never had very good luck blending with Gamsol for some reason. Today I bought a bottle of baby oil and tried that. It worked so much better for me. The colors just floated over the paper and blended effortlessly. I am 100% sold on using baby oil. AND it is SO much less expensive than Gamsol. Thanks ladies for your experiences and impressions!

Happy stamping!

[casslarson]

I have the SU Craft White ink pad. It's pretty good. I have read that the PTI one is much better.

V - I hear ya!! Of course, when the things I want ARE in stock is when I'm out of pennies!!! LOL!!

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by casslarson

I have the SU Craft White ink pad. It's pretty good. I have read that the PTI one is much better.

V - I hear ya!! Of course, when the things I want ARE in stock is when I'm out of pennies!!! LOL!!

Every time I run an SU! order I end up stopping when it hits shipping and tax. Man, I hate their shipping costs!!

I think it's some derivative of Murphy's Law that says what you really want must be out of stock when you can afford it.

Lori - I'm glad you tried it again!

V

[scrubbybubbles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by just_v

From what I understand the PTI Fresh Snow pad is excellent. It's biggest problem...it's perpetually out of stock. <sigh> I'm hoping it shows up in stock about the same time as my birthday pennies. ;)

V

Oh good! thanks for letting me know!

[casslarson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by just_v

Every time I run an SU! order I end up stopping when it hits shipping and tax. Man, I hate their shipping costs!!

I think it's some derivative of Murphy's Law that says what you really want must be out of stock when you can afford it.

Lori - I'm glad you tried it again!

V

If you hit it about $70 worth of product, then the shipping is only 10% which is pretty reasonable to me. I guess $7 for UPS delivery is a great bargain to me. Of course, I have a hard time stopping at $70!!! LOL!!!
Maybe order with someone and split shipping? I don't know. I love their stuff "tres beaucoup" so I don't really mind it!


Are there other WHITE pads? My Staz-On white is crappy - you barely see it. I also have some ColorBox in white and cream that don't seem to stamp very bright either. So my SU compared to them is AWESOME!! But I would still love to have the PTI one!!!

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by casslarson

If you hit it about $70 worth of product, then the shipping is only 10% which is pretty reasonable to me. I guess $7 for UPS delivery is a great bargain to me. Of course, I have a hard time stopping at $70!!! LOL!!!
Maybe order with someone and split shipping? I don't know. I love their stuff "tres beaucoup" so I don't really mind it!

are there other WHITE pads? My Staz-On white is crappy - you barely see it. I also have some ColorBox in white and cream that don't seem to stamp very bright either. So my SU compared to them is AWESOME!! But I would still love to have the PTI one!!!

If I could stop at $70 it probably wouldn't bug me as much. Of course, by the time I add tax onto the shipping, I'm up to 15%. <bleh>

As for Staz-on white. I sent email to Tsukineko about a year ago and they told me that their Staz-0n ink is specifically NOT intended for paper. That it will not give a vibrant white. They recommended the Cloud White in their VersaMagic line. Personally, I don't think it's all that good.

V

[steph772]

Quote:

Originally Posted by just_v

As for Staz-on white. I sent email to Tsukineko about a year ago and they told me that their Staz-0n ink is specifically NOT intended for paper. That it will not give a vibrant white. They recommended the Cloud White in their VersaMagic line. Personally, I don't think it's all that good.

V

WOW, that is quite interesting for me. Wonder why SU would sell it as a main product if it isnt even meant for paper? Im shocked by this. I love SU but get frustrated by stuff like this.
I use stazon black for all my images Im going to color. What are you using for black ink and where can I get it cheapest? I would like to try that PTI pad you are talking about also.

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steph772

WOW, that is quite interesting for me. Wonder why SU would sell it as a main product if it isnt even meant for paper? Im shocked by this. I love SU but get frustrated by stuff like this.
I use stazon black for all my images Im going to color. What are you using for black ink and where can I get it cheapest? I would like to try that PTI pad you are talking about also.

Staz-on is "the" thing for non-porous materials, which is probably why SU carries it along with their standard ink line. I use Memento ink, primarily Tuxedo Black for all my coloring. I got it with a 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby, but I know a lot of online places carry it. I don't have a Mike's anywhere close so I don't know if they carry it.

