Today, May 2, is the day we celebrate that the great Battle of Hogwarts was fought — and Lord Voldemort was finally defeated! And since I needed a project to demonstrate the topic of the day (Which kneaded eraser is Best?) I’ll be creating a portrait of Harry Potter and show a few spots where a kneaded eraser is needed. (pun intended!)

I’ll be comparing some brands of these erasers – finally something affordable to buy from a number of manufacturers! (much easier than “can you do a comparison of the full line of (X) marker or paints?”) There’ll be six contestants in what I shall call the great “Kneaded Eraser Wars”! 

I started off the video with the history of erasers – after looking up what people did BEFORE we had erasers. (I tried it and, uh, I AM SO GLAD WE HAVE ERASERS!)

Next I got busy opening all my new erasers and creating this comparison chart with erasure techniques – including one I realized wasn’t a fair test of the eraser but rather the pencil-wielder. LOL! Watch the video to see what these tests were all about.

Tutorial: Kneaded Eraser Wars: Which is Best? 

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Marie’s (?)

I’m starting with the lowest-ranked one….and it’s not a surprise to me. It came with a kit of some kind a long while back, and it’s pretty cheap. (I rarely look to kits to give me the best in supplies, they try to optimize amount-of-stuff over quality-of-stuff.) The writing except for “Marie’s” (I guess it’s the company name?) was all in Chinese. This one was dry, didn’t want to stretch after even excessive time trying to knead it. Stay away from this one.

General’s

I’ve got some supplies from General’s, and it’s mixed quality – but this falls in the mixed side. I wasn’t able to really get it stretchy and pliable. Though I did love the size! One eraser doesn’t tell the whole story though, so if you have one in your stash, see if it’s more maleable than this one was. I’ll try the other pack soon and see if it’s just one eraser that had a problem. 

Prismacolor

Sad to report this one moved down in the rankings after being my fave for decades. However – I’ve had some that have lasted me ten years! I know lots of companies are cutting costs where they can, and Prismacolor isn’t immune from price pressures, so maybe that’s the issue here. Or could be a bad batch. I was able to get it to be more pliable, just not what I’m used to.

Caran d’Ache

This one took a little more kneading than I’m used to but did perform okay; I have to say I was surprised! They’ve always totally overdelivered on all the art supplies I’ve had from them. I was able to get the crumblies to stop crumbling after another hour of playing with it while trying to nap in the back yard. However this will be in my stash for a specific reason: having a drier eraser is handy at times! A really squishy eraser is sometimes not “stiff” enough to get a sharp edge where needed, and this one will totally do the trick in a pinch for certain.

Faber-Castell Color

I don’t know the specific reason for colored erasers, given they all get dirty and grey – but these performed very nicely. The yellow will be very sad when it’s no longer yellow…however if you work in a group setting and want to get YOUR eraser back if someone borrows it – this is totally perfect! Plus the set of 4 comes with a grey that can be the workhorse while the others just look pretty in their cases? heehee!

Faber-Castell Grey

The winner hands-down! Soft and pliable out of the gate. Clean erasures. Excellent performance.

The case is a huge deal for me; my sad little eraser that travels in my storage kit for my weekly charcoal drawing group, plus the little one in my urban sketching kit – both get filthy so now they both have cases to keep them tidy.

Victory Lap for the winner!

Our FCGrey victor got to help in my #harrypotterday sketch! As of 2012, May 2nd is “International Harry Potter Day”! The official statement by Prime Minister David Cameron that year:

“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Ms. Rowling’s work has had a huge and undeniable impact on the literary world as we know it. In order to fully commemorate and immortalize her work, we have to decided to officially declare May 2nd as an official international holiday, in honor of the date that protagonist Harry Potter conquered the main antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort. We hope that children and adults alike will be reminded of Harry Potter’s strong and courageous character on this day, as well as of the true credit that Ms. Rowling has made to society.”

While creating my drawing, I watched allllll the HP movies! in a row! I’d only really watched them a little in the past – typically while doing something else and just having sound on in the background. So this was the first time I got fully inundated with all things Hogwarts. Might need to read the books next!

Lead Holder (pencil)

I always have my lead holders handy in the cup on my desk – so it’s seen in a ton of other videos that I do. One of them has been with me since college! The other two I got so I could have 3 leads going at any point. The sharpener from my college days is still here, but you can’t find them to purchase – though there’s one that was on Ebay for a small fortune and made me almost part with mine! The little handheld one works a little better, as the softer 6B doesn’t break as readily in that one, but….there’s something about having art supplies from college lasting til I’m in my grave that makes me never part with it. Ha!

Supplies

1. Faber Castell options:
   1. Faber Castell Kneaded Eraser (3 sizes, no cases) 
   2. Faber Castell Kneaded Eraser (4 erasers with case) 
   3. Faber Castell Kneaded Color Eraser (4 erasers with case) 
2. Caran d’Ache Kneaded Eraser 
3. Prismacolor Kneaded Eraser
4. General’s Kneaded Eraser
5. Arches Hot Press sheet
6. Koh-i-noor lead holder 
7. Staedtler lead holder sharpener 

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