Tag: Sakura

Every month, I receive a Sketchbox. This month, I have the premium box for $35 plus $5 shipping. The basic box is $25 plus $5 shipping. When you look at all the products inside, they all retail for around this. Now there are things that come every month, this includes; Sketchbox Sticker, Artist of the month box, Artist of the month tile, and a product description card. I will go through each of these items in detail below so that you can see what you get for the price. This is my second month getting it. If you don’t want to read this post, you can watch the video below of the un-boxing here.

In every box you get a special inspiration piece from the featured artist of the month. The artist creates something from everything that is offered in the box each month. You can read more about the Artists of the month by clicking here. This month we received this gem:

Ok, let’s get started on everything you get in the box and I will have pictures to give you a good look at each product. First off, let’s take a look at everything you get.

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 10 set – $18.00

Custom Alumicolor Pocket Scale – $6.75

First Look – Derwent Precision .7mm Pencil – $9.99

2x Derwent Procolour Pencils – $2.89/ea

Sakura Microperm .45 mm – $2.79

Total Retail: $43.31

Staedtler Triplus fineliner 10 set – $18.00

“These fineliners offer a super fine 0.3mm porous point. which are protected from damage by a metal-clad tip which make them perfect for using with your new alumicolor pocket scale!” – Product Description Card

First off, Staedtler is like my go-to brand when I look for pens to create art with. Last year for my birthday, my now fiance’, purchased a set of 36 colors. Immediate I fell in love with all the colors and use these pens for anytime I want to add color. I also love to use them when coloring fine details because the time is the perfect size for that. In my opinion, you can never have too many of these pens and I am always excited when I see them in my hands.

CUSTOM Alumicolor Pocket scale – $6.75

“We partnered with Alumicolor to bring you this custom Sketchbox edition pocket scale! Alumicolor rulers are more than just functional pieces — they’re durable and beautifully designed professional tools. The scale itself is anodized into the ruler’s surface rather than being printed or etched, so that it never wears off.” – Product description card

This is a product that I haven’t ever used before, but I have an idea about what I want to do with it. Because it is so durable and comes with its own case, I thought this would be the perfect tool to add to my on-the-go art supplies that I like to keep with me in my purse. I pull out these supplies when I complete my Lunchtime Challenges and when I have a few minutes to create.  This is the perfect addition to that collection because of its size and the measurements at a glance.

Derwent Precision .7mm – $9.99

“We partnered with Derwent to give you the exclusive first look at their new mechanical pencil. The Precision Mechanical Pencil features a premium metal barrel and a high quality comfortable hold. This pencil is designed for detailed line drawing or technical work” – Product description card

I am always on the lookout for a good mechanical pencil.  I doodle a lot and typically I just use anything I can get my hands on, but that usually consists of a pencil that I need to sharpen, with the eraser worn down. This is going to be great for me because it is a very nice pencil. Holding in my hand, it has weight to it that tells me that the product is well built.  The weight is balanced and isn’t heavy on either side. I decided that I was going to tape the extra erasers to the extra lead that came with the pencil so that I always have them together.

Derwent Procolour Pencils – $2.89/ea

“The brand new Procolour range of colored pencils feature a strong pencil core with a smooth formulation and highly pigmented color laydown. These pencils offer increased blendability while maintaining a very strong core.” – Product description card

Being in America, the first thing I noticed is the spelling of color. I know that these color pencils are made in Britain so being spelled colour makes sense. That is just my ocd about spelling that comes out. Moving on, for these pencils to not come in a package, the tips were still fairly sharp, which makes me feel like they are fairly durable. I used them on some bright white cardstock so that I could see the colors and how they came out on paper and I’m pretty impressed with how the color on paper is extremely similar to the color on the pencil is what actually comes out on paper. As far as blending is concerned, these two colors aren’t the best and I wouldn’t typically blend them. So I wasn’t very impressed with the blending of these pencils.

Sakura Microperm .45 mm – $2.79

“Permanent micro-point ink pens that draw ultra fine lines. They will write on most surfaces, are quick drying and waterproof.” – Product description card

Sakura is a well known brand in the art world, especially if you know of zentangle practices. The various tips are so useful when trying to design different details. I tried writing with this on card stock and it didn’t skip wrote beautifully, however it did bleed. If I were to leave the tip in any place for any amount of time, it will create a circle that is bigger than the line.  I also wrote on the skin with this pen and it wrote perfectly. It didn’t smear or bleed out, the lines were really perfect.

All in all, I feel like this box was very much so worth the price of the premium subscription. Everything in this box is something that I will use in the future.  If you would like to get your hands on this sketchbook, or any in the future, please use this link so that I can get a credit to use towards next month’s box.