Are colored pencils ...

[PamCo88]

Are colored pencils all safe? And if only some are safe how do you tell the difference?

[Spinning]

I really don't know the answer but this is my thought.
If it doesn't say acid free/linage free I don't use it. I know they sell reg. pencils that are safe for photos but not sure about color pencils.

[MinnieAnn]

I think you will find that most of the colored pencils marketed for scrapbooking are acid-free. I know the ones sold by Close To My Heart are absolutely acid free. I don't personally know for sure about other sets.

I agree with the other advice. If it doesn't clearly say it on the packaging, I wouldn't assume that they are safe.

[PamCo88]

Thank you for the responses. I guess I have to go buy another set. I have a set of Crayola, but they don't say anything.

[dizneegirl]

From the Crayola site:

Question
Are CRAYOLA products safe to use in photo albums? Are your products acid free?

Answer
CRAYOLA acrylic paint, glitter glue, gel pens and metallic FX markers have been tested and are considered acid free. Most other Crayola products have a mid-range pH level, however, we are unable to guarantee they are acid-free. In addition, the color pigments used in our products may fade over time when exposed to natural and artificial light.

(Here's the link to the info: Crayola support (http://www.crayola.com/canwehelp/contact/index.cfm)

[PamCo88]

Thanks dizneegirl :)

I went shopping today for a new set and can't find any that say they are acid free. Does anyone know what brand is acid free?

[DVCajun]

The best pencils you can buy are Prismacolor. They're very high quality and they blend very well too.

[StilesMom]

DVCajun - How do you blend colored pencils?? I've seen layouts where it has been done, (blending a darker shade into a lighter shade) and it looks nice, but how do you do it? Some special tool??

[chessie]

I have not done this as yet, but I understand that in order to do the beautiful blending you see, you have to use water color pencils.

[DVCajun]

You can use *any* pencils. The prismacolor ones work very well. The only other thing you need is a blender pen, which most SB stores carry. You color in your image, then "color" over it with the blender pen, and it sort of melts the colors together. Some of the less expensive pencils don't blend very well.

[MerryPoppins]

There are also blending pencils. I got mine at Michaels. You won't find it in the scrapbooking area of the store, though. It's back in the art supplies. In a scrapbooking class I was taught it is safe to use a blending pencil in my books.

Easy to use: you just color with colored pencils and then go over it with the blending pencil.

It looks great with 2 colors. Trace title letters with a template. Color one color in the top half (fading lighter toward the center of the letter) and another color at the bottom half (fading again to the center of the letter). Then blend with the pencil and it softens and blends the colors together in the middle. Awesome and fun!

[DiznEeyore]

The Prismacolors are nice, but expensive. I bought mine w/a Michael's coupon. I also have ones by EK Success, which also work very well. I bought them at Target for about $5/box. I think there are 3 or 4 different "color schemes" to choose from.

[StilesMom]

MerryPoppins - Thanks for the info about where to find the blending pencil in Michaels. I was there last week and looked around for one... but didn't spot one and was in too much of a rush to ask about it. Next time I'll try the art supply section! :)

[MerryPoppins]

No problem. I had a terrible time finding mine. Finally asked a scrapper friend where to find it. Glad to help.

[PamCo88]

Thanks everyone for all these details.

I ended up buying the EK Success pencils. I don't think I like them. I used the Prismacolor ones at a class and they are much smoother, softer to color with. The EK ones seem very hard to me. I'm going to find one of those blender things and see if that helps before I go out and but the Prismacolor.

I'll let you know what happens. :)

[DVCajun]

A friend of mine had the EK Success pencils and I tried the blender pen on them-- it didn't work very well. As you noted, those pencils are harder then the prismacolor ones, and maybe they're waxier or something, because when I used the blender pen on them it didn't do a whole lot.

[Connie of Trenton]

I have a question which may seem kind of silly regarding the colored pencils? What do you actually use them for when you are scrapbooking?

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by DVCajun
A friend of mine had the EK Success pencils and I tried the blender pen on them-- it didn't work very well. As you noted, those pencils are harder then the prismacolor ones, and maybe they're waxier or something, because when I used the blender pen on them it didn't do a whole lot.
Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to give bad advice. I guess I was thinking more of just "straight" usage, rather than blending. The Prismacolors definitely are softer.

I think there are also watercolor pencils available. Has anyone tried those?

Connie: You can use the pencils for coloring in title lettering, clip art, etc. Also for journaling if you'd like. I did my ds' entire first year album w/colored pencils. I haven't done much with them since then, but I know there are people out there who do beautiful things with them. HTH!

[DVCajun]

The only thing I've used them for is coloring in letters. It works really well for that. I've also used them when I'm making cards, to color in a stamp. But now that I've discovered CHALKS I may never use another type of coloring agent again!! :cool: