These branded palette knives have been manufactured offshore for Skill-Based Art: A Learning Resource for Art Students & Artist-Teachers (SBA)™.
Our palette knives feature three of the most common traditional blade designs used by realist painters throughout history; the straight edge, teardrop, and diamond. Due to their various shapes and sizes, broadness and narrowness, these particular designs have served painters for centuries for the purpose of mixing paints on their palette, applying paint directly to their substrate to achieve textural effects and impasto, and to scrape away paint to make way for successive layers or added details, as well as to substitute for a paint brush when blocking-in a composition.
The blade for each palette knife is 0.1 mm thick and composed symmetrically of tempered, mirror-finish stainless-steel which is work-hardened, creating hard-wearing blades that are corrosion resistant. The off-set neck of each palette knife is welded to the blade creating high elasticity and flexibility, offering optimum control and manoeuvrability. The blade’s edges are un-bevelled to allow for smooth application of paint to the painter’s substrate and the blades are secured with polished brass ferrules to smoothly finished rounded Birch wood handles that are wood-stained, to prevent moisture absorption. This enables easy cleaning of the palette knives which can be cleaned with solvent or water and a dry cloth, whether oil, tempera or acrylic paint is being used. The handles also feature a hole to give the painter the option of hanging the palette knives in their studio, and each handle features our branding which is hot foil stamped in gold. The palette knives are light weight to prioritise balance, finesse, sturdiness and comfort. The attention to detail and craftsmanship in the manufacturing processes ensures that our palette knives are durable and will last the painter’s lifetime.
The Three Featured Designs:
Tear Drop
Considered to be the general purpose ‘workhorse’ out of the three palette knives, the blade features the shortest design making it firmer and more responsive than the others. It is best suited for mixing paint on the painter’s palette and for dragging small-to-mid sized areas of paint onto the painting surface when scumbling.
Dimensions of blade: 55 mm (length) x 18 mm (width)
Total length (handle included): 205 mm
Diamond
This time-tested design features the longest and narrowest blade out of the three palette knives making it ideal for adding micro-details, such as scratching fine lines into a paint surface. It’s pointed tip makes it ideal for adding crisp highlights onto a painting.
Dimensions of blade: 70 mm (length) x 15 mm (width)
Total length (handle included): 220 mm
Straight Edge
Appropriately named as the blade doesn’t feature a tapered point, therefore, making it less bouncy than the other palette knives. This design is most conducive to mixing larger batches of paint on the painter’s palette and for blocking-in large areas in a painting, as well as for applying larger, bold marks such as impasto in a painting’s background.
Dimensions of blade: 65 mm (length) x 13 mm (width)
Total length (handle included): 213 mm
Why not make them in Australia?
Our choice of choosing an offshore manufacturer was an economical one. In order to keep the palette knives affordable for our customers, it made sense to have them manufactured in China. The cost of having them manufactured here in Australia would mean that the Recommended Retail Price for the palette knives would have been much higher than what we considered to be reasonable.
By purchasing these palette knives, you will be helping to support the expansion of Skill-Based Art: A Learning Resource for Art Students & Artist-Teachers (SBA)™.