Cobra now Available in the US!

Cobra now Available in the US!

Dick Blick has Cobra Oils in stock! http://www.dickblick.com/products/royal-talens-cobra-water-mixable-oil-colors/

And the best part is they have an Indian Yellow!

Good to see. They also carry their mediums.

It looks like the pricing falls less than Duos and higher than Artisans, about equal to Max. It doesn't look to me like there are too many other pigments which I don't already have in another brand, but I'll have to scan their list more carefully to see what I can add.

Their smaller tubes are larger than Artistan's smaller tubes if I recall correctly.

Thank you Kimberly for letting me know that they are available. I've been checking for them at Dick Blick every day, but I guess I wasn't using the exact right search term. I've ordered their CYM, plus both whites, and their painting medium and glazing medium. I've decided to wait to use my pyrole red tube so that I can use it with the other Cobra paints.

There are so many exciting colors like the Transparent Yellow Medium (PY128) that WFMartin gets so excited about, and a transparent oxide yellow, and their transparent red medium, and their transparent red oxide. I'm so excited!!!


You're right about the size--Artisan's small tubes are 37ml and Cobra's small tubes are 40ml.

Crystal1 wrote:

You're right about the size--Artisan's small tubes are 37ml and Cobra's small tubes are 40ml.

With Blick having them on sale right now this makes Cobra's prices slightly better than Artisans!

I wonder if they're in the stores, or just online? The Dick Blick here is moving to a larger location, I hope they'll bring back a better in-store selection. It would be great if they'd put the ws oils back in the store (they only have them for return to school and Xmas right now at this location).
Can't wait to go have a look

Callie wrote:

I wonder if they're in the stores, or just online? The Dick Blick here is moving to a larger location, I hope they'll bring back a better in-store selection. It would be great if they'd put the ws oils back in the store (they only have them for return to school and Xmas right now at this location).
Can't wait to go have a look

Not sure if they will or not, seems that Michaels was all set to get rid of their paints and stuff and instead they brough back Golden, etc. Painting is huge right now, don't know if it is for collectors or not but it definately is for artists.

Kimberly

kbaxterpackwood wrote:

Crystal1 wrote:

You're right about the size--Artisan's small tubes are 37ml and Cobra's small tubes are 40ml.

With Blick having them on sale right now this makes Cobra's prices slightly better than Artisans!

Artisans are cheaper by my math. Blick's prices on Cobra's Cerulean, for example, is $15 for 40ml which would be 37 cents/ml. Artisan's cerulean is $8.50 for 37ml, or 23 cents/ml. I'm assuming Cobra uses more pigment.

Still, what matters is the handling of the paint. I've been disappointed with Artisan's on that point in some cases. I'm hoping Cobras will be as consistently good as Holbein.

dbclemons wrote:

kbaxterpackwood wrote:

Crystal1 wrote:

You're right about the size--Artisan's small tubes are 37ml and Cobra's small tubes are 40ml.

With Blick having them on sale right now this makes Cobra's prices slightly better than Artisans!

Artisans are cheaper by my math. Blick's prices on Cobra's Cerulean, for example, is $15 for 40ml which would be 37 cents/ml. Artisan's cerulean is $8.50 for 37ml, or 23 cents/ml. I'm assuming Cobra uses more pigment.

Still, what matters is the handling of the paint. I've been disappointed with Artisan's on that point in some cases. I'm hoping Cobras will be as consistently good as Holbein.

Good point David on the regular retail price but I was looking at Blicks Sale prices instead!

I'm not happy with some of the Artisans, most of them I actually like and if I worked only in thick heavy strokes they'd all be ok. Like others I can't wait to see how Cobra's stack up against the rest of the herd.

Kimberly

I haven't tried my sample yet, but I think I'll use it for this months challenge. that shouldbe a good test.
Judy

Kimberly, thank you for the heads up!

I was a bit disappointed with the shipping on my first order of Cobra paints.

Cobra paints come in tubes that dent fairly easily. I assume the crimped angular ends of the tubes hit the side of other tubes during shipping. The following e-mail was sent to Dick Blick Customer Service after opening the order:

"The tubes of Cobra paints I received were badly wrinkled. They were shipped loose in a box (no cardboard protective boxes containing 1 or 3 tubes as when you ship W&N, Holbein,etc.). There was paper padding in the box, but the tubes had obviously moved around and knocked into each other. There was an oil stain on the bottom interior of the box and a number of tubes have a "sticky" feeling on the outside. No paint colors appear on the outside of the tubes. However there are places where nicks have penetrated the plastic label and at least part way through the metallic tube itself. There may be some cases where air is able to penetrate into the tube, limiting the tube life of the paint. I am going to go ahead and use these paints in some tests of this new brand that I need to make. However I am very concerned about the condition of the tubes and hope that you will be using cardboard protectors when shipping these in the future. Thanks, Jim"

From Dick Blick Customer Service:

"Thank you for your email. I apologize for any inconveniences.

