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July 28, 2016 at 10:34 am #994286
[FONT=Verdana]I wrote some short reviews in https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1408237 and now I realize that once again I have a lot more pencils than two or three years ago. Many of them are in lower half of the quality scale and some of us won’t touch them even with protective gloves. But I think it’s interesting to compare the good, the bad & the ugly and some of these sets are perfectly suited for children – especially for those who want to buy a set with their very own pocket money. A Bruynzeel 45 colour set costs about as much as a Caran d’Ache Pablo or Faber-Castell Polychromos 12 set, and you can guess which one I’d choose if I was ten years old.
Mont Marte is an Australian company that makes its colour pencils in China. The four 36 colour sets I’ve gathered are barely usable. The ‘turtle’ set is the worst with pale colours and hard and dusty leads; the ‘bird’ set is the best. There seems to be a lot of variation between batches as all four are different in their colour range! The ‘bird’ set has only three blues, the Essential Colours set only four greens (plus a dark turquoise) and the latter also lacks white (it’s however the only MM set with named colours). The worst in these Chinese sets is the fact that they stink. In some sets the solvent smell is worse than turpentine and this alone is a good reason for not giving them to children, even though they are cheap, about 10 ~ 15 euros.
Mont Marte ‘bird’ 36 – http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server5300/640e1/products/5233/images/28886/mpn0003_mont_marte_colour_pencils_36_piece__04202__89006.1441009945.500.750.jpg?c=2
Mont Marte ‘butterfly’ 36 – http://g03.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1qWwcIVXXXXcXXFXXq6xXFXXX5/Free-ship-lapices-de-colors-montmarte-36-color-pencils-art-drawing-pencil-hand-drawing-pencils-metal.jpg
Mont Marte Watercolour ‘turtle’ 36 – [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]http://www.lixartsupplies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/MM-watercolour.jpg [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
Mont Marte Essential Colours 36 – http://www.montmarte.net/assets/Uploads/_resampled/PadWyI3MzgiLCIxMDAwIiwiRkZGRkZGIl0/MPN0096-V03-Essential-Pencils-36pce-F-web.jpgThese cheap sets (about 5 euros) also smell awful but the tins are perfect for storing open stock and cardboard-boxed pencils. I’m beginning to suspect that the smelliest sets might actually be illegal as the toy legislation of the European Union is quite strict.
A typical Chinese 36 set for Finnish-Baltic market – https://www.prisma.fi/wcsstore/PRISMA_StorefrontAssetStore/images/product/iso/6410411520778_kuva1.jpg
Back in early 1990s Bruynzeel Eurocolors, Designs and Design Aquarels were made by Stabilo – the hues were precisely the same as in high-end Stabilo Softcolors and the differences in lightfastness were minimal. In the late 90s B’zeel dropped the Design lines and began to make Aquarels, Color Expresses and Eurocolors in its own alchemistic cookery and the quality fell down. Probably one of the last sets with Eurocolor name on pencils was a 45 set with an illustration of non-abstract flowers on the lid. Sorry, could’t find a photo.
The merger with Sakura brought a change – B’zeels are now made in China and not bad at all. At first there was considerable variation between batches. The ‘Volkswagen’ 60 set included 44 ordinary colours (and 12 metallic colours, 2 graphite pencils, a sharpener and an eraser), and combining them with the ‘butterfly’ 45 set I actually found 58 different colours and thus only 31 duplicates! No difference in quality though. And what’s important is that the current Bruynzeel sets (as well as the Maped set below) don’t have the characteristic Chinese solvent stench.
Bruynzeel ‘butterfly’ 45 – http://cdn2.hizlial.com/TrendResim/07/6920/07.910.6920.019601t4.jpg
Bruynzeel ‘Volkswagen’ 60 – http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAFywxo9UWU/VRkgiXHnXhI/AAAAAAAADRY/EZmlYto7Apw/s1600/IMG_0022.jpg
Bruynzeel ‘Volkswagen’ 60 inside – http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WZYP7DbJigY/VRlMZaESQCI/AAAAAAAADTY/ZxWPlLwt-IU/s1600/IMG_0026.jpg
These more recent ‘abstract’ and ‘mammals’ sets are identical under their lids. The leads are a bit on the hard side but glide on paper smoothly and pigment density is what I’d call average. The colour range is well-balanced offering 6 blues, 7 greens, 7 browns and Bruynzeel’s traditional warm / neutral / cool gray trio. Nothing is known about lightfastness but I wouldn’t expect much.
