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.

DO YOU WANT MORE ?

Fuzhou Lu updates keep rolling along…

KNOW K-0610 WHITEBOARD - I’ve found this to be a reliable brand name of black markers, though their labelling and look suggests different. The label says ” NO GHOSTING”…

SAKURA PEN TOUCH - I have some sort of brand favoritism towards Sakura, and I like the stubby format marker overall, so this marker is a huge dissapointment. Sakura seems to have dropped metal jacket construction in favor of plastic, and I can only imagine how much better this particular marker would be with that base feature. The nib on this is too soft, so when you’re making lines, you can’t get clean edges. The overall silhouette is awkward, and the batman costume colorway doesn’t suit the brand history at all.

KNOW K-0918 - This marker gets the thumbs up. Nice twin-tip made by KNOW, based on the McKee silhouette. 2mm bullet point on one end, 6mm chisel tip on the other.

SNOWHITE WHITE BOARD - I’ll just explain what my eyes see. The cap-off time of this white board pen is at least 72 hours at 20-25c, and a relative humidity of 50%. Line width is 1.9mm.There is a picture of a cactus on the label. Whiteboard markers tend to have a lighter mark, but this one leaves a “lighter than normal” mark, IMO.

ZEBRA PAINT - Maybe a re-post on this marker…I like Zebra. Brand name recognition, quality products acrss the board. This one is no exception.

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.

ZEBRA HI-MCKEE

I previously stated that the Super Sharpie was the most bootlegged marker on the market, but it actually might be the Zebra Hi-McKee. I saw the marker pillow in the picture the first night I was in HK during my last visit. It was in a well lit display window amongst all sorts of pens and writing instruments. I spotted it from across the street and had to stop in mid conversation with Suzette to cross the street and look at it closer. I picked it up at the tail end of my stay.

ZEBRA HI-MCKEE – This marker is a design classic. Twin tip ; Chisel on one side, bullet point on the other. Great black and white label graphics and layout. Nice double arrow graphic on the label; English on one side, Japanese on the other. Simple sloping construction with subtle ridged caps on both ends. Almost flawless. While the small cap nestles into the large cap quite easily, the large cap fits clumsily over the small cap and gets easily stuck.

COMIX – Somewhere along the bootlegging process, the double arrow design on the label morphed into a silhouette of the twin tip itself. Comix followed the trend and features the marker silhouette, and changed the dual white bands on the top, to silver.

PILOT BI-MARKER – Made by PILOT of Thailand. Not sure if this is affiliated to the actual PILOT company. This marker is a really lazy copy. Stylized double arrow label graphic sticker slapped clumsily onto a marker. The fine cap doesn’t match the look of the broad cap. The Broad cap doesn’t snap flush into the body of the marker.

WING SUNG 99A MARKER – Poor quality bootleg. The double arrow label graphic has been changed into a single arrow and the label reads “Perment Marker”

880 TWIN TIP – This bootleg actually improved on the original by printing the label directly on the marker body, instead of on a sticker.

TWIN MARKER – Really basic no-name bootleg.

SELECTUM – Same silhouette, down to the cap ridging, but boring labeling.

HUALIXIAN – I think this is made by the same company that makes Superbline. It uses the twin tip marker silhouette graphic on the label. The fonts and copy are clumsy.

HAIYI MARKER – This is roughly the same silhouette as the ZEBRA, except it tapers unevenly. It looks frankensteined from a bunch of other markers. Both caps differ in look, and are quite odd in appearance. The TWIN MARKER word mark has been lifted from another company, Pentel or Pilot I think. One big mess of a bootleg.

SHIWEN HI-MARKER – This is the perfect bootleg. Stays close to the original in layout and design, replacing the word MCKEE with MARKER in the label for that added quirk value.

PERMANENT MARKER – This is also a really good bootleg, due to how bad it is. They use the marker silhouette graphic on the label instead of the double arrow, and have written inside that space “MARKER”. Other copy reads “ XYLENNE FREE”, and “Toxious Component Not used.”

YINGYUAN – Another quality bootleg. Sticks to the original layout and just drops the name of their company within the double arrow graphic, all nice and cursive.

TARTAN – Lazy bootleg. Marker silhouette graphic on label with the word TARTAN in the middle. The label claims that “This is the most comfortable marker you have ever used”. I love reassuring copy on bad bootleg items.

LONGHUA – Basic bootleg. Doesn’t really retain any original design elements other than silhouette.

CLASSIC – Lazy bootleg. Just says CLASSIC on the side, with a wonky line drawing of a twin tip marker silhouette on the other side.

