Here in the U.S., many of us have never heard of Hahnemühle paper. Founded in 1584, the company produces traditional, digital and industrial papers. Their distinguishing feature is the ability to combine tradition with modern technologies. And now they produce YouTangle.art tiles that are great the for Zentangle® artist and those who enjoy working at a 3.5 x 3.5 (9 x 9 cm) size.
Specs
Paper weight: 310 gsm
Paper size: 9 x 9 cm/3.5 x 3.5 inch
Paper color: bright white
No. of Tiles: 25
Description: Rounded edges, acid free and age resistant
Look & Feel
The Tin
The tin is metal with no adornment except for the Hahnemühle Rooster on the front. It has a hinged lid that opens easily and lays flat when open.
The tin comes with 25 tiles. They fit with just enough room that you can remove the tiles without digging for them, but not so loosely that they'll slide around and be damaged.
The tin will be perfect for storing your artwork afterwards - or if you are a DIY watercolor addict like me, it can be turned into one that will hold 24 half-pans.
The Tiles
The tiles are bright white, and 3.5 x 3.5 in/9 x 9 cm. They have a smooth, but not slick surface. Although the surface texture is not that of cardstock, they have a similar weight and rigidity. The corners are rounded and the paper is acid-free.
Normally, I wouldn't compare brands in a review, but I've already had questions about how these tiles compare to the official Zentangle tiles. The YouTangle.Art tiles are smoother, and slightly brighter in color.
Both brands are about the same thickness. The YouTangle.Art tile does not have printing on the back so it can also be used for drawing. There is no difference in the surface between the front and the back.
In the close-up below, you can see the textural difference in the two. The YouTangle.Art tile is on the top.
The smooth surface of these tiles will be easy on fiber-tipped pens and markers, thus extending their life.
Performance
Technical Pen
The YouTangle.Art tile allows for a bold, clean line. The pen moved smoothly over the paper making it easy to fill in larger areas.
Watercolor
This paper is formulated for pen and pencil but I found that it does take light washes of watercolor. The paint dries too quickly for wet-into-wet or really loose effects, but coverage is good and the color is bright.
I got some dimpling, but no curl. The dimpling evened out for the most part once the paper dried. This will vary according to how wet you get the paper.
There was no pilling of the paper even at the wettest.
If you don't want to wait to see if you win (or know you'll forget to enter, lol), here is Hahnemühle's current list of dealers offering their products in the U.S. (all of them may not carry the YouTangle.Art tiles):
Edited to show dealers that carry YouTangle.Art tiles in the U.S.
Disclaimer: I received two tins of Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.
About Hahnemühle
In 1584, Hahnemühle was founded under the leadership of Carl Hahne producing handmade writing and foolscap papers. In the 1920s, they installed their first machines, but despite increasing mechanization, some of the papers were completely made by hand through the 1960's. Hahnemühle developed the first acid free and archivable machine made paper and in the late 1990's the first Fine Art Inkjet papers.
It's unique that Hahnemühle produces its paper at the same place for more than 430 years. Papers characterized by the ‘Rooster’ are produced with focus on quality instead of quantity.
Specs
Paper weight: 310 gsm
Paper size: 9 x 9 cm/3.5 x 3.5 inch
Paper color: bright white
No. of Tiles: 25
Description: Rounded edges, acid free and age resistant
Look & Feel
The Tin
The tin is metal with no adornment except for the Hahnemühle Rooster on the front. It has a hinged lid that opens easily and lays flat when open.
The tin comes with 25 tiles. They fit with just enough room that you can remove the tiles without digging for them, but not so loosely that they'll slide around and be damaged.
The tin will be perfect for storing your artwork afterwards - or if you are a DIY watercolor addict like me, it can be turned into one that will hold 24 half-pans.
The Tiles
The tiles are bright white, and 3.5 x 3.5 in/9 x 9 cm. They have a smooth, but not slick surface. Although the surface texture is not that of cardstock, they have a similar weight and rigidity. The corners are rounded and the paper is acid-free.
Normally, I wouldn't compare brands in a review, but I've already had questions about how these tiles compare to the official Zentangle tiles. The YouTangle.Art tiles are smoother, and slightly brighter in color.
Both brands are about the same thickness. The YouTangle.Art tile does not have printing on the back so it can also be used for drawing. There is no difference in the surface between the front and the back.
In the close-up below, you can see the textural difference in the two. The YouTangle.Art tile is on the top.
I believe both brands are similar in overall
quality, but some people will prefer the smoothness of the YouTangle.art and
others the more textured surface of the Zentangle tile.
The smooth surface of these tiles will be easy on fiber-tipped pens and markers, thus extending their life.
Video- Tangle Tiles by Hahnemühle for meditative drawing
Performance
Technical Pen
The YouTangle.Art tile allows for a bold, clean line. The pen moved smoothly over the paper making it easy to fill in larger areas.
Watercolor
This paper is formulated for pen and pencil but I found that it does take light washes of watercolor. The paint dries too quickly for wet-into-wet or really loose effects, but coverage is good and the color is bright.
