Second painting in my Beta series Stillman and Birn and so far not that impressed. This is the brand that both Liz steel (urbane sketcher) and Jane Blundell (fine art watercolour painter) both seem to agree on but my initial sketch and wash seem ok but there was a little pilling where there were too many washes at once (4-5 layers didn’t sit for it to dry). Granted I was also using a tissue to lift some of the excess colour.
For 270g it is much thicker and heavier and it only has 26 pages (52 pages double sided) compared to the alpha which has about 48 pages and is much smaller and thinner. I’m more careful to do thinner washes on the alpha and it mostly holds up. However the beta being a heavier weight I would have thought it could hold much more water. It definitely held up well with with gentle wet on wet washes. But anything more even gentle lifting or even light scrubbing that portraits generally require, you can see a bit of pilling on the temple. I would still recommend Hanhuhmle (double the price seems worth it) and still testing out the sea white both are 100% cotton so would this would do better. The beta stillman and Birn doesn’t say if it is cotton so will assume it is just cellulose. On another note it did not have any bleed through with the calligraphy ink pen. For now this is still great for practising everyday and will give it a go if I see it on sale may consider if it’s worth buying again.
Rachel Fong Art 