LIVE AND LET DAI-SO

Daiso is an amazing concept store that could be the future of discount dollar store concept retail if they made a few cosmetic changes, advertised a bit more, and did some business stuff behind the scenes. Would like to see one of these in every major city. Their product range is quite impressive, and for the most part, all excellent quality, attractive goods. At the shop in SF, the prices were $1.50 for anything. From department to department, all the goods were unique and refreshing. Amazing toy section. Great place for baby supplies. An AMAZING place for getting markers and stationary. All the following markers are good to excellent quality and offer amazing value for money.

PLATINUM CPM-150 –

MARK LINE 1007 –

PERMA 3535 –

ZEBRA PERMANENT –

MARKER TWIN-TYPE –

DAISO STUFFS

Another fine selection of Daiso bought black markers. I don’t understand why they have such a varied selection of similar product, but I am glad they do. All these markers are good to excellent quality and offer amazing value for money. Other non marker purchases I made were. An inflatable toy with a baseball playing fox on it. Black modeling clay.Plastic bag gun shooting streamer toys.

A-PEN TWIN MARKER –

SAKURA – Such a nice light grey blue color combo.

5mm CHISEL TIP –

OIL-BASED TWIN TIP –

ZEBRA RE-USE –

DAISO. THE RIGHT PRICE-O!

More Daiso markers. HUGE fan of Daiso.

ZEBRA MCKEE – I don’t know if this is the new style ZEBRA MCKIE twin tip, but it isn’t anywhere close to as nice looking as the Hi-Mckie. That said it works just as well, an is an excellent quality marker.

OIL MARKER – Nice square-body black marker. Compact and attractive, marks nice and smooth.

PENTEL – Another excellent Pentel marker. According to the packaging photos. This marker is good for drawing huge numbers on runners marathon signs and flags. Oh, I didn’t get this marker at Daiso. I got it from Kinokuniya bookstore in Seattle. That place is amazing, right in the bottom of Chinatown…um International District. Really good selection of books and magazines. They sell Mild Sevens in the grocery store attached.

DUCK DUCK GOOSE

I don’t know why I grouped these markers like this. Well let’s get to it.

ZEBRA BOARD MARKER – Got this in Shanghai at the ZEBRA concession in some department stationary shop. Pretty nice streamlined marker with subtle markings and good ink flow.

PLATINUM PERMANENT – Picked this up in some random Shanghai stationary shop. Don’t remember which one. Good quality marker. Bullet point, marks well. The body is pretty much the same shape as the ZEBRA marker above, though the cap shape is different.

PLATINUM BOARD MARKER – I picked this one up in the same shop as the one above. Not much to say about this marker. It’s a good quality, well produced marker.

ARTLINE BI-NIB – One of the modern Artline designs. It’s a twin tip with a 3mm bullet point on one side, and a 6mm chisel tip on the other. Excellent quality as expected from an Artline product.

PILOT BOARD MASTER – Found this one in Chinatown. This marker is super smooth. One of the nicest running markers I have used. Replaceable cartridge and tip. I should get more of these things.

PILOT TWIN MARKER – This marker is a super compact Twin tip. Not a big fan of the fine tip. It marks a bit thin. The chisel tip is a bit rigid right now, but should get better when it gets worked in a bit.

MR.COD R.I.P / KINGSLAND + LABURNUM

I got all these markers at a bunch of different stationary shops on a walk down Kingsland Rd. Mostly Edding markers but there is one Zebra in there. I stopped for chips at Mr.Cod on the corner of Laburnum during my walk. Then also at the green corner shop for a red Oasis. I walked by the Mr.Cod a couple weeks ago, and I don’t think it is still called that. It is still a chip shop, but it’s called something else now.

EDDING 280 – It doesn’t say edding on it, but it has the color and same markings as other edding products. 17 mm wide flat tip, nice medium ink flow.

ZEBRA MCKIE EXTRA BOLD TWIN TIP – This thing is huge. 17 mm flat tip on one side, 10 mm chisel tip on the other. Really good dark ink consistency and coverage, solid construction. It’s the first marker I really spent “more” money on. It was 10 GBP. IF the SWAT team used black markers, they would use this thing.

EDDING 2200 – I really prefer these metal jacket construction eddings and don’t know why they don’t make all their markers this way. This is a chisel tip. Efficient and good quality like all Edding products.

EDDING 2000 – Metal jacket construction bullet tip.

EDDING 30 – Yeah, don’t know why this wasn’t made with metal. The ink is pigmented, and does cover nicer on paper than the 2000 as it claims. Really good marker.