I love painting and drawing, so seeing a product that I could both paint and draw with, intrigued me. I was sent 10 of the 29 colors of Tsukineko‘s irRESISTible Pico Embellishers, to test out and do a product review. These are a resist, designed to work with their Texture Spray. It can be used with watercolor paints, and likely water based inks and sprays. I’m not familiar enough with alcohol based products to test them with this too.
Description from website:
Pico Embellisher comes in a fine-tipped applicator great for writing, doodling, Zentangle, and other embellishing. Non-clog feature is built right into the cap. Available in 23 complementary Memento colors, plus Clear, Shimmer and 4 metallic colors. 1 ounce bottle.
The writing tip is a long thin tube. The white cap has a thin piece of wire that you are supposed to insert into the writing tube of the bottle, when you aren’t using the product. If you have bad eyesight, this is very hard. It was difficult for me, and I have decent eyesight. It’s a very small hole that you have to line the wire up with. This wire into tube idea is supposed to prevent any dry product from stopping up the nozzle, and it does that. However, just like I was having trouble unscrewing the Teal Zeal bottle because it leaked, I had trouble unscrewing the white cap, because of product build up inside the tube. I did start making sure to wipe any product from the tube end before adding the cap, but that mostly just helped with drawing ease.
One problem I kept encountering was bubbles in the tube every time I started using the product. I tried gently squeezing the bottle, to release the paint bubbles onto a paper towel, before drawing with the tip. However you don’t catch all of the bubble, you will get a sudden paint bubble or blob. You have to be ok with imperfections to work with this. Once the paint started flowing well, it drew and wrote nicely.
The colors I received are Angel Pink, Lady Bug, Morocco, Gold, Teal Zeal, Summer Sky, Paris Dusk, Grape Jelly, Grey Flannel, and Clear. I tested them on various papers, to show how they appeared. For the 1st collage, I used white cardstock, white glossy paper, velum, and beige cardstock. For the 1st test, I drew straight lines, squiggles, and dots straight from the bottle. All three drawing tests are equal in opacity, so I chose to use straight lines for the remaining tests. I did two brush tests, a dry brush and a wet brush, to show that you can paint with the product, vs only drawing. I applied a short line of product, then smoothed it out with the brush. The wet brush worked the best, so I used that for the remaining papers. Since the product acts as a resist, I showed how that worked by painting a column of black watercolor paint. I used a clean damp brush to lift the watercolor paint from the resist areas, for a better contrast. I lifted it half way on the brush test areas, so you could see how the resist reacts to the watercolor paint.
From top left: on air-dry clay, polymer clay, over pan pastels, on wood stamped with dye ink, on wood stamped with solvent ink, on metal, on Mod Melts, chipboard, and a mini bottle cap.
I created this flower page to show how all the colors, but clear, interact with watercolors. I drew with the irRESISTIble Pico Embellishers 1st. After they had dried, I added watercolors. There was no bleeding beyond the resist lines, which held up to what resists should do. The resist colors stayed true and weren’t muddied by the watercolors. If any of them do get muddy, you can lift any dry watercolor from the dried resist, with a damp paintbrush.
I created a Geometric Resist Necklace with the clear irRESISTable Pico Embellisher, and watercolors. I wanted to showcase the resist property, by layering the paint colors. If you’ve ever using crayons and watercolor paints together, you know the watercolor paints will flow around the crayon markings, because of the wax in the crayon. I chose a simple geometric design, so that I had drawing ease and the background painting could show through the clear resist well. I left the back of the necklace non-embellished, since I liked the color variations of the watercolor painting.
On sticky backed canvas.
As an outline for watercoloring.
As a paint & embellishment with stencils.
Packaging flaws aside, the actual paint product does what it’s supposed to. It acts as a resist and can be used in conjunction with other thin paint and ink products. Once you get the paint flowing nicely through the nozzle, you can draw fine or thicker lines and dots. How hard you squeeze the bottle, determines the paint flow speed and amount. If you tip the bottle down to use it, while the cap is off, a tiny bit of paint will form at the tip (likely with a few bubbles). The paint will only flow from the bottle if the bottle is squeezed. I liked the clear resist the most, but the others are nice too.
PROS:
- The product can be drawn or painted with
- Acts as a resist, so it can be used in combination with other paints and inks
- Available in 29 colors
- Dries within 20-30 minutes
- You can add a bit of texture and dimension to various projects
- Adheres well to various kinds of paper, without flaking off
- Is flexible without cracking
CONS:
- Hard to insert cap wire into nozzle tube
- The black coupling makes unscrewing cap difficult
- Cap can become stuck on because of paint remaining inside nozzle and on the cap wire
- You will get paint bubbles every time you use the paint, but those go away once the paint is flowing nicely
- UPDATE: after 3 months on polymer clay, it has REACTED WITH THE CLAY and now the piece is sticky and ruined. NOT FOR CLAY!
On Amazon, the prices vary from $2.57 to $11.51 per bottle, though the product amount is the same. On Walmart, the price is $6.50 per bottle, which is reduced from $9.99. Both have every color, but clear. I did find the full color range on Ellen Hutson, for $6 a bottle. I haven’t seen a comparable product to this. This is something I’ll likely use again to add color and texture details to projects. I’ll definitely use the clear one, as the resist property is great for building up watercolor details while adding texture.
DISCLOSURE: I received the irRESISTIble Pico Embellishers to review for Craft Test Dummies. All projects, photos, and opinions are my own.
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There are so many interesting products to try, and we only get to know them thanks to you! Great info, thank you very much.
I love products you can use in versatile ways and your reviews really help.I have to make a list otherwise the craft store is just too overwhelming.
Great review! These embellishers look really useful
I purchased a poco irrestible embellisher in Tuxedo black and the first time I tried to use it, it was clogged because the wire in the cap had not been in the wire of the bottle when it came. Do you know how I can unclog it so I can use it?
I would be most grateful if you can help me with this.
I’d try this: remove the cap and soak it in hot water- use a weight to keep it submerged. Then I’d try to ream it out using a piece of wire. It’s a REALLY small opening, so I think a thin quilter’s straight pin might also work. If all else fails, buy another color you like and switch the cap off between the two, rinsing in between. Good luck!