Blender pens and Aqua pens
 

ok so what is the difference between the blender pens and the Aqua pens? My hubby recently lost lost my blender pens and I was wondering if it was worth it buy them again, or if I should go with and Aqua pen instead

I would buy the aquapainters. You color with them the same way, but they carry the color a lot further and I think you get a "smoother" color than with the blenders. Just my opinion. (and I do have both)

Michelle

thanks so much

The only thing that you can't do with the Aquapainter that you can with Blender Pens is using it with your Pastels. If that is something that you like to do, you need the blenders pens for it. The Aquapainters would leave too much water for your chalks.

I prefer my Aquapainters for the watercolor look - but I use it only with ink pads!

Jennifer

I love my blender pens, and have found them to be very versatile. My aqua painter is my choice when I want a true water color effect. Also, I have not tried the "future floor polish" technique yet, but understand that it is awesome. :D

I have to have both. I love the blender pens with the chalks and if I am doing something more detailed but I love the aqua painters for the painted look you get. Sorry, this probably isn't helping!!

I only used my Aquapainter once and got too much water on my image it ruined it. I've never used it since and have just stuck with the blender pen. I guess I just need to practice more as I've seen some really awesome cards with the use of the Aquapainter.

You can always put Dove (or any other brand) of blender fluid in your aqua pen. That way you only need to purchase the aqua pen and not the blenders as well. I will add that I love my blender pens and really enjoy using them.

What is blender fluid? Sorry if that's a dumb question.....I've never heard of it! :oops:

How do you use blender pens with chalk? Do they need to be wet at all?

I love my aqua painter.

ditto for me. hoping someone will post an answer...

I have both, and never use my blender pen ..... I just don't like it.
I always use my waterbrush :wink:

Here's the recipe for the blender pen refill:
1 oz. glycerin, 2 oz. distilled water, 3/4 teaspoon rubbing alcohol
Gently pull tips out of pen. Soak the tips in the mixed fluid for a few hours. Gently push one tip back into marker pen then place a few small drops of fluid into the pen(use eyedropper for this) gently replace other tip. Sounds weird but it works! Hope this helped.

our Ben Franklin has a bottle of dove blender pen refill for $4.99. It would last a long time too because it is a big bottle. I might go back and get some and see if it will resurrect my blender pens which dried out in about 5 months!! :( I love my aqua painters and hardly even think about the blender pens anymore... They are my #1 choice!!

I bought cheap aqua pens and I'm not happy guess I better try SU.

YES it works I have done it for a few years I think I might try it in the aqua pen tho... nice idea
Bonnie

I also use both, Blender pens for more detail and more control; Aqual pens for larger areas and a different effect.

pens
 

I love my aqua pen. For the person who posted that they get too much water and have no control use a gentle touch. Do not hold the pen tightly this squeezes the water out causing a mess. I've also used my aqua with my stampin pastels and love it. My blenders are dry I'm going to have to refill them!!! :D

I would ditch the blender pens and go with the Aquapainters. I love them!

marlo

I've tried the aquapainters with watercolor paints but not with the inkpads...never thought of it! And, I'm not ever really happy with my blender pens so please tell me what to do with the aqua pens. Just touch the inkpad and color? Can it really be that simple?? :oops:

To address the question of how to use blender pens with pastels, it is quite easy. Just touch the blender pen to the pastel of your choice, it will pick up the color, and then color with it. Clean it as you would when using watercolor pencils or ink.

Allamericanstampers, it is that simple. I love to use my aquapainters with my ink pads. Squeeze the pad together before opening. You will see that the lid has some ink on it. This becomes my palette. No need to touch the pad itself. HTH

marlo

Blender pens or aqua painters
 

Awesome information!! Thanks for all the info!!!!

Well, not to make your life more confusing, I do not like the aqua pens at all. I have them and never have been able to really get a good look with them, much too watery for me. It I want a true watercolor look, I use a brush, cost a couple of dollars, but I could not do without my blender pen! I love my blender pen with everything, chalks, ink, markers, watercolor pencils, I use them with everything, maybe your not supposed to, but I do.
I wish I could get the results that others seem to get with the aqua painters. Maybe I'll try and play with them again, I just hate wasting the money I spent.
My opinion, and only my opinion, I would never get rid of my blender pen.

I really like my Aquapainter and feel I have had good results with it.

