Thursday, May 10, 2018

Has Fabriano Watercolor Sheets Changed?

Ten years ago (plus), I was planning to work with beginners learning watercolor.  I had purchased paints, brushes and Fabriano Artistico 140 lb Cold Press paper in packs of 10 (back then) which were sold cut down to about quarter size.  I chose to do this so those I worked with were using the same materials as I was.

Fabriano has always been my #1 favorite with how I like to paint.  I liked the texture and the amount of sizing in the paper compared to other brands.  I also liked the fact my extra fine nibs didn't have trouble moving across the paper surface.

Anyways, I ended up with an overstock of supplies and have been using the paper purchased years ago until recent when I needed full sheets to tear down to the size signatures needed.

It seems different.  Feels different.  My pen nibs appear to hang and if I don't keep the nib moving, the ink feathers or spreads.

I know Arches changed but hadn't read anything about Fabriano changing.  I'm wondering if full sheets are made different from the cut down smaller size sheets packaged as I purchased years ago.  I just don't know.

Here are three pages in my Fabric Traveler's Notebook made last month using the new Fabriano.  I like how it handled the watercolor application (mainly wet in wet except the paint palette chart) and I used different pens........Lamy Safari EF nib, TWSBI EF nib (wetter feed), and a Sharpie pen.




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