I got some dimpling, but no curl. The dimpling evened out for the most part once the paper dried. This will vary according to how wet you get the paper.
There was no pilling of the paper even at the wettest.
Fountain Pen
I always find fountain pen to be a good test for paper, so I loaded up one of my wettest pens and went to town. There was no feathering, bleeding or show-through on the back. The nib did damage the surface slightly and needed to be wiped off occasionally0. That wasn't surprising because this paper wasn't made for fountain pen. Nonetheless, the damage doesn't show in the finished work, and I like the result. I'll probably do more with this medium on these tiles.
Colored Fineliner Markers
The fineliner pens I used were not water-soluble, and have intense color. On the YouTangle.Art tile they were very bright and I had to choose my colors carefully for contrast. That's a common problem with markers. It does mean you can create a glorious kaleidoscope of luscious color. If you want lighter effects you can hatch, squirkle and lighten with white ink or gel pen (all of which I did in my example).
I had no problem with feathering, bleeding or pilling of either paper or markers.
Brush Pen
Out of all the mediums I used, I really enjoyed the experience of using a Fude style plastic-nibbed brush pen on this paper. The pen just flowed across the tile. On some papers, there is a drag with a plastic-nib (and some people like that). For me, it was almost as though the ink were bonding with the paper and the image appearing like magic. No feathering, bleeding or pilling.
Colored Pencil
If you read my review of mechanical colored pencils earlier this week, you've already seen some of the results of colored pencil on these tiles. I was a little surprised, because colored pencil works best on a textured surface. That said, they do well on these tiles, producing a good range of color from very light to medium-dark and taking several layers without wax build-up. It is difficult to get extremely dark value from the colored pencil alone, which is why colored pencil over pen work is a great method to use on these tiles.
Overall
The YouTangle.Art tiles are made of high, quality smooth surfaced paper that takes pen, pencil, marker and colored pencil well. Although not formulated for watercolor, the paper accepts light washes with just a little dimpling, and most of that straightens out as the paper dries.
The tiles come in a nice tin, that can be used to store the artwork afterwards (or can be converted to a DIY watercolor palette if you have an addiction to those).
Be sure to visit my blog tomorrow (Friday 9/22/17) and enter my giveaway for a chance to win your own tin of Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles!I always find fountain pen to be a good test for paper, so I loaded up one of my wettest pens and went to town. There was no feathering, bleeding or show-through on the back. The nib did damage the surface slightly and needed to be wiped off occasionally0. That wasn't surprising because this paper wasn't made for fountain pen. Nonetheless, the damage doesn't show in the finished work, and I like the result. I'll probably do more with this medium on these tiles.
Colored Fineliner Markers
The fineliner pens I used were not water-soluble, and have intense color. On the YouTangle.Art tile they were very bright and I had to choose my colors carefully for contrast. That's a common problem with markers. It does mean you can create a glorious kaleidoscope of luscious color. If you want lighter effects you can hatch, squirkle and lighten with white ink or gel pen (all of which I did in my example).
I had no problem with feathering, bleeding or pilling of either paper or markers.
Brush Pen
Out of all the mediums I used, I really enjoyed the experience of using a Fude style plastic-nibbed brush pen on this paper. The pen just flowed across the tile. On some papers, there is a drag with a plastic-nib (and some people like that). For me, it was almost as though the ink were bonding with the paper and the image appearing like magic. No feathering, bleeding or pilling.
Colored Pencil
If you read my review of mechanical colored pencils earlier this week, you've already seen some of the results of colored pencil on these tiles. I was a little surprised, because colored pencil works best on a textured surface. That said, they do well on these tiles, producing a good range of color from very light to medium-dark and taking several layers without wax build-up. It is difficult to get extremely dark value from the colored pencil alone, which is why colored pencil over pen work is a great method to use on these tiles.
Overall
The YouTangle.Art tiles are made of high, quality smooth surfaced paper that takes pen, pencil, marker and colored pencil well. Although not formulated for watercolor, the paper accepts light washes with just a little dimpling, and most of that straightens out as the paper dries.
The tiles come in a nice tin, that can be used to store the artwork afterwards (or can be converted to a DIY watercolor palette if you have an addiction to those).
If you don't want to wait to see if you win (or know you'll forget to enter, lol), here is Hahnemühle's current list of dealers offering their products in the U.S. (all of them may not carry the YouTangle.Art tiles):
Edited to show dealers that carry YouTangle.Art tiles in the U.S.
Disclaimer: I received two tins of Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.
About Hahnemühle
In 1584, Hahnemühle was founded under the leadership of Carl Hahne producing handmade writing and foolscap papers. In the 1920s, they installed their first machines, but despite increasing mechanization, some of the papers were completely made by hand through the 1960's. Hahnemühle developed the first acid free and archivable machine made paper and in the late 1990's the first Fine Art Inkjet papers.
It's unique that Hahnemühle produces its paper at the same place for more than 430 years. Papers characterized by the ‘Rooster’ are produced with focus on quality instead of quantity.
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