The most interesting aspect of this pen is that hex shape of the barrel and cap. It’s comfortable to hold and doesn’t roll away.

In order to activate the marker, you need to push the tip down until it goes into the barrel to prime the ink. It should only be necessary to do this when its new or if you have used a lot of paint.

For a bullet tip paint pen, the color is pretty opaque and the flow was good.

I would compare the pen and color to a Sharpie water-based paint pen. Most artists have one or two paint pens in their toolbox. I think the Pilot Juice Paint is a good option when you need to replace your existing stash.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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The Faber-Castell PITT Set includes four different sizes of markers: B (Brush), C (Chisel/Calligraphy), 1.5 (1.5 mm Bullet), and 2.5 (2.5 mm Bullet). I was hoping that the largest size would be useful for posters but its not quite that chonky. Overall, the Faber-Castell PITT set has a nice range of sizes if you’re not sure what will work best for your project.

The photo above shows the tip sizes. From left to right: chisel/calligraphy, brush, 1.5 mm and 2.5 mm. The 2.5 mm barrel is much larger than the other three pens so its a big pen for me to hold in my tiny, little hands.

The other pen I got was the Pentel Milky Brush pen in white. There is a push button on the end that can be pushed to force more ink into the brush tip.

Oh, that brush tip! Its a nylon bristle brush tip not a molded foam tip like the brush in the Faber-Castell PITT set. I love the brushes that have real bristles because the point is often so much finer. The bristles are soft and flex easily for a great range of stroke widths. Pumping the end will add more ink as needed.

I tested these pens on kraft and grey paper stock. They all performed much better on the kraft stock. The grey paper was a bit too light to show them in their best light (or should I say, best white?)

On the Kraft stock, it was easy to get good results with all the markers though I do find that the Pentel Milky Brush was more opaque overall. The PITT markers worked well and could be applied with multiple layers for a more opaque coverage/

Despite the grey paper being a bit light, it does quickly show that the Pentel Milky Brush is much more opaque with one pass of color compared to the PITT white markers.

Further testing is needed to determine how well these markers will work with mixed media drawings when combined with colored pencils, other pens and markers and paint. The PITT pens are India ink so they are lightfast, permanent, and archival. That is definitely an advantage if you are using these with other tools. The Pentel Milky Brush is listed as being water-resistant but there are no additional specifications though with white inks, they are likely to be lightfast.

Depending on your comfort with a real brush pen, I would recommend giving the Pentel Milky Brush a try. If you prefer a bullet tip or chisel tip or need the archival or guaranteed permanent quality, then I think the PITT Brush Set is a good option though I prefer the Pentel Milky Brush overall.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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I should start by saying that my speciality is needle arts, so I know next to nothing about paint pens. This is a set of 10 water based acrylic markers – 8 colors (Cool Fall), plus a white pen and a “blending pen.” While I’m a bit of a dunce at figuring out how to blend (and it looks like Ana didn’t have a lot of success) I did have fun seeing what the colors are.

They don’t come named, but I think they correspond to all the colors of fall leaves – red and orange, green and brown. And there are a few cool blues thrown in there for good measure. In fact, the collection reminds me quite a bit of a crocheted blanket I made last year in an autumn palette.

While these markers worked just fine on my Maruman Mnemosyne paper, I also tried them on black and kraft paper in my Night Sky journal (also from Archer & Olive) with mixed success. Some colors showed up super brightly, while others were paler. Maybe I didn’t press hard enough on the tip to get enough ink flow?

I would say these pens were a middling success, but they were fun to try out!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. The Acrylograph pens were purchased with Ana’s own funds, and Laura purchased the Night Sky Journal with her own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

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This reusable Pocket Felt Tip Marker comes in at a cool 4.8″/12.5cm capped, and 4.2″/10.5cm uncapped. It has a smooth metal body, and comes in a variety of colors (Black, Cream, Macchiato, Ocean Blue, Red and White) with silver colored metal hardware. The cap is a snap cap with a soft closure, and is postable. Finally,  the marker comes standard with a 0.8mm tip, but tips are also available in 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 mm.

L to R: SchonDsgn Pocket 6, Kaweco x Hello Kitty AL Sport, Meister Felt Tip Marker, Diplomat Traveler

L to R: SchonDsgn Pocket 6, Kaweco x Hello Kitty AL Sport, Meister Felt Tip Marker, Diplomat Traveler, Marvy Le Pen Fineliner

The Pocket Felt Tip Marker is designed to work with standard international cartridges. It can use a converter, but no converter is included, and the specs say that a full sized converter won’t fit in the barrel. There’s no converter indicated, which leads me to guess maybe the Kaweco mini converter would work? But I can’t be sure.

