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Fountain pen inks with the Pentel pocket brush

August 18, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Most brush pens only come in black. Occasionally, they also come in grey, but very rarely are there any additional colors.

My favourite brush pen, the Pentel pocket brush, only has black cartridge inks available. A few years ago, when I picked up a new Pentel pocket brush for a fresh tip, I decided to syringe-fill the old one with grey ink (specifically J. Herbin’s Gris Nuage). This was a great decision, and I’ve really enjoyed being able to use my fav pen to add value to drawings in addition to making the lines.

More recently, Pentel decided to release five limited edition versions of the pocket brush with different colored pen bodies. Alas, they’ve found my weakness… collectibles and colors.

The limited edition (LE) camellia Pentel pocket brush

The limited edition (LE) camellia Pentel pocket brush

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Review: Zebra Usu-Zumi Grey Brush Pen

March 20, 2019 / / 0 Comments

My local Daiso has stocked Zebra brush pens pretty regularly for a while now, and it’s usually where I load up on the Zebra super fines I like so much. While I was in Richmond, BC, though, I stopped by their monstrous two-story Daiso and saw some pens I hadn’t seen before, including this mysterious Zebra one.

Zebra Usu-Zumi brush pen in and out of packaging

Searching around later, it seems this is the Zebra “Usu-Zumi” brush pen (P-WF1-GR), which is confusingly labeled “black” in most places, despite actually being a grey ink pen.

The pen doesn’t seem widely available online, and when it is, it’s usually bundled with the other Zebra brush pens or priced anywhere between $3 and $8 as a single pen, so Daiso’s $1.50 price ($2.00 CAD) was a great deal.

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Review: Monami Olika Fountain Pen

October 6, 2018 / / 0 Comments

So the Ooly Splendid Pen is apparently just a repackaged version of the Monami Olika fountain pen, but the latter comes in more default color options and has an extra fine nib available in addition to the fine.

The Ooly pen was impressive for the $5-6 price point and since the Monami is priced the same, I picked up a Monami with the EF nib in black. A neutral color would give the pen more use cases for me, and I wanted to see if the EF nib was as good as the F.

Spoilers: It is. This pen is wonderful.

Monami Olika fountain pen

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Top 3 Pens for Inking

September 27, 2018 / / 0 Comments

I’ve wanted do some kind of “top pens” post for a while, and with Inktober just around the corner, I figure now is a great time to talk about pens for inking.

Top Overall Recommended

  1. Tombow Fudenosuke hard
  2. Pentel pocket brush (review)
  3. Sakura Micron pens

These are my top picks in each category of felt tip brush pen, synthetic hair brush pen, and technical pen, then ranked in order of which I personally use the most. A Pentel pocket brush, maybe two of the Tombows, and a set of Microns, easily arms you for every kind of line you might want to make and can definitely carry you through a month of daily ink drawings.

“Real” brushes and dip pen nibs weren’t considered here since I don’t use them nearly as often and have way less expertise as a result. No fountain pens either, since I don’t use them to draw as much as I use them to write… but recent acquisitions may well change this in time for next year… That category also open up the wonderful world of inks, which is a whole ‘nother ballgame entirely and something I’m still slowly exploring.

So for now, just pens! But no fountain pens. It’s mostly brush pens. No one’s surprised.

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Review: Ooly Splendid Pen

August 26, 2018 / / 0 Comments

I was up in Ballard recently to drop off copies of my new horror zine, SEARCH PARTY, at Push/Pull. Afterwards, I poked around the neighbourhood a little.

Market Street is aptly named as there are tons of nice little shops lined up along it and near to it, including various things of interest to me: an art supply store, an independent book store, an antiques and curiosities shop, and a few print and frame shops.

I was browsing Annie’s Art & Frame when I found a fountain pen I’d never seen or heard of before — Ooly’s Splendid pen. At a whole $6, I, of course, couldn’t resist.

Pen display at Annie’s Art & Frame.

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