Bruynzeel ‘abstract’ 45 – https://davinciartistsupply.com/shop/images/138815_x.jpg
Bruynzeel ‘mammals’ 45 – http://shop.decohobby.de/images/product_images/popup_images/5012M45.jpg
Being relatively cheap, about 20 ~ 25 euros, the Bruynzeel 45 sets give good value for money and they suit very well for children.
There is also a ‘chameleon’ 45 set; the colour range is slightly different than in ‘abstract’ and ‘mammals’ sets [/FONT][FONT=Verdana][FONT=Verdana]as they don’t include the very light blue. Perhaps this set is a couple of years older –[/FONT] https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/61/c4/3a/61c43ad6116a12add7172c48a3c1f6a1.jpg
I wonder how the next generation looks – perhaps a sunflower field or a steam train?
The Bruynzeel Expression Colour may be targeted at students rather than children and beginners. The leads are slightly thicker and perhaps slightly softer than in ‘nameless’ 45 sets but the difference is minimal. The colour range is well balanced – six blues and six greens (including ultramarine and dark green not found in ‘nameless’ 45 sets) as well as six browns. The colours are numbered although the numbers oddly enough differ from B’zeel Design numbers. The set costs about as much as the ‘nameless’ 45 sets but with their wood-coloured shafts and colour numbers the Expression Colour pencils look more sophisticated!
Bruynzeel Expression Colour 36 – http://www.lastingmemorieslockerroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Bruynzeel-Expression-Colour-36.jpg
Bruynzeel Expression Colour 36 inside – http://www.kleishop.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bruynzeel-36-blik-verkleind.jpg
The Bruynzeel Expression Aquarel brand has more watery lid illustrations. Oddly enough the pencils look almost identical to Expression Colour – only the word Colour on the shaft has been replaced with Aquarel! I’d put a broad blue or white waistband in Aquarels or paint the whole shaft. Comparing my Colour 36 set with the Aquarel 36 set inside view photo below I count no less than 12 different colours, which means that there are altogether 48 colours – not bad! I’ve seen the Aquarels in photos only but I suppose they feel similar to their Colour sisters, although water-soluble pencils often don’t glide as smoothly on the paper as oil/wax-based non-solubles.
Bruynzeel Expression Aquarel sets – http://www.homecrafts.co.uk/prodimg/K945i_1_Zoom.jpg
Bruynzeel Expression Aquarel 36 inside – oh heck, I downloaded it just a couple of days ago and now I can’t find it anywhere! This is an upload from my own hard disk:
Then there is an almost nameless Bruynzeel – there is the word Essentials in the upper left corner! I bought a 24 cardboard box just for curiosity, and while the pencils aren’t bad, they give nothing to an experienced user. Well, the set was cheap.
Bruynzeel Essential 36 tin – http://www.bruynzeel.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pro-es-36felt.jpg
I didn’t expect much of the Maped Color’Peps cardboard box when I found it in our local bookstore but I was positively surprised. The leads are fairly thin but smooth, perhaps a little harder than Bruynzeels, and the pigments apparently come from the same Chinese factory as those of Bruynzeel – 38 colours are precisely the same. Mapeds however are triangular while Bruynzeel is content with the traditional hexagonal shafts.
Maped Color’Peps 48 – https://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/xxssi_ibeGetWCCImage.jsp?docName=F2571841&Rendition=Large
The set includes four fluorescent colours and gold & silver as well as 42 ordinary pencils but the colour selection is slightly out of balance. There are eight greens (plus Fluo green) and luxuriously eight blues (plus Blue gray) but only four browns – the light ochre called Dune is very yellow – and two grays. So this set is perhaps more apt for drawing flowers and butterflies rather than dinosaurs and robots! (The Faber-Castell Goldfaber 48 set of 1990s also had only four browns but there were five grays.)
