Chameleon Pens

I've been seeing ads for Chameleon pens very often lately and gave in to purchasing them. I know, I know. My husband calls me a "marketer's dream", but that's what we crafters are, we just have to have everything. And 1 pen is not enough, we just have to have the whole set! So here I am, weeks after seeing the ad and resisting the temptation, I finally gave in. It touts itself to be a 1-pen that has multiple colors/tones, so it should make blending pretty easy. 1 pen is supposed to do it all. That really appealed to me, since I do struggle with blending, even though I own the whole Spectrum Noir set, alcohol AND colored pencils, I still cannot come close to perfecting the art of blending. So naturally this one appealed to me. Here's what the Deluxe set looks like. I got mine from Marker Pop. I ordered it Friday afternoon, and by Saturday, voila! It's here for me to play with.

It is bigger than your regular markers, below is a picture comparison. Excuse my dirty mat please. As you can see, the Chameleon pens is longer, only because of the additional toning chamber.

Taken apart, it looks like this. You never store them separately though, since I think the alcohol or the medium in that chamber will eventually dry out.

I tried it, and it is true that you can achieve blending using 1 pen. Below are my test samples. I did it 3 times, and I'm not sure if there's any big differentiation to what I did. It takes time to practice, and there is a learning curve to it. I used Neenah white cardstock, and it did not really bleed that badly. It's same as if were colored using Spectrum Noir pens. However I noticed it bled through the Memento ink that I used though. It's understandable, given the image I tested it on is small, and I must've placed the toning chamber too long since it takes a few more strokes for the ink to achieve the darker side. Like I said, it takes practice, timing, and I have to be honest - patience. Especially for smaller images like this, you'll have to recap every now and then to keep the blending consistent. If you don't have that, then this pen set is not for you. For $84.99, 22 pens, I can't complain. The true colors are very strong, vibrant, ink flow is great, nibs are great. They are also replaceable, and since the toning chamber portion is used a lot, I do wonder how often I'll have to replace though. Only time can tell.

I did a few cards using some stamps that I colored in using these Chameleon pens. I will post them separately some time. The rose wreaths that I practiced on are from Taylored Expressions.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about the Chameleon pens. I'll write more about it as I continue to use them.