pen 100: sakura microperm

welcome to the 100th post here at a pen a day.

as i steadily got closer to this post i started to think about whether or not i ought to do something special for this momentous occasion...  if nothing else, what pen should i choose? all these questions running through my mind and what it comes down to is this.

i finally settled on a pen, drew it, drew with it, and before i came home tonight i stopped at a local art/craft supply store, michael's.

one of the reasons was that i am currently carving/etching woodcuts for stamps and prints and i wanted to look at the tools they had for carving wood and linoleum, or rubber, whatever. while i was looking for these i was in the stamp section, a section that i have never had any reason to visit before and discovered that they had pens stocked there as well... pens... in the stamp section... sigh.

and these are pens that i have heard of, but never seen... sigh.

so yeah, a scouting mission turned into a procurement  run and here i am, last minute, drawing with something that i seem to do less and less these days and that is, a new and unfamiliar pen.

allow me to introduce the sakura microperm. my first thought when i bout this pen was that it looked like another pen that sakura makes, the micron.the initial physical differences are minor, it is a dark gray pen with english and japanese writing on the barrel. this particular pen is .5mm, the only size that i saw, and when i looked at the tip, i noted that it was another plastic tipped pen. when i got home and started using it i was immediately disappointed.

unlike the micron, this pen does have a slight odor, reminiscent of prismacolor markers which im guessing means it is alcohol based ink, while this is not really a bad thing, it does dry quickly, it does mean that you should wait until you're twenty-one to lick it... (hahahaha i'm funny)

this pen puts a lot more ink onto the paper a lot faster than the micro which led to bleed, out and through. alas, a waste of money and such a crappy way to do 100...

and then i really started using it. i noticed that the tip is a lot more durable than the more fragile micron, more like a staedtler pen, and that when i was drawing using quicker strokes that the bleed was considerably reduced. in fact, the more i used it the more i found myself liking it, surprising myself with this pen's ability for detail, even considering that this is a .5 mm tip and that there are smaller tipped version of this pen available. the other side of this was that even with its ability to detail, the  heavier flow of ink would make this pen a good choice for inking those smaller black spaces that the micron would be ill suited.

the price was $2.79 off the shelf in a retail setting, and individual pens are going for around the same on amazon.com. i even found a few 3 pen sets there as well ranging between $4-$7 making these pens rather inexpensive for the type of pen they are. i think i can safely say that as soon as a sell the next painting, i will be investing in a set of these pens. i stand by my claim that this pen is worth a try, and if you get one and disagree, send it to me and i will exchange it for an original drawing using that pen. 

website:

www.sakuraofamerica.com

what they say:

Every facet of fine line detailing and permanence is incorporated into this pen to execute writing in micro-spaces or on unusual and challenging surfaces.

Microperm is used to make precise long-lasting marks on test tubes, circuit boards, diamonds, cellophane, wood and glass, plastic, metal, or wherever there is a need for waterproof ink that will write on non-porous surfaces. Diamond cutters can use Microperm to make minute markings on rough diamonds to insure exact cuts.
Microperm features:

• Chemically stable, and waterproof
• Low odor and fulfills non-toxicity requirements
• Permanent adherence to most surfaces
• A fine line nib with a protected tip that will not split
• Writes on diamonds, glass, wood, cellophane, plastic and glossy sheets, CDs, photographic and x-ray film, paper and metal
• Alcohol based cleaners will remove ink from non-porous surfaces

Microperm Pen is available:

• Black Ink.
• Point 01: 0.25 mm
• Point 03: 0.35 mm
• Point 05: 0.45 mm