Gellin’

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with ballpoint pens. They’re great for their ability to write fairly consistently on just about any soft surface, so the many plastinated cards and teaching materials I tend to have accept little else. They are also more water-safe and moisture-safe than any other pen, and their viscosity and quick drying make them a must for writing addresses on envelopes that I want to make it to the other side of the planet through all sorts of weather.

But those very traits that make ballpoints good in all these ways make them lousy in other ways. The viscosity of the ink means they don’t always start easily and the line they make on the page is not always a consistent strength. They also don’t flow as readily from the pen, and although this set of Staedtler Triangular ballpoints comes in some nice colours, the variety and colours available in other ink and pen form factors just isn’t matched.

So it’s no surprise that my love of mega-packs of pens and a wide variety of inks and colour brought out a big love of gel pens in me. One of my favourites in current rotation, that I’m using everywhere for both writing and artwork, are the Bic Gelocity. The strength and radiance of the colours is just unmatched by even the most vivid of the Staedtlers.

Pentel’s Hybrid gel pens come in bright and bold metallic and opaque colours which I love to use for art and the occasional letter.

However, their wide mark makes them less interesting to use in my preferred lined-paper widths.

Their EnerGel line on the other hand has a nice fine point, and their standard line of colours is wider than any other brand I’ve seen.

Zebra’s Sarasa seems to bridge this gap with some really cool metallic and marbled colours in fine points. Unfortunately some of the colours are just a bit too light for writing on standard white paper but not opaque enough for dark paper, and thus best suited for art, which renders their fine point less ideal.

Pilot’s Juice and Juice Up lines boast super-fine lines and fairly bold colour varieties, great for both writing and some line art, with the exception of some of the lighter and metallic colours.

But my undisputed favourite gel pen set is this 74-strong army of Sakura Gelly Roll pens. Featuring a variety of tip widths, colours and ink types, I could write and draw for days with this box and never have to reach for any other pens. The opaques are truly opaque and the majority of the pens work outstandingly on dark paper. These chalky inks also boast a water resistance better than most other gel pens and way better than fountain pen ink.

Gel pens deserve their prominence in the stationery aisle at both specialty shops and everyday office supply stores. I think everyone should have a collection of them!