Hello, and welcome back to Jenna Gets Creative! You may remember that I tried out the June
ArtSnacks box, the regular ArtSnacks. I decided- I found another coupon code, and I decided
that this month only, I'm going to try out ArtSnacks Plus. See if that box is worth it.
This won't be an ongoing thing YET at least, because I certainly can't afford to keep up
with multiple subscription boxes, but we're going to try it! So here it is, the September
2019 Artsnacks Plus box. If you're not familiar with the Plus service, it's quite new. It's
the regular monthly ArtSnacks box, plus an addition 1-2 full size art supplies and a
full size surface. The price difference is $15 USD plus shipping cost. Regular ArtSnacks
is $24 USD per month with free shipping in the USA; Plus is $39 USD per month plus shipping
costs. There are savings when you go with pre-paid subscriptions of course. I'll have
all the price breakdowns in the description in USD, CAD, and British pounds, as usual.
Not sponsored, but I'd definitely be open to it! Hey ArtSnacks? If you read the price
breakdown, you'll notice Plus is a far better deal across the board, even for international
subscribers paying month to month, which is unusual to see in any subscription box service.
So when you get Plus, you get the regular menu card plus an additional Plus card, so
I can definitely tell you what the bonus Plus items are, and it means I can cover the price
breakdowns for both the regular and Plus boxes in the description. It looks like I got two
of the supply wraps and I probably wasn't supposed to. I really hope that doesn't mean
someone else's box wasn't missing supplies! I suspect that Plus boxes are made to order,
since there aren't any Plus boxes in the past boxes section of the ArtSnacks shop every
time I've checked, so hopefully that means my box having double doesn't mean a pack didn't
get into the next one on the line. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm a little disappointed
it's two of the exact same packs, since I've been seeing this box coming up in my Instagram
feed and I know there are other colour pairings, but I can't complain too hard since it's free
products I wasn't supposed to have. Let's get on with it, shall we? The regular
menu card starts us off with "Krink K-11 Acrylic Paint Marker. New product! Headquartered in
Brooklyn, KRINK makes creative tools for creative thinkers. The K-11 Acrylic Paint Marker features
a 3mm double-sided bullet tip and is filled with permanent, water-based paint that stays
vibrant on a variety of surfaces. To use: shake well until thoroughly mixed, remove
the cap, and press the nib down several times until saturated." Suggested retail price is
$8.00 USD, conversions down below. I got the shade light blue, and it is very pretty. When
they say double-sided nib, they mean the nib is a nicely formed, rounded bullet nib on
both ends, so when the nib starts to wear out and fray, just pull it out and turn it
around. Krink does sell refills for all their markers, and they sell nibs, but the benefit
to this particular line of markers is definitely the fact that your nib will last twice as
long. This isn't my first acrylic paint marker, but it is my first Krink product, and I do
like it. You'll see as this video goes along just how much of the surface I covered with
this, and it barely looks like I used it. I peeled the label back a little later, and
it's only about a centimetre down from the end, and the unused one isn't stuffed full
to begin with, so it seems a little goes a long way. I'm guessing since this is acrylic,
the note about it staying vibrant means it'll be fairly lightfast. I couldn't find lightfast
information at a glance, but I'm sure it's out there. I don't know how long this has
to dry before it's permanent, though. You'll see later that I did brush liquid colour over
top and it did interact. Next up is "Zebra Mildliner Double Ended Brush
Pens. New product! Add a gentle touch of colour to your artwork with Zebra Mildliner Double
Ended Brush Pens. These convenient pens feature two different tips: a flexible brush nib and
a super fine bullet nib. The soft, mild ink is translucent and water-resistant, so have
fun and experiment with layering!" Suggested retail price $2.79 USD each. I don't know
what they're talking about calling these water-resistant. I'm doing a two-part Inktober prep fineliner
and brush pen review next week, and when I tested one of these with the brush pens, it
did quickly and easily dilute a bit with water on the page, even after being left for a minute
or two to dry. It activated with water about as much as I would expect any highlighter
to do. These ARE highlighters, by the way. Don't let the fanciness fool you. That's what
they're made for. You can get them in a chisel and fineliner nib combination as well. I also
tested them under alcohol ink, and while they don't feather or smear, they do fade under
alcohol ink. I got orange and magenta. The orange is a very nice fluorescent pastel highlighter
orange, but the "magenta" is pretty darn purple, and not at all fluorescent. They do indeed
layer nicely, and they don't eat up the paper as much as a lot of water based markers I've
tried. They have earned a place on my pen hanger along with my fineliners and metallic
gel pens. We were also given a paint brush. The card
says "Princeton Snap! Series 9650 Golden Synthetic Brush, Filbert. Oh, snap! The Princeton Snap!
Series 9650 Golden Synthetic Brush is fun and functional. Ideal for watercolor and acrylic,
this versatile brush has taklon bristles that snap back into place and retain their shape,
use after use. We've included a filbert shape in your box, which is great for blending."
Suggested retail price $4.49 - $8.99 USD. At first I thought it was weird and a little
deceptive that they gave a price range, but then I looked closer at instagram photos of
this box, and some people did get different sizes. I've only seen 2 sizes so far, 4 and
8, but since these are in the wrap I don't think the sizes were separated by box type.
