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The Purl Bug

Analog distractions in a digital age
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Felt tip face-off: Sharpie Pen vs. Sakura Pigma Micron

April 14, 2016

I have recently discovered a strong fondness for felt tipped pens.  They seem to give me a lot of the things I like about pencils in terms of how they feel on paper, but with the convenience of a pen (no sharpening or smearing, consistent tip size, and an array of color options).  I have the luxury of an art supply store on campus that sells singles of a wide variety of pens, so I thought that I would do some comparisons and start off with two of my favorites - the Sharpie Pen and the Sakura Pigma Micron.  These are two great pens that really set the bar for what a felt tipped pen should be.

Sharpie Pen
Things I like:

  • Pretty inexpensive
  • Very water and light resistant (see tests here for light resistance)
  • Of the two, this pen is the more comfortable to hold
  • Tip seems finer/able to resist mushing better
  • Dries quickly
  • Fairly mainstream

Things I don't like:

  • Ink seems like a "light black" 

Pigma Micron
Things I like:

  • Truly black ink
  • Color variety is better
  • Wide range of tip sizes
  • Metal clip can be adjusted, to a point
  • Water resistant and would assume light resistant as well

Things I don't like:

  • Slightly harder to find in normal stores and slightly more expensive
  • Lots of sharp edges and short section
  • Body color scheme is drab

I have a really hard time picking a clear winner between these two.  I wish I could mix the body of the Sharpie with the ink of the Micron - that would probably be my perfect felt pen.  Until then, I reach for them both equally and the difference in cost is so slight that it will not affect my purchasing habits.  If all you have available is big-box retailers, I would highly recommend the Sharpie and I doubt you will find yourself unhappy with it.  But, if you have an art supplier nearby, give a Micron a try - maybe for you there will be a clear winner but for me, there's room at the top for two.

In pen, reviews Tags face-off, sharpie, micron, felt tip, pen, review, black
← Thoughts on the Bic CristalPencil review - Ten KM Pencil →

Sometimes, I take pictures of things...

Look, a podcast has finally happened! :-) January turned out to be a surprisingly tough month between settling in to life in Alabama and starting my new job. I’m feeling a lot better about my ability to handle things now so hopefully these will start coming a bit more frequently.  Links are in my profile to everywhere you can watch and if you are working on a project for the stripe-a-thon KAL don’t forget to tag it #stripeathonKAL so I can see!
Getting the year started with a new podcast! It’s a short one but I’d rather be recording shorter episodes more often than just not recording at all... Not a ton of new stuff if you were watching vlogmas but I do talk about our first KAL of 2019 so check that out if you want to join! Links to YouTube, my blog, and the Ravelry group are all in my profile. :-)
I talk more about this in my vlogmas today (link to YouTube in profile if you want), but I’m taking a bit of a different approach to #makenine2019... I want to knit down my stash and make room for new stuff to come in, so I picked 9 items from my stash and I am going to make an effort to use them in 2019, preferably earlier rather than later. I don’t have plans for all of them yet, but here’s what they are, going left to right starting on the top:

1: a bunch of 50g sock yarn skeins which will become short socks
2: Huntsville themed yarn - no project plan yet
3: orange hand-dyed sparkly sock yarn - probably going to be a hat
4: hand-dyed BFL sock yarn - no plan yet
5: hand-dyed BFL sock yarn - another Head Sock to be gifted away
6: 2x hand-dyed BFL sock yarn - knee socks!
7: 2x hand-dyed BFL sock yarn - more knee socks?
8: hand-dyed MCN - Northlights hat
9: hand-dyed gradient mini set - Viajante or some other similar cowl
Nope, no theme at all in my 2018 #topnine... it’s been a crazy year (in case you don’t watch my podcast, I just relocated to Alabama) but a good one for knitting. I’ve published 3 patterns, refined my skills for dyeing yarn, and really started to hone in on my knitwear aesthetic. Here’s to 2019!

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