My favorite part about this pen is that you get a fun fine liner and you can use any ink you want. The instructions recommend that you not use shimmering or pigment-based inks because they can clog the feed and be difficult to rinse out of the pen, but as far as your regular fountain pen inks go? The sky’s the limit!

The biggest drawback on this pen for me is the section. The section near the tip is very short, and the transition to the body is very pronounced – it feels like a hard metal ring against your hand. Based on just a short time writing, I don’t think it would be comfortable for longer use, unless I could train myself to hold it above the section. While I love the fact that’s its a reusable metal body, I just don’t know if it will make it into my routine that often?

What do you think?

• Paper: Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50)
• Pen: Meister by Point Pocket Felt Tip Marker ($12.50)
• Ink: Ink cartridge roulette, likely Kaweco Ruby Red (mixed with black from previous cartridge) ($2.50 for 6 cartridges)

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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I have been looking for waterproof, write-on-anything markers that are less stinky than Sharpies. As a secondary issue, and perhaps I need to lift more weights, but am I the only one who has difficulty pulling caps off of some Sharpies? I usually end up marking myself somewhere due to the violence necessary to pull them off! Some caps also feel dubious when replaced – they appear to be on, but when substantial force is used, it finally closes completely with a sluggish thud. I might be spoiled by Japanese pens with caps that are removed and replaced easily, but I don’t think that’s too much to ask for. Anyway, it was time to give Staedtler Mars Lumocolor Permanent Markers a try. 

I picked up a wallet-enclosed set of four basic colors in point size medium (4/$10.80). The Lumocolor is also available in extra fine, fine and chisel points in sets of four or eight colors ($21.60), and black is available individually ($2.70).

Containing an alcohol-based ink, the Lumocolor does have an odor, but I find it less offensive and not as strong as Sharpie. In addition, the Lumocolor gets major points for having a cap that pulls off easily and is replaced with a satisfying, audible click – as you’d expect from any decent pen. Yay!

The Lumocolor’s medium bullet point looks smaller than the Sharpie’s fine point, but its written line is broader. I tested it on three notebook papers (from top) against the Sharpie: Hobonichi’s Tomoe River, Field Notes’ 70-pound Strathmore Cambric and Col-o-ring Oversize. I also show the reverse sides in the same order. The Lumocolor bled through slightly more than the Sharpie did, but it’s also a broader nib.

I also tested the Lumocolor on a glass jar and its metal lid. It writes very well on both. The ink did not budge with vigorous scrubbing.

For the cap alone, I was ready to switch to Lumocolor as my waterproof, permanent marker of choice. Reading the fine print on the barrel, however, piqued my curiosity in a different way: It says that the pen is refillable. What? 

According to JetPens’ product description, the pen is not refillable. I tried unscrewing the end cap, expecting to find a removable cartridge inside, but nothing unscrews. A little Googling led me to Staedtler’s site, which confirmed that the Lumocolor is, indeed, refillable! In fact, it’s refillable in a way that is familiar to all Desk readers: The ink comes in a bottle similar to fountain pen ink, and it refills through the nib (with the bottle’s “refill station”). Bonus points for being more environmentally sound than most toss-away markers!

Less stinky, easy cap, less plastic to toss – all reasons to use the Lumocolor.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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Her at The Desk, we are fairly obsessed with fountain pen ink and the myriad of colors available to us. I have experimented with the Kuretake fill-it-yourself fiber tipped and brush pens. And of course, we can’t pass up a fountain pen ink rollerball pen either. So, of course, when I found the Kakimori Colour Liner series ($5.50 each) I couldn’t resist. There are four options: Marker (with a chisel tip like a highlighter), Brush (with a soft, flexible fiber tip) and 0.5mm and 0.3mm fineliner tips.

The whole pen barrel is clear plastic with a simple metal clip. Inside each pen is an absorbent capillary ink reservoir section. To activate each pen, just choose a bottle of ink and place the ink reservoir section into the bottle.

Once inserted into a bottle of ink, the ink reservoir fills quickly. It’s quite satisfying to watch. Once filled, I wipe the end that was in the ink off with a rag to keep from getting residual ink on the interior of the clear pen barrel.

It takes less than a minute for the capillary ink reservoir to fill with ink. If it does not fill all the way to the very end, the instructions included recommend flipping the ink capsule upside to allow gravity to distribute the ink throughout.

Flip the end cap over to push the capillary ink unit into the pen and make contact with the feed (the little pointy bit visible beneath the pen tip).

