Review by Tina Koyama
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.
