EL MARKO RIDES AGAIN !

Another mixed bag of markers, most of which came from an ebay lot I popped on last month. Lot of nice classics in the mix.

EL MARKO WATERCOLOR

Wow. The El Marko was my Holy Grail for the longest time until I got one from the homey DIET HTK earlier in the year. This is the watercolor version - same silhouette as the other el Marko, but a white body. Nice multi-faceted chiseltip. Really nice indigo hued ink, similar to Crayola - makes crisp, sharp lines. Just as excited to have this one in the collection. El Marko rides again !

CARTERS MARKS-A-LOT

This is a classic. Tri-color foil sticker label on black plastic body. Has the old skool CARTERS logo/wordmark on it, before MARKS-A-LOT became the property of AVERY. Chisel tip. Smells like italian salad dressing. Gem.

FABER CASTELL 3000

This is a low-key, no frills marker. All black plastic construction with simple 2-line metallic gold imprinted logo and labeling. Lightweight. Chisel-tip is all mashed in and soft so give off tar-scratch lines. Mellow odor. 

AEROMARKER 900 

A simple, long black sleek marker with stylish gold metallic wordmark and minimal labeling on side. Chisel tip. Makes good clean marks with no bleed. A fancy marker to be used while wearing white gloves and a monacle. Fancy. Nice acidic bite in the odor. 

EDDING No.2

This is a unique tapered silhouette from edding. Plastic construction, Grey body, bold blue wordmark. The “e” is scratched off. Huge deviation from all the previous edding designs. Gone is the familiar red/blue/white colorway, logo and wordmarks. Bullet tip. Makes super precise lines that cut and curve without bleed or loss of control. An understated, utilitarian marker that performs extremely well.

ARTLINE POSTER MARKER

Surprised that I didn’t have this one yet. Water-based tempera marker. Circle tip. Juiced up right now, works like gangbusters. 6mm tip. Pretty solid construction for a plastic body. Eccentric White/Red/Yellow/Blue color scheme on black base. Artline always makes dope products, this beauty included.

MERANGUE PERMANENT

Here’s some random marker from the dollar store. Has the weird metallic grey plastic body color prevalent in dollar store markers. Chisel tip. Makes nice clean deep black lines. Good quality marker. Better than average for a dollar store find, on par quality with some name brand markers.

ONLINE / ARTLINE

Finding new markers around the city for the collection is a bit of a challenge these days, so I started looking online. It’s not as fun as physically hunting things down, but it does bump up the number count efficiently and effectively. Here’s a little selection I received this week.

8MM MARKER

Oh this thing I picked up at the dollar store. Came nicely packaged in clamshell plastic on cardboard backing. Has the same markings and text as another marker in my collection, but all the labelling and details are screened directly on the black plastic, as opposed to being printed on a wrap-around labelling.

The best pull quote from the label reads “ It is more developed and smells soft “. Flimsy-ish plastic construction, barrel bends in a bit when squeezed. Good heavy ink flow, applies smooth without bleed. A better than average marker for an economical cost.

JIFFY ARTLINE 400 PAINT

Jiffy is the first marker company that I wrote to asking for samples, who promptly replied and fulfilled my request, so I guess I have a slight bias towards their products. That being said Artline makes excellent product, offering a variety of product that performs consistently with high production value and good design. This is a classic silhouette from Artline / Sichihata. Slim metal construction, white barrel base with attractive markings and black plastic cap. Bullet tip. Xylene free. Good quality nib and ink properties. Applies smooth. A nice Jiffy/Artline co-brand product.

STABILO PLAN BOARD MARKER

Stabilo products always have better than average performance qualities, but I never really like their design. This marker is no exception. White plastic barrel, with printed-on-plastic label. Cap doesn’t really stay on the back when plugged in. Pretty sloppy design detail. 4mm chisel tip. The ink property, is excellent though. Most dry erase markers have a brown-tinged ink. This ink is a true medium-to-dark black that applies smooth with no bleed or stagger. Great potential for a marker brand if design matches product quality.

INTEGRA DRY ERASE MARKER

The ergonomic trend in dollar store markers continues. It’s really cool to see some companies try to offer interesting design product at low price. This marker flares out wide at the end, matte heavyweight plastic construction throughout. Rubberized grip towards the nib with “finger-holds” up the barrel. I guess “marker-slippage” is an on the job danger that they really want to prevent. Faint alcohol smell. Good clean ink properties apply medium/dark black. A bit of stagger on application, but that was on paper, not on whiteboard for which it was designed for. Overall a great economical marker.