PTI has an awesome black they say is NOT for Copics, but it excellent for watercoloring. I don't know how it would work with OMS though. They don't say. That may be a good question to ask in the general forum to see if anyone has tried it if someone doesn't chime in here.

V

[casslarson]

I also love the Memento Tuxedo Black. I also have the Rich Cocoa that I use when watercoloring OR using my pencils.

I really debated about getting it b/c I have SOOOO many black ink pads -- but it is wonderful!! Michael's does not carry this brand nor does JoAnns.

Archival Ink should be really good too for not smearing...but I don't have that one so can't test it.

[NerdyBeth]

Great thread, ladies! I've been considering buy some Prisma pencils and now I'm convinced this is the way to go for me. Of course I already have a blending stump because years ago during my first attempt at stamping (and waaaay before I knew about SCS) I bought one and used it...dry...with my SU watercolor pencils. Duh. :oops:

It said "blending", I thought it would blend!! Just one of several reasons why I decided to give up on stamping at the time.

[dini]

Prismacolors for me too...I have alllllllllll the colors + the lightfast ones - there are some repeats but most are not, and offer more variety. They seem more blendable too.

I haven't read the whole thread here, but did you know you can blend prismas with the Copic blender marker? Nice for traveling when you don't want to bring OMS or another solvent along.

[Ellibelle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dini

Prismacolors for me too...I have alllllllllll the colors + the lightfast ones - there are some repeats but most are not, and offer more variety. They seem more blendable too.

Quote:

Thanks so much for mentioning that. I haven't thought of that, I will have to give that a try tomorrow.

[casslarson]

I did not know that Dina - will have to try that out!! Thanks!!

[steph772]

Seems like that could be a possiblity to blend with. Definitely worth a try!
I love just coloring without using a blending solvent too. These pencils just smoosh together so nicely!

[just_v]

Interesting! I know there was some discussion on another thread about loading an empty copic with OMS and blending, but someone came along and firmly said it just wouldn't work. May be something to come back and revisit.

V

[sprtchick]

Finally got my 132 Prismas sharpened...I have a blister starting on my thumb...lol....
I cant wait until I have some time to use them.
Blessings.

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprtchick

Finally got my 132 Prismas sharpened...I have a blister starting on my thumb...lol....
I cant wait until I have some time to use them.
Blessings.

Ah yes. The sharpening blister. A common pencil injury.

My 12 new colors to complete my upgrade from 120 to 132 arrive tomorrow. Hopefully, I can skip the blister since I'm just sharpening 12.

V

[doggonecrafts]

I personally gave up on the hand sharpening and just used the electric sharpener. I didn't see damage to the pencils except for the EXTREME pointy tip.

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggonecrafts

I personally gave up on the hand sharpening and just used the electric sharpener. I didn't see damage to the pencils except for the EXTREME pointy tip.

I tried it on a couple and ended up going with hand sharpening after the electric one tried to eat my pencils.

V

[steph772]

Quote:

Originally Posted by just_v

Interesting! I know there was some discussion on another thread about loading an empty copic with OMS and blending, but someone came along and firmly said it just wouldn't work. May be something to come back and revisit.

V

Now that is an idea!!!! Wonder if it is because it would just eat through the marker packaging?

Also, which sharpener are you using? I use the stampin up one, simply because it is the one I had. Is there a specific sharpener to use also?

Geesh! I will never have enough supplies to keep me content!:rolleyes:

[just_v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steph772

Now that is an idea!!!! Wonder if it is because it would just eat through the marker packaging?

Also, which sharpener are you using? I use the stampin up one, simply because it is the one I had. Is there a specific sharpener to use also?

Geesh! I will never have enough supplies to keep me content!:rolleyes:

I don't remember all the reasoning behind why the person said it wouldn't work. I think mostly it was the tip would get stained and clogged. I remember it not being enough to have stopped me from trying it, but it did stop the person who actually had a spare empty copic on hand at the moment.

