Slice Products For Colored Pencil Artists
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Slice Products For Colored Pencil Artists
I have wanted to deliver a review of the Slice product range to you for a while now and I have eventually managed to deliver. Before I get into the actual product, I would just like to very briefly talk to you about the ethics of the company and let me just mention, ethics that I had to find myself, nothing that they mentioned to me and I had to ask permission to mention this.
On all of the Slice products, right at the very bottom of the packaging there is a small heart with a 1% in the middle, this indicates that every product the company sells, a small portion of it goes to Autism Research. The are many reasons why I find this important to mention, but the entire reason behind the Slice products coming to fruition was to make every day activities safe for those with Autism. I personally don’t know anyone with Autism however, I think any company that helps in a small way to whatever charity is a wonderful thing. In the world we find ourselves today, it is fantastic to hear heart warming news, good news among the fear and glum news we are accustom to. I have added a link to the company’s About Page should you wish to find out more about this side of the company.
Slice Products
The Slice product range is vast and their products cover many day to day activities that we need and use, opening packages, scissors, craft knives, utility knives and many more. However lots of colored pencil artists have taken the Slice products to their heart and a particular selection of the Slice products have proved to be invaluable in aiding colored pencil work or the finest level. Throughout this review I will be showcasing the Slice tools specifically helpful to colored pencil artists, nevertheless to see the entire catalog of Slice tools I have provided links back to their product page.
The two Slice products that I will be demonstrating in this review are the Craft Cutter and the Manual Pen Cutter. As I mentioned briefly above, many, if not all of the Slice products were designed for other household, craft and DIY projects, but the Colored Pencil community has adopted certain products to aid with our work. There are a few reasons why the Slice products are more beneficial than their tradition counterparts on the market, however I will get into this further in the review.
Why Slice Over The Other Market Alternatives ?
First things first, what is it that colored pencil artists are using Slice products for? For those of you creating animal portraiture, wild life still, hyper realistic human portraiture, you will know that creating those thin whiskers on cats, of the small grey hairs on a beard or moustache, or even the detail on a bird of preys feathers, can be incredibly difficult. With Oil and Acrylic painters and on occasions even pastel painters, creating fine white lines over dark areas is achievable, dare I say easy; but for colored pencil artist, creating highlights over a dark area is not an easy taks.
Until recently, colored pencil artists would use white Gelly Roll pens, but this was a pointless exercise, especially after completing a wonderful piece with all Lightfast pencils and on archival paper, only to then add non archival highlights with a Gelly Roll. Colored Pencil artists then moved onto using Xacto craft knives to create the highlight, scratching through the layers of pigment to revel the highlight required.
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For this method to be accomplished, more often than not, high quality art paper needed to be used, preferably 100% cotton paper and the reason for this is thus. When many layers of pigment has been applied and highlights created using a sharp Xacto knife, this process is accomplished by scraping the blade along the desired area. However, with the Xacto knife the blade is razor thin and so for the highlight to be noticeable, the blade needs to almost scratch out the highlight and is this is done or poor quality paper of with a heavy hand, disaster will strike. On my YouTube review you can see a full demonstration of this process to understand what I am referring to and the results.
With the slice products, the biggest advantage and desirability that they attract over their competitors is the amazing ceramic blades. The actual knives and scissors that slice produce are done in some of the most outstanding designs and as I have mentioned, some of them designed in such a way that some with a disability can hold and safely use the products, and there in lays the biggest pull for the Slice products, Safety.
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All of the Slice products are manufactured with amazing safety considered and without compromising on the products ability to compete against a competitor. The Ceramic blades that are used in the Slice products have so many advantages going for them over their counterparts, it is a wonder it has taken so long for a company to produce such amazing tools.
The Ceramic blades used in Slice products are finger friendly, meaning that you can run your finger along the blade and not remove your finger, as opposed to the competitor which absolutely would. The ceramic material on the Slice tools never rust lending itself to lasting 11 times longer than steel blades
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Slice Manual Pen Cutter
The first product that we will look at is the Slice Manual Pen Cutter, of both products that I have on review here, I think this one is a better shape and size for those of you who may suffer with disability to the hand or wrists or simply have trouble gripping hold of things. The Manual Pen Cutter is not too big but not too small were gripping it is impossible. There is a nice over all weight and balance to the Manual Pen Cutter.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The Pen Cutter is made from a Black reinforced nylon handle, again meaning that it is incredibly durable, not going to rust or break if dropped on the floor. The Manual Pen Cutter is also ambidextrous, so whether you are right or left handed, you are good to go, and finally when it comes to changing or swapping blades, there is no requirement for tools, it can all be done by hand. On my YouTube review I show how easy this process is.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The ceramic blade on the Manual Pen Cutter is retractable and this action is achieved with a textured slider on the top most part of the pen cutter. There is also a small hole to the rear of the pen cutters handle for the purpose of attaching a lanyard, I guess for the purposes that a colored pencil artist will put the cutter to a lanyard may not be required, regardless, it is there if needed.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The blade on the Manual Pen Cutter is a similar design to that of a stanly knife in that it is double sided and for the Manual Pen Cutter, there are two different types of replacement blades that you can buy, #10404 and #10408, both blades you can see images of provided.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Craft Cutter
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The Craft Cutter is slightly different to the Manual Pen Cutter in that the blade is static although it is protected with a removable cap. The Craft Cutter is much more slimline in comparison to the Manual Pen Cutter and perhaps much more reminiscent of the Xacto Craft Knife style, so if you are used to this particular design, the Craft Cutter may be preferable to you.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
the Craft Cutter sports a ceramic blade as well, however, the Craft Cutter has a few more different types of replacement blades. the blade that I use in the review of the Craft Cutter was the #10518, however, considering the uses a colored pencil artist would put the Slice products to, I would love to try the replacement blades #10519 and #10532.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The Craft Cutter has a textured control grip close to the blade, preventing wet fingers from slipping during cutting, not that any damage to your fingers would ensue if such a thing did occur thanks to the ceramic blade technology. the overall design of the handle is round, however there is a non roll design been placed to the upper most section of the handle which prevents the cutter from rolling all over your workspace.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The removal and replacement of the Slice ceramic blade is very quick and easy and when replacing the blade, all blades are fitted securely, I demonstrate this on my YouTube review of the Slice products should you wish to see it, however I have also included images on this post. Simply twist the textured grip close to the blade and this will eventually remove from the handle.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
On removing the textured grip, you will see the blade in placed between a set of small prongs, the current blade can be simply removed from this housing and the new replacement blade situated in place. Once you have replaced the blade, attach the textured grip, twisting until you secure a tight fit, there are no additional tools required for this process and it is all completed using your hands.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Slice For Colored Pencil Artists
I have described for you both the Craft Cutter and Manual Pen Cutter, two products from the Slice catalog that I have reviewed for you with the focus on use for colored pencil artists. In all honesty, when the boffins at Slice were design these amazing products, I very much doubt that a colored pencil artists use was part of the brain storming, nevertheless, here we are and let me show you just how amazing they are.