ARTLINE ECO-GREEN CHISEL TIP

ARTLINE ECO-GREEN BULLET TIP

Same overall design and ink properties, just different shaped nibs. Dry safe ink properties made from 74% recycled materials. Claims that the cap can be left off for 2 weeks without drying out. Let me test that out. I’ll get back to you on that one…Refillable, nibs are replaceable, xylene free. Great ink quality. Applies smooth. Nice dark tint. Couple of subtle design features to this marker that impress me -

The interior cap has an extra plastic bit built in to sheath the tip. Most caps leave that space empty. The rounded exterior cap has a notch, and a flat base on one side. Another notch is built just below the marker nib. The notches click together, allowing you to hold the cap and marker in place, resting securely so it doesn’t roll off the surface. Wow. I guess my only re-occurring inssue with any “ECO” marker product is, why the entire product line can’t be created eco-friendly, only one product out of their range. Can the printed inks be “environmentall friendly” as well ? Not that i’m a huge environmental crusader, but if you are going to take one step towards that direction, you might as well see how you can go all the way. But yeah, that notch system. WOW.

Steady Diet of Nothing

Buncho markers I found while clearing out my jacket pockets.

YILEBRAND BI-NIB – Chinatown Dollar Store find. I’m pretty sure. Artline bootleg. Printed plastic label cover wrap. Inferior grade plastic body construction. You haven’t sampled inferior grade plastic till you been to China. I know disposable plastic drinking cups are supposed to be flimsy and cheap, but the ones they have out there are thin and move around in your hand like it was made out of condom. And in true bootleg marker fashion, this one was DOA when I tried to test it. Dried out and died out.

ELMERS PAINTERS COLOR CUTTER – Wow. This is the second marker-and-knife combination that I have in my collection. Who knew there was that niche market. I think it’s the emo and self-harming movement. Painters is a familiar brand from Michaels Craft Supply raiding days. Chisel tip. This is a bad product. The blade on this one has already slipped down the nib crack so it doesn’t even cut. I’m not going to pull it up with tweezers. So now it’s just a normal marker. Stick to making glue Elmer…yeah you just got punned Elmer. Deal.

FUGAZ 2 – From the corner Hasty Market. This marker is dope for a bunch of reasons. Firstly, it’s called Fugaz 2. I must have slept on the first one. Second, it’s made by a company called Wearever. That’s so underacheiver and proud of it man. Third, it’s the first marker in my collection that is HECHO EN MEXICO. I knew I should have gone to Mexico earlier this summer when I had the chance.

MAINSTAYS – Dollar store or Walmart whiteboard yawner. Good construction, nice chisel tip, works well.

HENGLI SUPER SHIRE – And just when I think I have amassed all the Chinatown Dollar Store Sharpie bootleg variations, I come across this one. Although vastly inferior than an actual Super Sharpie. These markers do play significant use in alot of my illustration work. The ink is of a lighter tone, and the nibs are already softer as soon as you use them, which results in spongy wash lines as soon as I use it. The ink fades out faster, and when I get this marker working right, it works like a soft powder brush to give good shading effects without smudging.

BITS AND PIECES

After a while of hitting up the main spots, and doing a bit of digging, new black markers in Shanghai were getting tough to find. These are some bits and pieces that I found towards the end of my trip.

BRUYNZEEL 6010 - I got this one in an art shop on Fuzhou Lu that I had previously visited. I dug a bit more around back and found this gem. Its pretty simple. All black plastic contruction. Clean design lines. I really like it for the lettering style of the word “Bruynzeel”. It looks Cheech Wizardish. Hmm. The ink smells like Italian salad dressing. Strange.

SIPA PAINT - A pretty standard metal jacket paint marker, with similar features as other paint markers I have picked up while in China. The lid is really good. Snaps on tight. The paint flow is pretty good as well.

TAMIYA PAINT MARKER - I have seen this marker for a while in different model robot stores throughout the years. I just have never picked one up. I got this in Hong Kong at one of those plastic model robot stores. It’s a classic. Well contructed metal jacket, red white and blue colour scheme, good lettering on the label. Works exceptionally well. Made in Japan.
ZEBRA PERMANENT MARKER - I don’t know why this marker exists. It’s made by Zebra, and they make all sorts of really good markers. I just don’t know why they made this one. It’s a weird shape. The labelling design is poor. The cap looks funny. Ink and line quality still top quality though. I expect more from Zebra.

