Water Color in sticks? Daniel Smith extra fine watercolor sticks.

[@jenniferalvarez4041]

I love these and wish they were available for all of Daniel Smith's colors. I cut off small slices with a paring knife, put a few drops of water in half and whole pans, then rub the slice along the bottom of the pan to get them to adhere well. At $9 each from Blick and Jerry's they're a great deal. I've been disappointed before in how much pans I pour from DS tube colors shrink once dry. Since these won't shrink they seem to be an even better value than a 15ml tube for a much better price.

[@HerHuntress]

I agree!! I hope the expand the line too. I go through tubes to quick!!

[@juststartingover2735]

Thank you! A couple months ago I saw your video and purchased two DS watercolor sticks. I am so happy I did! The pigments are intense, the sticks are solid and travel easily. I purposely broke off a tip of one and added it to a pan of 18 other watercolors (just wet the bottom of it and it sticks/stays in place). So easy to use! Love these and so much more affordable the long game if you want to use DS oaints.

[@HerHuntress]

I'm glad you like them ;)

[@jenneke9763]

What many people do is to peel back some of the paper, cut off a chunk the size of a half or full pan and then press it into an empty half or full pan. Then you can use it as you would panned watercolor paint. As you said…cost effective! And not nearly as messy ;)

[@HerHuntress]

Thank you! Yes I am going to try that. I really like the sticks for a quick sketch too. Im not sure why I don't hear much about them.

[@BrazenSpirituality]

Thank you for sharing this with us! 🧑🏻‍🎨🎨🥰

[@dees3179]

Windsor and Newton also do water colour sticks which are similar. Worth checking out for those in countries where the pricing works in your favour. They are not exactly the same but they are water colour in a stick and of course there will be colours that don’t overlap between the two. There are also derwent inktense sticks/blocks which again, not exactly the same, but for some applications would be better or useable. I’ve had great success chopping my sticks up into chunks and putting in pans, but that is the way I work and not helpful for everyone. Can be worth a try if you have a pigment which is typical a pain in the arse to get to behave how you want it in one of the traditional formats. As the sticks are different in construction they might be more useful for an individual application where you’ve struggled before.

[@HerHuntress]

Thank you for all the good info!!! I just saw the W&N water color sticks on sale at Blick! I might have to check them out!

[@CatsInaCradle]

If you go to the Daniel Smith Artist Materials Facebook page you'll see John Cogley swatch every single color in the line...tubes, sticks, pans, the luminance, primateks, the whole line and there are several Daniel Smith ambassadors demonstrating the colors. Super awesome to see how the colors mix and all the different granulating colors. Great video! I have many of the tube colors I've put into pans but I really want to try the sticks next....they are as near pure pigment as you can get.

[@HerHuntress]

Thank you for sharing! I will have to check that page out!!

[@romeredubost6971]

great demo of a pretty versatile product. i could see adding 3 or 4 different colors to augment my regular pan watercolor sets.

[@NaomiCoutureArt]

I have never tried these before but they look interesting. Thanks for sharing 😃

[@valasafantastic1055]

I may consider them for colours I want but not for making custom blends. I use empty half pans and premix custom colours with tube paints, and these won’t work very easily for that BUT perhaps for a colour I use to adjust colours with a brush (after initial blends) and use direct (without mixing). But they do work in other interesting way as well… Sadly the only Canadian supplier I know (and trust) that Carrie’s these; no longer offers free shipping to my Provence; and so I’ve been going with another art store that does. Because the shipping adds at least $15 to the order (or more if I order more than $ 79) so that would need to be factored in then divided… Anyways it becomes closer to the tube price once tax and shipping is added. But I need to do more math because the tube price just went up here and the sticks may still be a deal even with the shipping. I’ll need to do more research…

[@indigodande4345]

hmmmm I can say I am VERY familiar with moonglow, sodalite, and serpentine in a tube from DS. Those are supposed to be top notch granulating watercolors and they do play fabulously with amazing granulation payload on cold press paper... I'm not liking the way those watercolor sticks are behaving. Seems like if a watercolor crayon is wanted the carandache neocolor 2 do their job the best. However I have discovered I really like using watercolor crayons like the neocolor 2 on pastel mat. specifically black. It is a sand paper type pastel paper but doesnt buckle under water application.

[@miaomiaochan]

The Neocolor IIs don't have the same composition as the DS sticks. The former seem to contain some amount of wax to help them glide, whereas the latter are pure pigment with just enough binder to keep them intact. Because of this, they are harder and will need to sit in water for a bit to fully activate and show off their granulation.

[@wilma5618]

Looks like water soluble oil sticks look much better🤔

[@miaomiaochan]

Those are certainly fun to use, but I'm not a fan of the oily sheen they leave or how messy they are. Their pigment load is also inferior to that of DS watercolor sticks. While the DS sticks aren't the easiest to use when dry, their color payoff is eye-popping when they're wetted first and then put to paper.

[@SaudagarWarna]

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