Good News: Caran d’Ache

I am very glad to be the messenger of such good news.

Caran d’Ache sent me their certificate of compliance .

I contacted them for products free of animal derivatives  – including manufacturing process- and for their cruelty-free status. And good tidings I bring.

Please see the Caran D’Ache certificate of compliance and pay attention to exceptions in product lines. Some products contain the pigment ivory black, which is of an animal source.

Neither products nor raw materials get tested on animals.

 

the cruelty-free status of Caran d’Ache
  • Caran d’Ache does not test on animals
  • does not commission other parties to do so.
  • their raw material suppliers do not test on animals nor commission animal testing for raw materials sourced by the company
  • Caran d’Ache does not use MSDS/ Material Safety Data Sheets, which data was collected through animal testing in the last decades.

 

Product lines free of animal derivatives (with exceptions of products containing the pigment ivory black):

Caran d’Ache – certificate of compliance issued September 13th, 2023

Source: mail contact

Updated information : Faber-Castell

Here is the new updated information on Faber-Castell. All the previously listed products are still free of animal derivatives, which includes the packaging. Additionally, I asked about the watercolours in pan format and starter set in tubes, Albrecht Dürer watercolour marker, grip fountain pens, converter, pastel toned and metallic textmarker, notebook A5 and A6– those are free of animal derivatives as well. Unfortunately I do not know whether this includes the manufacturing cycle  just the finished products. Back in 2017, concerning Faber-Castell’s cruelty-free status, I received the reply, that they neither tested on animals nor commissioned animal testing; not in Europe and not anywhere else. A person in the chemistry department  also mentioned back then (2017) for as long as they can look back – 30 years – to their knowledge, there hadn’t ever been commissioned such testing. It was also pointed out to me (again, 2017), that animal testing for painting -, drawing -, and writing supplies was forbidden by law in Germany.

Bearing the 2017 information in mind, I also asked about an update on the company status about the topic but unfortunately, I did not get any information about it this time, so I will place the  cruelty-free status as undisclosed for now (because of lack of new information).

cruelty-free status: undisclosed for now concerning the 2021 update (in 2017, cruelty-free)

Here is my updated ( incomplete) list of products, free of animal derivatives (this includes the packaging; not known whether this extends to manufacturing cycle as well):

  • Gelatos
  • Polychromos coloured pencils
  • Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
  • regular erasers, kneadable erasers, pencil erasers
  • all Pitt Artis products:
  • Pitt Artist pen and brush pen
  • Pitt calligraphy pen
  • Pitt Artist pen metallic
  • Pitt Artist pen sanguine /Rötel Pitt Artist
  • black lead / graphite pencils/Bleistifte
  • graphite aquarelle pencils
  • Art Grip aquarelle pencils
  • Pitt Pastel Pencils
  • jumbo lead pencils
  • mechanical pencils
  • mechanical pencil refills; coloured and lead ones
  • Pastel crayon Polychromos
  • tortillon/ estompe
  • soft pastels
  • oil pastel crayons
  • foldable watercup
  • Charcoal  natural Pitt/ Zeichenkohle
  • sharpener
  • Pitt Monochrome
  • Ecco Pigment
  • Grip lead pencils and mechanical pencils
  • Grip Textmarker & Textliner
  • Multimark Marker
  • Art & Graphic Water Brush
  • Graf von Faber-Castell inks
  • Goldfaber Coloured Pencils
  • Goldfaber Aqua Watercolour Pencils
  • Oil Colours (Creative Studio)
  • Synthetic brushes
  • Broadpen
  • Faber-Castell ink
  • Grip fountain pen
  • Albrecht Dürer watercolour marker
  • pastel textmarker
  • metallic textmarker
  • (ink) converter
  • watercolour in pans
  • watercolour starter set in tubes+
  • notebooks DinA5 and DinA6

All Faber-Castell coloured pencil ranges are free of animal derivatives.

Additional information provided by Faber-Castell – products free of animal derivatives:

