Product Review: Gelatos by Faber-Castell

My crafty friends have been telling me for a while now that I really need to get my hands on some Gelatos by Faber-Castell. I remained adament that I already had other products that served the same purpose. They would not budge. So, when I recently received a gift voucher from PNA, I set off to buy myself some Gelatos. In all honesty, I had to pay in a little, but I would never be satisfied with anything less than the twelve colours I got. In today's blog, I put Gelatos to the test to find out what can be done with them and how effective they are. I also compare them to the other products I already had in my stash, to see how they measure up.

This is what the collection looked like when I unpacked it. It has two rubbing tools, which are similar to make-up sponges. One was softer than the other. It also came with a nifty brush.

Most videos I watched on the product, compared it to a chapstick, and it truly did create that impression when I opened it.

I started off by testing the colours on white paper to see how bright they would be. The Gelatos is very soft and the colour virtually jumped onto the page.

I then laid down some colours next to each other and overlapping. This hinted at new colours being mixed, but wasn't quite there yet.

I then mixed them with my finger. This created interesting new colours and promised great possibilities.

Then I laid down some more colour combinations and mixed these with a brush dipped in water. Now I finally got some properly mixed new colours.

I then smeared some Gelatos on a plastic palette.

I picked it up with my aqua brush.

It painted beautifully onto the paper.

Then I picked up some colour directly from the Gelatos stick with my aqua brush. Again, I was deeply satisfied with the results.

As the Gelatos are frequently used in journaling, I wanted to know how transparent it was. I found that it was beautifully transparent, regardless of whether it was applied wet or dry.

As this was a waxy sort of bar, I wanted to know if I would be able to scratch into it. I found this to not be possible with either the wet or the dry the Gelatos.

For the next set of tests, I switched to normal printing paper, rather than the heavy paper I had been working on until now. Next, I smeared the dry Gelatos over an embossing plate. The results were stunning.

I blended this embossed Gelato print with my finger and found it still retained its definition to a large degree.

The design became slightly less defined when washed with water, but remained visible.

If I was going to use the Gelatos in journaling, it was important that it not bleed through to the back of the page. I wetted some Gelatos on the thin paper.

When I turned the paper over, I found that the Gelatos had not bled through to the other side at all. This was a brilliant quality of the product.

A number of videos I had watched, had recommended using clear gesso on your journal pages before applying the Gelatos. This was especially recommended for doing Bible journaling. I did now have any clear gesso and wondered how alternative products would work. I tested Winsor & Newton's Galeria Gloss Medium for acrylics.

I applied some gloss medium to the page and then wrote the name and painted it over the writing as well.

I also painted some Acrylic Gel Medium by Dala onto the paper.

I waited for these mediums to dry. Note that this was still done on the thin printer paper.

The idea behind this test, was to find out if I could use any of these products in Bible journaling, where it was important that the writing behind the products remained fully legible.

This is what a typical Bible journal looks like inside when unused.

I applied Gelatos to the mediums when dry. I tested the Gelatos dry and found I could still read my writing. I then applied it dry again and wetted it with a wet wipe. In my opinion, this took away too much of the colour, almost wiping the Gelatos away completely. I wondered why this was such a popular method used in most videos. Than I painted the Gelatos with my aqua brush and was completely satisfied with how it looked.

Again, there was absolutely no bleed through to the back of the page. This begged the question as to whether or not it was actually necessary to use a protective medium. I am not convinced that it is. Although, this statement only applies to these tests done on Gelatos, not any other products.

I then cut a little bit of my Gelatos stick off with a craft knife.

I trasferred it to a bottle and added a little water. I was careful not to add too much water, as most videos I watched, had people complaining that they had diluted the Gelatos too much.

I used the back of a paint brush to dilute the Gelatos.

Then I spritzed some Gelatos onto my sturdy paper. I loved the results.

I used a small piece of wet wipe to stencil some dry gelatos onto the paper. taking the colour from the stick with the wet wipe.

The results were satisfying.

I then smeared dry Gelatos directly onto a stamp.

I loved this!

I then mixed some Gelatos with water on a plastic palette and pressed my stamp into it.

This was less satisfactory, but still a nice effect of it was what you were going for.

In my search for uses of the product, I had not come across anyone testing it on black. Those bright colours had me convinced though, that I should be able to use it on black. I applied all of my twelve colours to black paper and found that the colours remained as vibrant and lovely against a black background. I wetted the colours with a wet wipe and they still retained their vibrancy. Then I blended the dry Gelatos with my finger and was still happy with the results. Lastly, I painted the colours with my aqua brush. I still remained happy with what I found. This product seemed made for black paper with these excellent results.

As a final test on the black, I mixed some colours on the right hand side of the page. The top is mixed with a wet brush, the middle with a wet wipe, and the bottom with the finger. Stunning! This chart is a nice summary of my test on black paper.

Here is a summary of the tests conducted on white paper.

I still wanted to find out how Gelatos would compare to similar products. From left to right, we have Faber-Castell Aquarelle Stick, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Derwent Artbar, and Reeves Watercolour Oil Pastels.

From top to bottom these are the tests conducted on all four products:

• Dry;
• Blended by finger;
• Painted with a wet brush;
• Blended with a wet wipe;
• Blended with a kitchen towel;
• Transparency Test - Painted over writing;
• Transparency Test - Painted over a medium and writing.

Then I wanted to find out if these products could be used together. I crisscrossed them from left to right and top to bottom and painted them with a wet brush. They seem to work wonderfully together! Just look at all those colour possibilities that opened up to me!

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
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