I've never carved on PZ Orange. How was it different from PZ, other than color?

I still miss PZ, but I'm learning to carve on OZ with fewer tantrums. Short, shallow gauge strokes.

Great feedback, everyone! Thank you so much for your thoughts and comparisons. :-D

I use one of Kirbert's reverse Staedtlers. I'm carving letters with it now! :)

What the heck is a reverse Staedtler?

What the heck is a reverse Staedtler?

A Reltdeats?

xD

All this info has me feeling like I need to go back to the drawing, er, carving board. I've never carved OZ, I've never (that I know of) carved FirmKut, and all the great advice about transfer has not worked for me. If I could just get that worked out, I'd feel a lot better about my carving. I've been avoiding carving for a while now. One thing I wanted to say about PZ Orange, which I have really liked, is that because it was translucent, I could put it on my lightbox to carve, and it was much easier to tell where I had carved versus where I hadn't, with the illumination. That was awesome.

Thinking I need to order some stuff, aT

Staedtler, reversed.

I've never carved on PZ Orange. How was it different from PZ, other than color?

I only tried PZ White a couple of times, and it was with almost no experience carving - so take this with a large grain of salt.

The biggest difference I noticed was in the PZ White being significantly more opaque. Given the semi-transparency in the Orange, a knife cut just looked different from the material around it. It was easy to tell the location of the cut and how deep it was going. That was a big help in controlling depth of cut.

That's for a knife cut. For gouge carvers, I don't remember anyone ever saying they found a significant advantage in it.

Just recently, I've started to notice that the pink stuff shows a little bit of that same effect. At least on shallow cuts.

Completely different animal, IMHO. To me, PZ Kut white was very similar to pink stuff only stiffer. PZ Kut orange was completely different, almost as though you were cutting wax instead of rubber. It was incredibly firm -- in fact, arguably too firm for images with broad expanses of solid black -- yet a knife slid through it with the greatest of ease as though it had a built-in lubricant. You could cut the tiniest detail and still get a smooth cut, as opposed to the way pink stuff sometimes gets ragged around tiny cuts. The orange color was a key feature, as whenever you sliced it with a knife the area would glow much brighter orange, clearly indicating where you have cut and where you haven't cut yet. I've since noticed that pink stuff does this too, just to a much less noticeable extent.

opposed to the way pink stuff sometimes gets ragged around tiny cuts

Thank you for mentioning this. Now that I have new glasses, I'm really starting to notice the ragged edges and they are driving me crazy!

I have had access to only pink stuff for a long, long time. Thanks to a few folks here on AQ, I've been able to sample the firmer types of white and I am noticing some of the exact same differences that have been mentioned here with the tools. Good to know it's not just me. :)

As soon as I can get images to transfer to the other three pieces, I will have a nice set of samples to keep as PT's. All the images were made from the same type of design using the same tools, sharped before each carve. It's been a really fun experiment. Anyone have a list of all the mediums so I can double check to see what else I need to add to the group?

I hated it for knife carving, but I adapted fairly well when I went back to gouging, where it's easier to get crisp lines and fine details. It resists well enough that I don't usually accidentally cut back into my already-cut lines, a pet peeve of mine and a constant problem for me. It works me way harder than either the pink stuff or PZ. I'll probably get more, but would really like to go back to my knife. Maybe the orange stuff. . .

I printed a detailed picture on my inkjet & immediately rubbed it onto the pink stuff (I think) & it transferred perfectly. A lot better imprinting than tracing which I had been doing.

A lot better imprinting than tracing which I had been doing.

Agree, as carve can only be as good as the transfer.

It was incredibly firm -- in fact, arguably too firm for images with broad expanses of solid black -- yet a knife slid through it with the greatest of ease as though it had a built-in lubricant.

Knife carver porn.

Oh, my.

GJ

Knife carver porn.

That's exactly the thought that crossed my mind when I read his post... Jeez, Kirbert, would you like us all to leave you alone with that slab of orange?

You can say or think what you will about me if you want -- if you'll send me a slab of orange! I've been out for a coupla years now.