Porcelain pen duel: Pebeo vs HobbyLine

As I am home for the holidays, I have a bit of time on my hands. I do a lot of ceramic mugs so I’m always on the hunt for good porcelain paint.

Lately I have been really into black&white, graphic kind of stuff, and I bought not one, but two porcelain pens/markers. I like them both, but you kind of have to know what you will need them for, before you make the purchase. 

To make it easier for you, here’s a brief review:

I needed a catch-all dish for my nightstand so this was the perfect thing to test out the markers.

Here are the contestants; first we have HobbyLine PorcelainPen Brilliant. 

It is water-based, intended for porcelain, glazed ceramics, glass and even metal. The colour becomes dishwasher safe after baking it in an oven for about an hour and a half on 160°C (320°F). I have bought this one first, have two mugs painted with it and it holds up very nicely even with daily use and dishwashing. The tip is like a regular marker tip, 2-4 mm wide, so not very good for precise tiny drawings. It leaves a rich, really black trace which is a plus, because you don’t have to go over it twice. The only problem I’ve encountered while drawing with this marker is that it had run on me once. Not much, but a nuisance nonetheless. Aaaaand, they come in different colours, which is cool if you’re into colours.

Secondly we have Pebeo Porcelaine 150 pen. Also water-based, as the name suggests you have to bake it on 150°C (302°F) for 35 minutes, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but seems to work just fine. The tip is harder and much more narrow at only 0,7 mm. This makes for a great precision pen, but not much else. It is my go-to pen for really dainty drawings, like cat’s whiskers. Since the trace is so narrow, it is also somewhat lighter, which I don’t like so I use it a little less.

The poorly drawn cat strikes again!

 Generally speaking, I use the HobbyLine marker much more because I like a solid bold line. Oh, and this is in no way a paid advertisement, since I don't have any readers and nobody would pay me to write.