This is a Hand Mixed permanent paint stick. And each one of these singular paint sticks sells on
any normal graffiti site for 14 US dollars! Just to put that in perspective, if you had
14 dollars to spend, you could either buy just one of these Hand Mixed solid paint sticks or
literally seven markal B paint sticks, which may i remind everyone are pretty much the staple of
paint sticks in graffiti and have been for the last 20 years. So, my question is, why should any
real graffiti writer or graffiti artist pay for one of these when seven perfectly good markal B
paint sticks that right in any temperature, on any surface, wet or dry could go a lot
further in a freight or street environment? And that very question is why today we need to do a
full surface tagging test, with these Hand Mixed permanent paint sticks, to hopefully help us see
what the value in hand mixed paint sticks are. So, let's get right to it.
Now, i'm looking at this from a practicality perspective, as I've outlined. And it makes it
hard to see why anyone should spend their money on these if you use solid paint sticks fairly
regularly in a street or freight environment. But it can't be denied that these hand mixed
paint sticks have some redeeming qualities. So, i'm going to mention those quickly and then we'll
head over to our surface tagging test and see exactly how these hand mixed permanent paint
sticks tag. And hopefully at the end my opinion as a graffiti writer will have changed on these
handmixed permanent paint sticks. So, the main thing with these hand mixed permanent paint sticks
is they're supposed to be super fancy and you buy them portioned, cut up into different pieces like
this with different colours, in many many MANY colour combos. Each of them come portioned in six
or eight chunks with between two and eight colours per stick, which i do have to say is pretty cool.
Even just looking at this, that is - that's a pretty awesome paint stick, you have to admit.
But that portioning style does mean that the effect you're wanting with these is only going to
work if the paint formula is a softer one, which these hand mixed paint sticks are supposed to be.
After all, you wouldn't even be able to portion things like this if you were using a harder paint,
or at least not this precisely and finely. So, that being the case let's go see how these tag!
So, these are going to be about as permanent as any other paint stick. That's something
to keep in mind. Generally paint sticks are weatherproof, they are very fade resistant,
but they won't stand up to an actual buff. That's just the nature of solid paint sticks that aren't
the wax and ink ones in particular. So, if you don't like that, don't use them. But there's two
things in particular I want to see from these hand mixed solid paint sticks. Those two things are:
a) the dual colour sort of effect that's labeled on all the caps of these looks super super fun and
i can't wait to see how that looks while i tag up some subscribers names who have asked me for hit
offs and the names of those who have supported me on my patreon. You can check that out in the
description as well, my patreon that is. Secondly though, given how some of these softer paint stick
formulae seem to have a bit more trouble writing smoothly, at least in some different temperature
environments, i've gone ahead and tested these hand mixed solid paint sticks out in a colder
environment on some different surfaces, to help you guys get a better idea of just how they write
in different temperatures besides the nice smooth normal temperature of our
testing area surface here that we have. So, let's start throwing those tags up on
here and of course i'll try and communicate to you guys anything that i think you might
not be able to see on camera with regards to these hand mixed paint sticks for you. Let's get to it!
Okay so, while i start this off i do want to say that at the end i'm going to have a direct
price comparison between all the most major brands of solid paint sticks on the market for you.
Trust me, you're going to want to see that because no one else on youtube is going to
do that for you. And hey, if you do appreciate having that kind of stuff done in these videos,
maybe subscribe! We've got new stuff coming out all the time on the channel and i will have links
in the description to all the solid paint sticks that i'm talking about, if i can find
good value pack prices on them. So, if you do write with solid paint sticks in general
quite often, then you might want to check those out. But getting to these tags, right
away you'll notice that the hand mixed is such a smooth, soft paint formula that, on a smooth
surface sort of like this finished surface here, to me it's almost as smooth as writing with like
a really tiny spray can or something like that. It's just so smooth; there's no drag. There's no
stickiness to it at all. And while you do have that nice round tip at the top you can get some
fairly small lines. I generally like to write more head on with solid paint sticks than a lot
of graffiti artists and writers do, but if you do want a better picture of that dual tone effect,
you will want to write on a pretty considerable angle with these. That's how you get those nice
clean, blue and red in this case, lines and you can see the clear differences,
whereas when you write more head on you do get those colours blending together, you get sort of a
nastier purple. To me, i don't mind that. Don't let any graffiti artist tell you how you should
and shouldn't write with any graffiti implement. That's ridiculous. Do it how you want. But on
smooth surfaces these are just a dream to write with, like I said. It's like a direct connection
between your hand and the surface. There's just no drag. On the colder surfaces outdoors, that
is where you start to get a bit of those sort of like webs coming off of the tip of this. It does
get a little bit sticky and part of that is when you start using these on rougher surfaces as well.
It's not just the cold playing into that. It's sort of the roughness of some of those surfaces.
So like on that surface with sort of the cracked paint, you're gonna see a little bit of the webs
there. I don't know if the gopro was able to pick that up, but it is a little bit stickier for sure.
That being said, one of the best aspects about these hand mixed solid paint sticks that i was
finding especially in the great outdoors where not everything is a pristine finished surface like
this, was that they have the most vibrant colours you can get, quite honestly. Ihe vibrancy is on
point with these hand mixed solid paint sticks. I do have to say. You can get some beautiful
effects with the dual tone that make your tags pop even more. For example on our surface indoors the
blue and white didn't really look like much. It just looked like an interesting dual tone effect,
but when you bring that blue and white to those colder surfaces outdoors, as you can see with this
takz tag there, that blue and white really did shine and it's very very easy to see miles away.