FASTER P-70 - Bullet point permanent marker that my friend Suzette got me from Thailand. It has similar wavy line markings on the label as an Artline. It’s got some strange copper/yellow/red/blue color scheme going on. Well it marks really well. I got sidetracked for a moment. Going through some boxes of things and a mouse at my Squirtle Caramilk…

ARTLINE FURNITURE MARKER - This one almost slipped by me. It has a brown plastic jacket construction, but the label on the cap and side does say it is BLACK. Good chisel tip, nice ink. Pretty cool wood grain pattern on the label. It would be a lot cooler if this was a metal jacket. Got this one for 8 HKD.

HA CLICK EM…

A mixed bunch of markers, i’ll try to remember where I got them as I do the write ups.

MARKS-A-LOT - I know I got this from someone’s place in Shanghai…I remember seeing it and was like, hmm, never seen that before ! It’s a jumbo version of an Avery Marks-A-Lot. Pretty much exact same design, markings and shape. Really solid plastic jacket construction with sticker label. I like the bevelled screw cap. This marker had a nice worked in nib when I got it. Produces thick lines, smells like heavy alcohol. Just what I needed to get me through these posts…

CORPORATE EXPRESS - I just got this one yesterday at Nadir’s shop, La Carrera. It just meets the criteria I have for size requirements to be in my collection. What kind of saves it is the nib size and the line thickness it produces. It’s a pretty simple private label marker. Plastic jacket, printed on label. Nothing special, does the trick.

ZM MARKER - Got this in Shanghai. Old Town. Another Zebra McKee knock-off. The ink is really thick and just pours out of this thing. Which is good if thats what you need the marker to do. I really should have made it a point to visit some black marker factories while I was in China and did some sort of special report. Next time…

ARTLINE CLIX CHISEL - Got this in some stationary shop in HK. It was right before lantern festival and there were all these really great lanterns hanging from the shop exterior. This CLIX format, I have seen before, and I kind of like it. Solid plastic construction, and the high quality ink one can expect from Artline products. My only gripe, is that I wish this was constructed from metal, like other Artline markers. That would make this a stand out winner.

ARTLINE CLIX BULLET - Same as above. This yellow hue that Artline uses in their body color scheme sometimes doesnt sit well with me. A grey or silver would make more sense. The going price on these things are 11 HKD.

NEEDS AND WANTS

These aren’t in my collection YET, but I know at least one of them will be soon…too bad its the latter and not the former.

YOKEN SPECIALIST - Worst case scenario in black marker hunting is finding an amazing specimen…that isn’t black. The second addition of the Holy Grail want list…(the first being the El Marko…). This was in a bin of old stock. No blacks, so I took a brown just for a placeholder. Nice metal jacket construction, with a paper label wrap indicating color, gold foil stamped with a model number. The letter-style for SPECIALIST…perfect. Made in…Japan.

ARTLINE STEEL MARKER - The shop that sold this one was closed. Will have to pick it up later. Nice stubby metal jacket Artline construction. I already know i’m getting a quality piece with this eventual pick-up.

SKILLS

When the cup that I put markers that I haven’t drawn and documented yet is full, the overflow goes in a cigar box. Avi gave me a bunch of these boxes and they are coming in real handy. Most of the markers below were sent to me by my friend DIET.

ARTSKILLS BLACK – This marker is really long, but the chisel tip in proportion is really small. I went to test it and it was completely dried up. So unless this is DIET’s go to marker for getting up, and thats why all the ink is gone, than it’s a shitty marker. Plastic construction, plastic wrap labeling. I do like the name of the company though.

ARTSKILLS TWIN TIP – This thing is the size and shape of a recorder. The caps even are kinked funny like the mouthpiece and end bits. I do like the star motif on the side, and the chisel tip is in proportion with the size. This is how big the chisel tip should have been on the marker above. The ink has a blue undertone and smells like water instead of ink. I don’t know why, but the color on the other end is Yellow. This marker will come in handy when I am drawing bees and Wu Tang related stuffs.

ARTLINE 5109A – Dunno where I got this one from. The jacket is made from plastic. Most other Artline markers I have are metal jacket construction. It’s a 10 mm chisel tip. It fits in nicely with the other Artline markers that I have in my collection.

ARTSKILLS WINDOW PAINTER – The Artskills! design team seems to be all over the place. This thing looks like a matchstick or a microphone. It’s got a sponge tip on it and seems like it would be really sloppy to use. I just went to check if they have a website, and they do ! Artskills ! Hmm. I really can’t be too mad at these guys …

LISHUI LANKE EXTRA LARGE – For a dollar store type marker, this thing is actually pretty good. Nice heavy ink that smells like blackberries. According to the label, its Purpose is : Writing, Drawing and Marking, and so on. Yeah I get you LANKE, “ and so on” wink wink. Lishui Lanke was among a group of companies that Sanford filed a complaint against in July 2004 for bootlegging.

