As promised: Comparison of Niji Pearlescent and Twinkling H20s

Well, I finally finished the comparison, took pictures, uploaded the pictures and am ready to share my "findings" with everyone.

I love Twinkling H20's, but they are expensive (even though they last forever), so when I found the Niji Pearlescent Water Colors online I was intrigued for two reasons: they looked to have a bit more sheen and the set of 21 colors was $5.95. I put the Niji in my bookmarks and was going to order them when, but was able to purchase them in person at the stamp convention I attended this weekend.

Are the Niji paints a good buy? In my opinion yes! And in many ways they have a much better sheen then the H20s. One concern is that the Niji set seems to be a bit stingy on the quantity, however, if they perform like the H20s, the colors will last a long, long time. Another drawback to the Nijis is that they only have 21 colors, however the color choice is broad enough to use with almost every color. Some of the Niji colors seem to have a bit less color pigment in them, and I found that by using a marker first, then painting over with the Niji I was able to get wonderful, deep, rich color.

The Nijis do not have a good red or yellow, but I found that applying the Niji over marker can create the color I am missing, for example, color a stamped image with a red marker or water brush, and then go over with a related Niji color. You will have to experiment to find what will work best.

So, sit back, grab a cup of coffee and follow the slide show of the comparison. You have two choices to view the slide show, either right below, click on the image and the slide show will start (a bit small and it is hard to read the captions) or you can go directly to the album (larger images and you can read the comparisons better) by clicking here.



I hope you like this comparison, please leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Enjoy your day, now I am going to try to get some cards made : )

Sigh...did not get finished with

the comparison I was planning on doing today. I wanted to compare Twinkling H20's to the new Niji Pearlescent Watercolor set. Though I started to work with both, all day long there were interruptions (including blog surfing), so my "test" is not complete, and I do not have pictures yet either.

What I can tell you is that the Twinkling H20's seem to have more color in them, and the Niji seem to have more pearlescent shimmer, but not as much color. I promise to finish this tomorrow and take pictures, just hope I can capture the shimmers on the samples. Today all I was able to do was to stamp an image a few times and play with both sets of colors, matching color to color as best I could.

I quickly learned that I need to add some "color" to the Niki's, ie, they seem to be more of a paint to "add" to some existing color, while the Twinkling H20's can stand alone, without as much "shimmer." So, tomorrow I will post the results, but I can safely say that the Niji's are a great bargain and I can see myself using them quite a bit. : )

At least today I finally got caught up with the laundry, and a few other household chores, and since I have the next few days off of work (will be spending some time helping a friend's campaign), hopefully I can get some cards done (besides finishing up the comparison).

I mentioned that we have two cats, Rosy and Mishgie, they are so cute, and they keep us entertained all the time. Roxy was our first cat, then a few months ago we rescued Mishgie. Roxy, while not an "old" cat (she is barely two), was not at all happy with little Mishgie (who was six months when we got her). We kept Mishgie in a bedroom for a week, and Roxy would go outside the door and hiss at the poor thing.

Finally we let Mishgie "free" and for the first few minutes we thought "oh no, they hate each other," but after about 10 minutes they were actually chasing each other and having fun, it was amazing! Anyhow, now the two of them are inseparable, Mishgie is still a runt, but the two of them chase each other around the house, roll around play fighting one minute then licking each other the next.

They love to be together, and most times you can find the two of them curled up on our bed (always on my side), together, back to back or head to head. Here is a few pictures of them doing their mutual grooming ritual:

Mishgie is the lighter cat, in the forefront, Roxy is in back and a bit darker

I woke them up from their nap and they both looked at me like I was crazy : )

And there goes Roxy, grooming Mishgie, Mishgie seems to be enjoying her grooming.

I am a "cat" person, and today I added a "virtual" cat to the blog, check it out on the left, towards the bottom of all the links. If you move your mouse around the cat it will meow and swipe at you : )

Ok, off to bed, am exhausted and have a bunch of things to do tomorrow. Hope you had a wonderful Sunday and here is to a marvelous Monday : )