Customer Reviews

Now this is a brush pen's brush pen. It's what most other brush pens wish they were. Simple elegant class all the way. It's light like a regular brush so the switch between the two is almost effortless. And when you plug a Platinum ink converter into it your ink choices are infinite. The most useful inks that I've found to use in this pen so far are Noodler's Bullet Proof Black and Platinum's Carbon Black with the Carbon Black being slightly more useful if your into heavy watercolor washes as it doesn't bleed that tiny little bit that the Noodler's BPB does. The brush itself has been the most responsive of the synthetic styles that I have used so far, at least for my style of line work, it has a crisp snap so that going from a hairline to the broadest of line and back again is as near to intuitive as I've found in a synthetic. And if you're a serious line junkie you can easily convert this puppy into an eyedropper fill pen with a 1/16" diameter (hard to find so if you don't mind a bit of a bump between the pen barrel and nib section you can use an 1/8" diameter washer found at any hardware store) 1/4" washer and some silicone grease on the threads and you have yourself a brush pen that can hold an 1/8 of a bottle of ink and it'll lay down lines for days. Just remember to keep the nib upright as it can bleed like crazy if dropped or stored nib down with that much ink in it.

Hello, and a wonderfull (whatever daytime you might be reading this...)

Interesting, for such an infamous pen with these fast de- and increasing numbers in any shops, that I am the first to write a short review here... nice.

The Kuretake DV140-13C is one of the better Bruspens I have used.
It's nylon bristles range, in flexibilitx and resiliency between the Kuretake Phys Waterbrush Pens and the Pentel FP10 GFKP Brush Pen.
The Bristles spring back to a sharp point, but sometimes it needs a short while with the pen closed, before it's tip is sharp again for working on crisp lines, especially after filling in larger areas, which stresses the bristles a lot.

After nearly two months and 8 used cartridges, the tip looks quite like new, so the possibility to buy spare/replacement tips/nibs is great and counts as a plus, but it is not necessary too often, a second plus.

The Pen closes with a wonderfull clicking sound, and you can feel the "reistance" of the pen while closing the cap, so you know it is "closed" and tight. It gives you a good feeling about the bristles not getting too much air and drying out.

The Barrel and Cap are made out of Aluminium it seems, it seems more durable in feel and more elegant in look than the Pentel GFKP. Maybe thus the price is so much higher.

The Pen is very lightweight, more lightweight than the Pentel GFKP, could be a little heavier, depending on the user, it's up to you whether this is good or bad.

The Price is very moderate for a pen of this quality.

The Ink is a very dark and saturated black, watersoluble and even after drying not waterproof. If you want to make washes or use aquarellistic colours on your paintings, do it before using the Kuretake-ink, and you will be fine.

Kuretake DV140-13C only gets four of five stars because I prefer natural sable bristles, more stable, more sharp lines, and a better control of the line, like on the Kuretake DV140-40 oder DV140-50.
Anyway, it is still one of the best brush pens I have ever had the luck to own, thanks to JetPens. ^_^

TheHOINK

I've had this pen for about a week so far and absolutely love the pen. I've been using the standard Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, but they are becoming hard to find without ordering, and the constant dipping was getting old (not to mention the few times I turn to dip, I knock the bottle of indian ink over)

So I thought I would try a brush pen to avoid spillage but still get the same brush feel, and it was probably the best decision I've made so far.

Ink that is supplied isn't waterproof and I found that when dried, it has a dark brown tint rather than flat black. So I ordered a few cartridges of Carbon Black and a bottle of it.

Is it truly confirmed that the No. 40 replacement tip will fit on the No. 13? If so, I would like to convert it over to the natural sable. I found that the nylon brush tip is a bit slow on flow when taking fast strokes, and maybe a natural hair tip would fix it.

May be getting a second to use exclusively with the Platinum Converter for colored inks/washes, or just for non-waterproof cartridges for sketching.

This is a wonderful drawing tool. My first brush pen was the Pentel Pocket one, and it is a lovely pen. But this Kuretake has a higher quality brush with more spring and a finer point. I am really enjoying it.

Just fyi, I use Platinum Carbon ink cartridges instead of the supplied ink, because the Platinum ink is waterproof and dries near instantly on most papers. Happily the Platinum and Kuretake cartridges are identical to each other (even down to the little metal ball), and the Platinum converter fits this pen beautifully as well. I've had absolutely no problems with inkflow.

I would like to add that I was surprised to find that this does not bleed with Copics. It does however bleed with faber castell brushpens. My guess is that it is not alcohol soluble, but is water soluble.

Most pleased. It writes from a thick line down to a single hair. It feels smooth. No ink flow problems. The Platinum converter works fine.
It's better than my Pentel Pocket Brush.

This Kuretake Fountain Hair Brush Pen is not only a beautifully designed brush pen, but also an excellent writting brush pen. I have used this brush pen or more than 40 year (Of course I used more than 10 of them during these years). I just love it and can recommend for any person who is intereted in trying to use it without reservation. I only wish that the company can also produce and sale the larger brush tip ones, so that people can buy them for use to write characters of medium and large sizes as well. (If not now, perhaps in the future.)

Signed,
Charles Y. Yang

$30 may seem pretty steep for a brush pen, but this is worth it! I decided to try this brush pen after I was very happy with my Pentel Pocket, but wanted something with a thinner tip. Yes, the tip is thinner (but considering I work with a 6/0 brush when I'm inking sometimes, it's still big to me), but you can also get some fairly bold lines out of it. I am very happy with it. It is extremely good quality, enough that I've inked final pieces with it instead of a regular brush-- it looks that good.

