Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint Marker Review

I have done several personal and DIY crafts on ceramic and glass using sharpies. Recently, someone asked if they could buy one from me.

I didn't feel comfortable selling the items I made because, Sharpies, while awesome for DIY crafts, do wear off and fade. If I was going to sell my professional art/crafts, I would have to find a professional grade glass paint.

After some extensive research, I was convinced that the Pebeo Vitrea 160 line was the way to go. This is my review.

Personally, I found these paints to be extremely pricey. But, I ponied-up and bought a box of 9 Pebeo Vitrea 160 assorted glossy glass paint markers. (About $45 from Amazon including the cheapest shipping option.) It took less than a week to get delivery.

According to all their marketing, Pebeo Vitrea 160 is part of a new generation of thermo-hardening, transparent, non-toxic, water-based paints specifically designed for use on glass. It can be applied to glassware, vases, lamps, and even an entire window surface.

The entire line of paints includes both glossy and frosted colors as well as paint mediums (sold separately) for different effects such as crackled paint iridescent glass. (Pebeo also sells a line of Porcelaine 150 paint are not intermixable.)

The Vitrea 160 paint comes in 1.5 oz bottles, or a limited palette in marker style. I chose the markers since I wanted to use it the same way I did my Sharpies.

I did a test batch. Reading the instructions I shook the markers well, and pressed the tip until it filled with paint. Then a painted some designs on my glass disks using all of the colors in my box.

I waited the recommended 24 hours, and then placing them in a cold oven, baked them at 160 °C (325 °F) for 40 minutes, and left them there until cooled.

Since I would be using them to create glass runes which are meant to be handled and cast like dice, I needed to be sure that the paint would not chip off. This first batch was a disaster. The paint scratched of a the slightest touch of a fingernail.

I searched the internet for help, and came across a video promoting using the Pebeo Vitrea paints on glass where it was suggested to test my oven temperature accuracy with an oven thermometer.

I purchased one and tested my oven. Sure enough, even though my oven was set at 325 °F the actual temperature of my oven was 315 °F.

I painted another test batch, and waited the 24 hours. Then I adjusted the oven dial, increasing it 10° and backed a second test batch. Still the same ISSUE!

I did notice, though, that the thicker area's of paint were less likely to chip and scratch off. The problem is that the marker tip does not paint on very thick. It was only at the end of lines or in the middle of dots where some paint pooled.

So, my overall thoughts on these paints... The Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint markers are not worth the money I dished out. I won't buy them again. I may eventually purchase a 1.5 oz bottle or two and test out a batch painted using a brush. but until I can find a better alternative, I will stick with the oil-based Sharpies.

Finished Pet Portrait, Lulu

Lulu's unfinished portrait has beautified my wall for a few months, but yesterday, the finished painting was delivered to Ms. D. to hang in its new home.

Lulu DONE!

I thoroughly enjoy painting these wonderful photos of pets that have brought so much love and joy to our lives, but selling a painting that I have put so much heart, soul, and time into, always leaves me a little sad. But, then I think about how much happiness my art will bring to the new collector.

Interestingly enough, Ms. D. gave my artwork extremely flattering praise and triple my asking price. Knowing that she was so thrilled with the piece eases the angst of parting with it.

Lulu in progress

Flamingo Destination Wedding Invitation Flat Card

Here is a Flamingo Destination Wedding Invitation that matches the Wedding Welcome sign I designed over the weekend. Made exclusively for the Aruba-Sunsets.com brand. Click here to see the entire matching flamingo wedding suite.

I will be making matching "Save the Date" and "Thank You" cards, along with other wedding stationery necessities. Stay tuned!

Summer Nights, Mason Jar String Light Design, iPhone Cover

I designed this iPhone cover while reminiscing about lazy Summer Nights as a kid, with Mason Jar Sting Lights across a starry, dark blue night sky. Crickets chirping, and a big full moon.

This is available for most iPhones and Samsung Galaxy styles. Check it out here. Or take a look at the other design selections of phone cases. If you would like this design (or any of my designs sold on Zazzle) on another style phone or another Zazzle product, let me know. Leave a message on this blog or on https://www.zazzle.com/mccarronartdesign/products.

Pet Portrait - Lulu

Today, I will be working on this cute little Boston Terrier, Lulu. I started painting her over a month ago, but I have had so many irons in the fire. 

I was upfront with my client about how long it would take, because I knew I didn't have a whole lot of time to dedicate to watercolor painting right now. 

Sure, watercolor painting AND cute dogs are some of my FAVORITE things, and I love these kinds of commissions, but when you are self employed, there are a whole lot of not-fun things that need to get done too.

Which brings me to a question I have been asked many times... How do you keep track of everything?

Honestly, it has been trial an error the last few years. When I was in the corporate world, I didn't go anywhere without my Franklin Covey and Palm Pilot...hahaha remember those? Then came Blackberries... But, I digress. 

Running your own business, and keeping track of your own schedule can make a person crazy. I tried Google Calendars, but printing them for when I was "off-line" didn't work. 

