A Micron pen it is a technical pen that writes very small/fine lines .
Pigma Micron was the very first disposable technical pen ever invented. Artists, writers, and illustrators use Pigma Micron for the permanence of Pigma ink. Know this … they are meant for paper not rocks. SO the million dollar question – Should we be using them on rocks?
Understanding the pros and cons could help you in that decision and learn about the different brands. Oh and find out our
FAVOURITE FINE PEN
Let’s chat Micron Pens on rocks ….
To come to a conclusion about using these type pens on rocks, we experimented with a few different brands on TEST ROCKS. It is the best way to decide what to use.
Results of a 30 day test which I always do to a product before I form and share an opinion on it.
Background colours are Posca paint pens I then wrote the brand of micron pens with each pen. I sealed them with White Knight spray sealer. They were left outside in sun and rain for 30 days.
In this photo you see the final results after 30 days. All lasted well in the elements.
The brands we used in testing are
Sakura Pigma –
Click here – Australia
USA & other countries
Tooli-Art Micro – Line –
Click here – Australia
USA & other countries
Staedtler – Click Here
The Tooli-Art brand MICRO-LINE PENS comes in sizes 005 – size 10. Their regular fineliner Acrylic paint pens are 0.7 in size so they are finer than some of the micro-line pens in the pack.
The Tooli-Art Micro-Line pen ink is not as dark as the acrylic paint pens. You can see here on my test rock the sizes of each micro-line pen compared to the main 3 brands of acrylic paint pens.
0.7m is the size we usually use to outline rocks so you can see the smaller size the micro-line pens can go. Any pen in the pack above a 05 has no interest to me as I can get a regular paint pen to write that fine with a darker finish.
Testing the smudging on the rock.
This is not from sealing it is by bumping it. So if you were writing on the rock and smudged it with your hand this is what would happen. The rock has a base of acrylic paint.
After 1 min on the top sample I smudged it with my hand and it did smear as it was not dry.
On the next experiement I had waited 5 minutes and wiped it with my finger. It did not smear but the pen faded out
With a blue background of acrylic paint pens I tested the micro-line pen colours.
The first patch was blue Tooli-Art acrylic paint pens, dried. The two brands of pens on top.
The second blue patch is posca paint pen and I used the same pens on top.
This outcome is that the Sakura pigma pen is blacker in colour.
If you are interested to read the post on Facebook – CLICK HERE
The favourite of the fineline pens? UNIPIN
Uni is the brand – same company that makes Posca and they are called PIN .
This is not a pen to use instead of a 0.7 acrylic paint pen. This is for people that use the micron fine pens – I am actually not recommending this as an outliners on all your rocks – I prefer an acrylic paint pen anyday . But for the more advanced pen user – I prefer this brand over the other micron pens . These type pens are used for those ultra fine lines .
You can get yourself some Unipins HERE
Click here – Australia
USA & other countries
I’ve tested them on both paper and rocks and they are super consistent .They stood up to weather, rain and sun and I sealed them as I do my rocks with acrylic paint pens .
Our Supplies page is HERE to read up on everything you need to paint Rocks.
Learn heaps of different techniques on how to paint rocks – Right HERE
We are adding new tutorials all the time CLICK HERE for heaps of new ideas
