Caran d’Ache Claim Your Style Bicolors

 

New bicolors -- in a cardboard tin.

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while (and I deeply appreciate all of you who have!) know of my penchant for bicolor pencils that goes all the way back to my early childhood. You also know of my general fondness for Caran d’Ache colored pencils and how tickled I am with the occasional “limited” releases of bicolor sets from the Swiss company. Perhaps you will then understand my lukewarm enthusiasm for the latest Cd’A release, the Claim Your Style Bicolor set.

As historical context, allow me to recap the previous sets. The first, released in 2019, was by far the most exciting, as it fulfilled a long-time wish for decent quality watercolor pencils in a compact, bicolor form. Two years later, the Wonder Forest set was released just in time for the holidays, which led me to speculate that we might be able to expect future sets with the same gifty intentions. Indeed, only one year later, the Colour Treasure set was released, again with clear holiday gift marketing. Contained in attractive tins, all three sets included either a traditional brush or waterbrush, making them portable, self-contained kits. A promising pattern had been established!

No new set came out last year, which was disappointing but not surprising, since a yearly special edition was probably too much to expect. With high hopes for the coming holiday season, imagine my early delight when the latest Claim Your Style edition came to my attention!

Six pencils, 12 colors

From the promotional images, I noted that the set contains only six pencils (12 colors) compared to the 10 (20 colors) or 12 (24) pencils in the previous sets. However, perception clouded by excitement, I failed to register that the box had changed. While it still had the same shiny metallic look of the tins, windows revealing the pencils implied a different material.

To my disappointment, the set comes in a flimsy cardboard box that will definitely not hold up long to transporting (in fact, mine was already creased during shipment). The sliding-drawer box contains nothing else besides the six pencils.

Part of my geeky pleasure with these sets is figuring out which Prismalo colors are new to the bicolor form. Since color numbers/names are never printed on bicolors, this task requires searching online to find a color chart (not available on Caran d’Ache’s site but often provided by retail vendors; I found it at Jenni Bick). Indicated in my swatch chart with a star, the Prismalo colors that had previously not been seen in bicolor form are Royal Blue (130), Opaline Green (195) and Pink Metallic (81).

Starred colors are new to the bicolor form.

Of note: In standard Prismalo sets, No. 81 is called Pink and is, indeed, a non-metallic pink color. What??! If it’s not the same color, why give it the same number? (Cd’A is up to its usual confusing shenanigans again). Of even greater note: The color Opaline Green (195) could not be found in the standard Prismalo line! Double what??! The color does exist in Caran d’Ache’s  Supracolor line (and its non-soluble brother, Pablo), but the diameter of the bicolor core looks very much like a thinner Prismalo, not Supracolor, so it’s most likely a Prismalo. Granted, I haven’t been paying much attention to Prismalo, which can be harder to come by in the US, but unless the line was recently extended beyond 80, Opaline Green is exclusive to this bicolor set! (Now my spidey antennae [a mixed entomological metaphor, I know] are alerted to a possible larger Prismalo set.)

An interesting twist is that three colors are not water-soluble Prismalo at all – they are non-soluble neon pink, neon yellow and neon green, typically used as highlighter pencils. The neon yellow is the same as is found on one end of the Graphicolor bicolor (paired with graphite).

Those non-soluble additions to the bicolor form and the intriguing discovery of Opaline Green helped to somewhat balance my disappointment over the flimsy box which, combined with the smaller set, brought the price down significantly compared to the previous sets.

Overall, this set feels like a definite downgrade. Instead of having a gifty, limited edition, collectible, “special” aura, it feels almost like a back-to-school thing. As part of the Claim Your Style collection, it is considered a “special edition” – though on the low end for Caran d’Ache. If I begrudgingly take a more egalitarian view, the lower price and simpler packaging make the pencils accessible to more people, which I appreciate. I miss that nice tin, though, and the set doesn’t feel like part of the same series.

One last thing worth noting is that this is the first bicolor set that is available at Blick, Jenni Bick and other US retailers. As far as I know, the previous bicolor sets were only available from European shops. That definitely bodes well for grabbing future editions.