The colours are named but not numbered and some names are quite adventurous – Red kiss, Lovely pink, Marsh mallow (a light bluish violet), Bubble blue, Jungle green, Gaïa (a reddish brown). The flip side of the cardboard box gives information in no less than 24 languages: French (Maped is a French company), English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, German, Czech, Russian, Hungarian, Polish, Greek, Slovakian, Estonian, Maltese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Irish, Danish, Finnish and Swedish. (Norwegian, Icelandic, Breton, Catalonian, Scottish Gaelic, Basque, Turkish and some others are missing and Latin won’t hurt either… I suppose they have a different version for Asian market.) Nothing is said about lightfastness.
Maped Color’Peps 48 colour chart – http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1gcR2KXXXXXbzXVXXq6xXFXXXn/48pcs-set-MAPED-DIY-graffiti-Colored-Pencils-48Colors-Painting-Colour-Pencil-Children-S-school-Gift-Cute.jpg
The image below shows how the colours are divided on two plastic trays and how flimsy the trays are. Getting them out of the box without dropping anything is a difficult task. Otherwise the 15 ~ 25 euro set gives good value for money.
Maped Color’Peps 36 inside (I didn’t find a 48) – http://g03.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1P6fFKXXXXXXmXVXXq6xXFXXXK/36pcs-font-b-set-b-font-font-b-MAPED-b-font-DIY-graffiti-font-b-Colored.jpg
Stabilo is an old and respected pencilmaker from Nuremberg. Its Softcolor 80 colour brand from 1990s was very good and at that time it also made Bruynzeel’s pencils. Now its main business are felt-tip pens but their best pencil is Stabilo Aquacolor – the modern equivalent of late and lamented Bruynzeel Design Aquarel of 1990s, as 32 of 36 hues are exactly the same. The leads are soft although quite thin and the pigment density is at least average. The 36 colour range unfortunately lacks the light yellowish green and two very warm ochres Bruynzeel had and there is only one gray, but otherwise the range is well-balanced with 5 blues, 7 greens and 5 browns. Nothing is said or known about lightfastness and it’s probably wise not to expect too much. At about 15 ~ 20 euros the 36 set gives good value for money and I’d gladly give it to children.In fact I’m tempted to suggest that the range should be expanded to 60 colours, as a 60 set would probably cost less than Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle and Staedtler Karat Aquarell 60 sets and be a very strong contender. Perhaps in German… Sehr geehrte Frauen und Herren, ich möchte…
Stabilo Aquacolor 36 – http://www.stabilo.com/mediadir/pens/gallery/100/820.jpg
Stabilo Aquacolor 36 inside – https://www.stabilo.com/media/image/St_02807_1600_PR.jpg
These Bruynzeels, Mapeds and Stabilos are much better than Mort Marte and Derwent Academy sets. I put them in the lower middle class shelf beside Caran d’Ache’s Classicolor & Fancolor and Faber-Castell’s Colour Grip, Art Grip, Art Grip Aquarelle & Goldfaber. Classicolors and Goldfabers are out of production but you’ll never know what you can find in small rural shops or flea markets… The imaginary Stabilo Aquacolor 60 set might even deserve an upper middle class place along with Staedtler Karat Aquarell.
To be continued…
Heikki
[/SIZE][/FONT]July 28, 2016 at 9:39 pm #1255582Thank you, Heikki.
July 29, 2016 at 8:59 am #1255543I found a Swedish review of Bruynzeel Design colour pencils including a good colour chart:
http://markersguild.blogspot.fi/2014/12/brynzeel-design.html
In my opinion this 48 set should include more greens.
HeikkiJuly 29, 2016 at 8:43 pm #1255538I need to read this in the morning. My cat seems convinced I have an invisible scorpion on me, I do hope it’s her imagination but she is acting bizarre! At any rate I want the Volkswagon tin!
Harvest Moon 🐐
July 30, 2016 at 8:26 am #1255544Comparing my B’zeel Expression Colour set to this photo of B’zeel Exp Aquarel set
http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/28-Jul-2016/151084-BzeelExAqua36b.jpg
I notice that lemon yellow 711, pink 753, magenta 760, bluish violet 763, ultramarine 746, turquoise 777, yellowish greens 719 and 771, dark brown 737, dark reddish brown 735, warm gray 706 and neutral gray 704 of the Colour set have in the Aquarel set been replaced by
medium yellow 712, deep orange 721, bright red 724, light blue violet 765, dark blue violet 764, medium blue 740, light turquoise blue 746, yellowish greens 770 and 772, sepia 739, reddish brown 734 and cool gray 705.
