Liquid pencils
May. 9th, 2004 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tephraWhile poking around the stationary aisle of Walmart I spotted something very interesting, a liquid pencil.
Papermate makes what they call the "Ingenuity Liquid Pencil", a 0.7mm ball point pencil. As far as I can tell it's a gel style 'pen' with graphite for the 'ink'. I'll have to break this thing in a little, just like a new gel pen, but so far it's interesting at least. The line is finer than I expected (I like 0.5mm leads for my mechanical pencils and 'fine' and 'very fine' pens) and the coverage is spotty. I expect both of those traits to work themselves out with use, though I'd prefer the keep the fine line. As far as erasing the liquid pencil goes, it works better the longer the 'ink' has to dry. It's humid today so there is a distinct pressure mark from the rollerball in the paper.
While the packaging says it's an HB 'lead' I find it really hard to smudge. I had to apply a fair amount of deliberate pressure to smear the stuff, and it only worked on the fresh lines. This could be good or bad depending on your typical use for pencils. If you're a smudgy shadow penciler then forget this thing, it's not going to make you happy. If, however, you dread the haze of smudged pencil in your sketchbook this might be just the thing for you.
A note on style: It's a rollerball, it writes like a pen, even if the 'ink' is made of graphite. Sketches look like ballpoint sketches, not pencil sketches.
Papermate makes what they call the "Ingenuity Liquid Pencil", a 0.7mm ball point pencil. As far as I can tell it's a gel style 'pen' with graphite for the 'ink'. I'll have to break this thing in a little, just like a new gel pen, but so far it's interesting at least. The line is finer than I expected (I like 0.5mm leads for my mechanical pencils and 'fine' and 'very fine' pens) and the coverage is spotty. I expect both of those traits to work themselves out with use, though I'd prefer the keep the fine line. As far as erasing the liquid pencil goes, it works better the longer the 'ink' has to dry. It's humid today so there is a distinct pressure mark from the rollerball in the paper.
While the packaging says it's an HB 'lead' I find it really hard to smudge. I had to apply a fair amount of deliberate pressure to smear the stuff, and it only worked on the fresh lines. This could be good or bad depending on your typical use for pencils. If you're a smudgy shadow penciler then forget this thing, it's not going to make you happy. If, however, you dread the haze of smudged pencil in your sketchbook this might be just the thing for you.
A note on style: It's a rollerball, it writes like a pen, even if the 'ink' is made of graphite. Sketches look like ballpoint sketches, not pencil sketches.
