Ryman 1983 Art Mixed Acrylic Paints And Decopatch Rabbit With Spring Themed Paper Review

Reviewed by H Chan

Easter is coming! For many, that means Easter crafting.
With the children off school and usually over excited, I look for ways to entertain them at home, scouring the craft shops for new ideas. This year I was delighted to be sent a gorgeous paper bunny by Decopatch with some gorgeous spring paper to cover it, and a pack of 12 mixed acrylic paints from the Ryman 1983 range. Looks like craft time ideas are sorted this year.

Ryman are a great stationary store who have shops and a good online presence. The first shop dating all the way back to 1893! Which is amazing. When I was younger, they were a household name and one of the only places to source a wide range of stationary and art products. I love that they’re still around in a work of store which try to sell everything. Delivery of my items was within a few days and I found their website very user friendly.

Decopatch Rabbit and Spring paper

The Decopatch Rabbit with Big Ears, comes ready to cover. It doesn’t need to be prepared or anything. It is sturdy and even though hollow, quite solid. Solid enough for a child to work on by themselves, although I do recommend supervision with the glue part.

The paper is fantastic quality, thin enough to stick well with a small amount of glue and dry quickly, and thin enough to tear and layer well. We found two or three layers worked best although the rabbit could have been covered with just one layer. You don’t need scissors which makes it a little safer for little ones (something I particularly like as my seven year old can be a little careless with scissors). I was sent a gorgeous bright yellow paper with flowers, perfect for the season! It was vibrant and the colour didn’t transfer. It remained a beautiful pattern even after gluing.
As we have done decoupage with Decopatch before, we knew we needed a good glue. We use either school PVA or Mod Podge as they stick well and give a good shine afterwards.

For this activity all you need to do, is tear off little pieces of paper, as big or small as you like. Pop some glue on the model, stick the paper to it. Cover the model in this way. If you are finished, then cover the whole thing in glue and allow to dry for a lovely shine and solid finish. If you want to add another layer, simply cover with glue and stick on more paper. It really is a simple activity.

We have had these types of paper models before and in the past have painted them with acrylics. This works really well as an activity if you preferred not to use the paper. Also, the paper can be used for other things! Covering jars, making bookmarks, covering pieces of cardboard. It is really versatile. Should you wish to stick with the models however, the range is huge, from houses and ships, to masks and flowers. From small animals to large animal heads for hanging on the wall.

Rating: I give the rabbit and the paper five out of five stars. I feel for the price and the amount of time it takes to create, is it a worthwhile activity and perfect for days indoors.

You can find the items here with an RRP of £5 for the rabbit, and with an RRP of £3 for the papers. One pack of paper will easily do this sized model or two of the smaller models depending on how many layers you choose to do.

1893 Mixed Acrylic Paints

These paints come in a bright cardboard box, no plastic which is fabulous. It contains twelve different colours, each 12ml. Each nestled in a slide out tray, also made from card. Two are glow in the dark – orange and white, four are glitter – black, gold, light blue and rose, and six are neon – yellow, orange, purple, light green, green and pink, which means they’re great for those projects where you need slightly different colours to the usual paint selection packs. For the price, I think they’re brilliant.

Take car opening, as they are filled to the brim and squirt out quite quickly when the seal is pierced.
We used these paints for a couple of different projects, one of my children painted their own picture and another used them to paint from a pre-drawn colouring pad. The paints are lovely, they glide across the medium and colours stay vibrant. They also layer really well. Mixing them is a little hit and miss, but this might be because of the added components in the paint.

I think my favourite colour from the pack is the yellow, it is the colour of highlighter pens and remains really bright even after drying.

Rating: I give the paints 5 out of 5 stars. They are actually lovely little paints for the money, I would buy these again. They are more for projects and more detailed works though I think whereas for younger children I’d buy bigger bottles of paint. These were brilliant for my older children though who are more specific with what they paint.
You can find them here with an RRP of £5.

I found the Ryman website very easy to navigate and it contains a huge number of products, many of offer out of sale season. The delivery is reasonably priced and very quick. They also offer a click and collect service.