Ok in all seriousness...besides just the color, what was the difference between the pz orange and white. I was only ever privalaged enough to get a tiny (1 1/2 x 1 1/2) piece of white in my hand, and LOVED how it carved. With that tiny taste I have been dying for this shortage to be over. I have carved other "stuff" in the mean time but was curious what the difference was of the stuff I haven't been able to get my hands on.
BB

I've never carved the orange, but have stamped with it. from comments I've overheard by those who have carved both, orange is more stiff and firm, and therefore a little harder to get a gouge through. orange is a little better for carving fine lines. it is very good at taking ink on thin lines, but tends to have a problem with beading on flat areas that are inked. white is better at taking ink on larger, flat surfaces, and still does very well on fine lines, at least as fine as I am able to carve at this point.

romana

Also, at present, what we knew as orange and white are no longer available. They are in the process of being reformulated and will be yellow and white, with a possibly different texture than before.

Ok in all seriousness...besides just the color, what was the difference between the pz orange and white.

PZ Kut orange, PZ Kut white, and pink stuff are my three faves, in that order. I consider PZ Kut white to be closer to pink stuff than to orange. Compared to pink, white is a bit firmer and usually doesn't have as perfect a surface texture right out of the package -- but it costs considerably less, and the contrast with the white color is a smidge better than with the pink. And an acetone scrub takes care of any surface texture issues.

Compared to either the white or the pink, the orange is a completely different animal. While the white and pink are rubbery, the orange is plastic-y. It is considerably firmer, firm enough that if it were to cut like rubber it'd be tough to cut. But it doesn't cut like rubber at all; it's difficult to describe, but it cuts as though you're cutting something rigid with a cutter that's magically sharp -- it cuts far easier than it feels like it should. It cuts as though it has a built-in lubricant for the cutting blade, while most other materials drag the blade like rubber.

Plus, the most important distinction for us razor knife carvers: When you make a single slice through the orange without removing any material, you can see where you sliced. With most other carving materials, including white and pink, as soon as you remove the blade the slit closes up and you can't see it at all. The orange color develops a lighter shade where there's a slice in it. The only other material I've seen do this at all was a white Dollar Tree eraser, and it does it so slightly that you have to have the light just right to see it. And the white Dollar Tree erasers are apparently NLA, Dollar Tree carried pink erasers for back-to-school this year.

I also should mention that I didn't care for the very last batch of PZ Kut orange I got compared to earlier batches. This last batch was a lot tougher; it was more difficult to slice, but more importantly it was a lot harder to remove chunks of material after slicing. It was a breeze with earlier batches; with this last batch it became something of a struggle. I recently carved a couple of tiny images on scraps left over from the earlier batches and was reminded how much I liked that stuff better.

I found that with the last batch also. I thought it was just me. I also had a more difficult time transferring images to it. It wouldn’t accept acetone at all. I did pencil on my last few pieces of that batch and it worked fine except (sorry pencil transfer people) - pencil transfers are too much work and I still didn't get the detail that I like, because I'm just not that good of a tracer. I don't have the patience.

I wonder what happened to that batch?

Pugnasties (i.e. orange PZ lover)