No. You will never have enough. I think if that ever happens there will suddenly be a rift in the time space crafting continuum. <laughing>

As for sharpener...I use the little metal one that came with my 120 pc set. Prismacolor actually has their own. It's a bullet sort of shape. I've looked at it several times at Hobby Lobby. It's cheap enough, only $5 and even more so with a coupon. I haven't actually gone past just looking at it though. With my new pencils arriving, it's definitely worth considering again.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

V

[MollyStamps]

Marcos Paper used to sell - proabably still does - the perfect little hand-held brass pencil sharpener - Bruynzeel is the brand. Comes in its own little case with extra blades. It's what I've used for years to sharpen my Prismas.

Molly

[casslarson]

well, i got my color chart completed!! I must have an OOOOLLLDDD set - it has been awhile since hubby was in college! All my greys have different numbers than what is on the chart. A few have a different name from the chart but same number and a few no where on the chart.

I went to Hobby Lobby to fill it out since they were on sale. With the individual ones - they only had 3 that I don't already have. Then one was priced and the other two weren't. The lady asked if I knew how much they were; I told her I assumed they were the same price as the first one. Her response: "Well, we'll just pretend like they are".

Made me soooo mad!! Like I'm going to lie???? What really got me is that it was the same lady who checked me out back in November or so. Spellbinders were on sale and I was buying some Nesties. Those packages just fit right together. She only charged me for one - she didn't realize there were 2 packages. I dug it out of the sack and showed her so she could ring up the second one. So....if I won't "steal" a $15 item at sale price why would I "steal" an 80 cent pencil????

Thanks for letting me vent! I feel much better!

[scrubbybubbles]

I use an electric pencil sharpener myself as this was suggested by Gina K. at her forum at Stamp TV. I specifically ordered a panasonic model # KP-380. I did my homework online to find reviews on the best ones and then ordered it so I would have it when my new pencils arrived. Works great! It does say on the sheet I got from Prismacolor co. that it might clog the inner workings of the pencil sharpener (or dull the blades) but, that you can simply sharpen a graphite leaded pencil and it will assist in lubricating the gears again and also to periodically clean the inside of the sharpener out with a small brush. HTH!

[sprtchick]

Happy birthday happy birthday to "V".....40! blessings to you..Amber

[scrubbybubbles]

Have a great day V!

[dini]

Since the Copic markers are alcohol based and you can also use 90% alcohol to blend pencils (tutorial on the Prismacolor site), it makes sense to just use their blender rather than fill an empty pen...not sure what their blending solution is, but - it does work.

[jknath]

So glad you started this thread. I haven't read through completely yet but I have to say that I can't really use anything as well as my prismas (including copics). Before I discovered the OMS technique I pretty much avoided using stamps that needed coloring. And when I found out how important the quality of the stump and paper was to the finished product and began using them I was elated. I still have a ways to go but I am much better than I used to be and I don't hesitate when choosing a stamp that needs coloring now (which I am sure makes all the stamp companys happy.

[OCDstamper]

Happy Birthday, V! You are amazing...hope your day is, too!

[just_v]

Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes, girls! My DH rocked my gift this year. A huge pile of nesties, the 12 new prismacolor pencils and a scor-pad. FedEx says it should all arrive today! Sadly, no playing until this weekend. :( My parents are invading.

And me with new stamps, new nesties, new pencils....Ah well. As soon as I have a chance to get the new pencils sharpened and sampled, I'll update the coloring chart to 132!

I whipped up and printed out a portrait sampler. I've been scrubbing my house, so I haven't had a chance to experiment with color combos though. What's everyone's favorite portrait color combo?

V

[doggonecrafts]

Happy Birthday (belated) and WOW - your DH did Rock out the gifts!! How exciting for you!

My mom's coming over now and we're going to color some images while sitting out in the backyard. It's beautiful in CT today!!

[MrHambo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by just_v

And me with new stamps, new nesties, new pencils....Ah well. As soon as I have a chance to get the new pencils sharpened and sampled, I'll update the coloring chart to 132!


V

What more could you ask for? Happy belated birthday.

[bonnierose]

where do u buy mineral spirits?

[sgalley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonnierose

where do u buy mineral spirits?

Hobby Lobby, Michael's...or any art supply store will have them.