Derwent Inktense Blocks 72 Tin, Set of 72, 8mm Block, Soft Texture, Watersoluble, Ideal for Watercolor, Drawing, Coloring, Crafts and Painting on Paper and Fabric, Professional Quality (2301980)

These watercolour ink sticks are a fun and versatile addition to both watercolourists or those who enjoy mixed media projects. There is a variety of different ways they can be used, direct on to paper, mixed with water, grated to provide an interesting texture effect, and I even made spritzer bottles with them. They work like water colours and blend nicely, but the Inktense formula means that the colours have a bit more oomph than a traditional watercolour. This 36 piece set provides a good mix of colours, and the price at the time of my purchase was exceptional. The box came well packaged but one block, the white, was broken in half. Not a big deal, as it doesn’t affect its usage much.

As an Art Quilter I am always looking for new ways to make my quilts unique. I'd heard about Derwent Inktense Pencils and Inktense Blocks but when I saw the prices in the Art Store I passed them by. Luckily I am a Prime Member on Amazon and as I was looking for some supplies I needed I found this box of of the complete set of the Derwent Inktense Blocks for an unbelievably low price and bought them immediately. I am so glad I did and I am doubly glad I am smart enough to be an Amazon Prime member! The learning curve for these blocks is much easier than for the pencils (at least that's what I've heard). I watched some videos on YouTube, found a couple that pertained to quilting and that was all I needed to get me started. These blocks are amazing when used on silk. Usually coloring silk can be very iffy, depending on whether you use paint or dye. Nothing could be easier than coloring silk with these blocks. If you dye silk you have to steam it to set the dye, try setting it in a microwave, use a product that might or might not set it completely, or try something called batching. If you use textile paint you can't just paint it on the table top, the silk must be raised up on a frame using pins made especially for painting silk. Also, it has to be heat set, something that's hard to do on silk because the amount of heat needed to set the paint can be be too high for silk. Not so with these wonderful blocks. They are permanent once the fabric is dry and the colors are stunning on silk. They are great on cotton too, but on silk they are amazing! I am lucky enough to have a wonderful stock of silk that I hadn't gotten around to dyeing yet and now I don't ever have to bother with dyeing any of my silk again. I will use these blocks in the future. The makers of the blocks sell a grater that allows you to mix the colors with water but I found that device didn't get the particles small enough. So I followed the advice on one of the videos I saw and used what's used in a Pharmacy to grind drugs into powder. It's called a morter and pestal (and I know I've spelled it incorrectly) but however it's spelled it worked like a dream to get the bits of block extremely fine so they mix with the water without any little bits getting on the fabric. I found some small bottles with eyedroppers for tops and put the mixture into them and either used the eyedroppers or a small brush to put the color on the silk. So easy and such wonderful results. These products are made in the UK and some friends I have over there can't afford to buy them because they are very pricey. Once I use up all my blocks I will be in the same boat unless Amazon has another sale, but until then I am having such a wonderful time coloring my silk. However, with 72 colors to use up it will be a long time before I have to worry about restocking. Besides, since I am an experienced fabric dyer I know which colors to mix together to get the color I want so some of the colors I would normally never use will be mixed with another one to make something beautiful. Because I saved so much on this set of blocks I might even try the pencils. I just wish these had been invented ages ago when I was using dye to color my silks. At least I don't ever have to go through that agony again!

have a small set of the pencils and in using them I realized that the blocks might be more useful. these work great for mixed media as they work similar to watercolors but are permanent when dry so you can layer over top without disturbing the lower layers. you can apply a wet brush directly to the block to pick up color or use them to sketch. the colors come out bright strong and vibrant so these are adequately pigmented. got these on sale so the price was good. unfortunatly, some of the blocks were broken presumably in shipping, but it doesn't affect their use beyond the length you have to hold on to. the tin is rather long so I cut the trays down and made a box to put them in for easier storage.