I love the beautiful, new, planners that are available on the market today. Erin Condren, Create 365 Happy Planners, and others. They were beautiful and kept my creative juices flowing, but they just didn't work for me. They may work for you, but I am very peculiar about visual planning. For example, the week HAS to start on MONDAY so that I can see my week before me, AND the end goal --> THE WEEKEND! I know silly, right. But it is my motivator.

Two of my favorites specifically made for "the creative entrepreneur" were Leonie Dawson's Shining Year Workbooks, and The Makers Yearbook Toolkit. 

Again, both of these had awesome planning advice, and organizing tips, but they just weren't perfect for me.

So, I took ALL THE GREAT INFO, and designed my own planner that worked for me. (You can kind of see it in the foreground of this picture, but had to blur the client info and other calendar appointments.) Maybe, I will sell my own planner in the future, but not right now. I printed out a year's worth of my weekly page design, and 3-hole-punched them. I use color coded highlighters (I like Sharpie Accent), pens, and sticky flags to block work times, and schedule projects.

** Sharpies are recommended when writing on non-paper flags, tags and tags. I love gel pens, but gel-ink does not dry on the non-porous surface of the plastic. It SMEARS right off and onto your hands!

Some of the sticky flags I use:
Post-it Arrows 
Florescent Sticky Note Tabs

I still use Google Calendar to keep my appointments, mostly for calendar alerts. I review my G-Calendar every few days, and make sure that my appointments have been hand written into my physical planner. 

I use Google Suite and Workep to keep track of my many projects, brake them down into manageable time/task chunks. Workep is free for the basic "Lite" package - perfect for me. (But they offer monthly subscription upgrades for when your business grows, and needs more advanced tools like multiple teams and time tracking.)

As a former Executive Assistant, things like time management and scheduling are in my blood. The problem is, I kept track of MY BOSS's TIME. It's a little harder now that I AM THE BOSS LADY. 

Staying organized in a creative "mess" is a favorite subject of mine, and I'm sure I'll post more about it. But, my advice to you, is find what works for YOU! 

But for now... I gotta go paint Lulu!

Samsung Android Oreo Update Disaster

If you are anything like me, you rely heavily on your smart phone being, well, smart! I have been an Android/Samsung fan ever since I traded a Nokia for a Note 2 many years ago. Since then, I have had several upgrades, the last one being the S8. It is a year old and I am eligible for an upgrade. The new S9+ comes with updated software too!

I was considering it, until… DISASTER STIKES!

Android rolled its software update out to all eligible phones, including my S8. I have had several minor updates in the past, so I thought little of it. I made sure all my essentials were backed up, and then hit the update overnight button. The next day, all HELL broke loose.

My phone was “blowing up” with alert dings every few minutes. Not only did the update change my assigned alert sounds, but now it was alerting me to EVERY NEW EMAIL received in my Gmail inbox! My spam mail catches most of the junk, but I still get hundreds of emails a day. Some are newsletters I subscribe to, some are store coupons, some are friends, and some are very important “must respond NOW” Urgent Messages.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Gmail allows you to filter messages into custom “labels”. I could then assign separate ringtones from my phone to alert me when I received an email that was filtered into that label.

The new software was supposedly designed to help make things simpler. But it only gives me the choice of setting alerts for “Urgent” emails (which I would have to assign contacts to) or ALL emails! How the HELL does this make my life easier???

For those of you who are confused about why I am so angry and frustrated, let me give you an example….

Normally, I could be elbows deep in craft glue and paint, or… IDK, hydrochloric acid for etched glass projects… from the other room where my phone is on the charger, I hear Captain Mal Reynolds ask Jayne Cobb if he wants to “Run this ship”…[Yes, I am a geek]…that ringtone tells me that I just received an email from a member of the Art League. Not exactly a drop-what-you’re-doing-urgent message. But, if I hear Vader’s Imperial March, my life might depend on how fast I respond to that email.

But now…. “ping” I just got another ambiguous email…. Must go look at my phone….ARRG! Its just a coupon from Michael’s Crafts…. Android WHY did you have to go and ruin a good thing. “ping” I can’t take this anymore!

I spent the last two days researching and found that it is an issue with the new Android Oreo OS and the new Google rollout. There is no fix, so I must “downgrade” to the Android 7 (Nougat) which is the version between the one that came loaded on my phone originally and the latest version that SUCKS and won’t let me assign alert ringtones Gmail labels. So, I can’t just do a factory reset. I must do something called “Firmware Install”.

Thank goodness for Google, and Youtube. I know this is not a Techie Blog, but if you are having the same problem, here is the info I found to be the most helpful.

https://youtu.be/qqpucWXyfqY

https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s8-and-s8-plus/878062-how-downgrade-oreo-nougat.html

https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares

What a mess! I finally have Android Version 7 back on my Galaxy S8, and I am so glad that I discovered this major bug before I purchased a new Galaxy S9 with this problem built in straight out of the box! I am going to hold on to my S8 for a while. At least until this bug gets fixed or some genius app developer comes up with a patch or work-around. Sorry Android… Love your phones… but you can’t compete with google for productivity apps!

