Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

We have a busy day today, my Sister Emily is coming today and we are going wedding dress shopping, then we are out for dinner at one if Becca's restaurants in the evening.   

Sonia has very kindly done us a product test on Mixed Media art pads...

Mixed Media Art Pad Review.

I purchased two mixed media pads recently when I was in town, and thought I’d do a comparison and review of them. 

Having previously done an online search of WHSmith, I was quite surprised at the amount of watercolour pads they had. However, once I got there they didn’t actually have as much in stock as I was hoping. 

I decided on their own brand mixed media pad.

It cost £9.99, which I didn’t think was too bad a price for 30 sheets of A4. I would’ve liked a higher weight, I usually go for 300gsm for watercolour, but I thought I’d try it.

I then wandered around to The Works. I have got watercolour card from there before, but it warps quite a bit and isn’t really white in colour, more a grey tint to it.

I was surprised to find a different brand mixed media pad.

It was £7.00, and could’ve kicked myself that I didn’t go there first! I bought it anyway, more for the fact of its 300gsm weight.

Having got them home, I thought I’d compare them.

The WHSmith one is textured and The Works one is smooth. Both are a nice white colour.

I saw a video on Instagram which I thought I’d use to try them out. So I gathered my supplies.

Ink smooshing using a small plastic bag (so happy I kept all those waste bags from Covid tests - I knew they’d come in handy one day 😂)

I put a little ink on the bag and spritzed with water. I then smooshed onto the card, drying it between each application. I wasn’t impressed with my first attempt on The Works card, I do think I used a bit too much water on the inked bag, and the card warped a lot and in places pitted the card.

I tried again on The Works card, not using as much water. A more pleasing result

I then did the same technique on the WHSmith card

Although the weight of the WHSmith card was lower, it didn’t seem to warp as much as The Works card.

I think out of the two, I would definitely buy the WHSmith one again. It seemed to hold up better than The Works. I like the texture of it too. 

I’m pretty sure The Works one will be okay for normal ink blending, and projects using a small amount of water or liquid paint with its nice smooth surface. I will let you know 😊

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Thank you so much Sonia,  a very informative review, its amazing that they can be so different.

I only have one Mixed Media card pack, its very cream coloured, so not my favourite.  It was a Dolly Dimples one, they raved about it at on Hochanda at the time. So I may give the WHSMITH  a go. 

Tha k you so for going to trouble of testing, writing and photographing your review, I really do appreciate you ❤️ 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx