THE MARKER DISTRICT
I was in HK and Shanghai last year, and between both cities, I probably got about 50 new markers for my collection. Shanghai had this one district where it was all just art supplies and stationary stores. That was such an awesome day, going from one shop to the other, picking up markers than ducking to the next spot. Seeing all sorts of stuffs in between drinking good juices and hanging with good people. I remember hanging on this corner with Yong Ki , Sandro, Fos, Andrew, Tim and Jeff, being really hot and watching some shopkeeper bang on his air conditioner. Then Sandro bought a bottle of water from some man on the corner. Than we all jumped in the van across the street to go to this huge paint and home supplies warehouse.
PILOT SUPER COLOR B BROAD – I got this thing in this department store stationary store type place. Each brand had their own section, and you had to get these pink slips from each concession lady indicating what you wanted from each section. Then you brought all the slips to the payment counter where they would stamp your slips to show you paid. Then you brought the slips back to the concessions to collect your goods. Anyways, this marker is really good. Compact, nice wide chisel tip, and thick ink coverage. Really nice design lines and markings similar to the large scale metal jacket Pilots.
PILOT SUPER COLOR BROAD – I picked this one up in TST area of HK. It was just in some stationary store rack. I also bought a package of food-with-googly-eye stickers from there. The marker is fatter than the other mini, and looks more like a bottle of travel shampoo than a black marker. I don’t particularly like the design, but it is a good quality marker.
SAKURA PEN-TOUCH – I got this one in that department store stationary spot. The Sakura concession was right in front of the door when I entered. This is a good quality standard twin tip, with Chisel Tip on one end and Fine bullet point on the other. Good ink quality but runs a little stiff.
BLACK MARKER – Well, I wish I could read the markings and characters on this one. It’s a really nice modern looking marker. Black plastic construction with accents of silver and gold lettering and labelling. Good quality ink.
HUAYING – I remember the shop I got this in. Lights were kind of off in there, loads of glass counters and pack full of merchandise. I got this marker and a bunch of POP markers, and was contemplating a white rabbit notebook, but didn’t end up getting it. This is a good quality marker, although it looks like a cheap Chinatown dollar store marker. Ink smells like black pepper.
XINGYU BOARDMARKER – I think I picked this up in TST. Cheap quality nib gets mushy real quick. The guy at the counter wasn’t too helpful either.
SAKURA PEN TOUCH – Metal jacket construction, bullet tip, great quality marker. Got it in that department store stationary store type place. It was the first marker I touched in there. To be honest, I was expecting more from the Sakura concession. I thought there would be loads of fat metal jacket markers. Still, happy to have picked up some Sakura product.