I know my demo mentioned the SU aqua pens have an additional "sponge" component within them. Don't know this to be true however, she went on to say she was told some aquapainters on the market allow too much water to escape onto the project.

I almost always purchase SU items but for these pens I found a item at our local Meijer's store. The manufacturer is Yasutomo. Th pen itself appears to be very similiar if not the same, as the picture in the catty.

Also as someone stated a couple posts ago, when using the ink pads, press pad container firmly and the extra ink will be on the lid as she said now this is your pallete. Simply whirl your aquapainter around in it picking up as little or as much ink as needed.

HTH - I'm rather new to posting - sorry to ramble!!!

I'm on the blender pen side of the fence. I use my blender pen and pastels All The Time! I've never used the aqua pen before, but use a small brush and water for watercoloring.

Occasionally I'm like "Hmm... I should get that aquapainter", but then I'm like "Nah... I got a brush!". The cost is what keeps me back.

My new painter should arrive today - I'm going to a big demonstrator stamp camp on Saturday, so I purchased one, as it is on the list of tools needed, but not required. My question is........ How do you clean the tool, between colors???

By the way, I've had my blender pens for a year and they are not dry yet - I love them and hope I love the Aquapainter as much.

Thanks for all the tips everyone!

One last thing - I'm fast coming to the conclusion that if you buy SU, you can't go wrong and they back up their products and with over 40,000 demonstrators, who yell when something goes wrong, not to mention the customers, who can argue that they truly are a great place to shop!

I didn't really like the aquapainters because I bought cheap ones! I got a non-SU blender pen and liked it okay, but then my demo showed my how to PAINT with my ink pads - I love my SU aquapainters now!

They can be a little watery, so I would suggest not filling them all the way... and if you unconsciously SQUEEZE when painting, that's when you get the puddles!

I agree with Lizzy - I keep making the mistake of buying non-SU... and it keeps coming back to bite me! :)

My question is, how long do the blender pens typically last before you have to refill them?

I've had mine for about 2 years and use them frequently.... they are just now starting to get dried out. I love using blender pens!!

I am a blender pen fan, but that's because I haven't got the hang of the aqua painters; I need more practice.

Kerry

Are the SU Blender Pens refillable? How does one refill them? i don't see any refills in the SU Catalog. Please HELP! :-) LM

Get yourself a Niji WaterBrush, It let's you control the amount of water that flows through the brush.
I usually fill it just a little bit and keep a dry cloth close by.

I too HATED my aqua brush. And wouldn't use anything else Until a Friend show me how to use the Niji Waterbrush.

They cost a little bit more money but well worth it!
I still use my blender pen's but not as much as I use too.

I love both my blender pens and aqua painters...I use the blender pens for smaller details, pastels, as well as getting more concentrated color on the image with ink...the blender pen on the other hand is great for giving a softer watercolor look. I don't have problems with details (I use the SU brand aqua painter) or too much water escaping. I actually do not squeeze the pen at all as I use it. It is also very great to have an extra one to fill with bleach- I stamp & heat emboss an image on color paper, bleach the inside or portions of the inside of the image, then color in with blender pen....fun!!

From what I can see by looking at the Stampin' Up Catalog the Aqua Painter and the Niji Waterbrush are pretty much the same thing!

Please correct me if I am wrong!!!

The only differents I see SU vs TAC, Is with SU you get two aqua painter's a large and med point, It also has Stampin' Up logo on it. Where TAC's you only get one and there is no logo on it.
As well as other companies selling the Niji Waterbrush.

I think this is a great post. I was wondering about the aqua pens too! I have a blender pen, and frankly, it kinda sucks. Okay, it doesn't suck, but it doesnt always get me the look im looking for. However, working 3 nights a week for a few hours at $7.50/hr, you have to decide, is it really worth the price?

question
 

I haven't used my aqua pens for a while, and now I can't get the water to flow! Any suggestions?

I love my aqua pen, I have the Niji one. In fact I have 4 of them. To clean them you just wipe on a papertowel until the tip runs clear, just like the blender pens. If I have a lot of color in them, I squeeze out a bit of water. I could never make my blender pens work for me, so I took my dried out blender and made In Color markers with them. They work great now with the color all the way through. Just took out the big tip and dropped reinker into the barrel of the blender pen. Love having a cranberry crisp marker and a cool caribbean marker too!