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An in depth review of a French Sketch Box Easel by Master's Touch Fine Art Studios purchased at a Hobby Lobby.
Today, I purchased this master's touch fine art studios sketch box easel at my local hobby lobby in Orlando, Florida! I was browsing for new art supplies when I found a pretty big art sale happening in the back of the store. Not only did I find clay for 30% off but I also found paints, sketch pads, and select art supplies for 50% off! This was the best deal I've seen all year! I spotted a variety of easels that were all 50% off and I was set on getting a french box/sketch box easel. Both terms mean the same thing as long as the easel includes a space for storage and can be set on a table for sketching/painting.
At first I was going to go with a tabletop sketch box easel that had no legs. But I realized that it would be a better investment if I went with the easel with legs, storage, and being that it's portable which is great for plein art painting! I decided to grab the giant box and take it over to the register. Originally the price was $189 for the easel but with the 50% discount it came out to be $94.99! I was excited to take it home and to film an unboxing video demonstrating how to set it up!
I decided to create a blog to explain a little more in depth about how the easel works. I did not talk about everything the easel has to offer in the video but it does act as a great visual aid for setting it up. Let's get into it!
The Set Up
As soon as you take it out of the box, you'll find a single sheet of paper that contains the instructions which are very simple and in the right order:
Step 1:
The easel does come with all the legs ready to be pulled out which is very nice. I thought there would be some assembly required but that was not the case. I would recommend placing the easel on a table which will give you a better angle at setting it up. Once you have the easel lying on a table with the legs facing up, begin by pulling the outermost legs out with a firm grip. Do not be afraid to yank it out because it is pinned in there really good. After you pull out the side legs you can extend them out further if you wish making sure to secure the wing nuts on the side of the legs.
Step 2:
Make sure to secure the legs you just pulled out, by lining up the beginning of the leg with the cut-out that it rests on top of. I explain a little better in my video which I have attached at the bottom of this article if you need to refer to it at any time. Once you line up the leg with the cut-out, secure it by turning the wing nut clockwise until it is firm but not too tight. That way when it's time to put your easel away, it's not too difficult to loosen it.
Step 3:
Now it's time to pull out the back legs that are tucked inside the belly of the easel. Pull them all the way out.
Step 4:
Extend the second section of the legs out just like you did for the first set of legs. Once you extend the legs, make sure to secure the wing nuts as you did with the others.
Step 4-1 & 4-2:
This step I did not cover in the video and I wanted to make sure I covered it here. There are black velcro straps around the beginning of the back legs. You can take this velcro and tie it around the small "metal hoops" that are located by the latches that allows you to open up the storage area. In the video I had attached the white shoulder strap to these small "hoops" which is an option for traveling with the easel.
Step 5 & 6:
Now you can open up the latches and carefully lift the lid of the box open. You may want to loosen the wing nuts on the side of the box so you can have an easier time opening it. Once you have lifted the box open to the angle of your choosing, tighten the wing nuts to keep the box open in place.
Step 7:
Look at the back of the canvas holder which is located at the very top of the easel. You will see yet another wing nut and a small knob which you can play around with to loosen and tighten the canvas holder. You can pull the neck up and down to the length you need it at. Make sure to hold down the bottom canvas holder so it doesn't ride up with the neck. Another part that I forgot to mention in the video is that specific bottom part can go up and down as well. There are metal knobs at the sides of the bottom holder that you can turn to loosen and tighten it. You can push that bottom holder all the way up very close to the top holder. You can fit small sketchbooks and small canvases into this easel! The holders can spread very far a part to hold canvases that are even 24 inches in height! I believe the tallest it can get to is 34 inches.
Step 8:
The final part! In the inside of the box is a wooden painter's palette that fits perfectly on top of the drawer that is included in this easel. The storage drawer is comprised of four different sections where you can store paint tubes/bottles, paint brushes, towels/rags, and small paint palettes if you wish. This has to be my favorite part of the easel! The convenience of this storage is priceless to me as an artist that loves to travel to the beach to paint. I no longer have to take a small table with my easel. Now I can just prop this easel on the sand, open the drawers, and lay out my supplies and my phone for photo references on the storage space!
If you need a visual aid for further info and for any extra thoughts, I highly recommend you watching my video I created unboxing the sketch box easel I bought! And subscribe to my youtube channel for more art tips, reviews, and hauls!
If you really liked this post, let me know by leaving a like! Comment down below what you think and let me know if you are interested in buying a new easel for your art studio! I'm about to post a video of me painting at the beach with this easel on my youtube channel so stay tuned!
If you want to learn more about me, I have a whole Youtube channel for you to watch. Click right here to see my channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzu-wdfiFwwQx3nDBpgG1HA
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- Ana Zelaya
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