I fully demonstrate both the Craft Cutter and Manual Pen Cutter in my YouTube review of the products if you are interested, but in this written review I have included still images that will still highlight to you the benefits of using such products over the more traditional.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
As I briefly explained at the beginning of the review, colored pencil artists will use an Xacto blade to score highlights into the many waxy, oily colored pencil layers, the only problem is that the steel blade being razor sharp is so thin that the blade needs to scrape the layers out in a side motion.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
I have used Faber Castell Polychromos, Caran d’Ache Luminance and Derwent Lightfast Colored Pencils to create three areas on which to compare and test the Slice Products. All three colored pencil areas have at least five thick layers of pencil applied, when trying to achieve those thin beard hairs, cat whiskers or feathers, it is important to ensure that plenty of layers have been applied. All colored pencil artists will know that trying to create archival highlights on top dark layers is almost impossible.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The image above is from he Faber Castell Polychromos layers and I have used both the Manual Pen Cutter and Craft Cutter to create those highlights. You can see how clean and precise the lines are with the exception of the widest make in the middle which I completed by scraping the Craft Cutter along the layers as one would the Xacto Knife, demonstrating that this motion is not needed with the Slice Products.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Above you can see my attempt at creating a highlight with the Xacto knife on the same Faber Castell Polychromos layers. If you look closely you can see the paper fibres where the blade has been scraped and the over all look is not as clean and precise as those done with the Slice products. It is difficult to see, but there are lines beside the Xacto mark, made by the same blade, but because the Xacto blade is razor sharp, running the blade across the layers as you would cut something does nothing in the way of creating a highlight. This is not the case with the Slice products.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Above you can see with the Caran d’Ache Luminance layers the same marks made with the Slice products and perhaps because I have used Blue pencils, the marks are more visible. Regardless, you can clearly see just how crisp and clean the marks are and on the YouTube video review you will be able to see just how effortless this process is with the Slice products as opposed to using the alternatives. Again, below you can see the mark made using the Xacto knife.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Finally, I have shown the same test on the Derwent Lightfast layers below, I used these three pencils hoping to demonstrate the different results on different pencil cores but as you can clearly see, the outcomes are pretty much the same right the way through. Due to the ceramic technology of the Slice products, the paper is not damaged but the blade is sharp enough to provide these amazing results.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Slice Pricing
As I mentioned there are loads of products in the Slice range, so I have only included the prices of both products on review here. If you check out the Slice home product page, they have all their products listed with prices for the country of your origin.
Here in the UK, if you wanted to buy the Slice Manual Pen Cutter you will pay as little as £15.36 and for the slimmer Slice Craft Cutter you will pay £14.49
For those of you in the US the same Slice products will cost the following. For the Manual Pen Cutter you will pay $12.99 and for the Craft Cutter you will pay $12.99
For those of you in the EU the same Slice products will cost the following. For the Manual Pen Cutter you will pay €16.99 and for the Craft Cutter you will pay €16.99
The prices for replacement blades are so varied that I have not added them here, but remember, every product you purchase from Slice obviously comes with a blade, which on average will last 11 times longer than ordinary blades and once you have purchased your Slice product, on the box there is a list of replacement blades appropriate for that particular products.
Slice Manual Pen Cutter and Craft Cutter Conclusion
For years, colored pencil artists have been coming up will all manner of techniques and gadgets that will help them create bright highlights, but now, thanks to Slice, this is possible and easier than all other previous attempts.
I was amazed at just how easy it was to create highlights using the Slice products, my own personal favourite was the Slice Manual Pen Cutter, however, I do love the wider selection of replacement blades available for the Craft Cutter.
Given how well made the Slice products are and the duration a ceramic blade will give you, I think the cost of the products is amazing. the links I have provided are for Amazon and Slice own product page, however as always, check around to see if you can find cheaper Slice products in sales etc.
I loved using the Pen and Craft Cutter from Slice and to see both products in action check out my YouTube video review, the ease of use is amazing and the fact that the paper is not damaged is every bit as important as creating the highlight itself.
