Experiments with Stabilo Woodies
Stabilo Woodies are an excellent way of laying down large blocks of colour quickly, and they work best as a final layer because not everything will stick on a waxy surface. Unfortunately, one doesn’t usually want the blocking in of colour to be the final layer, but rather the first.
Recently I acquired some Ranger Frosted Crystal embossing powder, with a view to stabilising my Stabilo Woodies so that I could add further media on top. This embossing powder produces a textured frosty finish if you don’t overheat it (which causes it to become like normal clear embossing powder, thus defeating the object), and I thought this would have the dual function of sealing the surface, and also providing some tooth when applying other media to add detail. These crayons are very thick, and the colours are good and intense, and are ideal for blocking in wide areas of colour, but they are not good for finer detailed work. I tried using one of my archival drawing pens on them and ruined it… these pens are very sensitive when used on surfaces other than plain paper and can easily clog, and there is nothing you can do to remedy that once it’s happened. I’ve wasted too many of them in the past and had my suspicions that it would be no different with the Woodies, but I felt I had to try!
What I needed to do was make a sample piece, and emboss it with the Frosted Crystal embossing powder and then try various different writing materials on it to see which would work best.
I began by colouring a wavy pattern using four different colours of Woodies, and then blended different sections using different methods. On the left-hand end, I left it unblended. The next section was blended with my finger. I blended the third section with a paintbrush dipped in water, and the final section was blended using a Tombow Dual Brush Marker blending pen – this gives the smoothest result, I have found.
Here is the piece after I completed my experiments, together with the cigar box full of different pens, and some media I also used for the experiment.
I have bought some extra Tombow blending pens and labelled them so that they will be used exclusively for the colours indicated. The white one is used with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White (which seems to behave like gouache but I don’t know what it’s made of). The metallics are part of a set of metallic gouache paints I bought recently. I also need to prepare one for use with black gouache. I have some black gouache on order but there’s a delay and I’m still waiting for it.
Here is a picture of the whole sample piece. I have written down what I have done.
A couple of close-ups.
I applied some embossing ink with a brush, from the new Ranger dauber bottle that I got recently. You can easily unscrew the top to remove the dauber. I wasn’t sure if the dauber would a) smudge the wax crayon, or b) become contaminated with colour and/or wax, so I thought the brush was the safest option. I didn’t notice any colour transfer onto the brush, or any blending when I applied the embossing ink, so the dauber would probably be safe.
As you can see, the results are variable. I didn’t really think coloured pencils would work on this, and they didn’t – not that I would really want to apply them anyway, but I thought I would try.
Black
I watched a video the other day where someone was demonstrating the use of the Stabilo Woodies, and she recommended a black Uni Posca pen for adding detail. I must say this worked extremely well – a really intense black, both on the untreated and the embossed surface. The Zig Millennium is my normal archival drawing pen and wasn’t that intense; the Sharpie and the Faber Castell Pitt pens were much better, but not so fine. Surprisingly, the black Tombow Dual Brush marker worked very well – I thought that being basically like watercolour, it would bead up on the embossed surface but it was fine. The Staedtler Fineliner pen wasn’t bad but not quite as good as the Posca.
White
Moving onto white, which is always problematic – as expected, the white Uniball Signo pen was useless. I really dislike these white pens! I have a few in my stash but since I bought them, I have found other methods of adding white which are much better. Surprisingly, the Derwent Graphik Line Painter (an acrylic paint pen) didn’t work that well. These are pretty good for most things, but you do have to be careful because they can suddenly spurt out a great blot unexpectedly which is a real pain, ruining your piece! The white Faber Castell Pitt pen was hopeless. The very best method was, as expected, the Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White applied with the Tombow blender pen. An intense, opaque white.
Metallic
The metallic Sharpies weren’t bad at all, but not the best metallic result, I thought. The best method again was dipping the Tombow blender pen into metallic gouache. The metallic results don’t show up well on the photo, of course.
Conclusion
The best way to blend the Stabilo Woodies smoothly is with the Tombow Dual Brush Marker blender pen, with a paintbrush dipped in water coming a close second.
The Frosted Crystal embossing powder works a treat, both for sealing the surface and providing a bit of texture. It is fairly non-reflective but not completely matte.
The best black pen for adding fine detail, both on embossed and unembossed Woodies is the black Posca pen. I don’t know if they do it in a finer version but the one I have works perfectly well.
The best method for adding white detailing is with a Tombow Dual Brush Marker blender pen dipped in Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White, or alternatively you could use white gouache.
The best way of adding metallic detailing is with a Tombow Dual Brush Marker blender pen dipped in metallic gouache.
Stability of finish
To make sure everything was dry, I gently dried the sample piece with a heat tool (not the embossing heat tool as I didn’t want to melt the embossing powder again). When it was cool, I tried rubbing my fingers across the surface quite vigorously, and also with a dry piece of kitchen paper, and the results were all stable. The surface is well sealed, and none of the detailing seemed to rub off.
It will be interesting to see whether I can add further layers of colour on top of the embossed surface (e.g. acrylic paint or inks) – the surface may be too shiny for them to adhere properly, in which case a light sanding might help to add yet more texture.
I hope this review will be helpful for anyone wanting to try the Stabilo Woodies.
Easter delights
As usual, my hubby treated me to a very pretty Easter egg this year. There is a new chocolatier in our area and he hand-made this egg. Delicious chocolate, with some hand-made choccies inside. Simple, understated packaging, and a very classy white carrier bag!
Lily celebrating the joys of Easter by having a good gloop on the sitting room carpet. I call this her “shameless hussy mode” as she exposes all her bits for the whole world to see – not that much is visible through all that ultra-soft fluff!
Setting aside chocolate eggs and fluffy kitties, let us not forget the true meaning of Easter – celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died to pay the price of all our sins, past, present and future, and guaranteeing us entry into heaven and into the presence of Almighty God IF we acknowledge our sin, believe in the saving death and resurrection of Jesus and confessing that faith with our mouth. This is the Gospel – the Good News – it is all we have to do to receive God’s free gift – it is nothing to do with our works which cannot save us. Very dark times indeed are ahead for this world – Jesus describes them as the very worst this earth has ever experienced, when the wrath of God will be actively poured out on a sinful and rebellious world. He told us in advance in the Bible the signs to look out for, and they are coming thick and fast now. Now is the time to get right with God because He guarantees that those who do, will be taken to heaven before it begins. For further details, please see my tab at the top of the page, “New Life in Christ.”
