Colour Shapers (Colour Shapers)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Colour Shapers
Date:	06/08/01 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: versatile, easy to clean, fun!

Disadvantages: no cheaper than brushes

Colour Shapers

Have you ever seen these strange, plastic-y things beside the paintbrushes in a shop like WHSmiths? I used to wonder what they were, until one day I stumbled across the Colour Shapers website (www.colourshaper.com). I can’t recommend this site enough, to anyone with an interest – it has plenty of product information, tips and examples of artwork created using the shapers.

So, what are they? Colour Shapers are art tools, much like paintbrushes, but with shaped silicon tips instead of bristles. They can be used for a variety of purposes.


**MEDIA**

OIL/ACRYLICS
I think Colour Shapers are most useful with this medium. Many artists use tools other than brushes for oils or acrylics, and Shapers offer more flexibility than, say, a palette knife. They really come into their own with cleaning – with oils you need white spirit, and acrylics can ruin your brushes if the paint dries on them. Because the Shaper has a silicon tip, you can use water to clean them, or simply peel off dried paint.


WATERCOLOUR
Watercolour is a bit liquid for Shapers to replace brushes, but they can be useful for small areas and straight lines. The real benefit here is when applying MASKING FLUID – this can easily ruin your brushes, but as with acrylic paint, the masking fluid will just peel off a colour shaper.


PASTELS
No more messy fingers! I always end up coated in the stuff: after smudging the pastel, it manages to get from fingers to face to clothes and everywhere else! I don’t think the Colour Shaper produces exactly the same effect, but it moves the pastel without lifting it from the paper as your fingers do, and it’s easy to wipe clean to keep the colours from mixing. Personally, I still prefer using my fingers, but from time to time these come in handy.


CLAY
Not something I’ve tried, but obviously it’s useful to have some tools (othe
r than fingers) for shaping the clay. Plus, unlike fingers, you can get a smooth finish without leaving fingerprints.



**SHAPES** (the website includes pictures of each of these)

FLAT CHISEL
My favourite. Supposed to be good for mixing paint and “flat, even strokes of colour”.


ANGLE CHISEL
Much like the flat chisel with part removed on a slant. This means it comes to a point, making it quite a versatile shape. For “expressive strokes”.


CUP CHISEL
To “carve and remove paint”. I’m not too keen on the cup, but this would be quite handy to create texture in thicker paints.


CUP ROUND
Quite versatile, produces a softer effect than the chisel Shapers. Good for blending.


TAPER POINT
Better for lines and detail than large areas of colour. Not as versatile in my opinion, but you can get fine strokes with the tip and broader ones if you use the side.



**FIRMNESS**

SOFT – white tips. For smudging pastels; gives a very soft effect. I also use mine with paint quite successfully.


FIRM – grey tips. Best type to use with oils and acrylics.


EXTRA FIRM – black tips. Good for clay and sculpting. Less flexible for painting, but if you have one it could be useful for mixing paint or drawing straight lines.



**SIZES**

All the Colour Shapers come in five sizes (0, 2, 6, 10, 16). I have found a problem with availability of the full range, particularly the larger sizes. I’ve only found sizes 2 and 6 in WHSmiths, and had to go to an independent art shop in town (um… Edinburgh, I mean) to get anything else. Personally, I find the 0 and 2 a bit small for anything other than very fine detail, and even then I use the size 6 more often. For larger areas, bigger is better (steady on, girl!!)


Again, I can’t recommend the websi
te enough. Colour Shapers are obviously a fairly new product, and the manufacturers are trying to explain their creation, and to show people how they can be used with a variety of art media. There is also an email newsletter you can sign up for, which gives more tips on using the Shapers, although this information is also available on the site.

One bit of information not available on the site is price. I’ve found they cost around the same as reasonably decent brushes: my size 2 cost £3.75, and each size 6 was £5.50. However, unlike brushes, the Shapers are pretty much indestructible, so they won’t need to be replaced. You can get a pack with one of each shape in a particular size (0, 2 and 6 only), and this probably works out cheaper – I’ve never found anywhere that sells the packs, though.

As for using them, I personally really like the Colour Shapers. I find them less intimidating than brushes, which in turn frees up my artwork. By ‘less intimidating’ I mean two things: (1) I’m not worried about damaging good brushes, especially now I’ve decided to try using acrylics instead of water-based paints; and (2) everybody uses brushes – that means pretty much every famous and admirable painting in the world was painted with a brush, and that’s a lot of pressure on a beginner! I’ve found using something as different as a Colour Shaper brings back something of ‘messing about’ element that gets lost after childhood – so lots of fun, and it’s interesting to try something new!

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