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Does anyone know anything about Masters Touch "artist quality" colored pencils from Hobby Lobby?
I need quick opinions as I am considering these as a Christmas gift. Was going to get Prisma's but these are half the price and with a coupon I could get a lot of bang for my buck. Got my MIL some CrazyArts's but due to arthritis they are too hard and hurt after only using them for a short time.
And yes I know Prisma's not as good as used to be but they will be for adult coloring so good enough since softness and ease of use are my primary concern. I only found out yesterday that the others are hurting her hands so no time to shop for something else.
I haven't used those pencils but wanted to suggest pencil grips as s possible solution (just do a Google search). Another possibility is to wrap pipe cleaner around the pencils.
Thanks for the suggestion, may even have some of those around the house. My son used to cut them up to put on his clarinet when he was in band.
I'm wondering if these are Prisma's because they came in a tin and were packaged very similarly to the Prismas. That being said, as a generic they may still have more wax and be harder than name brand pencils which is why I was asking if anyone else had used them. They may be new, I can't even find them on their website.
If these are the ones you are looking at, I find that sometimes pastels are rather crumbly rather than laying down smoothly. They are chalk based and may have the residual dust that accompanies that type of pencil. Also, pastel colored means they will not have much depth of color and you will not get the intense tones and shades. I think I would be disappointed if I bought these thinking they were comparable to regular Prisma Color pencils.
If these aren't the ones you were considering, just ignore me :-)
Stacy- This is probably way too late. No, don't get them. They are really woody and scratch. DH got a set. I hated them when I tried them out. I think it would hurt your MIL arthritis a lot more.
Since I was able to get a set of 48 pencils for pretty cheap I'm not going to worry too much. I think she will enjoy having some variety at least. She loves what I do which is nothing more than multiple layers of color. She can't currently do that with only the hand full of pencils she has.
I also picked up a set of 70 gel pens for only $20 at Staples and am very impressed with them. Actually got 2 sets of the pens and have already opened mine of course. I mean I needed to test them out right...;)
I love gel pens. I think I have an obsession with them. So, don't tempt me with Staples. I have to drive clear across the other side of town to get to mine anyway, lol. It is near Michael's. That makes it even better. I have my eye on this 150 set of gel pens on Amazon, no doubles. I am currently wishing hard on that one, lol. I ordered a 72 set of Watercolor pencils this week from Ebay for $20. I hope they are good quality. They have to be better than Artist's Loft's watercolor pencils. Those things need to go into the shame pile.
DH said to me tonight he needs a good coloring book. He has several good coloring books. I know where this is going. I guess we are shopping for coloring books this weekend. I will probably find more treasures.
Hobby Lobby had Master's Touch artist grade water coloring pencils too. I was really tempted to buy them but then I remind myself that what I really want is some inktense pencils and I was tempted no more.
The pens are great but will probably run out of ink quickly. Not sure I will know what to do if I have a gel pen run out of ink, lol that would be a change. Running out of ink vs clogging/drying up would call for a happy dance I think. Only gel pen users would understand getting excited over using a product up.
Do you have a Half Price books there? They had tons of coloring books when I shopped there for MIL's coloring book. For those who are wondering, they were brand new never used ones. Luck me, I'm on their mailing list and was able to use a coupon to get it for an additional 1/2 off.
I absolutely love the Papermate Ink Joy pens. They only have about 14 colors, but they are so smooth and write on demand. They don't smear unless you are using a glossy paper, last a very long time and have different widths - I like to print and write with the fine line ones and use the medium point for coloring. I use these as my primary gel pens and fill in the missing colors with the less expensive and more troublesome brands. I think gel pens are definitely an item where you get what you pay for.
I use Color It gel pens. They come in a case, and have refills. I bought them on Amazon. I have not had one skip. Mine are over 6months old and still write, color perfect. Love them.
Stacy- I have the Inktense & their metallics. You will love them. They are so lovely. I needed, needed another set of watercolor pencils. Coloring tools are my happy place. I have a wall of coloring tools now in my room. It just makes me so happy.
