Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Eureka!

I have found it!  Actually, more than one 'it'. I've been looking hard for a good white ink pen and after several frustrating purchases I think I've found a couple. One is good for doing fine work like zentangle and other fine doodles and the other is good for thicker lines for writing.

I guess that takes my total spending for this journal up to about $15 since I started it in January.  Not bad.

Naturally I went a little nuts using the white pens on the dark green background. But it was fun.

The main thing I was trying to get was a white pen that would write on a background of acrylic paint.

The Pentel Sunburst white gel pen works very well, lays down a fine line, but you have to give it an easy touch. Just let it glide over the surface without pressing too hard and it will lay down a nice line of ink.

The Sakura gel pen is a thicker line, goes on milky-clear and dries white. It takes a few minutes to dry completely so this isn't a 'journal-on-the-go' pen. It has a tendency to puddle so don't let your pen tip linger for too long in one spot.

I tried another more expensive major maker of gel pen that was a total disaster. It's named on the layout and if you really want to read about it you'll find it if you look for it. I have nothing nice to say about it so I won't say anything with the brand name attached. I have no doubt that the ink inside the pen might be  nice ink because some of the ink layed down on the page where I experimented. But it seemed almost as if the ink was too thick to pass the roller ball in the tip. It just wouldn't lay the ink down. And since it was a two pack of pens I tried the second one just in case it was just a defective pen but the second one did the same thing. It would lay down about 1/4 inch of a line and then quit. I had to beat on the tip on another sheet of paper to get the ink going again and then it would quit again.  Too much frustration to keep working with it so I gave up and pitched them into the garbage can.

So there is my assessment of white ink pens. And some Zentangly doodles.

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