But getting fi ner lines of a consistent width can be
diffi cult, tedious, and time consuming. You need an
extremely steady hand, and you have to keep dipping
the brush to get more paint. I wondered, “Would a
marker work better than a brush?”
This led me to experiment with markers. In recent
work, I’ve tested several brands of markers and pens.
Some are designed primarily for use on materials other
than fabric, such as plastic, glass, and wood. They are
used by graffi ti artists, people who draw on surfboards,
and by mixed-media artists and scrapbookers.
Here are my thoughts on some of the brands I tried.
Uni-Posca Paint Markers
These markers by Mitsubishi Pencil Co. come in
many regular and metallic/glitter colors. They work
on most surfaces including fabric, glass, metal, plastic,
stone, and porcelain. They are a favorite of graffi ti artists.
The water-based pigment ink is opaque, rather than
transparent, and is lightfast and waterproof. The pens
have felt tips, and come in different sizes and types
(brush, extra-fi ne, extra-fi ne bullet, fi ne, medium, broad,
broad chisel, and extra-broad).
I generally liked these pens and found that they
didn’t bleed much on the fabric as long as I didn’t push
down too hard.
Sakura® Pigma Micron Pen
These felt-tip pens contain archival-quality ink. They
are acid free, waterproof, and fade resistant; and they
don’t bleed too much.
I’ve been using these for years for drawing on paper,
on my art quilts, and for quilt labels. They tend to bleed
into the fi bers of cotton fabrics if you hold them in place
too long but on painted fabric they don’t bleed. They
come in a brush nib as well as felt tips mounted in metal
needle-like tips, in sizes 003 (0.15mm) through 08
(0.50mm).
Uni-ball Signo UM-153 Pen
This pen by Mitsubishi Pencil Co. has opaque
pigment ink in a roller-ball type pen that makes a nice,
consistent, bright white line on dark fabrics. The marks
stand out especially well on dark painted fabrics. These
are a favorite of scrapbookers and artists who work on
paper.
Above: Susan’s test samples of markers and pens on dark and light
fabrics. Left: “John Dory” has extensive marker work, including
small dots and lines added using the Uni-ball Signo pen.The ones I purchased in craft stores had information
printed on the pens in English. The ones I purchased online
had information in Japanese. They look slightly different,
but contain the same ink, as far as I can tell.Tsukineko® Fabrico™ Dual Tip Markers
These markers are designed for use on fabric, and they
are permanent on fabric and many other materials. They are
acid free, fade resistant, and archival. They have one end that
works like a brush and the other end has a fi rmer felt tip that
acts like a marker. The ink is fairly transparent.
These pens don’t create really fi ne lines but they work
well for medium lines. They are from the same company that
makes Tsukineko Inks and VersaCraft™ stamp pads.