Ink : Not Ink, but Paint! Water-resistant and lightfast

Nib : Fiber tipped in bullet or bevel cut

Size : I used the bullet tipped 750 Markers with a 2-4mm nib.

Cap : Removable

Manufacturer :  Edding

RRP : I got mine from good old Cult Pens @ around £3.19 / pen

A looooong overdue Pen Geek blog! These Edding paint markers were the stars of my recent work for The Famous Grouse. I was commissioned to draw on a white fiberglass statue that would be displayed occasionally outdoors and had to stand up to the fierce Scottish weather. You can read more about this commission here.

Unsure of what pens would be up for the challenge, I tweeted my predicament and those great peeps at CultPens recommended these little beauties.

As far as I can make-out, these are the most hardcore little pens you can get. They’re recommended for gardeners, farmers, sailors and SAS soldiers as they are hardy enough to withstand rain, snow, frost, sun and possibly nuclear attack. (I made some of that up, but you get the idea…)

As the name would indicate, these are exactly like a standard permanent marker, except they contain a water and light resistant paint as opposed to ink. Available in a plethora of vibrant colours as well as metallics, these pens were perfect for the job at hand.

In addition to some 750’s with the larger nibs, I also bought a few medium sized 751’s and some almost fineliner-esque 780’s. For this job, I worked in black, red and gold. The ink, or paint, was fantastic. Super opaque, vibrant and the gold metallic had a rich sparkle throughout. If you want to work colour on colour, I’d advise going dark over light and leaving plenty drying time between layers (like a day!).

The downside: The ink is fairly thick and can get a big gluggy around the nib. If you shake it up too much and pump the nib up and down to get the ink flowing, you risk a sudden flood of sticky paint – not good! The somewhat viscous paint also takes a bit longer to dry than your average marker pen ink, so you have to keep this in mind and work in a direction which avoids smudging.

Overall though, I thought these pens were cracking. I did have some trouble with pooling and smudging, but I’m guessing that working upside down on a huge 3D Grouse had something to do with the weird ink flow. The flow of ink when right way up, line size and control when drawing were all tip top. And I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how these pens stand up to the elements!

 

Thanks to Nick Mailer for his photographs.