Tuesday 5 August 2014

Nail Art Pen Fail?

The nail art pen is one of those tools you have in your arsenal of creative clobber,  you see it demoed,  you hear other people rave about it, you buy it...and then.....

It lands on your door step...and doesn't work! 

"ARGHHHHHHHH" you shout  "there is yet another nail art gadget that promises the world and delivers very little"

Hold your horses.....don't despair my friend. I have come to the rescue. 

I often get questions about the pen, and generally it is a very simple solve.  You have to remember my philosophy is that life is too short to make it hard!  Everything I develop, innovate or design is done so that it should be an advantage to your work.  It should not  require effort or additional time….
what that means is that I am a lazy tech, and just want to do art.

The nail art pen is a brilliant addition to your kit and with one dip you can go on and on for ages drawing thin or thick lines. You will save you time, money and BONUS; effort! 


So lets cover the basics, and see if we can get this pen working for you. 

1. Are you using our paint? 

You can use ANY paint with the nail art pen, but the paint has to be thin enough to travel through the small grove in the nib. Too thick and it will not move or flow. Our paint has a very high pigment content and the pigment is fine enough to be used with the nib. If your trying to use a lessor quality paint and water it down you will get a washed out look. The paints from Be Creative are only £2.50, and have been included into our range only to support the nail art pen. You can find them here.

2. Is your paint thin enough

 The paint needs to be watered down to the consistency of single cream (half and half for my USA friends) or a full fat milk. …..see example on my instructional film on the website here . If your paint is not watered down enough you will not find it easy to use the pen. If you have bought a new paint from us, and it is not full, add water to fill it, shake the bottle and this will be the correct consistency. REMEMBER water evaporates....not colour. So leave your pot open and the paint will thicken. - just add more water. 

3. Good tip to start the flow

Dip nib into water first and then into the paint…this helps with lubrication (not always necessary). When you have finished with the nib, wash it well, remove the paint and then dip it in washing up liquid (American translation; dish soap) and leave. When you use it again you will have that nib nicely lubed. 

4. Paper first! 

Always start on paper first, not to mention practise, when you have a client in front of you, dip and then draw a couple of line on some paper.... ON A FLAT HARD SURFACE common sense I know, but you would be surprised how many people try and add pressure over the top of 3 layers of fluffy towels and desk towels.  See film on website….to achieve flow move the pen nib back and forth on the paper to get it going.  

5. Squeeze the handle of the pen. 

To be honest this is more a tip, and not a must to get the pen working, what it does is  generates tension in the nib…and helps with the flow without applying too much down pressure. Remember more pressing down equates to thicker lines. 

6. Are you painting on a rough surface?    

If the nail is shiny, say you have added top coat or gel top coat,  the pen and paint will slip. Lightly buff the surface, or do what I do; apply 2 coats of gel polish colour, as  normal, then wipe the tacky layer off once cured with a dry lint free wipe. Use the nail art pen and then top coat. 

7. Is it deep enough 

This is the most common issue people have, are you dipping in the paint far enough with your nib, people still use the nail art pen like a brush or a dotting tool, but this is incorrect. You need to dip the nib all the way up, this will fill the reservoir and give you loads of application time without re dipping.  - see film on website

8. It is not a brush

 ....and never will be, most people use it the same way as a brush, WRONG
it is a pen.....and should be used this way. 

There is another issue as well, the nib fit. check out this previous blog post on how to get it right, but make sure the oval hole in the nib is not covered. 

I hope you have found this useful, and good luck with your pen. 

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