I do also love the Intense blocks. when wet your colors come out amazing.. I use it mostly on silk. Dries fast and you can heat set the iron and no steaming, so you can use right away.. and its permananet.. this set and the Derwent Instense Blocks are very good for traveling. I travel alot so I need something that I do not need to use color dyes with that have easy access to do on the plane or at my destination but still have the control to play or draw whenever the mood sends me. Highly recommend this product... When I got it from you all.. the box came in pieces but its ok, if you break some off you can make them into liquid dyes.. I like it better, it was i guess not prepared to be sent to us, well.. so like the pencils was. Never the less I used them anyways... There are so many ways you can use this product. As I said above I travel so these are replacements for my liquid dyes, but they will Never take the replacement of my liquid dyes. They work differently. With Intense blocks, when I use it solely with Silk Only, these dyes work well with blending.. once you put it down on silk its permanent you can not remove it, its done. You can blend other colors with them but thats about it.. if you want intense look to it do not add water to it.. but you MUST HEAT SET IT... this is where this heat set adheres to the fabric. you can use any fabric for this, I prefer Silk . Lighter to carry and I keep around 50 of them in my suitcase when I travel. I can work on the plane when I travel and go to anywheres with this product. unlike my liquid dyes its not the same, with liquid dyes you have to Heat steam them first then heat set with the iron, with this you just heat set it No steam. And you can eventually wear it, sell it and also wash it in cool bath of water, I used Only Distilled water to wash and lightly set iron on light heat. Nothing else. I noticed when using this product that on silk the products come out a bit stiff, but I guess its because I did not wash it afterwards. I wash mine with sythropol I get mine from Dharma Trading they have products there even the intense but you are not going to get it less than amazon. I know I tried. I also noticed that some of the products on amazon are a bit older so if your intense blocks are a bit white on top after you buy it, send them back they maybe very old and the warehouse got hot and the products are going bad. These blocks should be soft and not so runny... also do NOT keep them in heat, or too cold... Keep them in the containers take out pieces you need, I chose to take the ones that are pieces put them in little cups with lids you can get them from resturant supply places.. and the rest in a cool dry place in your house Never the garage too hot. Keep away from pets,kids and flames. Although non toxic but you never know. Then I would take the other pieces and blend with water in little cups the lighter you want it give it more water. I chose to make my drawing first, blend it with water... then I can also do this, take the silk products on a loom. or a frame, wet the entire silk, take your intense blocks with a small piece, these do have a tendecy to get on your hands, and then make your design while its still wet, you will see the colors blend... its a knock out.. then you can bleed the colors if you would like or not. but if you have anymore questions on this product Please do ask me I love the product, especially I can take it on a cruise ship with me to keep me relaxed I enjoy what I do and I do this for a living. I do sell my scarfs and other silk products. just ask for the prices. thank you enjoy!

The pigment and usability of this product is excellent. It crumbles easy which made what I chose to do slightly difficult. I put pieces in empty watercolor tins and put swatches in there too. It's easy to get heavy payoff with little effort which is nice. There's a lot less color variance than I'd hope in several of the colors. 9 colors look practically identical, hence the missing star. They're definitely a little harder to work with and less forgiving than regular watercolor. Would definitely recommend for any artist that enjoys painting or chalk pastels with a twist. Is it worth the price tag? I guess we'll see. I bought them on sale and doubt I'll regret it.

I use this set every week and absolutely love it! The colors are vibrant, smooth, and blend beautifully with water for watercolor effects. The blocks are soft but sturdy, easy to use for both detailed work and broad coverage. I’ve tried them on paper and fabric, and they perform wonderfully on both. The tin keeps everything organized, and the 24-color range offers so much versatility for drawing, painting, and mixed media projects. Professional quality at a great price — highly recommend for any artist or crafter!

I bought these specifically for use in my art journal, where I do a variety of mixed media projects for fun and relaxation. The blocks come in 12 different colors (from bottom to the top) - Sun Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Fuchsia, Deep Indigo, Sea Blue, Teal Green, Apple Green, Leaf Green, Baked Earth, Bark, and Ink Black. At the time of my purchase, these blocks were $13.09 (w/o shipping and handling), so ea. block cost about $1.09 if I did my math right. Long story short - I really, really love these blocks, and they have become a staple supply for my art journaling right alongside my acrylic paints and stencils. You don't have to lay down a lot of color to get intense results, but if you do they are very opaque and rich. They are quite versatile in use, too - you can use them like crayons and scribble on your page/canvas/etc... and then take a wet paintbrush or mister and apply water on them to help the color come out. You can take a wet paintbrush and take color off the block itself, take an old credit card, exacto knife, or painter's knife and scrap some of of the block off in a pile then add water, or you can also lay down a stencil and draw through them with the blocks, then use a small paintbrush to color in the resulting pattern. My favorite thing about these blocks is that they dry quickly, and once dry, are permanent. This is bad if you like going back and reactivating your paints with water, but I'm not a big fan of traditional watercolors, so these are perfect for me. I've found they work great being layered on the top or bottom of acrylic paints, and when mixed together blend nicely. They can also tint gesso and texture/modeling paste great, too, although the colors will lighten (obviously) if added to white. I also found them easy to clean from my paintbrushes, merely swishing them in water until no more color comes out seems to work just fine. In comparison/contrast with the pencil version of these blocks, they're more-or-less equal, one being in a pencil format, the other being in blocks. If you wanted to paint extremely small areas, the pencils have a slight advantage, but you could still use a small paintbrush and take color from the blocks and still get a similar effect. Another big plus for me is that you can buy the blocks individually ($1.59/block on DickBlicks) which will be helpful as I slowly start to collect all the colors. All in all, this is a fantastic product. Blocks came undamaged, and the shipping/delivery was fast and without issue.