Yes, I definitely want the Aquarel set and damn it, I can’t pay via Internet ‘cos I can’t get an online bank account ‘cos my (official) yearly income is less than 14,000 euros. However I may take a combined railway fan and zoo fan trip to Germany and perhaps to the Netherlands in my friend’s mobile home in 2017 or 2018 (years go amazingly fast when you’re over 50) and you probably guess what happens when I get to a well-equipped artist’s supply shop in Hamburg or a kantoorartikelwinkel in Amsterdam. My pal may have to keep me on a very short leash like this canine:
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/44/54/dc/zwcc-s-the-sloth-center.jpg
HeikkiJuly 30, 2016 at 8:38 am #1255539Heikki if my ship ever comes in I will send you more pencils! I dream of going to European art stores like I only got to do on occasion when I traveled for work. They were like Disneyland to me. Beautiful quality wooden box sets….But I fought the heat and hideous traffic yesterday for a 2 hour round trip to the Jerrys store. They stocked so many things when they first opened, now it’s rather a sad fraction of usually their store brand or the cheapest stuff. I needed pads of Stonehenge paper. They didn’t have that, just Strathmore, that I could have gotten at the much closer craft store. But they had a new Faber-Castell display that was worth the drive, just to see it! I bought a hand held pencil sharpener and some mechanical pencil leads. I could not get the whole thing on my cell phone even! But WC is cropping it even further.
Harvest Moon 🐐
July 30, 2016 at 10:58 am #1255545Staedtler is one of the well-respected Nuremberg pencilmakers. Its Karat Aquarell brand was elevated to the upper middle class in 1990s when the range was extended from 36 to 60 colours. It’s interesting that other and sometimes significantly cheaper watercolour pencils Staedtler made were largely identical to the Karat Aquarells – Staedtler Aquarell, Staedtler Noris Club Aquarell, Lyra Aquarell (cardboard box of 36, with a painted flowery field cover picture, no connection to any Lyra Rembrandt) as well as Eberhard Faber Van Dyke. (So if you find them at the flea market, grab them and run!) There were differences in hardness, Scarlet 24 being harder than Sea green 38, as well as in lightfastness with some hues being very fugitive. But that is a fact that you have to accept every time you buy pencils without a mention of lightfastness!
Staedtler Noris Club Aquarell 24 – http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wc-prod-pim/JPEG_1000x1000/ST4410NC24_staedtler_yk_pk24_staed_water_col_pencils_multi.jpg
At that time Staedtler Karat Aquarells were painted in full colour with a short gold-coloured stub end. But now they are painted in silver with a coloured tail and they are more uniform in hardness, some being softer and also richer in pigment than before. And now they are promoted as lightfast although the true lightfastness remains to be seen. The 60 colour range seems to be targeted at landscape painters: there are 10 blues (Pastel violet 602 is a very light ultramarine) and 12 greens (Light ochre 17 is more green than yellow). There are 8 browns and no less than 7 grays in warm, neutral and cool hues. The flowery red, pink and lilac hues are less numerous. In Europe the 60 set seems to be less expensive than a Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer 60 set or a Derwent Watercolour 72 set, and in that case it’s a good choice for a landscape painter.
Staedtler Karat Aquarell 24 in newest design – http://img6a.flixcart.com/image/color-pencil/d/x/p/staedtler-125-m24-400×400-imad9hg84gzduzbw.jpeg
Staedtler Karat Aquarell 60 of early 2010s – http://www.penandpaper.co.in/content/images/thumbs/0005646_staedtler_karat_aquarell_color_pencil_60_pencils.jpeg
Staedtler Karat Aquarell 48 from late 1990s – https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e8/4c/66/e84c6600bff5820dcf2bd77357a0b659.jpg
Staedtler Karat Aquarell colour chart – http://www.profiart.ro/uploads/ckfinder/images/aquarell-karat-cartela.png
Sometimes the Karat name is used without the Aquarell word, but it’s precisely same stuff. There are no non-soluble Karats.
