Loew Cornell Style Stix

Reported by Lisa Fulmer

Style Stix by Loew Cornell are stiff tapered sponge brushes available in various widths and shapes for painting stripes, petals, and washes.

When I was at the CHA Super Show, I picked up a couple of these Style Stix wedge brushes by Loew Cornell. It's a stiff, tapered sponge brush available in various widths, good for "stripes, petals & swashes." Style Stix also come in cone or dome shapes - in addition to painting, they are said to work nicely for shaping clay.

I started playing with stripes and found that the sponge does not pick up as much paint as I thought it would, perhaps because it is so much more dense that a cosmetic sponge or craft sponge brush. It does make a nice straight line, once you get the right amount of paint loaded on. It leaves a little ridge along the edge, which may or may not be desirable. I liked using the tip to make little stitch marks.

I used the ridges to my advantage and painted simple crisscross strokes to get an interesting abstract geometric pattern.

The tapered shape does make creating petal and leaf shapes really easy in just 2 curved strokes. I liked going back over it with the tip to create random ridges in my leaves and petals.

I worked with acrylic paints, both alone and with a little acrylic medium blended in. Style Stix releases the paint quite differently than brushes or sponges...takes a little getting used to, but once I did, I started having fun with the textures.

Then I wanted to play with the "swash" aspect, so I poured a puddle of shimmering ink on my paper and used the tip of the Style Stix to feather it all out. Now I liked that the Style Stix is not absorbent; I was able to move the ink around yet still keep it looking streaky. This will make an awesome background for an ATC!

After a lot of painting and rinsing and stubbing and squishing, my Style Stix really took a beating. But I was happy with how nicely the edges stayed sharp, they didn't turn nappy at all.

I think my favorite way to use the Style Stix though, is as a blending tool for pastels and chalk powders. So much easier to work with than a paper stump - the tapered edge give lots of fine line control, and the texture and density of the sponge is perfect for gently moving the colors together.

Pros:

  • Inexpensive and sturdy
  • Variety of widths
  • Interesting way to add curves, lines and texture
  • Perfect density for blending dry mediums

Cons:

  • Tapered wedge shape is pretty limited to making flower parts
  • Takes some time to get used to how it loads and releases paint

Have you used the Style Stix by Loew Cornell? Were you able to use their unique properties to your advantage? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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