B-I-G / G-I-E / AKA / B.I.G

Get it ? Biggie.

STAEDTLER 388 – Got this at People’s Books on Dundas. It used to be good down there and sold all sorts of older books and stationary. Now it’s all sorts of bootleg DVD’s and CD’s. The label is wrap around plastic, which is surprising since that sort of label is usually applied to lower quality markers. Nice medium size chisel tip, good ink flow, refillable. Quality Staedtler product.

ARTLINE 130 – Picked this up at book and magazine shop on Dundas. There were 5 of them on a bookshelf. They have a pretty good marker selection in there amongst other bits and pieces. Don’t really see these around stores anymore, so was really happy to spot them. Solid plastic construction, 30 mm wide nib, screw cap in the end for easy refill. Just a simple, well made quality product.

SNOWMAN – I got this at Aboveground when I was walking around with Marco. They had this promotion where if the receipt prints out and there was a red star on there then you win your purchase. The only thing I was trying to get in there was this Snowman. That worked out well. This is one of my favorite markers. Nice SNOWMAN font, pretty good snowflake logo, clean layout and design. The box packaging is really nice as well. No nonsense chisel tip makes thick, bleed-free dark lines. Can’t ban the Snowman !

ARTLINE 100 – Got this at Modern Bookstore on Dundas. Classic Artline shape and design; metal jacket construction, tri-color wave motif on the base. Flawless design and performance. This is one of my Top 10 all-around favorites.

SHANGHAI SURPRISES

More marker pick-ups from Shanghai.

LIBERTY POP MARKER – 30 mm broad tip. I think the design is based on the Artline 130. Has a really nice illustration of a marker tip and a wavy line going down the side. I really like the font for POP MARKER, and the triangle design motif.

ARTLINE POPMATE 30 – 30 mm broad tip. This thing looks more like a stick grenade. I was pretty happy when I saw it. Cap has a plastic groove on the inside to cradle the nib, which is a nice little touch.

WEI JIN EXTRA BROAD – Really cheap bootleg of the Sakura extra broad. Really thin plastic construction, covered in a plastic wrap label. I think they affixed a metallic circle on the bottom to make it look like it is a metal jacket marker. Strange. To top it off, it is a weird bullet tip that is totally out of proportion to the overall size. And it’s already dried out. The nib has weird black crystals forming on it. This is a horrible marker for use, but pretty amazing as a bootleg.

JUMBO WASHABLE – No branding and little other marking. The nib is super stiff, the ink is light and doesn’t apply too smoothly. Again, it’s a plastic marker, that seems to have metal circle affixed to the bottom to give it the illusion that it is made from metal.

SIMBALION 560 MARKER – This is the Simbalion version of the Magnum. It is called the Jumbo Large. Full metal jacket construction. Nice grey green color combination on the label.

CHISEL POP MARKER – 6 mm chisel tip. Plastic barrel. Best before 2007 – 06 – 21.

MORE SHANGHAI AND HK PICKUPS

More markers from Shanghai and HK.

LINEPLUS POWER 2400 – It has the same look of an Artline metal jacket, except it is made from plastic. I like the criss-cross line detail on the bottom, and the vertical layout. It’s a bullet point but the line thickness is pretty thin. It’s an okay marker.

PERMA 3535 – A cheap quality black marker. Dried out when I bought it.

KORES – Another cheap quality marker. The chisel tip is already soft and piling at the top, and the ink is drying up quite quickly. It has these style green red and blue style lines on the label reminiscent of the Artline wave motif.

PERMA 4305B –It seems pretty well crafted. There is this pump action thing going on in the back that is supposed to infuse the well with more ink. Wow. That feature actually works. This is a really good marker, which is surprising because the smaller version was actually really bad.

CARTON MARKER – A well made good quality marker.

SHUI SENG – I thought I got this one in Shanghai but I didn’t. It’s a metal jacket Artline style knock off that I picked up in NY Chinatown. It works quite well, if a little stiff.

MW 998 – I didn’t get this one in Shanghai either. It’s from Chinatown in Toronto. Looks quite cheap due to the plastic wrap around labeling, but it really isn’t that bad. Nice chisel tip, writes well.

ARTLINE 400XF PAINT MARKER – Classic Artline metal jacket shape. I don’t remember the shop I got it from, but their phone number is 2865 1993. I’m sure it works pretty good. If not, I am going to crank call those guys.