Luminance 6901 Coloured Pencils - comparative prices for open stock

I've had a bit of a splurge on Luminance 6901 Coloured Pencils by Caran d'Ache!  Here's my haul from Monday's Private View of the Pastel Society Exhibition at the Mall Galleries 

Caran d'Ache Luminance Coloured Pencils
£2.49 each from open stock at the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition!

I've been building up my stock of Luminance Coloured Pencils slowly - because they are expensive.

I love their intense pigmentation, the way they go down and the degree of coverage I can get without effort.  However most of all I love the fact they are the only accredited lightfast coloured pencil range on the market - as in "meets the International 6901 Standard".

For me, if you're producing coloured pencil artwork for sale you must use lightfast pencils which will not fade - guaranteed!

If I have to choose, I prefer a pencil which meets an accredited technical quality standard on lightfastness rather than one where I have to rely on the quality assurance of the manufacturer. I see my preference reflected in the way other media has changed in recent years - and so it will come to pass it will happen to coloured pencils too - in time.

Caran d'Ache Display Stand
at Pastel Society Annual Exhibition
at the Mall Galleries

However there's no getting away from the fact that Luminance 6001 pencils are expensive.  I don't mind that so much - quality costs etc.  However it does mean I'm building a collection from open stock rather than laying out a huge sum to buy the whole range.  [ Note: I've listed the comparative prices from different suppliers at the end ]

So when I see pencils for sale at a much reduced cost (£2.49 per pencil ) I stand in front of the display stand and work out how many I can buy without making my eyes water.

Turns out on Monday night it was rather a lot - see the pic at the top.

These are very much "me" colours - i.e. the colour palette I like to work with so my new collection both provides back-up pencils and some new colours I've not worked with before.

This is the complete colour chart for Luminance Pencils

I may just have to go back and get some more - that's if you don't beat me and get there first!

For more about the different brands of Coloured Pencils see my website Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists.

Note: Caran d'Ache are sponsoring the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition - hence the display stand of coloured pencils and pastel pencils etc in the Mall Galleries.  It also has other Caran d'Ache products and Luminance 6901 pencils in tins.

Comparative prices for Luminance 6901 Pencils in the UK

Comparative prices for Luminance pencils bought as individual pencils from open stock are listed below together with indications as to postage costs for pencils bought online.

Product	Luminance 6901 coloured pencils | OPEN STOCK
Recommended retail price:  £2.99 or £3.10 Depends on who is quoting it!
Name of Retailer	Face to face £ price	Online £ price	£ postage
Amazon		£2.70	Various options
Jackson Art	£2.70	£2.70	Free over £39
Artifolk		£2.69	Free over £10
Pencils4Artists		£2.55	£1.95
Mall Galleries	£2.49		n/a

Note:  The Mall Galleries price only applies for the duration of the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition which ends on 22 June.  Caran d'Ache are the 2013 Sponsors of the Pastel Society Exhibition.

IKEA Hemnes Bookcases do not sag!

This is an update on my previous posts about the introduction of IKEA Hemnes Bookcases into my home last May.

• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #1 - shows you what I bought - the Hemnes 90cm wide bookcase by IKEA. ie the naked version as per IKEA catalogue
• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #2 - RESULT! - this shows you the top two thirds of the first one we made up - loaded with books
• Reviews: Hemnes Bookcases - after the carpentry! - This shows you what three look like together and screwed to the wall to avoid them toppling.  

One year on I continue to highly recommend these bookcases.  They are the most satisfactory purchase I've ever made in terms of quality and cost and housing books.

The bookcases are made of robust wood and have shown absolutely no signs of sagging due to the very heavy weight of my art books during the last 12 months since I got them.

Here's a picture of the top five shelves of a couple of them.  We are talking seriously heavy weight art books.  I stagger just shifting a small pile of them!  As you can see there is absolutely no sagging after a year doing a good job.

Hemnes bookcases do not sag when used for heavyweight art books

It is worth noting that since many of books are oversized I've had to resort to lying them down on their sides so that I am can then make most effective use of the shelves and space available.  It just takes a little longer to get at the one at the bottom of the pile.

I'd rather do it this way than have yet another bookcase so it can look "smarter".  I'm a fan of shelves stuffed full of books and in case would continue to stuff books in them even if I tried being neater/smarter.

All I ask is that I can have a rigorous library categorisation system (I'm nearly there)

Almost a full size view of Bookcase 2
Shelf 1 (top) Botanical Art - Art history on left and instruction on right
Shelf 2: Design and Composition on left and Colour on right
Shelf 3: Coloured Pencils on left and Pastels on right
Shelf 4: Van Gogh and David Hockney - plus misc. small art history books
Shelf 5: Warercolour painting
Shelf 6: Drawing pads, large and small Moleskine and Daler Rowney sketchbooks plus some very big books

You can click the images to see larger images if you'd like to try and read the titles of my books!