Tombow MONO Sand Eraser

According to Google Translate, the Japanese writing on the side of the sleeve says:  Caution. Please keep out of reach of children. Please do not use it for anything other than erasing characters.

Tomorrow is Rubber Eraser Day. It commemorates the day, April 15, 1770, when Joseph Priestly discovered a vegetable gum that had the ability to remove pencil marks: “I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil.” He called this substance “rubber.” Later that year Edward Nairne started selling cubes of rubber to use as erasers. No longer did people have to use breadcrumbs to try to remove pencil marks.

April 15 is also notable for being Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday in 1452. As pencils hadn’t been invented yet, he would have had no need for a rubber eraser. He drew with silverpoint, pen and ink, and chalks. He might have wanted a way to remove his ink marks though. If only he had a Tombow MONO Sand eraser. I got one of these little gems in my Christmas stocking. Although this eraser was made in Malasia, Tombow is a Japanese stationery company. I have their Tombow Twintones markers and Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens but this is the first eraser of theirs I have tried. I don’t know why, but all their erasers are called MONO.

The Sand eraser is made from natural rubber latex and silica grit. It is stiff and you can definitely feel the grit in it. It works by rubbing off the top layer of paper so is ineffective on inks that soak through like a Sharpie. A gentle and slow approach is best so you only remove just enough of the paper to get rid of the ink mark. It leaves behind a fine crumb that is easy to brush away.

Ink erasing test on Rhodia dot paper

If the Tombow MONO Sand eraser were a person, they would show true grit and perseverance but have an abrasive personality with little patience for mistakes.

Watercolour Christmas Cards

I used painter’s tape cut lengthwise in slightly wavy lines to block off the trunks of the trees while painting the background.

December is here so I am getting my Christmas cards ready. As I often do, I am sending a mix of commercial and handmade cards this year. Most of the handmade ones were painted with watercolour.

I had seen this style of card before where tape is used to block off the center to leave room for a message, with foliage or flowers peaking behind the edges. I had never tried it myself, so when Kelly Klapstein demonstrated making it in one of her free online classes I was happy to paint along. The foliage was done with watercolour paints. Once it was dry and I removed the washi tape, I used my black Zebra Doodler’z glitter gel pen to add the stripes and my Tombow Fudenosuke pen for the lettering. I later added some Finetec Pearlescent colours as highlights.

Here it is while I was still painting. I later turned the card the other way around before I wrote the message.

After I added the sparkly Finetec highlights.

These Christmas decorations were painted on a sample of Etchr 300 g cold press 100% cotton paper. This was the first time I tried this paper and found it buckled a bit. When I try painting on it next time, I will tape down the paper first. Etchr is an Australian company founded in 2017 through crowdfunding (I guess they didn’t raise enough money to include the second e). I traced the shapes of the decorations with Derwent watercolour pencils and used various paints, including Finetec Pearlescent watercolours, to fill them in. I didn’t attempt to make this realistic as two balls could never hang on such a tiny branch. A Zebra Doodler’z glitter gel pen was used to highlight the caps and draw the strings. The lettering was done with my Tombow Fudenosuke pen. I later splattered a bit more of the Finetec paints to add extra glimmer.

I painted this winter scene a while ago on Arches Cold press watercolour paper and added the word Peace with a Speedball C-2 nib using sumi ink. 

I like to stamp a little penguin on the back of cards I make. I have always loved penguins (my first toy as an infant was a penguin stuffie I later named Bird-Jo). The stamp can be hard to see on dark cardstock so sometimes I use a Versa Mark watermark stamp pad. The Versa Mark pad is made in Japan and the package says “for resist, tone-on-tone, and watermark images”. It doesn’t have a colour itself (the pad looks white) but shows up darker than the cardstock it’s stamped on. It must have some adhesive in it because you can sprinkle it with embossing powder and, using a heat gun to melt the powder, give it a shiny look.

If these cards were people, they would love to send holiday cheer by sharing something homemade.

Tombow TwinTones

I bought a set of six rainbow Tombow Twintones a few weeks ago thinking they were brush pens like the Tombow Fudenosuke as they also make dual brush pens. Actually, Twintones are markers with different sized fiber tips on each end; the wider one is 0.8 mm and the extra-fine is 0.3 mm. They write smoothly creating sharp, clear lines. With bold letters the package says “Won’t bleed through paper!” and that indeed appears to be true.

The ink is dye and water-based and there was very little smudging when I wet the paper. The caps are snug, but not interchangeable. The cap on the fine-tip end has a clip on it.

The rainbow package comes in six bright colours; Violet, French Blue, Yellow Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red.

Of course, Twintones aren’t the only doubled-ended markers out there. I have a couple ZIG Memory Writers made by Kuretake. It’s another long-established Japanese company (started in 1902, Kuretake is nine years older than Tombow). Their catchy slogan is “Reconnect to sentiment by returning to analog, create with emotion, not calculation”. The ZIG tips are a bit larger than the Twintones with the very fine pointed plastic nib just 0.5 mm while the larger bullet-shaped fiber nib is 1.2 mm.

I did some comparisons using the Kuretake ZIG, as well as a Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pen (0.3mm), and a Crayola fine tip marker. Basically it comes down to preference, both in line weight and pen size, as well as what your budget allows.

Comparison between the extra-fine tips of the Twintone, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, and Kuretake ZIG Memory Writer.

Comparison between the bullet tips of the Twintone, Kuretake ZIG Memory Writer, and Crayola fine tip marker.

If Tombow Twintones were people they would be tidy, talented, and wear terrific, tight-fitting tops.

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens

I had heard a lot about Tombow Fudenosuke pens for calligraphy so I was thrilled to find a package in my Christmas stocking. The Fudenosuke is an interesting pen because although it’s used for brush writing, the small, flexible tip doesn’t really look like a brush.

The Tombow company traces its origins back to 1913 when it specialized in pencils. Originally called Harunosuke Ogawa Shoten, it adopted the shorter name of Tombow (meaning dragonfly) in 1927. It now manufactures and sells all sorts of stationery supplies around the world but is still run by the founding family. The pens I have were made in Vietnam, distributed by their US subsidiary, and sold in Canada (oops, I mean came from Santa’s workshop at the North Pole).

The Fudenosuke pen was introduced in 2001. The name Fudenosuke means “brush that helps” and it was designed to write Japanese calligraphy (kanji). It’s popular with anyone who wants to write with a varied line as you can create thick strokes by applying more pressure and thinner lines with a lighter touch.

The package I received contained two pens, one with a dark blue barrel and the other with a black barrel. Both write with black ink but the blue barrel one has a firmer tip than the other. There isn’t a huge difference but the soft tip is a little bigger and creates a thicker line.

Written on a Rhodia A5 dot grid notepad

If Fudenosuke pens were people, their family heritage would be important to them but they love to travel the world. Japanese is their first language but they’ve learned lots of others along the way.