colored pencil question

[Rosalee]

I'm always a bit paranoid on the subject of fixatives!
I ruined a prize piece of work in pastels when I was nineteen. I remember standing there waiting for the spray marks to dry out and the colours to recover. It was the sheer feeling of horror when I finally realised the image was dry and no, the colours weren't going to recover!! I couldn't bear to think of anyone being similarly traumatised over prized Tarot artwork being damaged - they would have to bring me back round with smelling salts! Lol.

Oooh, what a bummer!

You need a feather light touch with fixatives, you really do. I spray VERY lightly, just a quick barely-there mist, for the first few coats, allowing them to dry between times. Then I can do a final coat a little heavier. If you do it that way, you shouldn't ruin anything.

 

[Moonboy]

Chris said it best~

Word of warning...in 20 years you will start to see little discolored droplets on your work. My advise from experience: DON'T SPRAY

I have colored pencil drawings from the 80s and 90s...those left alone look MUCH better than the sprayed, no matter how light or careful you apply it

 

[Hannafate]

I don't know why people seem to think that prismacolor needs fixative.

I used a Krylon coating on my cards because they were going to get a lot of friction on the surface. I really laid it on thick, too. I wasn't thinking "fixative" so much as "plastic coating".

The self-publishing thread mentions this, too. Lamination is suggested there. For a large number of decks, lamination would probably be more practical. For one hand drawn deck, especially if the surface is not absolutely FLAT, I would recommend coating with some sort of varnish. Krylon has proven to be a good varnish, and easy to apply.

But just on cards.

 

[Ravenswing]

just a note...

... to Feretian & celticnoodle--

'tis a deck I'm working on. Prismacolor on bristol masters.

Thank you all once again for your pieces of knowledge.

Oh yeah-- one thing. When ever your point breaks off (something that happend all to often, it fits into one of those drafting pencils a claw--mine's a Koh-I-Nor Technigraph. Stick it in pointy side first and you can use most of it.

Keep on drawin'
raven

 

[Hannafate]

You might want to get yourself one of these, too.

I got this specially for my prismacolors. It not only adjusts to make the points not-too-sharp, it has a little clamp inside that holds the pencil in place while you crank. I have been very pleased with it.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/dahle-professional-pencil-sharpener/

There's another version of the variable point sharpener out there, but I have never tried it. Here's a look at that one.

http://www.aswexpress.com/art-supply/catalogs/0057113000000

The prices on both of these items vary widely from one store to another, so shop around.

 

[karen0205]

I did a hand drawn deck of Tarot cards over twenty years ago, using markers and prismacolor. I sprayed them with krylon at the time. I have used them a lot over the years, and they have worn quite well. The edges have browned from handling, but the images are still bright and clear.

There's a quick way to get the stains off the side of a deck.
Wrap the deck very tightly with rubberbands. I mean really tight.
Take the finest grade sandpaper you can find and lightly sand the
sides of the deck. Move the rubberbands around to get the whole edge.
This will remove any dirt and most odors because the odors are held
in the raw edge of the paper. Blow the dust off to see what part
you have cleaned and what might need to be gone over again with
the sandpaper. Fold little pieces of sandpaper to get into the grooves
of the cards if they aren't cut exactly even. It works really great!

Once the sides are clean or if you have a deck that is like new but
has a stain:
Stains can be removed with a q-tip and bleach. Very very lightly
touch the q-tip to the bleach, barely get any on it. Touch it to the
spot on the side of the deck where there is a stain. move it around
so you don't have a ring left. Do it once and let it dry. Later you will
see that it has removed most of the stain or all of it. You can do it
again if you need to but give the bleach a chance to work. It's not
immediate.

If you need more info, just let me know. I experimented on a deck I
didn't care about and found out how great this works! The deck
appeared like new from the sides.