The photo above shows the cap pressed halfway in. Push it all the way to make a tight seal at the end and with the feed. (see images below).

Once the ink reservoir is seated into the pen, I set the pens, tip end down in my pen cup for 15 minutes or so to let gravity pull ink into the tip. I doubt it takes all that long to distribute the ink into the tip but I set them in the pen cup and then got distracted answering email and 15 minutes elapsed before I retrieved them, By which time, the tips were fully saturated with ink.

I chose four different inks to try: Platinum Carbon Black (0.3mm) , Montblanc Lucky Yellow (marker pen), Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue (brush pen), and Colorverse Gravity Wave (0.5mm). The Montblanc Lucky Yellow made a nice alternative to neon highlighter ink for me. It’s a little too light to write with the fine point tip on the chisel but for underlining and highlighting, it looks lovely. The poppy Oster Soda Pop Blue in the brush marker performs admirably. It’s such a lovely blue. To my delight, all of the sheening qualities of Colorverse Gravity Wave were visible in the 0.5mm fineliner.

The 0.3mm and 0.5mm are the smallest fill-it-yourself fineliners I’ve found thus far so if you like the finer drawing pens but want to experiment with colors, these are at the top of my recommendation list.

Though it may not seem original or unique, I am pleased with the Platinum Carbon Black in the finest of the fineliner options. I plan to use it for drawing, lettering and various mixed media projects including in my journal/planner since once dry, it will not bleed into other colors.

Initially, I hoped that these pens might be refillable, but it seems unlikely that the capillary ink reservoirs can be rinsed and reused successfully. The ink units appear to be the same size that are used in the Kuretake Karappo pens. Maybe it’s possible to find replacement “wick cores” at some point.

Either way, if you are looking for ways to use your fountain pen inks, I find these fill-it-yourself markers and pens to be a great way to use your inks in new and different ways.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

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It’s planner prep season, and it’s also time to start thinking about (say it ain’t so!) the holidays. I took care of both with one set of brush pens: the Kuretake Zig Fudebiyori Metallic set of 8 colors (8/$17 or $2.50 each).

Although I have a gazillion brush pens and use them frequently, most are black, and I’ve somehow managed to resist color. In the daily scribble journal I’ve been keeping, however (more about that coming soon), color is essential. Since I already know and love the basic black Fudebiyori, these were an easy choice. (If you need more than metallic colors, Fudebiyori brush pens come in 48!)

First I tested them in a Leuchtturm 1917 A5 notebook, which is what I’ll be using for next year’s daily journal. Only silver shows a significant metallic sheen, but it may be because the pigment-based, acid-free ink contains no stinky, toxic xylene or other solvents. I have several metallic pens containing solvent-based inks, and while they are shinier, I’m fine with the tradeoff in using safe, non-smelly markers. I’m showing both a photo, which shows the metallic effect better, and a scanned image, which captures the colors more accurately.

The bold inks ghost on the back of the page, but no bleeding is apparent.

Next I tested them in my red and black Shizen journals, where these metallic brush pens pop and shine. Red even shows up on red paper, and black shows on black! That’s when I saw potential for holiday cards and other festive uses. 

Of course, I also love making winter nocturne scenes on the black pages of my Stillman & Birn Nova Trio sketchbook, so I couldn’t resist a pre-dawn sketch of the front porch and car across the street (I used silver and black brush pens).

These will do nicely for festive writing, daily journal scribbling and even sketching!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

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There are a lot acrylic paint pens and markers available (Posca, Molotow, Krink, Montana, Sharpie, etc) but the Archer & Olive Acrylograph water-based acrylic markers ($35, the set I bought is currently sold out but this link will take you to the page where the other sets are available) have been created and marketed specifically for the bullet journal and planner market. While that shouldn’t matter, there are certain types of art (and/or craft) supplies that just don’t make it to consumers who don’t have knowledge or access to art supply stores.

The Archer & Olive Acrylograph collect a set of curated colors of water-based acrylic marker pens into a beautifully presented set with inspiring (or maybe aspirational) graphics and instructions for use. If you’ve never tried acrylic paint pens before, these Archer & Olive Acrylograph pens are a great way to start.

I got the Warm Fall Collection which included eight colors plus an opaque white and an empty pen for blending. The set cost $35 (about $3.80 per pen). There are several other sets available including sets that feature a finer 0.7mm tip which I think would be an interesting option.

The package included a couple extra tips should the tips get frayed or bent. To switch tips, use a pair of tweezers or pliers to keep your hands from getting too messy.

