Kuretake, Pentel, Shin Han, Akashiya, Sakura and Tombow are all well known Eastern brush pen manufacturers, while Winsor and Newton and Faber Castell are examples of Western brush manufacturers. COCOIRO is designed to customize the body, ink and tip to ones personal style or the “color of your heart”. For this reason we advise that dye based pens are only used for sketchbook work or work that is intended for reproduction, and to only use pigment pens for works that are likely to be exposed to light for prolonged periods of time (such as artwork that will hang on a wall). This beautifully designed children’s creative, positive mind-set, and activity journal will ignite any child’s imagination and gratitude skills.

Pentel, Copic, Kuretake, Molotow and ShinHan all offer refillable pens, some of which also have replaceable nibs.Silvia loves how each tool or pen is different and offers the best approach to whatever handwriting is needed on the occasion.

Luckily the nib is reversible, and so when one end starts to dull, you can flip it over and keep going. The content is simply written but never patronising, with lovely graphics, and achievable and inspiring goals and suggestions for fun family activities.The Kansai region includes the second-most populated metropolitan area in Japan with its largest city Osaka. Kuretake also makes various tools for scrapbookers such as KurePunch corner paper punch and box/envelope templates. As its felt tip is made from plastic, it tends to be firmer and requires less control for producing consistent lines. Turning off the personalised advertising setting won’t stop you from seeing Etsy ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

The ratings/reviews displayed here may not be representative of every listing on this page, or of every review for these listings. Kyoto and Nara, two of Japan’s former capital cities, are home to important temples and shrines and strongholds of intangible cultural heritage, such as the Kyoto textile weaving skills of Nishijin. We must say a huge thank you to our LaunchPad judges - Amanda Walker of Cult Pens, Chris Lambert of ScrawlrBox and Holly Probert of Scriptum - who took the time to review and discuss each of the entries. Additionally it is worth noting how transparent or opaque the ink is, and considering whether you’d like layers of marks to remain visible, or if you need your coverage to be more opaque.Wider marker pen style barrels of around 15mm might become more uncomfortable in the hand if being used over a long period of time, and especially so if you are making controlled marks. The versatile tip adds real depth to line work so it’s perfect for brush lettering and illustration, and it can be refilled time and time again with a whole range of inks for maximum creative expression.