I got an 8 in both wraps. I do love Princeton brushes, and I like Filberts, so I'm very
happy with these. According to Blick, the suggested retail price for the Filbert 8 in
particular is $6.99 USD. We also got a "Marvy Uchida LePen Flex. The
Marvy Uchida LePen Flex is très chic! Featuring a sleek barrel and durable brush tip, this
pen will become a fast favourite. It lends the user complete control, so each pen stroke
appears exactly as expected. You'll be impressed by the vividness of its water-based dye ink!"
Suggested retail price is $1.99 USD. I do love this pen, and I'm not surprised, since
I love my Marvy Uchida fineliners. I wasn't aware that LePen was made by this company,
but that's exciting. Even though it's a Japanese brand, not a Chinese brand, so far I've had
good luck getting legitimate Marvy Uchida products on Wish and AliExpress, so that gives
me hope for LePen branded items on those sites as well. This pen is very water soluble, and
I took advantage of that. As a dye-based ink rather than pigment, it won't be lightfast,
so this is NOT archival. I love the colour and the pen itself is very fancy looking.
My only complaint is that the colour name is only on the barcode sticker, so I have
to choose between leaving the sticker on the pen or forgetting what the colour name is.
Oriental blue, by the way. The final item from the regular box is "Daler-Rowney
Aquafine Watercolour Ink. Summer may be winding down, but Daler-Rowney Aquafine Watercolour
Ink will keep your days bright! This pigmented, water-soluble ink is extremely versatile – use
it directly out of the bottle, or dilute with water. Thanks to its high degree of lightfastness,
the saturated colour will resist fading over time." Suggested retail price is $7.99 USD,
and the bottle I got it in Portrait Pink. Now, I own a couple bottles of Daler-Rowney
FW Acrylic Ink which are still going strong over a decade after purchase, and I have some
Daler-Rowney Aquafine pans, so I was very interested to try out the Aquafine ink. I'll
probably get a lot of use out of this in portraits, to be honest, since I find it hard to mix
skin tones consistently, so using this as a base and possibly diluting or tinting it
as needed will be so much easier. I noticed the pigment wants to separate out quickly,
though, so it definitely has to be stirred up again if you leave it on the palette for
any amount of time. Moving on to the Plus items, we got a "Marvy
Uchida Water Brush, Large Tip. Paint anywhere, anytime with the Marvy Uchida Water Brush.
By softly squeezing the brush's body, you can control how much water is released directly
through the synthetic brush tip. Try blending your new watercolour ink to create natural,
smooth gradients of colour. Simply fill the barrel with water and give it a light squeeze
to get the liquid flowing." Suggested retail price $4.09 USD. This is a pretty standard
water brush pen, and unlike some of the Asian brand versions, the screw cap is threaded
standard for North America, so "righty tighty, lefty loosy" won't lead you astray. I make
that note because every waterbrush pen I've ever got from Wish or AliExpress, and the
one that came in my Sakura Koi travel palette, turn "opposite" from what I'm used to. Comparing
it to regular watercolour paint brushes, it's about the same as my Winsor & Newton round
brushes in size 6. The surface we got in the Plus is "Canson
Plein Air Mixed Media Artboards, 8" x 10". New to ArtSnacks! Whether you're creating
a masterpiece outside or in your studio, Canson Plein Air Mixed Media Artboards are the perfect
companion for all artists. In this pad, you'll find ten rigid artboards glued in place with
a useful fold over cover. The textured surface works well for both dry and wet media, so
it'll handle your new pens and ink with ease." Suggested retail price $18.50 USD. I think
the word choice in there talking about the "texture" of the paper is deceiving, because
they aren't overly textured. It isn't cardstock, but it's also not a coldpress watercolour
paper either. Mine came with damage to one corner, and that is on all 10 sheets, so that's
unfortunate. If I had purchased this pad from an art store, I'd be looking to exchange it.
If you're leaving a bit of a border for matting and framing, it's fine, but since this is
a thick board on its own you might not want to matt it, in which case the dinged corner
would show. This is sheets of paper glued down onto acid-free board, so there's no choice
in sides. The back side is printed with the Canson logo. The glue strip that holds these
sheets into the pad is so thick I had to cut it the sheet out, and then trim some excess
glue off the edge. So good on one hand because it's not going to come loose prematurely,
but bad because it's annoying and you actually need a tool to remove it. Heating the glue
would probably work too, but then you would loosen all the sheets. I noticed as I was
using this board that it always looked like it wasn't handling the wet media well at all
as it went down, but then when it all dried it looks perfect.
Wow, I've talked a lot! Normally with these sort of boxes I blast through the card and
then give my opinions, but this time I kinda did both at the same time. Thanks so much
for watching! If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe and ring the bell for notifications.
I upload every Tuesday and Thursday at minimum, and some weeks I have bonus videos. Next week
is probably going to be a bonus week since I want to get that pre-Inktober stuff out,
so definitely come back if that's something you're interested in. See you then!