I really like that these behave a lot like watercolors and they dry permanent. No smearing when you go over them with another color or with glazes or water washes. A couple of the sticks had a hairline crack but it doesn't affect usability since I like to use these like I would use watercolor pan paints, dipping a wet brush onto the sticks, rather than using them as drawing sticks. But these can be used for drawing or for applying to large areas then wetting, but some of the drawing marks will remain. I prefer the more even color and smooth texture of applying them wet onto wet with a brush. Very versatile with lots of colors to use as-is or to blend into numerous new pigments. One thing I noticed is, to prevent oversaturation of pigment on my paper in one area leaving a darker spot that's almost impossible to remove or reduce, it's best to wet the area of the paper first, then apply inktense with a brush, or mix up the inktense in a palette ahead of time and apply in more dilute layers. Watercolors are much more forgiving as they are more easily lifted even when applied almost full strength to dry paper. Inktense are difficult to lift once dried, or even sometimes while wet. The pigments are very strong and staining, some moreso than others, and a little goes a long way. I expect these to last a long time. Plus each stick looks to be equivalent to 3 or 4 half pans worth of watercolor paint. From that standpoint, this set of 36 is a great value. When I ordered I was concerned about all the reviews about dented tins and broken sticks contaminated with other pigments, but, mine arrived in great condition, both tin and sticks. They must have improved packaging as my tin arrived undamaged, with the exception of a couple of the sticks having hairline cracks that you don't even notice until you try to lift them from the tray. The sticks are fragile, sort of like chalk would be. So was not surprised to see a couple of the sticks with cracks. Frankly I would have expected there to be many more cracked, but glad they weren't! I'm thinking of breaking off small chunks of some of my favorite stick colors and putting into empty 1/2 pans in a spare palette for portability, as the tin of 36 is quite large! Definitely not something you want to cart around with you.

These Inktense blocks are a creative person’s dream! I love them and also have pencils. These can be used like a paint pallet or pastel - on fabric, iron to seal and it will was well. They are definitely a treasured box of colours for me!

Estuve dudando entre las barras de tinta y los lápices de tinta Derwent. Estoy muy contenta de haberme decidido por las barras. Como las barras de acuarela, se pueden usar de distintas maneras. En seco o sobre papel húmedo, llevándose tinta de la barra con un pincel mojado, haciendo marcas de distinto tamaño según se use una punta de la barra, un canto o un lado entero. Los colores son ricos e intensos aunque siempre se pueden rebajar usando más agua. Incluso se pueden volver a diluir una vez secos. Ha sido mi primera experiencia con Inktense y estoy muy satisfecha. El siguiente paso será comprar una caja de lápices.

Premetto che non sono un'artista ma faccio card. Cercavo un prodotto per fare sfondi e colorare le parti in rilievo delle card dopo il passaggio nell'embossing folder. PERFETTI! I colori che ho provato finora sono luminosi e coprenti, attenzione a prelevarne poco per volta perchè sono molto pigmentati. Consiglio di farsi una cartella colori fai da te. Ottimi anche per l'effetto goccia/schizzo. Un paio di pezzi sono arrivati rotti ma questo non ne pregiudica l'utilizzo.

I use derwent inktense blocks on fabric and loved them since they dry permanent all I had to do was heat set it and that's it ... planning on adding more to my collection ...I would like to mention that the packing was very poor and probably due to this 14 of the blocks were broken but I'm very happy with the product and the delivery and of course the price ....overall I'll say go for it ...its definitely worth your money I've posted some photos of the products I made using these blocks

la caja compacta es muy conveniente para transportarla. combina los beneficios de la tinta indeleble y las barras tradicionales de acuarela.