The lovely people from Tiger Pens contacted me recently to ask if I would like to try out some Chameleon Color Tone pens for them and, of course, I said yes! I had seen a few videos of people using these pens before and their main feature is that you can gets lots of shades from each colour pen and you can also use them to blend two different colours together which is fantastic for colouring books and all kinds of arts and crafts!
Tiger Pens sent me a pack of Pastel Color Tone Pens, two sets of Color Tops in Cool and Floral tones and a blender pen to test.
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| Chameleon products and my notebook |
The Color Tone pens have two ends, one is a bullet nib and the other a soft Japanese brush. They also have a mixing chamber to dilute the ink which creates the gradations of colour. The longer you leave the nib in the mixing chamber the lighter the shade will be when you start to use the pen. This gives you just a hint of colour and then all the shades in between until you are back to using the full strength ink.
When I first received the pens and tops I was worried they were going to be complicated to use, mixing chambers made me think of Harry Potter and magic spells but after reading the instructions I realised it is a pretty simple process. You choose which nib you want to use and then remove the mixing chamber from the end of the pen and take out the barrier. Then you hold the pen upright with the nib you want to use pointing upwards and place the mixing chamber on top of it like a pen lid. You keep holding the pen vertically for between 5 and 35 seconds (while the magic happens) and then you remove the chamber, put the barrier back in and then use the pen as normal.
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| Lots of different shades and blends |
The first row in my notebook is the five Color Tone Pens used on their own in the mixing chamber so you can see all the different shades you can get out of them. The next two rows are the pens used with the Color Tops to create a blend of two colours together. Instead of placing your pen in it's mixing chamber you put it into the Color Top you want to use. This transfers the colour onto your nib so you can start out colouring in one shade like Violet and then it will blend back into the original colour of the pen you are using like Cool Grey.
There is one small drawback which I feel I should mention, the ink in these pens bleeds through to the other side of the page. It happened in my notebook, which has very thick pages, and the colouring books I tried them out in. That's not a big problem for me, I love how they blend and create so many colours so I can live with it ruining the other side of my paper but it's up to you to decide if that would be a problem?
As I said, I absolutely loved how these pens worked, in fact I was so impressed with them I hopped onto the Tiger Pens website and brought myself four more Color Tone pens to use in Grass Green, Crimson Red, Seville Orange and Hot Cocoa! The last two rows in my notebook are the four new colours tested with the mixing chamber and then blended with the Color Tops.
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| Trying out the Japanese brush nibs |
I also tried the Japanese brush nibs with the Color Tops on another page, they are quite firm to begin with but as you use them they become softer and more flexible. I think the colour blending looks really striking when it is used to do lettering like this!
Everything on the Color Tone Pens is replaceable. The bullet nibs, the Japanese brush nibs, the mixing chamber nib and the ink so once you have brought these pens you can keep using and enjoying them without having to buy yourself another set, so although they might seem pricey to begin with they are actually worth the investment. A pack of five will cost you £18.95 from Tiger Pens.
The Color Tops are £11.95 for a set of five and the nibs and ink for these are also replaceable. The colorless blender pen is £3.75 and is perfect for an extra bit of blending, adding texture or patterns over the Color Tones and Tops or to erase small mistakes when you are colouring in. Like the Color Tone pens the blender has both the bullet and brush nibs. Individual Color Tone pens are available for £3.95 each so you can slowly top up your collection or buy a colour you need without having to purchase a full pack of pens.
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| Perfect for colouring in |
This reindeer is the first picture I coloured in with the Chameleon pens. In the past I have used pencil crayons in my colouring books because I liked to be able to blend the colours together which you can't do with regular pens but I also liked how bright and colourful ink looked on the pages so I alternated between pencils and fineliners. Now I can have the best of both worlds, bright, beautiful, blended colours that really stand out!
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| Floral tea party using Chameleon Color Tones & Tops |
I spent some time over the holidays colouring in this floral tea party scene, the second page is still a work in progress but I am really enjoying doing it with the Chameleon products. My only problem now is stopping my eldest daughter from trying to use them every time she spots me! I think I'm raising a fellow stationery addict!
For more information about Chameleon pens and products check out the Tiger Pens website or ask me and I will try to answer your questions.
Thanks for stopping by!