The Staedtler Ergosofts aren’t bad either, a 24 colour set in a fancy plastic tray, the pencils having a cloth-like soft paint finish. More like a collector’s item though.
Staedtler Ergosoft 24 – http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wc-prod-pim/JPEG_1000x1000/ST157SB24_staedtler_ergo_soft_colour_pencils_pk24.jpg
Considering all that, a Staedtler Noris Club 24 colour cardboard set was a real surprise, a time jump to the 1980s: thin and hard leads and very pale colours. It was very cheap, yes, but a total waste of money. There is also a 12 colour “skin colours” set – all hues beign precisely the same as in the 24 set.
Staedtler Noris Club 24 – http://www.deansart.com.au/www/715/files/i1_norisclubpencils24_pencils_1.jpg
I might still be tempted if I’d happen to see this… for maniacal collectors only.
Staedtler 48 – https://isniffbooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/staedtler-colored-pencils.jpg?w=590&h=590
To be continued…
HeikkiJuly 31, 2016 at 8:35 am #1255540Heikki I think there are 3 pencil companies based in Nuremberg, correct? F-C, Staedtler, and Lyra. I have been there 3 times, but oddly was not overcome with the desire to open a pencil factory! But there must be something in the air that makes people want to….
Harvest Moon 🐐
July 31, 2016 at 8:38 am #1255546This wooden box is the most prestigious version of Staedtler Karat Aquarell:
http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/bunguya/cabinet/doc35/85-125077.jpg
The most basic Staedtlers have appeared in various tins but I don’t think they are any more usable than the cheap cardboard set. A-B-S means that the cores are glued to the shaft with a special glue that’s supposed to prevent breaking. Perhaps they have realized that 99 % of users don’t know that the sharpeners get dull very quickly and that a dull sharpener is by far the best tool for breaking leads!
http://www.oxford-stationery.com/resources/images/Thumb%2002/staedtler_color_pencil_24_image.jpg
Then there have been Staedtler Karat Aquarell watercolour crayons. I have a 20 colour set from 1990s and they are much like Caran d’Ache Neocolors even though pigment load isn’t as high. They are apparently still available and if they are less expensive than Caran d’Aches they are by no means useless.
http://cdn.artistsupplysource.com/images/P/xctmpiRtIPJ.png
To be continued…
HeikkiPS. Linda: Lyra, Schwan-Stabilo and Staedtler have their headquarters in Nuremberg, Faber-Castell lives in Stein not far away. Nuremberg is also known for its model railways as it’s the home on Fleischmann, LGB and Trix, and the railway museum is one of the largest on Germany.
August 13, 2016 at 6:39 am #1255547Conté experimented with woodless plastic-shaft pencils in the 1990s and their Evolution range was perhaps the worst by any major European brand – thin and very hard leads, very pale colours. No paper is strong enough for them – a rough wooden board would be better!
These black ones of today have flexible plastic shaft with absolutely no coloured patches for identifying. Hard leads and low pigment density make this set very forgettable even though it’s still made in France.
Conté black colour pencils 24 – http://www.terapeak.com/worth/bic-conte-conte-a-paris-24-color-pencils-box-for-adult-book-color/141797528438/
The water-soluble set has four blues and five greens but only two browns. The pencils aren’t bad, certainly they are better than in the set above, but the typical Chinese solvent smell makes the set a must to avoid.
Conté black watercolour pencils 24 – http://www.colourwithclaire.com/uploads/5/1/3/0/51303857/170824_orig.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511bhZHWxvL.jpg
Any comments? Am I the only one interested in buying, comparing and even using these low-priced pencils? Perhaps I’m the most maniacal…
To be continued…
HeikkiAugust 13, 2016 at 7:28 am #1255541Conte is so famous for their conte crayons, what a shame their pencils are so bad!
I find this thread very interesting, but you posted it right when I finally decided to clear out my jam packed cluttered log cabin that we have lived in 26 years. And I still have several rooms to go! But to be honest, I collect mostly the top artist grades, and that alone eats up more than my budget allows. I can’t imagine trying to collect all of the student and scholar grade pencils in the world, because I know I would never use them, and I am so OUT of storage space and money! Sadly, a bunch of my books really must go too!