I lost 3 days of work trying to fix this disaster and it still is not quite over. Now, I have the daunting task of personalizing all my settings and setting up all the apps that were deleted during the reboot, including adding all those social media accounts back on the phone. [All the business branding I do from my phone…so many Twitter accts, Instagram accts, google accts, Facebook pages…I really hope I can remember all my passwords!

That is my rant for the week. My advice, If you haven’t upgraded, don’t until you can be sure the upgrade really does make your life easier!

Zazzle vs Cafe Press - MHO

In January, I made a strategic business decision to close my Cafe Press and move all my POD (print on demand) designs to Zazzle. At the time of this writing, 99% of my designs have been moved over... a feat in itself since they all had to be reformatted to fit the new platform and templates... The last few designs specifically made for www.Aruba-Sunsets.com will be transitioning in April.

It was a big decision that I did not take lightly. For the last few years, I have had designs on both sites but with really needed to consolidate my efforts. I mean, with my handmade (Etsy) store taking off, plus freelance jobs, and all my other irons in the fire, my free time is precious. I work hard on all my art and designs. Listing them needs to be easy. I have no patience for complicated interfaces that are difficult to navigate and a K2 sized learning curve.

Closing my Cafe Press and focusing on my Zazzle Stores made sense for me. My store wasn't getting the traffic it needed from the marketplace shoppers, and the royalty on designs is limited and controlled by Cafe Press. So, my ROI at just wasn't cutting mustard.
After using both sites, I find Zazzle's store interface easier and more user friendly and I have more control over my designs and royalties. Also, a big selling point for Zazzle is that I can use vector images!

I did my due diligence and I compared product and print quality because I didn't want to compromise on quality products. Both sold the same or similar quality products, and the printing of both companies were very good!
In the future, I may also consider using Redbubble if I feel their demographics are a good fit for my customers. But for now, I am focusing my print-on-demand efforts on my Zazzle stores.

Fun with Watercolor Class - Tower de Eiffel

It was an absolute pleasure to have these lovely ladies in my Fun with Watercolor Class this afternoon. Look at these fabulous artists! Thank you for sharing the afternoon with me, and creating these amazing paintings! BEAUTIFUL!!!

I hope everyone had as much fun learning as I did teaching it. Every single one of you painted a masterpiece that should be framed and proudly displayed! I also hope that I was able to inspire you to continue exploring the creative possibilities of watercolor painting and build on the techniques you learned today. Set your inner artist free!

Right to Left: Dottie Davis, Janna Scarborough and Ellen Harbin-Dabbs
at Generations Emporium and Spiritual Community Center in Johnson City, TN.

Good Quality Watercolor Paper

A good quality watercolor paper makes all the difference!

Both paintings were made by me, using the same techniques, same paint, same brushes... the only change was the paper. Notice how, in the bottom picture, the wet into wet pigment pools and creates uneven toned grainy splotches when dry. The water also caused pilling of the paper, like someone used an eraser too hard.

Both papers are 140 lb, cold press, watercolor paper. The top one is Strathmore 400 series. The bottom one is Canson XL (for watercolors). I won't be buying that again.

Cacti and the Caribbean Ocean

My latest painting... Cacti & Caribbean. This is one of my favorites...Designed for Aruba-Sunsets.com, it will appear on postcards, mugs and other Aruba-Sunsets brand merchandise very soon.

Fundamental Watercolor Techniques - October 12, 1-3pm or 6-8pm

Fundamental Watercolor Techniques - October 12, 1-3pm or 6-8pm

On October 12th I will be teaching Watercolor Fundamentals. There will be an afternoon class (1:00 pm - 3:00 pm) and an evening class (6:00 pm - 8:00 pm).  The evening class is no longer available.

$20 holds your seat!

AFTERNOON CLASS

Payment Options

Pay In Full $45.00 USD Hold My Seat $20.00 USD Subsequent Partial $25.00 USD

You will follow along with your instructor, and explore, hands on, basic watercolor techniques with a local watercolor artist, whose works have been on display at several galleries in the tri-cities area.

We will also be discussing kinds of watercolor paints, different watercolor papers, and various brushes. 

On October 12th I will be holding 2 Watercolor classes. One in the afternoon and one in the evening.

You will leave with a better understanding of the medium, and your own 8x10 painting.

Space is limited for this very popular workshop. 

Young Adults Welcome.

The cost for this 2 hour workshop is $25 for instruction plus $20 materials fee. 

A deposit of $20 will secure your seat. The outstanding balance is do the day of class.

Please email me to sign up.
McCarronArtDesign@gmail.com

I accept payment via paypal
https://www.paypal.me/KMcCarron

You can also stop by ArtCurious Gallary, (2362 Boones Creek Rd., Johnson City, TN) and Aleta will be happy to assist you. Just let her know that you are interested in the watercolor workshop. Be sure to check out her other class offerings, and the beautiful artwork while you're there.