My Current Toolbox

The question I get asked the most often is what pen I use for my journaling or lettering. There are so many choices out there, and to be honest I haven't tried that many. When looking to buy anything, I usually do some research and try to find a product with good reviews or recommendations before I decide what to purchase. Then, if I really like something, I tend to stick with it. Life is just simpler that way...

These are my current tools of choice:

From top to bottom, left to right:

1. Sakura Pigma Micron Ink Pen - The first set of pens that I purchased. They write quite smoothly and the ink is nice and dark. The only drawback for me is that due to my heavy handedness, the tips of the finer point pens sometimes break. But I think that's my fault and not the pens. I have also ordered a pack of 005 pens only to find that they were already somewhat dried out :(

2. Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight Bold Point Gel Ink pen - I LOVE these pens for colored lettering or doodles. My favorite in the set is the hot pink. I also purchased this pen in metallic gold. Pink and gold, what's not to love?

3. Pentel Arts Aquash Water Brush - I bought this for water coloring and brush lettering. It's perfect for painting on the go, just takes practice to be able to control the water flow. It's great fun to play with!

4. Speedball Deluxe Oblique Pen Holder - This pen holder, combined with the Nikko G nib, is great for beginners like me who want to try their hand at calligraphy.

5. Pilot G-Tec-C4 Ultra Fine pen in Black - my absolute favorite pen. It produces the perfect line width and writes like a dream. It withstands even my heavy-handedness! If I could only have one pen to write with for the rest of my life, this would be it :)

6. Pentel Arts Pocket brush pen in black - This is a great pen for brush lettering if you don't feel like dealing with a separate brush and ink. I like to use this pen for the bold titles in my Hobonichi journal entries. The ink is dark and you can make variable width strokes very easily. I go through refills quite quickly as I love to practice with this, so I'm thinking I should try brush and ink to save money and stretch my crafting dollars (we shall see).

7. Uniball Signo Broad Point Gel Impact pen in white - This pen is the best white gel pen I have tried. I love the look of white ink on dark paper and this is a must-have for me.

8. Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens in black - These pens are the most recent addition to my collection. I used these for my Moleskine art journal quotes and have come to like them very much. I also broke the tip on one of these pens, so I guess that's a sign that I need to ease up on the amount of pressure I apply to my pens when I write!

9. Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleedproof White ink - I haven't taken any formal classes in calligraphy, so I had to research on how to use this ink. Basically, you mix a small amount of it with water. Trial and error and lots of testing until you achieve a consistency where the ink will flow smoothly from your nib. This ink is stunningly beautiful on black paper, so I am determined to master mixing this ink (it took me forever the first time I tried it.)

10. Small screw-top Dinky Dip inkwells - These inkwells come in various sizes and configurations.

11. Moon Palace Sumi Ink - This gorgeous bottle is from a calligraphy starter set from Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls, one of my favorite calligraphers. Her style is distinctive and instantly recognizable, and she has kits for sale on her Etsy shop. They are not available all the time, so stalk her Instagram feed to find out when they do become available for sale and pounce.

12. Bic Wite-Out - Because nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes :)

What are your favorite tools for journaling?