Harvest Moon 🐐
August 13, 2016 at 3:34 pm #1255548It looks like the American colour pencil industry makes mostly artist’s pencils and inferior school pencils. (Kick my buttocks if I’m totally wrong.) In Europe the art tradition as well as pencil tradition may be so much longer and stronger that there is a well-established market for middle class pencils (like Bruynzeel Expression and Stabilo Aquacolor) too. The combined population of Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy is over 230 millions and there are a number of smaller but artistically almost as important countries – Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands.
I bought quite a lot of 24 and 36 colour sets in the 1990s when I was looking for good and bad choices and gradually adding my experience. And let’s not forget that many of artist’s pencil brands just didn’t exist in about 1990: Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901, Cretacolor’s Aqua Monolith and Karmina and Marino, Derwent Coloursoft, Derwent Inktense, Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth’s Mondeluz and Polycolor. Faber-Castell expanded its Albrecht Dürer range from 36 to 80 and later 100 and 120 colours during the 1990s, and so did Caran d’Ache with its Supracolor Soft (80 > 120) and Prismalo (40 > 80) and Staedtler with its Karat Aquarell (36 > 60).
Conté Couleur d’Art and Conté Symphonie were respectable 48 colour sets in the 1990s and now they are so unknown that …
… is the best I could find. I’m lucky enough to have both – as well as early 2000s Conté Aquarelle 24 and 36 colour sets that Google can’t find! The lid cover had a light green border around illustrations like these:
This middle class brand seems to have vanished too.
HeikkiPS. I found that this Bruynzeel set actually includes two greens and one brown not present in B’zeel’s ‘nameless’ 45 sets. I wonder what gems there are in the 36 set.
http://www.bruynzeel.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pro-es-24colouredpencils.jpg
August 14, 2016 at 2:09 pm #1255587Any comments? Am I the only one interested in buying, comparing and even using these low-priced pencils? Perhaps I’m the most maniacal…
To be continued…
Though I don’t comment much, Heikki, I do follow your (and Harvest Moon’s) pencil comments and comparisons with great interest, particularly your knowledge of the ins, outs, comings and goings of different brands and ranges, and where they overlap. Please keep sharing.
I use and enjoy middle class aquarelle pencils, and I have half a dozen different sets (though nothing you could call “vintage’). I’ll be sure to post my own comparative comments on some of them when I return from New England next week.
Kos
Hemmed & Hawn
from
PERESTRELLO's BOX[/COLOR][/COLOR][/B]
Root, Bone, Sticks & StoneAugust 14, 2016 at 2:17 pm #1255588Almost forgot, Heikki –
I’d love to get your take on the apparent similarities (bordering on identical) between the 48-color pastel pencil sets by Koh I Noor and Bruynzeel-Sakura. See this thread here in the Soft Pastel Talk subforum:
https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1354909
Thanks!
Kos
Hemmed & Hawn
from
PERESTRELLO's BOX[/COLOR][/COLOR][/B]
Root, Bone, Sticks & StoneAugust 14, 2016 at 3:40 pm #1255549An interesting piece of info! Unfortunately I haven’t seen neither B’zeel Design Pastels nor K-i-n Hardtmuth Giocondas and having no colour chart I can’t say anything this far.
What I do know is that Cretacolor Fine Art Pastel pencils (and presumably crayons too) …
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YMFAkAWSL.jpg
… and the discontinued Lyra Polycrayons …
… are exactly same stuff. I have a 48 set of both and all 48 colours are identical. I quick-tested the lightfastness of CFAP pencils xx years ago and almost all blues and greens as well as all browns are reasonably lightfast. Now the CFAP pencils as well as crayons come in 72 colours – the 24 new hues are predominantly browns and grays.
I have no idea of the quality of current Lyra Polycrayons Soft pastels …
http://www.bieladuha.sk/fotky25131/fotos/_vyrp11_800Suche-pastely-lyra-polycrayons-1.jpg
… except that the hues don’t seem to match the old.
Heikki -
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