  • all pencils
  • all mechanical pencils
  • biros
  • biro lead
  • all coloured pencils (including Albrecht Dürer and Polychromos)
  • the entire Pitt Artist line
  • Fineschreiber 1511
  • Gelatos
  • Creative Studio pastels
  • Creative Studio oil pastels
  • soft pastels
  • Polychromos pastels (art. nr. 128 …)
  • erasers, including kneadable ones
  • textliner 48
  • metallic textliner
  • Grip marker (flipchart, whiteboard, textmarker pens, permanent marker)
  • Multimarkt
  • all Uni-Ball products (attention: Faber-Castell is  the distributor not the manufacturer)
  • sharpener
  • graphite chalk/crayon (Graphitkreide)
  • ruler
  • graphite and polymer lead
  • indelible pencils (Kopierstifte)
  • felt pen and double-sided felt pens (Faserschreiber)
  • T-Shirt marker
  • tortillion / blending stump/ estompe/ Papierwischer
  • all lead for mechanical pencils, including coloured lead
  • sanguine  crayon (Rötelkreide)
  • Jumbo Grip neon
  • all chalk (alle Kreiden)
  • ink
  • watersoluble graphite pencils
  • Art Grip watercolour pencils
  • Pitt Pastel pencils
  • Connector Deckfarben (opaque paint in pans)
  • foldable watercup
  • charcoal (zeichenkohle)
  • Pitt Monochrome
  • Ecco Pigment
  • brushes (art. nr. 481600)
  • Art & Graphic water brush
  • oil paint (tempera)
  • wax crayons art.nr. 122540, 120010, 120024
  • thermoplastic wax crayons art. nr. 122540, 120404, 120405
  • Pitt Graphite Crayons e.g. art.nr. 129902, 129905
  • Graphite Pure pencil art.nr. 1173…
  • natural charcoal art.nr. 129114, 129116, 129118, 129122
  • compressed charcoal (Reißkohle) art.nr. 129906, 129903, 129900, 129913, 129916
  • Creative Studio – watercolour paint in pans

Source: mail contact

Sadly, Colors of Nature closed down

Dear watercolour people,

sadly, I just found out that  Colors of Nature closed down. The cruelty-free Canadian company that flew under an ethical and environmentally conscious flag, manufactured and offered only vegan-friendly products ranging from watercolours,  and oil paints in artist quality, … over to brushes, glass mullers and more. I feel as though I am writing an obituary and in a way I am. What a plight for our small world of vegan art supplies. Which leaves us with no more natural, eco-friendly oil paints ;and brands that offer non-pencil watercolours halved. I introduced the company on here in 2017. In all my correspondence with Lori Stryker and Mark, they were nothing but accommodating and nice. – I am sorry to see this business go, farewell Colors of Nature.

Source: website

tip-to-tip: water-reservoir brush+watercolour crayons, sticks and co.

Instead of using watercolours in pans, you can use  watercolour pencils, sticks/gelatos and crayons  with a water-reservoir brush or stiffer regular brush, but in the way you would paint with pans.

Tip-to-tip transfer: Brush over your water-soluble crayon/stick etc. (use more strokes to intensify the colour) and then apply it onto the paper. Alternatively draw  with the crayon direcly on the edge of the paper or a separate paper and take the colour with the brush from there.

This way the colour application is much softer than drawing directly on the paper and going over the lines with a brush. You can colour a dainty little drawing or cover a DinA3 and larger paper with beautiful patterns.

If you don’t have a watercolour travel pan set, you can always take your pencils, crayons etc. and a water-reservoir brush pen. There will be no spills, it does not take up too much space and you have double the use out of the pencils. Using them with the brush and also drawing details directly with them.

It is also something different to go over the crayon/pencil with a wet brush than immersing the whole crayon/pencil tip in water, which can damage the lead.

I also went over a Faber Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pen with the water-reservoir brush to take colour and transfer to the paper. After drying the colour is going nowhere, because of the waterproof ink used in the pens.                                                                                                                                      Why would someone do this to an already brush shaped pen tip ? You can cover a bigger area this way than with the small, less flexible brush pen tip; you can gently glaze the paper and if your brush pens are older, you still get good use out of them without having to draw streaky (although I found it can make also nice effects).

Painting on wet paper with the laden brush  helps covering the paper surface quicker.

left side: tip-to-tip transfer, on wet surface; right side: paper-to-brush transfer+wet brush over applied colour

Cruelty-free companies offering vegan-friendly products:

This is a list of  cruelty-free companies and the vegan-friendly products they offer. If you don’t find the company you are looking for in this list, please enter the company name in the search box to see their status. If you still can’t find the specific company you are looking for, please let me know, so that I can contact them.

Cheers,    Anja (Ansho)

Continue reading “Cruelty-free companies offering vegan-friendly products:”

Colors Of Nature – earth-friendly artist’s paint

Colors of Nature is an environmentally conscious, ethical, cruelty-free and 100% vegan company, producing and selling vegan art supplies only.

Colors of Nature Product Range:

  • Oil Paints and organic linseed oil
  • Encaustic Plant Wax Pucks
  • Brushes
  • Watercolour Paints
  • Crayons
  • Pastels
  • Pigments
  • Kids’ Watercolour Paint
  • Glass Mullers (designed and manufactured for Colors of Nature by artist Silvia Taylor)
  • Natural Brush Soap
  • empty paint tubes (e.g. you can store your own created colour blends)

http://www.colorsofnature.com

 

Source: Mail contact