The best thing for me about Staedtler fineliners and felts is that they are waterbased, so they have that precious feature of not bleeding through most colouring books- something I get asked a lot about. You're pretty much safe with these pens unless your book has exceptionally thin paper, and as always testing them on an inconspicuous area is advised before you jump into coloiuring a whole picture. Of course, Miss Basford recommends you use these in her books so you know you're fine as far as her beautiful trilogy is concerned.
The pens come in a large palette of colours, expecially the fineliners, so you're getting lots of variety in one handy box. I'd love there to be more colours added to the felt tip pens, such as the pastels which are included in the fineliner pack.
There are loads of unusual tones in this set, including Lavender, Carmine and French Green, which makes it an invaluable pack to have if you want a selection of mid-tones that you don't usually find in many pen sets. I found a list of the colours online but it wasn't clearly labelled, so I'm not 100% sure I've identified them under the right name- but here's a quick swatch to give you an idea.
All Staedtler's pen barrels are triangular shaped for an ergonomic grip, meaning they're easier to hold on to than the usual hexagonal shape. The pens are long, narrow and light, sitting nicely in the hand and last AGES. I bought a pack in April and they're still going strong, despite me using them near constantly at one point. The nib of both the fineliners and felts are really outstanding, gliding across the paper with no scratchiness or 'square nib' syndrome (like with Stabilo products). The tips are rounded and smooth, leaving consistent marks that don't look scrawly. |
Both sets of pens are dry safe, meaning they can be left uncapped for a few days without going dry- which is great if you've got little people sharing your beloved colouring materials!
Overall these products are just a delight to use and are my 'go-to' pens when it's not possible to use heavier mediums like alcohol markers or gel pens. I hope you enjoy having a look through this slideshow of images that I've coloured with these pens over the past year :)