"First of all, I want to correct the product description for this set of pens. There are indeed 48 pens, but they are not evenly split up into 4 groups of 12. The actual breakdown is as follows: 12 glitter 9 metallic 9 bright/neon 9 pastel/milky 6 swirl/multi-colored milky 3 black I believe they are all pretty standard sized 1.0mm ball points, which all but the most eagle-eyed of us will NOT be able to tell apart from the .7-.8mm most other gel pens are. All of them write smoothly with minimal skipping and dragging, save for the pastel and swirl types. I have a long history with gel pens - suffice it to say I've been a fan since middle school, when Pentel Milkies were all the rage, and were unfortunately no stranger to skipping and dragging even then, and now I'm in college - and it comes as no surprise that the much maligned pastel or milky ink is still a source of frustration. If I had to assign a letter grade for consistency of ink flow, it would be thus: glitter - A+ metallic - A+ bright - A pastel - C swirl - C black - A Additionally, the 6 color combos of the swirled pens are: Pink Cap - blue/purple/pink *Orange Cap - blue/purple/orange *Yellow Cap - yellow/green/orange Green Cap - yellow/green/blue *Blue Cap - yellow/pink/blue Purple Cap - purple/green/blue The asterisk denotes those pens where the color change is immediately evident. The others may have multiple inks in the barrels, but the colors seem to blend into one disappointingly lackluster hue. (i.e. Pink cap = purple, green cap = green, purple cap = purple) Perhaps I just had a bad batch, but I've been using them for quite a few large-sized spiral drawings a la The Spiral Draw Book (Klutz) . (I bought mine secondhand and the kit was missing the mini swirl gel pens that came with it.) It took about 5 or 6 of these mandalas for the 3 pens that show color gradation to start working, so I'm hoping the other 3 duds will show soon, too. Unfortunately, they are the WORST for spiral type art due to their notorious tendency to skip, causing unsightly imperfections. It figures the coolest pens with the greatest potential - did I mention swirls write on black paper, as do the pastels - would also prove the most difficult to work with. All in all, Fiskars did a great job with this set. As for "big name" brands, none of that really matters; all of the pens are basically the same and likely produced in the same place (usually China ;p). Some of the best gel pens I've ever had were cheapies I've picked up at the dollar store: great ink flow and smooth writing are all you need. My only complaint is the with the milky gels; it seems that with all the advancements made with writing tools (i.e. waterproof pens that can write underwater, pressurized pens that are safe for airplane travel) you'd think there would be a pastel ink that shows up vibrantly on black paper without the need for retracing, writes smoothly from the jump, and doesn't give out and skip every inch or so! Oh well, a girl can dream..."
Fiskars Gel Pen 48-Piece Value Set (Compare Deals from $17.53)
"I use these as underdrawing on paintings and embellishments on drawings. PROS: THERE ARE SEVERAL PENS WORTH MENTIONING THAT ONE REVIEWER COMPLAINED ABOUT BUT DIDN'T REALIZE: SOME OF THE TIP COLORS DO NOT MATCH THE INK BECAUSE IF YOU LOOK IN THE CLEAR INK TUBE--THEY ARE MULTISWIRL PENS. There are nice metallics and the white ink is the best one I have found anyplace. (Forget the paint white pens as they clog and are worthless.) There are a variety of colors and hues in each shade, some original ones like a pink-purple, green blue ect. The multicolor 'surprise' swirl pens are great fun. The ink dries smearproof but...see the cons. CONS: They ran a bit on a couple pens, another couple didn't work long and jammed/plugged, but over-all--for the inexpensive $--they are ok. IF you heat them up by laying them on your dash in the sun for a few--the ink flows again. Bag them before you do that. Just be careful if you are left-handed as I am as they smear if touched before totally dry. Different colors dry at different times so be patient. The caps snap on and are somewhat of a hassle so I threw them all away as trying to find the right one for each color was a hassle. The pens have NOT dried out w/o them. I also store them point DOWN, as gel pens will clog/dry if left upright. I keep them in a lidded container. I do wish they made these in a very fine point pen as well. I WOULD BUY THEM AGAIN--in fact , I updated this review because I just ordered another set. The white pen is great and better than anyone elses, and they don't sell it seperate! A metallics set and seperate color replacements would be a great thing. THESE ARE BETTER THAN THE HIGH PRICED ONES PEOPLE! Don't be a brand arty snob. Give these a try. Five stars for price, fun and the color varieties and the great finished look. Just be patient while they dry. **(I do not work for the company nor am I affiliated getting paid ect.) Aloha"
"UPDATE: While my initial purchase of these pens was disappointing; Fiskars responded promptly to my complaint (logged on their company website) and replaced the pens no questions asked. The caps all fit snugly on the replacement pack and all of the pens are working out of the box; since "skipping" is a problem with gel pens in general the excellent customer service from Fiskars makes the difference in giving these pens another try. They did not require I return the original set so I incurred no shipping. Great service! First Review: I purchased these pens just under a year ago for practicing finely detailed illustration- when they arrived the caps would not stay on the pens. Before they could dry out I used some tape to create a tight seal between cap and pen- that fixed the problem. The pens worked well initially, but after light use over the past 10 months they began to increasingly 'skip' and then stopped working entirely- there is still more than half the ink in most of the pens, some pens are completely full but NONE of the pens will write. I cleaned the tips, stored them at room temperature, kept them capped tightly and none of the pens will write. When they worked they worked well- but more often than not I had problems requiring me to switch pens #forcing me to use colors I didn't choose to use# just to keep working on my project. Not sure if I got a bad batch... we'll see if Fiskars replaces them and my replacements actually work I'd recommend them - the price can't be beat- if my next set doesn't work then it's not a bargain no matter how little you spend if the quality prevents you from working on your projects."
