A few weeks ago, after meeting her at the Shape North Creative Conference at Huddersfield University, Jane from Dryad Education kindly got in touch and asked if I would be interested in trying out some of their art materials. As you can probably imagine, I was delighted to accept!

As my business continues to develop and evolve, I am always on the look out for ways that I can work more sustainably, swapping materials and tools for options that are kinder to the environment. Therefore, I decided that this would be a great opportunity to try out some of the eco friendly art supplies available through Dryad Education. After a brilliant afternoon browsing and choosing from the huge variety of materials that they stock, a very exciting parcel arrived…

The first item that I tried was the Spectrum Watercolour Pencils Eco Box. The pencils themselves are un-laminated and so are fully recyclable. The packaging is also made from recycled pulp and is printed in a single colour to reduce wastage in production. There were 12 assorted colours, comprising of a range of warm and cool colours. When used dry, I found the colours to be bright and nicely pigmented. When used as watercolour pencils, they did seem to struggle a bit to hold the pigment and the colours were very pale in comparison with other brands. However, at less than £4 for a box of 12, these are a great option for children or for occasional use.

Next up was the Specialist Crafts Stencil Card Sheet. As part of my mixed media approach, I like to create stencils to use alongside a gel plate to create different textures and effects. Sturdy card is required for making the stencil and they often don’t last for more than a couple of uses before tearing, which creates quite a bit of waste. Therefore, I was really interested to try this product and see how it holds up to multiple uses.

Next out of the box of goodies were the refillable brush pens. I have used these before and find them so useful! They can be filled with water and used alongside a small set of watercolours, when painting on the go. I have also used them in a similar way alongside Caran D’Ache Neocolor II pastels. Another good trick is using the brush pens with the Ecoline refill bottles. These are great for mixing shades or using a more dilute version of colours by adding water, alongside the Ecoline ink.

In the past, the quality of the brush itself and how consistently it comes to a point, has seemed to vary from brand to brand. Although the Pentel ones that I received from Dryad Education came with a medium sized brush, they also stock brush pens in fine and broad as well. After using these pens several times with watercolours, the brush still seems to come nicely to a point and there’s also a good ‘spring’, which allows variation in line thickness. I was really pleased with these and I think they’ll definitely become part of my regular art kit.

Last, but certainly not least, to try were the Pebeo Origin Acrylic paints. I have recently been experimenting with using gel plates within my mixed-media work and so I was eager to explore any acrylic paints that might be a bit more eco-friendly. The Pebeo Origin range does seem pretty new to the market and I couldn’t seem to find that much information around the specific ingredients of the paint. However, what I did find out is that, according the Pebeo, the paints are produced using a recycled binder, which reduces the carbon footprint by 80% compared to conventional acrylic paints.

Using the paints alongside my gel plate, I was thrilled with the colours and consistency. I found that they spread smoothly and evenly across the place and transferred brilliantly when printing. The colours mixed well within the primary set that Dryad kindly sent me. I think the next step for me will be to add some warmer shades and probably the buff titanium colour to my collection, in order to achieve the warm, neutral shades that I like to use. Although the primary set was great to experiment with, the colours all have cooler tones - just something to be mindful when choosing colours to begin with. Overall, in my limited experience of using acrylics, I would definitely recommend trying the Pebeo Origin paints. An additional tip that I’ve found to avoid waste when using acrylic paints for printing, is to clean the brayer on a piece of scrap paper between uses. I also try and mix colours on a disposable palette pad. Once dry, the page from the palette pad and the scrap paper can both be saved and used for collage work.

Using a 'disposable' palette sheet for mixing colours - this will be saved and used for collage work.

Thank you so much Dryad Education for getting in touch and for sending me these lovely art materials to try.

An Exciting Delivery!

Blindfolded Drawing with Shape North