the ampyang factory

Decided to do a “my tools” section for all the technical questions. Will update this post with my current favourite tools changes.

Pens

COPIC Multiliner SP from 0.2 to 0.7 

I used these fineliners to do the lines on many pictures - especially these with thick lines or done on textured paper (pen and ink can’t be used then). I like the sturdy metal case, waterproof ink and replaceable tips. These multiliners draw a nice smooth, black line but can also give interesting textured line on rough, watercolour paper.

ZiG MANGAKA FLEXIBLE F and M 

I like to use the Japanese brush pens, unfortunately most of them have non-waterproof inks of marker-like nibs. This one combines good brush nib available in two thicknesses with waterproof ink. The nib provides good flexibility and control balance with really fine line finish if needed. Also small in size and relatively cheap.

Pencils

Mitsu-Bishi Hi-Uni from grade F to 10B 

I tried a lot of Japanese brand pencils and like all of them but for me the Hi-unis are the best (closely followed by TOMBOW). Now my main pencils. I love the silky feel and dark line they give. Because of that they are widely used in Japanese animation for drawing the animation frames. Japanese pencils generally feel a lot softer than European pencils of same hardness.

STAEDTLER Mars Lumograph grades 6B, 7B and 8B 

submitted by nailallie

American Shorthair Knight

Abyssinian Bard

Norwegian Forest Cat Shaman

Persian Scholar

Bombay Assassin

Sphynx Fighter

Scottish Fold Warrior

Bengal Archer

Turkish Angora Healer

Maine Coon Berserker

Siamese Magician

Russian Blue Thief

Kyoung Hwan Kim - Army of Wool

Converting powdered glucose into liquid glucose

So I had the adventure of figuring out how to make a nice thick goey glucose syrup out of powdered glucose. You would think this would be easy but I still have a spoon stuck in a container of rock hard glucose from my first attempt.

Looking online is not terribly helpful as most of the people dont seem to be using glucose for baking and recommend an almost 1 to 1 ratio with water. This will give you a lovely syrup but not the desired effect. As well cooking this syrup to make it thicker leads to the spoon situation I mentioned earlier. Thus I am making a tutorial for other lost souls whose chef ordered the wrong thing.

After several failed attempts this is my method for a successful high viscosity glucose syrup. Pour your glucose powder into a pot and (most important part *) add water little by little until it is just saturated. It will be lumpy and hard to stir with maybe some dry glucose stuck in pockets but thats not a huge deal as long as the majority is wet looking.

Place on burner and heat until it just comes to a boil or all of the chunkies have a chance to kind of melt away. Remove immediately and transfer to a container with an airtight lid. Do not cook longer than that or it gets to hard , it wont be perfectly clear for a couple of weeks since it take a long time for the air to escape out of the glucose syrup.