"I'm a little conflicted with this review. About half of them work wonderfully, a quarter work okay, and the rest are hardly worth keeping. I would add half a star and give this product 3 stars if I could. I'll start with the positive. The variety of colors is fantastic. I have been able to find the right color to match just about every color scheme I was look for. There are multiple shades of common colors, as well as some unexpected colors, such as white and silver. I love the glittery inks, which add sparkle to my projects. The box is clear and sturdy, so I am able to choose my pen before opening the it. On the negative side, some the the pens skip badly, and sometimes the ink hardly comes out at all. Three of the pens have a cap that is a completely different color than the ink inside. One of the pens changed from blue to pink while I was using it, ruining the project. I threw that pen out. The white pen is interesting, as I didn't even know there was such a thing as a white pen. It skips a lot and the ink is watery. This makes it bad for writing, but I found that it works pretty well for coloring in reflections in my die-cuts, giving the objects a 3-D appearance. All the pens dry rather quickly, but I would give it a few minutes before running an eraser over the work to get rid of pencil marks. Overall, this package is worth the price just for the half of the pens that work well. You just need to expect some frustrations with the others. If you are a professional artist, or otherwise need the work to come out perfectly, you should invest in the professional-grade pens. For leisure artists and scrapbookers on a budget like myself, this is a good buy."
"Modest investment for a good gel pen set. Are these Sakura Gelly Roll, "ice cream smooth," quality? Eh, no. But for a very modest investment, you receive 48 gel pens of good quality. Flow is fairly consistent, lots of variety (although I have no use for working with neon), and lots of great colors. I love the metallic pens and the glitter pens, some great colors, as well as the more translucent ones. Some really stunning colors that work pretty well most of the time. I bought the more expensive TekWriter set, and most of the ink seemed to me pretty much like Fiskars: there are identical colors, as though there are hidden vats of commercial gel ink bought for mass production. Seriously. But with TekWriter you get fatter pens with rubber grips -- which I don't find necessary -- and the storage configuration that you are buying with the pens. For myself, it was the set of two cases, that I find overly bulky and not worth the money. I have purchased Fiskars twice for personal use, and once as a gift, and am completely happy with them (apart from the neon). The little antique storage box that I have here at home is much more aesthetically pleasing than the overpriced and bulky TekWriter plastic cases, and the Fiskar pens perform as well if not better than TekWriter. Do they perform like Sakura Gelly Rolls. No. But that said, you do get more color variety in this, unless you are purchasing the large Sakura Gelly Roll set that is about 4-5 times the price of this set. At this price, I can invest more money in fine art supplies, or buy another book . . . . Worthwhile and recommended purchase."
"My pens are AWESOME! My daughter, who is in Kindergarten, is an emerging reader and writer and one of the suggestions her teacher has was that when she misses a word she was supposed to learn that week I have her rewrite the word in special ink or special lettering. I was intrigued...I went to work the next day and saw these on my boss' desk; they wrote smoothly and the colors were vibrant and fun. She said they cost her $20.00 at Staples. I looked them up at my trusty Amazon, purchased them and had them in hand 2 days later. My daughter still cannot get how to spell "with," but she has a lot more fun practicing! My boss said she has also has a set at home that her teenagers doodle with on black paper. My daughter and son have also used them to make birthday cards for their friends and to color in their drawings in their sketchbook. Great purchase! I took one star off because I would have preferred packaging that made it easier to take the pens in and out--maybe some stand of sorts. I have to take each row of pens out now for the kids to share the pens and their inability to slide in and out increases the odds that they will lose a pen (the entire tray/row has to be out, vice a pen at a time). There are four trays of pens included in this set with 12 pens in each row."
"These just arrived today, and I was so excited about how beautiful the colors are and, more importantly, how beautifully they write, I just couldn't wait to get home to write this review, so I logged on at work! I am a doll artist, and I use Prismacolor Premier soft core pencils for drawing and coloring the faces of my dolls, but I needed some way to add definition to certain parts of the dolls' faces, and since my white gel pens work perfectly for adding highlights to lips and eyes, I thought these gel pens would also work perfectly for irises, lashes and the like. Geez, it feels good to be right! The first pens I tried were the glitter pens; I was all set to be disappointed, because I assumed the glitter would clog the pens and render them useless. But, the glitter is so fine (almost a shimmer effect, not gaudy and chunky glitter pieces! YAY!), I was thrilled to see how very smooth and velvety each pen worked, right out of the box! I haven't tried all the colors yet, but each pen I have tested has worked beautifully. I have tested them on paper and on cotton fabric, and I have been incredibly pleased. Delivery was very speedy, too - only ordered these three days ago (over a weekend, no less), and here they are! I highly recommend them, and you just cannot beat the price. If you do any kind of crafting, do yourself a favor and pick up this set; I bet it will be among your favorite purchases ever!"
Fiskars Gel Pen 48-Piece Value Set (Compare Deals from $17.53)
