Letraset Flexmarkers

I have been a fan of promarkers for a couple of years now, and I am lucky enough to have the full set of 148 colours. Father Christmas has been very good to me lol

so I was super excited to be asked to try out the new Letraset Flexmarkers. I was sent the first 24 colours to be released , had  a play with them and then was asked to demo them at the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza in Harrogate last weekend.

these are the new marker pens..

There will be 72 colours eventually, 24 are available now in 4 packs of 6 colours.( Packs of 12 will be available in November) An added incentive to buy these for your marker collection, is that 51 of these colours will not be available in Promarkers....

None of the first 24 colours are available in Promarkers, so you do not need to worry about doubling up on colours that you may already have.

Here are the first 24 colours.

How pretty are they? perfect shades and tints to complement the main Promarker range.

So what makes these pens different apart from the colours? Well they still have the chisel end, but the new Flexmarkers have a brush end. They are roughly the same length as Promarkers, but chunkier.

You may have seen other brands that also have a brush end, here is a photo comparison. With these Flexmarkers you get a lot of pen for your money!

So what do I think of them? Well I could just say I love them and leave it at that, I mean I was given them freely and under no obligation to make this blog post....but I actually do love them.

I was a little wary of the brush end. I am not a great fan of Copics, I bought 5 to try them and quickly decided to stick with my promarkers. So I was very surprised to find the new Flexmarker brush easy to work with. Very little effort is needed, the brush does all the work for you. The clue is in the name, they are very flexible...

How daunting is it to pick up a real brush if you are not a trained artist..it is to me. These pens give you the feel of the brush, while still giving you absolute control. 

As much as I love the bullet end of my Promarkers, these new brush ends are perfect for blending wet on wet, by that I mean a layer of one colour laid down and while still wet another colour is applied next to it or over it and the two blended together. The shape of the brush means you can also achieve some beautifully fluid lines and shapes.

these new pens also have colour coded dots on EACH end, making each pen easily identifiable.

They use the same coding system as the Letraset Tria pens. If you are interested in learning about the coding system go HERE ..however you do not need to know how this works in order to enjoy these pens. Give yourself a chance to play with them and you will very quickly work out your favourite colours and how they work together. I can see how for dedicated artists, these colour codes would be handy, but  us crafters are driven by inspiration and instinct.

Are you thinking end dots would be a good idea for your Promarkers? have you, like me, sat for hours punching out little sticky dots and colouring them in to put on the ends?

well look at this fab new product, soon to be available from Letraset...click here...

So what can you do with these pens? well pretty much anything you can think of. The ink is exactly the same as Promarker ink, so you can use the new Flexmarkers on all your favourite projects. You can also use both Flexmarkers and Promarkers in the same project.

here are the samples that I took to Harrogate.

As you can see, not only can you colour in your stamped images...use a Memento ink pad for best results... you can also use your pens to colour in ribbons,lace,buttons,brads,flowers,stick pins.peel offs and stick on pearls. you can even make your own bakers twine!

Each project you make can be fully colour coordinated, no more searching for the perfect shade of ribbon...

White is your best friend.

 Smooth white paper no less than 100gsm

Smooth white cardstock around 160gsm works well

White ribbons, sheer,cotton,velvet,lace,satin

White buttons and stick on pearls and stick pins

Silver peel offs and silver or white brads

White crochet cotton

It is very important to use smooth card or paper, the best that you can afford, the beauty of these pens is the ability to layer and blend them. If you try this on cheap paper you will soon find the paper fluffs up, on a better quality surface you will achieve a smooth,streak-free image every time.

Obviously these pens will appeal to professional artists and designers...especially those who love Manga. I am a fan of drawing Manga, I love the eyes, and the costumes but  I was running short on time before the show, so I asked an artist friend to draw these for me.(See some of his other work HERE ) I coloured them using the new Flexmarkers.

One thing I must tell you about the brush ends, is that some of the paler colours do need 'priming' by this I mean you need to work them in a circular motion onto scrap paper for a few moment to get the colour flowing. Otherwise you will start to use them and think they aren't working as there is no colour. I promise you, the colour is there and will come through if you give it chance. You should only need to do this the first time you use them. My tip is to colour a little swatch with the chisel end, this should give you the true colour. then colour next to it with the brush end until the 2 swatches match in colour depth.

All in all these pens are a fabulous addition to my Promarker collection.

See the official page of Flexmarkers HERE...

So armed with my samples I went off to Harrogate. I was there as the doors opened, so I could find the 3 stands at which I would be working...it also gave me a chance to pick up a few bargains.

 

My first demo was with Tabbykat Designs  after that I spent an hour with Stamp Addicts. After a quick lunch I demoed with Stamposaurus before going back for a final hour with Tabbykat Designs.

The day passed so quickly, all the retailers that I worked with were very friendly and generous with the space they gave me, and all made me feel really welcome. I wasn't quite prepared for how busy it would be, and I had a sore throat by the end of the day lol

This was right at the end of the day, when the place had started to empty.

My best buy of the day was some of the Promarker Ultra-fine nibs. I had not had a chance to try them out before, so I treated myself to a couple of packets...They are fabulous..wow I am so glad letraset brought these out. You get 3 nibs in a pack, each one clips over the bullet end of your Promarkers to give you a fine liner.

 They effectively give you 3 thickness with each pen.

They are easily flushed through, so you can swap them from one pen to another.But in all honesty they are so cheap it is worth buying a few packets and having one nib for at least each main colour group.