Welcome Back
In today’s post I would like to share with you the results of my adventures with Lyra Aquacolour Crayons. I wanted them for Art Journalling as they looked an excellent way of achieving bold layers of colours and have the advantage of giving a crayon or paint style of finish.
Purpose
Lyra Aquatones are a watersoluble wax crayon. You can use them as they are for a wax crayon effect, add water over a coloured area for a colour wash like water colour. Alternatively you can use a piece of scrap paper as a pallet and scribble colour on that and then use a damp brush to pick up the colour to enable you to apply the colour with a smaller brush to more detailed areas.
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Paper covered crayon, so you don’t get messy unless you want to.
- Portable, a great way to have a large selection of colours if you want to create on the move.
- Excellent quality of crayon. They are velvety smooth to use and the pigment blends beautifully. These crayons seem to allow a little more time to blend than other brands.
- Excellent Pigment content; lay down large areas of colour and vary the depth of colour by how hard you press the crayon to the paper.
Cons
- Not yet found a source of individual crayons, to replace ‘favorite’ colours later on.
- Being wax, don’t leave them in direct sun or near radiators 😉 They will melt left in hot conditions
- Due to the wax content, if you are using them for a background to stamp over it is better to stamp using a pigment ink and heat set. I found the dye inks resisted in some areas where wax was still present after blending out with water.
Value for Money
Excellent! I bought 48 crayons in a set in a tin box for £32.99. (Correct at time of writing May 2009).
Would I buy them again?
Yes
Comparison to similar products
I have done a side by side comparison of Lyra Aquacolours with Caran Dache Neocolor II, which are also water soluble wax crayons. Lyra’s compare very well, they are just as good for pigment quality and density as the Neocolour IIs.
Although the advantage of the Neocolour IIs in the long run, is that they are available individually in many art shops as well as online. I suspect that unless I find a stockist of individual Lyra Aquatones, that as the Lyra crayons wear out they will be replaced in the set with their Neocolour equivalent.
As for getting the hang of them, like all products of their kind; it is a case of using them with different papers and varying amounts of water until you achieve the result you are looking for.
For a water stable finish apply a layer of crayon then go over it with thinned gesso. This will lighten the colour but does mean any subsequent layers you apply on top are not disturbed. I saw this demonstrated on a video by Millande on You Tube.
Links
Lyra Aquacolours on Joanna Sheen’s site
Caran Dache Neocolour II Crayons
Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon
Billie 🙂
***UPDATE*** 16 July 2009
Do check out the comments under this post before you make your final decision. Liesan has been using these Lyra crayons for longer than me and has discovered they may not be as light fast as the Neocolor II ones. I’m using them within a book, so it wouldn’t be a problem for me but if you want to make a piece of art that will be on show and in the light all the time it would be more of a concern. 😉
What a funny coincidence – I only recently bought reeves water soluble wax pastels and I am already very fond of them. Probably they are even cheaper at least in Germany (I bought 12 for 3.80€)
Thanks for the tip at the end! – This is another great review 🙂
Hi Beuchertiger
Thanks, glad you liked it. I had been after the Nocolor crayons but the price put me off. I’m getting on ok with these Lyra ones and everyone who has them seems pleased with them.
Let me know if you need a link to the Lyra manufacturers and I’ll post it.
Best wishes
Billie 🙂
Great review
I’d like to add that there is one more slight downside to the lyra crayons. I’ve used both them and the neocolour II extensively and found that after about a year the lyra colour may fade or change slightly and it is particularly not lightfast where the neocolour stays the same in most conditions as far as I’ve been able to test.
best wishes
Liesan
Hi Liesan
Thanks for your comment, I’m so glad you brought that up. Personally for the use I’ll be making of the crayons it won’t affect me, as I’m going to use them within a book, so less of a problem for light to fade my colours.
For anyone wanting to use the crayons on art that will be on a wall or on display though, lightfastness will be a big factor.
Best wishes and thanks
Billie
Hi there,
I just came across your site and love these crayons too.
I have been putting a product over the finished art work called MicroGlaze by JudiKins and this way the colour is preserved.
But I will keep checking in a year!
Dixie
Hi Dixie
Would be interested to hear how you applied the wet glaze without disturbing your original colour from the crayons. Do you have pictures of your finished work or a blog perhaps?
Thanks for your comment
Best wishes
Billie 🙂
Hi I too have found the Lyra Aquacolours fab, but want to replace just two or three that I use most, and cannot find a supplier, hence I too will be replacing these colours with the neocolor II’s. Shame that they are going to lose custom by not reacting to this arty need. I’ve found them really useful especially for ‘on the run’ plein air sketching…. Scattykat…
Try getting in touch with Joanna Sheen, who’s website I linked to in the review. She may be able to give you manufacturers details to see if there is a UK distributer for single Lyra crayons.
Best wishes
Billie