Compared to the Pentel Pocket, the ink seems much "wetter" and darker. It takes a bit longer to dry, so it's easy to accidentally smudge it. However, it works better on paper with a little "tooth" than the Pentel does.

If you only use a brush pen once in a while, buy the less expensive Pentel Pocket. But if you want to make an investment and plan to use the pen constantly, go for it.

This pen has held up beautifully for me - and the tip is just a bit stiffer than a natural hair brush. I carry this around in my purse and have no leakage or drying - the cap is very airtight. It's great for on the spot inking! At first you think it's kind of cheap looking when you open the package, but that's just because it's not over decorated. It's very well made! Light but sturdy. I adore this pen!

The perfect brush pen. The bristle tip is slightly shorter and snappier than the Pentel's, making fine lines easier and slightly more controllable. This really is a quality pen, with beautiful strokes and amazing potential. I wouldn't say that the price difference between this and the Pentel is justified, but if you want the absolute best, this would be it. Plus, the huge advantage with the Kuretake No. 13 is that it can be fitted with Platinum Carbon ink cartridges (no need for a converter- the cartridges are identical in shape!) so you can get the blackest, most waterproof lines along with a stunning brush tip and beautiful pen body. It does require a lot of practice to master if you haven't used brush pens before, though, and even then is not suited for all kinds of artists- you need to do slow, loving, fine, detailed work with this one- this is not for quick, aggressive large scale drawings!

I think this is the best brush pen you can find.
It can handle very small letters and the design looks luxurious.
I am very satisfied.

This is a wonderful brush pen!

Excelent brush. even pul and a joy to use. I would have given it a 5 except for the fact that after 6 months my cap would not stay on all the way. after an hour or two it would pop off slightly, causing my brush to dry out. I had this problem numberous times over a 3yr. period.

BUT I would definately consider getting this pen again and I have talked to other people who had it with no cmplaints. It's worth the $$.

I just got this and after using it for a week, I really love this pen. It beats my Pentel Pocket Brush and I'm looking forward to trying the Kuretake with different inks (something you can't do with the Pentel).

Great pen. I prefer this to the Pentel. It's lighter, classier, and I think the ink is a little darker, too.

It's on the thin side, but if you're used to watercolour brushes you won't mind.

Yes, this is a really nice pen but does it really worth the extra $ compare to the gfkp ?
that's the question I was really interested in. So, I bought them both, and as many others, I prefer this one.

However, I sometimes wish the ink flow to be a little faster - even if it create a nice "dry" effect on some papers... dunno if some other ink and a converter can help with this.

Anyway, I love it, this is a great pen, precise, soft, a real pleasure to use.... but I'm seriously thinking to buy a No 40 just to see if it could get REALLY better. or maybe I ll only test with some Sable Hair replacement tip on this one... if it fits.

Hello, and a wonderfull (whatever daytime you might be reading this...)

Interesting, for such an infamous pen with these fast de- and increasing numbers in any shops, that I am the first to write a short review here... nice.

The Kuretake DT140-13C is one of the better Bruspens I have used.
It's nylon bristles range, in flexibilitx and resiliency between the Kuretake Phys Waterbrush Pens and the Pentel FP10 GFKP Brush Pen.
The Bristles spring back to a sharp point, but sometimes it needs a short while with the pen closed, before it's tip is sharp again for working on crisp lines, especially after filling in larger areas, which stresses the bristles a lot.

After nearly two months and 8 used cartridges, the tip looks quite like new, so the possibility to buy spare/replacement tips/nibs is great and counts as a plus, but it is not necessary too often, a second plus.

The Pen closes with a wonderfull clicking sound, and you can feel the "reistance" of the pen while closing the cap, so you know it is "closed" and tight. It gives you a good feeling about the bristles not getting too much air and drying out.

The Barrel and Cap are made out of Aluminium it seems, it seems more durable in feel and more elegant in look than the Pentel GFKP. Maybe thus the price is so much higher.

The Pen is very lightweight, more lightweight than the Pentel GFKP, could be a little heavier, depending on the user, it's up to you whether this is good or bad.

The Price is very moderate for a pen of this quality.

The Ink is a very dark and saturated black, watersoluble and even after drying not waterproof. If you want to make washes or use aquarellistic colours on your paintings, do it before using the Kuretake-ink, and you will be fine.

Kuretake DT140-13C only gets four of five stars because I prefer natural sable bristles, more stable, more sharp lines, and a better control of the line, like on the Kuretake DV140-40 oder DV140-50.
Anyway, it is still one of the best brush pens I have ever had the luck to own, thanks to JetPens. ^_^

TheHOINK..

I really like the red finish, as it sets it apart from other pens. The brush is very responsive, and the ink that comes with it is a very nice black.

Disclaimer: I have not used many true brush pens. All of my experience up to now has been Pigma microns or whatever their brush line was and Faber Castell Pitt Pens (Which I still have a crush on).

That said, moving to this pen from the felt brushes was like rediscovering drawing. And this brush is certainly good, or at least not bad. Both the convenience of free flowing ink and the expression of actual bristles.

Oh and the pen it self looks quite spiff.

If you're scared of the price, you can always get the Kuretake no.8, but the no.13 is quite nice, I think. I'm certainly going to be using the heck out of mine.

I might get a black one and put the platinum carbon ink in it just to have one with water (and marker!) proof ink, so I'm not limited to putting down brush strokes after I'm done coloring.

Would buy again.