So what is a Gel Pen and why are so many using them for Adult Coloring?

A gel pen is a pen that has Gel Ink in the inner tube instead of ink. Gel Ink is a water based gel that has pigment suspended in it to make an opaque substance. That is how you get those bright and vivid colors you are all getting to know and love. 

Gel Pens do work a little differently to the normal pen & ink that you are used to using. So it is important to be familiar with its anatomy and how to use and care for them. 

Gel pens have been around for years and many have loved using them for writing in journals and taking notes, I have personally used them for note taking most of my life starting  at nursing school & university. I even got reasonably good at drawing stick figures and when I say reasonably good I mean I got good because I got very fast at drawing stick figures in lectures LOL.! I should give a disclaimer here that the actual stick figures themselves were very bad and I would even say that a 5 year old would do a much better job. I do see that there are courses over the web these days perhaps I should enrol? A doodling course as well would be great.

Literally anything you can use a pen or a pencil for you can use with a gel pen and we have many customers using gel pens in scrap booking, card making, invitations, bible journaling and journaling. Writing drawing and doodling. If you use them for anything else not mentioned, please let us know and we can add it to our ever growing list of gel pen usage.

We do have post in here about Gel Pen Anatomy and it is worth having a look at this, as it goes into detail about how a Gel Pen is made and what the names of the components are. There are 2 very important things to know about Gel Pens so that you can have trouble free usage.

1. Always keep the lids on the pens when not in use to avoid the ink drying out or leaking.
2. If you happen to get a pen that wont let the ink flow. On a scrap piece of paper draw in circles until you get the ink to work. Should take a few seconds but every so often you might get a stubborn pen in which case you just keep drawing in circles until the ink flows onto the page. 

Adult Coloring is growing very huge as a relaxation hobby and gel pens are now being used in very large quantities for coloring.

My initial reaction was, why on earth would I want to use pens to color a picture? Isn't that what colored pencils and crayons are for? Actually to be perfectly honest, my first question was why on earth as an adult would I want to start ‘coloring in again?  Surely that is a rather backwards step into childhood, that I would rather not have to re-live... but that is another story for another time.. LOL ... perhaps?

Let’s get back to why would I want to use Gel Pens to color in a picture.  Normally as you know ink pens are used for writing and I thought would include Gel Pens. After all that is all I have ever used a Gel Pen for. I personally have loved writing with Gel Pens. Yes, they do use up the ink quicker (That is normal because of the thicker Gel Ink as opposed to normal ink which is much thinner) but they are so lovely to write with. The Gel Ink is so much smoother to write with and that means less stress on my hands and fingers. Even better now that I am lots older... yes the arthritis has crept in and I do not particularly want to go through the thumb joint operation again (once was enough) so using Gel Pens to write with has made that part less painful.

But I still struggled with the concept of Adult Coloring??? 

I do not know who came up with the idea of using Gel Pens for coloring (or in fact Adult Coloring to start with) in our new adult coloring phase but as it turns out it is a great idea. It really is as relaxing as many say and for those of us (like me) that are creatively challenged, I can still make a reasonably good looking picture by coloring and its classed as a creative work. 

So I should point out, that I have taken to Adult Coloring like a duck to water and have found it incredibly soothing even when I am getting myself very perplexed about which color pen to use next... LOL

Gel Pens as mentioned already, write so smoothly that they place less friction on hands and fingers so are easier to color write draw and doodle with. Because of this smoothness Gel Pens make it easier on those with painful joints. If you happen to be a person who still takes written notes then these pens make it less physically stressful as well. Not so tiring on your body. The Gel Pen will still place less stress on your joints and allow you to color for longer periods. Unlike a pencil there is less physical drag on on a page with a gel pen. The great feature of taking notes with Gel Pens is the array of colors available and this is wonderful to be able to add to note taking by using those colors to distinguish different sections of your notes.

So RELAX & ENJOY!!!

Apart from it being easier on the hands and joints the colors are stunning and really make the pictures pop off the page with a great variety of vivid colors and there is a gorgeous shimmer from the glitter pens. There is a shimmer from the CulaLuva brand anyway. To let you in on a little secret, I took up this new past time of adult coloring and I have to admit I am hooked & so is Suzanne the other owner of CulaLuva. She is way more addicted than I am. Most of the coloring that is done by CulaLuva is the work that has been colored by Suzanne. She sneaks off in her little cabin with the two dogs Pebbles & Peanut and they all cuddle up in the recliner together and color away for hours. If Pebbles had thumbs I am sure she would be coloring as well. She watches Suzanne so intently I think she helps the ink onto the page. She definitely chooses the colors.

Anyway back to Gel Pens and their uses. So Adult coloring is a great use for these pens as the colors do really bring to life any picture you are working on. We have seen great works from our customers who have used both gel pens and coloring pencils on the same piece and are getting very adventurous by using many different mediums together and are even blending the Gel Pen colors now which is very effective. 

We would love to hear more from you our CulaLuva Customers on your own experiences of coloring drawing and doodling with gel pens. We would love to share your works on our website if you would like us to that is. Our focus is you and your experience so please don’t be shy we look forward to hearing from you all. If you are anything like us in that you don’t think your creative works and coloring are good enough … we don’t look for perfection. If anything your story and your work will show us who you are, the unique and wonderful individual that you are, so please share as this will give others the ”motivation” to share theirs as well We don’t want this blog to be all about CulaLuva.