I buy ink refills for my gel pens. I have ran out. Crossing fingers for you that you do too.
I wish we had Half-Price books. I always have envy for those who have my dream bookstore, lol. What coloring book did you get your MIL?
Skippet- I love InkJoy. I have a lovely set of those too. That is my favorite journaling pen. Writing journal not art journal.
Nawnee07- Those Color It's are gorgeous. Don't enable me, lol. ;)
Lylacfey, stop enabling ;) FYI, a great medium priced watercolor pencil is Staedtler. At least it used to be I've had mine for forever, very Dewart like.
I don't remember what book she has. I actually bought a couple of them and then let her choose which one she wanted, it has inspirational quotes on each of the pages. I removed a ton of pages from the other one last week and put them into a notebook with page protectors. Took it over there and let her pick out any of those that she wanted, not that I purposely selected pictures I knew she would like or anything.
Skippet, I gave her some Ink JOY pens and she does not like them and I can understand why. Yes they are consistent true color pens for writing but not as easy to use for coloring. I'm hoping she finds the slightly narrower tip on the new ones easier to use, the ink definitely flows better.
Color-It gel pens, I'll have to keep that brand in mind, thanks.
Stacy- I can find some other pretty things you don't need to enable you with, lol.
I am taking apart my coloring books too and putting them in page protectors. I have so many I need to categorize them in some type of order. I am keeping my more unique expensive books intact. I don't have very many of those books.
I got a cute Strawberry Shortcake coloring book at Dollar General today. It is an adult coloring book and it's classic Strawberry Shortcake. I hardly could believe my luck. I went to another Dollar General and they hardly had any coloring books. On Instagram people are sharing their Dollar General hauls of the more expensive coloring books like Wuthering Heights, Fantastic Beasts, etc.. They are only paying $3.00 each. A lot of the haul books they are sharing were $20 retail at one time. I do have the Wuthering Heights coloring book and it is absolutely beautiful.
I was happy to see that my MIL has taken my advice and had put all of her completed pages into a notebook with page protectors like I had suggested. She is like a kindergartener, all excited to show everyone what she has done.
The first coloring books I got were perforated which was great, the last 2 were not :( Of course those were the ones I got for my MIL. Oh I just had a well duh moment as I was typing this. I need to take my tracing (perforating) wheel with me next time I go over there.
Are you going to display your Strawberry Shortcake book alongside a Strawberry Shortcake doll?
That is just adorable that she shows off her completed pages. I love it. I keep mine in a notebook too.
I love your idea about using a tracing wheel to perforate the pages.
No, I don't think I will put the pages next to my dolls. I only have a modern SS doll. Still on the hunt for a vintage doll, in my price range. I just hit over 300 on my doll collection. I don't have room, lol. The fashion doll trend is slowing down so less dolls for me. :(
I think I saw your 48 Master Touch collection at HL today. That was the $50 set? I was thinking of a different set. Somebody wanted to go out and find coloring books today. He only found one. We found plenty but not at the price we wanted to pay.
That sounds like the right set but $60 here, just love dfw markup. Anyway, good to know that these are different & might be better than we originally thought.
The tracing wheel idea wasn't as impressive as I'd hope. The wheel holes are too far apart for a good perf even though I'm using the small wheel. You have run it across a couple of times (at least) and then still have to tear it out. By the time I've done that I could cut several pages out with a knife.
Sorry you couldn't find a good score on coloring books, they are not as plentiful as last year. Maybe you'll find a great post Christmas deal.
I don't know if it would be better. It might since the wheel looks like it would make larger square holes but I'm not interested in buying something else A ruler and knife will do just fine for me. If anyone else tries to perforate their pages I'd love to know what they think.
Amazon might be the reason there weren't as many books this year. They could have bought up all the leftovers the year before. Happy hunting, hope you score some awesome goodies.
HL's Masters Touch colored pencils?
