Some time ago I picked up a box of
Litho Coal, and just recently gave it a try in Open Studio at my artist friend Nancy's house.
This stuff really works! The sticks feel, look and handle exactly like vine charcoal, but can be heat-set and made unsmudgeable (technical art term). I haven't yet tried additional layers, but you can keep adding layers and re-setting as you get each next thing right.
What is difficult is that the sticks are so very soft and crumbly, that I haven't figured out how to get a crisp point for details. There are other D'Uva products I plan to try- the lItho powder and the litho pastel.
It isn't quite clear to me whether you can use your oven (the inset says not to use an oven that you also use for food - I personally don't know anyone who has an oven not used for food), which is also what the Daniel Smith customer service person says. However, the D'Uva web site says it's fine. There are some alternate ways to heat-set, using an iron, heat-gun etc. This piece I ironed. The paper got a little ripply, so I'll have to experiment to see whether I ironed for too long a time.
Tessa, Litho Coal on Canson. About 16" x 12".
Linear Mode
