Back during the NBS Love Calligraphy, I was able to collaborate with Marvy Uchida. Luckily, they gave me a wonderful gift! They gave me pens that I could play with. Certainly, you know what play means when you do calligraphy.

Marvy Uchida

This company has been in the industry for over 40 years developing and marketing a wide variety of quality office, craft, and art-related materials. They have brush pens, drawing pens, fabric markers, and so much more. Their market base includes large and small business school, creative companies, artists, craft persons, hobbyists and others ranging from the amateur to the professional.

Before getting to know this product, I was only familiar and using a few pens. It was because that I got acquainted with the dip pen or the pointed pen first before the brush pen.

The list only contains:

• ZIG Fudebiyori
• Artline Brush Markers
• Tombow ABT

Luckily, I was following a calligrapher from the other side of the globe. He shot a video using Le Plume II (by Marvy Uchida) and that made me started looking for it. It was not that really hard to find although some colors are really the ones tricky to find.

The last time I bought, it only costs Php 99.75 per pen which is roughly $ 2 per pen. Not bad, right? It’s not that expensive and not that cheap dual tip pen.

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Le Plume II

Using this kind of brush pen did not seem to be hard at all. Although, I may have one challenge that I encountered. As a leftie, smudges are always there. Right? So there are times that I have smudges when I write. When this happens, there are always two factors to the situation. Check the paper and the pen. Do not immediately point or blame the brand or the pen itself. It’s always a two-way street. It may also be due to the fact that you did not let it dry for a moment before you resume writing.

One more thing, this kind has a firm felt tip that it similar to a ZIG Fudebiyori. So, there will be those times that you will hear some sound when you write especially with the downstrokes because you are writing with pressure. This is normal. Honestly, it’s normal and natural especially if you are just breaking in the pen or using it for the very first time. You don’t have to be afraid.

Another thing that I like about it is that it may be used for blending. Just like the photo above, I used two colors blended it using an acrylic block and scribbled. If you do not have an acrylic block, you may use a plastic cover (the one used in notebooks and books) or a lid of a microwaveable food container. And you just got a DIY blender. But, there is always that option to buy.

If you are interested in buying, there are acrylic blocks being sold at The Craft Central and Art Bar BGC. Prices differ because it comes in different sizes but always in a quadrilateral shape.

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Sample Works

Summary

Marvy Uchida’s Le Plume II is friendly to beginners, intermediate, and experts in calligraphy. Some would say that it’s similar to Tombow ABT. I’d agree because both have dual tips but when it comes to durability, my vote will be with Le Plume II. So, I’ll be listing down the pros and cons of using Le Plume II.

Pros

• User-friendly with regards to beginners up to experts. It is very easy to use and good for practice.
• Very durable, it does not easily fray and will not disappoint you.
• Since it has a dual tip, when you are tired of the felt tip, you can just switch to the fine tip and start doing faux calligraphy.
• It comes in various colors.
• There are color labels indicated on the body of the pen. It would be very easy to classify and sort them out if you are that OC.
• Blending-friendly. You can blend it with other colors. If you want to remove the pigment of the other color just lightly wipe with a dry tissue paper.
• Affordable at Php 99.75 per piece or $2 per pen.
• Can be bought in National Bookstore. Usually, has a pen rack of its own.

Cons

• For using the pen for the first time, it will scare you because there will be a sound especially in writing downstrokes but it’s okay. It’s normal.
• Colors may not at once be bought. Some branches only offer few colors and you really have to hunt them down.
• Its ink may not dry quickly depending on the paper being used. With some papers, it dries quickly.
• Only sold per piece. I haven’t seen sets or packs being sold.
• In blending, some colors may not stand out as they might be overpowered by the other color. Please do an experiment on this or refer to the color wheel to be sure!

Will I recommend it?

Definitely. It’s worth your money and the time spent looking for it at bookstores. It is durable for practice.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. Marvy Uchida gave me the pens as a token for the collaboration we did for NBS Love Calligraphy 2017. This is another way of expressing my utmost gratitude to them.