Pentel oil pastels?
Jonathan W Hendry
such as fading?
I'm just wondering because they're so much cheaper than
other brands, $3 for 24, instead of $15.
Thanks,
Jon
Jewel
In art supplies, as with most things in this
world, "you gets what you pays for."
Pentel has long been a supplier of cheap
artist materials aimed at beginners and
hobbiests but not suited to the professional.
If they mfr a line of professional supplies,
I hope someone will correct me...
Erik A. Mattila
polymer pencil leads in the 60s, making the thin-line drafting pencil
possible. But they are primarily a pencil/pen manufacturer - the oil
pastels seem to be an aside. But many of their products are standards in
the graphic artis industry (currently being supplanted by computer
graphics).
I couldn't find any tech-specs on the web, but I would certainly write
Pentel Corp. for these before I discounted the product simply on the basis
of price. It's been my experience that many cheaper products are as
durable as high priced products -- it just depends how they are marketed,
especially if the manufacturer is involved in art material mysticism market
dynamics. The oil pastels seem to be aimed at a K-12 school market, but
that only means they have passed some rigorous toxicity screening. But it
also means that they do not contain some of the very toxic chemistry of art
materials, the virtues of which many artists are willing to risk their
lives to enjoy.
I would say the 'you get what you pay for' platitude may be true with
coffee grounds, but in art supplies it is often a case of 'you get fleeced
when you pay for it." Ha, ha, just yoking - you know, we each need our
cross to bear. If you think that paying excessively for materials will
make better art, go for it. I'm really pissed, myself, because you can't
buy rhoplex (poor man's acrylic) anymore, instead you have to pay 4 times
more becasue it say "Acrylic Medium" on the lable instead of a wonderfully
generic "Acrylic Copolymer Resin." And why is this so? It's because
silly artists thought if they paid more it would make better art, and the
generic product just rotted on the shelf until the retailer discontinued
carrying it. Ah, the wonders of cosumer culture.
Erik Mattila
Jewel
>
>Well, sure they manufacture professional supplies. Pentel developed
>polymer pencil leads in the 60s, making the thin-line drafting pencil
>possible. But they are primarily a pencil/pen manufacturer - the oil
>pastels seem to be an aside. But many of their products are standards in
>the graphic artis industry (currently being supplanted by computer
>graphics).
I wonder if we're talking about the same company?
I went and dug around in a box of old supplies and
found a small 12-color set of watercolors mfrd by
PENTEL Co. Ltd., a Japanese firm. On that box is this enigmatic
phrase: "Good materials grow your abundant expressive
power." It also says "non-toxic." Inside are 12 tiny
tubes of color. Since none have been used, I wonder
now why and where I acquired them.
>I would say the 'you get what you pay for' platitude may be true with
>coffee grounds, but in art supplies it is often a case of 'you get fleeced
>when you pay for it." Ha, ha, just yoking - you know
And a good yegg you are at that... I couldn't agree with
you more about the overpricing of art supplies but I've
also found that most of the 'bargain' stuff is no real
bargain when you go to use it compared to the 'better'
grades. I've done a lot of 'bargain' buying in my day and
still do when I know that I can 'make do' with the
inferior quality.
>I'm really pissed, myself, because you can't
>buy rhoplex (poor man's acrylic) anymore
Hmmm. Where do you live? I've not really made the effort
but I do know that some of the paint companies that
sell commercial grades also sell clear acrylic in gallons,
sometimes marketed as 'sealers' for various purposes.
I would NOT know where to go though to buy good stiff
gel or paste in the commercial form. If one lives
near a paint mfr I would suspect it might be possible
to buy the raw material from them. Also there are firms
like 'Guerra' that sell raw materials to artists for
those wishing to go to all the trouble of making their
own supplies.
AAR
<emat...@tomatoweb.com> writes
>I would say the 'you get what you pay for' platitude may be true with
>coffee grounds, but in art supplies it is often a case of 'you get fleeced
>when you pay for it." Ha, ha, just yoking - you know, we each need our
>cross to bear. If you think that paying excessively for materials will
>make better art, go for it. I'm really pissed, myself, because you can't
>buy rhoplex (poor man's acrylic) anymore, instead you have to pay 4 times
>more becasue it say "Acrylic Medium" on the lable instead of a wonderfully
>generic "Acrylic Copolymer Resin." And why is this so? It's because
>silly artists thought if they paid more it would make better art, and the
>generic product just rotted on the shelf until the retailer discontinued
>carrying it. Ah, the wonders of cosumer culture.
>
>Erik Mattila
Erik: a couple of years ago I went for a job interview at a leading
pastel factory here in the UK - all the pastels are made by hand and
retail at a high price, all beautifully packaged and such. Over on one
side of the factory they were processing all the ones that had slight
blemishes - usually tiny chips in the pastel - into cheap looking boxes.
When I checked in the art stores they were retailing at almost fifty
percent of the price of the *perfect* ones.
Boy, we sure turned into a bunch of suckers didn't we ?
Cheers !
--
Alison
Jonathan W Hendry
> In article <3798...@news.depaul.edu>, jhe...@shrike.depaul.edu says...
> >
> >Are Pentel oil pastels any good? Are there any drawbacks,
> >such as fading?
> >
> >I'm just wondering because they're so much cheaper than
> >other brands, $3 for 24, instead of $15.
> In art supplies, as with most things in this
> world, "you gets what you pays for."
Thanks. I bought the Pentels, but later bought some
Sakura Cray-Pas. I figure I can send the Pentels
to my niece & nephew if I have any complaints.
All I can tell so far is that the Pentels are
thinner than the Cray-Pas.