Definitely makes you feel like you're getting a bit more bang for your buck,
especially if you're not too crazy about all the crazy colour combos. For me personally,
as smooth as they feel writing on those nice smooth surfaces, i just find that once you get the
tip down to almost like a wide angle chisel tip, i find that it's nicer to write with these when
you have a larger tip to be writing with. I don't know; probably most people don't necessarily agree
with that. That's just my personal feel for these, and i know that uses up the paint faster.
That's just how i use solid paint sticks to be honest most of the time. And that's
simply because i'm used to using those markals where you do have to press a little harder on
just about any surface, especially smooth ones. And it does end up flattening those markals out
and you're left writing with a thicker paint stick. So, i'm used to that a little more.
Maybe that's why i like that with these hand mixed as well. Something else that i
personally sort of struggled with because of the nature of these hand mixed solid sticks is just
they almost feel too smooth for me. So, if you're a writer like me who uses marcal b paint sticks,
AP hobo markers, things like that and you are used to having to make some more sort of jagged
lines because you're pressing harder while you write, these will feel quite foreign to you to
use in the same way that sakura streakers do i guess i should say. So, for me personally i really
enjoyed sort of the rougher surfaces using these hand mixed on again. That's probably me being in
the minority. Maybe some of you guys have the same experience? Let me know in the comments if you're
used to using sort of these softer paint sticks or the harder ones. I'd be interested to see what
each graffiti writer on each side of that likes about each of those soft and hard paint formulae.
But with all that being said, i think i've given you guys the best look that i can here
at how these hand mixed solid paint sticks perform on smooth surfaces, sort of rougher surfaces,
indoors and outdoors, in terms of temperatures at least, so if you do want to know exactly how these
compare and if it's viable for you to use these as a graffiti writer, then let's have a little chat.
All right, so i don't think it would be fair to say that these hand mixed solid paint sticks don't
have any unique value to them. They clearly do. That being said, if you are a graffiti writer who
legitimately uses solid paint sticks on the regular, it simply isn't going to be viable for
you to use exclusively Hand Mixed solid paint sticks, unless you're super wealthy and have
a very low expense to income ratio. But the paint sticks that i've compared to these hand mixed
solid sticks are the marcal b paint sticks, the sakura streakers and the art primo solid sticks.
In terms of formulation, the sakura streakers and the art primo streakers specifically the art primo
ones that are cut up just like this are going to be the most similar to these hand mixed permanent
paint sticks. But the markal b paint stick is such a staple within the graffiti community,
i could not leave it out of this comparison. So, using the prices on bombingscience.com
and artprimo.com, neither of which i'm really affiliated with, you can buy one single hand
mixed paint stick for about 13.95 US dollars and for that same price, 13.95, you can buy 7.15
marcal b paint sticks! Just to put that in more real world terms, if you had $100 to spend,
you could get seven of these hand mixed paint sticks, or if you had $14 to spend, you could get
seven of the Markal b paint sticks. In terms of the sakura streakers, you can buy about three and
a half of the normal sakura streaker markers for one hand mixed paint stick. In terms of the actual
marker casing and everything the streakers and these are about identical, so you really are
getting about three and a half times the volume. And given that when i did the vote on the channel
of all the solid paint sticks, the sakura streaker appears to be the favourite solid paint stick of
the graffiti community here. So, that might be especially relevant to some of you guys.
And finally, a lot of people on the channel really seem to like a lot of the art primo products,
so because of that i thought i should definitely include the art primo streakers, especially since
they're one of the only other companies out there that does split streakers up in the same sort of
format. And they offer their dual tone streakers for $8.99 US instead of $13.95. In which case
you can buy about 1.55 of the art primo ones for every one of these. So this literally is
the most expensive paint stick on the market! So, if anything, just make sure that you're going to
get a lot of value out of it if you are gonna put that money forward to get your hands on some
of these. Everyone on youtube seems to be just so in love with these and i'm definitely going
against the grain a little bit, so hopefully the information i've just shared with you helps
to justify my sort of cautious opinion on these hand mixed paint sticks. And what it really comes
down to is how much you write, because when an expense becomes a regular or repetitive expense,
that's when price differences really add up. And just as a final note, i just want to say
it is sort of important where you buy your graffiti supplies from. There are plenty of small
graffiti businesses out there. Even when you consider small youtubers like myself,
we are technically small businesses too. And it's important to get your supplies from places that
you want to actually support. And i don't want to ever make any definitive statements saying
you should or should not do anything really. That's up to you guys, not me. But just consider
who you buy graffiti supplies from and what graffiti communities you're actually supporting
when you do buy. Speaking of support, if you did want to support the channel here,
you can pick up your very own Tags, Throws N Pieces t-shirt or hoodie! First link in the
description for you there. That is the best way to support the channel and i thank everyone who has
picked up their very own merch. If you want any more information on the sakura streakers or
these markal b paint sticks, i'd highly recommend you check out either of those two surface tagging
tests on screen now. I hope to see you in one of those quite soon. Until then, peace!