We do try to send the tubes in the smaller boxes to protect them when we have them available to send. I am sorry yours did not come in the smaller boxes. I did talk to our Product Information department, they said unless the tubes have a hole in them the bends in the metal tube should not affect the paint or longevity of the tube. They also suggested to check the tubes carefully for any holes in the tubes or by the crimps on the ends. If there is any leakage please let us know so we can replace them for you as soon as possible.

There may be some oil residue from other leaking tubes when they were sent from
the manufacture but this should also not affect the paint inside the tubes.

Again I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause you."

Initial use does not show any tube leakage. Hopefully the tubes will remain intact until empty. The oil stains and "sticky" stuff apparently were from contact with leaking paint tubes prior to packing. This is the first time I have received paint tubes without protective one-to-three tube boxes. I don't know how Cobra sends them to the dealers. In future I will request that they be shipped in boxes that eliminate tube-to-tube contact.

Just thought you all might want to know about this.

Regards,
Jim

Thanks Jim,
It must have been very disappointing finding them in such poor shape. I wondered about the sample they sent. The metal container seems so flimsy and fragile. i just figured it was because it as a sample. I hesitate to put it in with my other paints which all seem to be much more substantial. Maybe Cobra should be made aware of this concern.
Judy

Hi Judy;

I have sent an e-mail to Cobra about this. I am a bit concerned as to how the tubes will hold up in a Pochade box or French easel where they have room to slip and slide. I think Talens uses/used the same tubes for H2Oils. I only tried a couple of these and never happened to take them into the field (and they were shipped in generic cardboard boxes). I'd be interested to hear from any users who have more experience with them on this issue.

The color Opacity/Transparency symbol that appears on the sample tube also appears on their regular production tubes of paint. This is a nice touch, especially for those new to Cobra (the H2Oils had this too).

Regards,
Jim

Thank you for that bit of info Jim, if your on FaceBook you can join the Cobra Fans page and air your exeriences there on their discussion board. Cobra is working hard to meet the demands of all painters, I'm sure they'd like to know about your experiences.

Keep us posted about Cobra's response.
thanks, Judy

Jim, Thank you for sharing your experience with the shipment of the Cobras and the possible problem with the paint tubes.

Finally got my order of Cobra WMOs from Dick Blick. Everything arrived in great shape, with the tubes all stuck in those little 3-pack boxes. No oil on the tubes or dents or anything wrong with them. They were sitting on the porch in direct sunlight at 92 degrees, so will probably put them in the refrigerator and wait til tomorrow to try them out...it's killing me. I want to try them right now, but I've got a busy night tonight.

Dick Blick always wraps the Artisan Medium in tons of shipping wrap, but they have the Cobra Glazing Medium lose with no wrapping at all and I could hear it slidding around in the box. It's just fine too!
Dayle

Crystal1 wrote:

Finally got my order of Cobra WMOs from Dick Blick. Everything arrived in great shape, with the tubes all stuck in those little 3-pack boxes. No oil on the tubes or dents or anything wrong with them. They were sitting on the porch in direct sunlight at 92 degrees, so will probably put them in the refrigerator and wait til tomorrow to try them out...it's killing me. I want to try them right now, but I've got a busy night tonight.

Dick Blick always wraps the Artisan Medium in tons of shipping wrap, but they have the Cobra Glazing Medium lose with no wrapping at all and I could hear it slidding around in the box. It's just fine too!
Dayle

Gotta wonder what's up with their shipping practices???

Hi Folks;

Kyle Richardson of Cobra sent me the following reply to my query on Cobra shipping practices to their dealers.

Regards,
Jim

------------------------------

Good morning, Jim.

Thanks for letting me know about this
problem and copying me on the response from Blick. I apologize that
you have had this experience, it certainly isn't acceptable from my point
of view. I'll address this with our operations team and find out
why this might be happening. I know that we do ship in protective
cartons (boxes containing 3 tubes ea.), so this might be a problem in how
the tubes are handled when being broken down by our resellers, but I will
also check our inventory and be sure that if there's a problem on our side,
that we're addressing it here appropriately.


Best,


Kyle

Glad to see that this is going to be addressed!

Jim, Good going! Great idea to let them know before it gets out of hand.

Hi All;

Information received from Cobra indicates they do ship their tubes of paint in cardboard boxes of three tubes per box. These boxes should adequately protect the tubes during shipping. Now it's just a matter of the retailers making sure they always ship these in these or similar containers. I think that this will be unlikely to be an issue in the future with it coming to Dick Blick's attention from both the customer and supplier sides.

I have ordered from Dick Blick a number of times and this is the first shipping problem I have had. They responded very quickly when I contacted them (see my first post on this issue on page 1 above) and were very willing to replace any tubes that were leaking.

Regards,

Hi Jim! I've ordered from Dick Blick several times and I always get excellent service. Sounds like nothing has changed. I'm glad their handling the matter with the same type of support I've run into in the past.