Like with all paint pens, they need to be shaken to get the paint properly mixed and then to get the paint to flow, use a scrap sheet of paper and press the tip down until it retracts into the pen. Don’t worry about damaging the pen. As long as you are pushing  just hard enough to retract the point and pushing straight down, you will not damage the tip. Once the tip is fully coated with the paint color, it should be good to go. Repeat this process with each pen.

The package included an empty pen for blending but I was not savvy enough to figure out how to blend colors. I think that the paint dried too quickly to blend. To be honest, I think it would be difficult to blend colors in a smooth way with these relatively fine paint pen. 

I tested the colors on a sheet of Maruman Sketch 100gsm paper first to get the pens moving and just to see the colors.

It’s really fun to make dots with these pens!

There was no show through on the reverse side of the Maruman paper which is not particularly thick which is a good sign.

I used a sheet of paper from a Flow Paper magazine to test to see how opaque these pens were. The colors were reasonably opaque. If I layered them or applied a few more coats of color, they probably would be more opaque.

I really liked the colors though for a fall color collection, I would have liked more green but that is just me.

Overall, I think these pens are a good introduction into using acrylic paint pens. The colors are rich, opaque and dense. They can be layered when dry and can bee applied to a lot of different kinds of surfaces which is great if you like to do collage or paint on other surfaces (wood, cardboard, plastic, etc).

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. The Acrylograph pens were purchased with my own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

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I was absolutely tickled to find the Kuretake Zig Clean Color Dot Double Sided Markers recently. There are 12 different colors available (available in a set for $35 or individually for $3.30 each). I decided to just try a few colors to start. Usually, I’m inclined to get the whole set, every color, but this time, I decided to try a little restraint and just get a few of the colors I’m most likely to use. I got:

• Salmon darker and pinker than cap suggests
• Island Coral cap fairly accurate to fine tip but dots tend to be a bit darker
• Summer Sun bright golden yellow, cap color is a fairly accurate representation of color
• Kiwi (of course) best described as a fresh spring green, not as light as the caps suggest
• Ocean the fine tip is a little lighter than the cap and the dot end seems a little bluer than the caps suggest

So, what makes these markers different? Well, one end has a small dauber like a bingo marker. When tapped onto your paper with varying amounts of pressure, you can make dots of varying size. The dot end can also be used as a regular marker as well for coloring, highlighting or underlining. But let’s be honest, its making dots that is the real reason I bought these.

The other end has a 0.5mm fine tip marker which is good for writing or drawing. It would be perfect for titles in a bullet journal, addresses on envelopes or details in coloring.

As you can see the colors are bright and vibrant and quite Spring-y.  I think these are really fun and I have been bopping dots on anything that wasn’t moving. The pens are water-based pigment so the ink isn’t permanent. It won’t move like watercolor but if it gets wet, it will bleed to a certain extent. If you’re dotting on everything, it means you should be able to clean it up… hopefully.

Tools:

• Paper: Col-o-ring Oversize ($15)
• Pens: Kuretake Zig Clean Color Dot ($3.30 each)

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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I got the Le Pen Flex Brush in the 6-pen Set of Jewel Tone Colors ($9.75). These were always my favorite colors when I went shopping for the original Le Pens as a kid and I think of them as Le Pen’s signature colors. The set includes: amethyst (lavender), burgundy, magenta, navy, Oriental Blue, and teal.

The 6-pen set come in a rigid plastic case with a flip lid that doubles as a stand for the pens making it easier to access the pens while working. The clips lock into the case with a click.

The easiest way to discern the Flex pens from regular Le Pens are two ways: the foil stamped “Flex” on the barrel and the end cap is a translucent version of the color rather than opaque. The pen width, length and clip are otherwise identical to the original.

The fiber tips are a conical shape encased in plastic. The “flex tips” are not particularly long like a brush tip. They are more like a soft bullet tip. According to the description on the package, they are “rubberized brush tips”.

While the package describes the colors as “vivid” the characteristic I associate most with these Jewel colors are rich. The colors are also a little unusual for markers and felt-tipped pens sold in mass market channels. Oriental Blue has always been one of my favorite colors in the Le Pen color line-up. In watercolor, it would be called Prussian Blue which is also one of my favorite colors. The burgundy always looks like red to me but that’s fine.

As for the flexibility of the tips, it’s enough to be interesting but not awe-inspiring. I suspect the tips will wear down quickly to a blunt, less defined shape like a Sharpie marker making these pens useful for filling in color at best. Because of their short length, the thick-to-thin ratio was not very dramatic to begin with.

The pens did make me nostalgic for the regular fiber-tipped Le Pens, however. Maybe my inner grade schooler will just need to pull out a Hello Kitty notebook and some Le Pens this week.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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