There is nothing more annoying than pens that smear when you’re working with them, especially if you are left-handed. It’s challenging to write without smudging the ink, and smudged ink ruins even the neatest and prettiest work.
Muji pens will smear if you don’t give them a little bit of time to dry. This means they aren’t ideal for people who write with their left hand, or who commonly run their fingers or sleeves over the ink as they work. They do not smear as badly as some pens, but they will smudge when wet.
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Do Muji Pens Smear?
Muji pens unfortunately do smear if you rub a hand or another surface across them while they are still wet, and if you shut a notebook, they may leave marks on the opposite page. This is frustrating for users as it can ruin good work, and Muji pens are popular for their ability to write beautifully – so the last thing that you want is a bad smudge.
Many gel pens smear when they are wet because they are wetter than ballpoint ink, and so there is more liquid to be smudged across the page when the ink is first added to the paper. Other factors can affect the likelihood of smearing, including:
- The paper quality: papers that are thick and porous will absorb more ink, and thus reduce the risk of smearing, while thin papers leave ink on the surface for longer.
- The paper type: shiny papers do not absorb ink well, and increase the risk of smearing.
- Your drawing style: if you are left-handed or you tend to curl your hand around your pen, you are more likely to smudge your ink.
- How much ink you use: if you use your Muji pens to color heavy lines on the paper and go back and forth a lot, your pens will smear.
- The ambient humidity: how wet the air is will affect how quickly the ink dries, even if only minimally.
If you use your pens correctly and give them a little time to dry before you touch them or allow another surface to touch them, few Muji pens will smear badly, but it’s worth being aware that this is a risk. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that most gel pens run into because they are a mix of water and oil-based inks.
How Can I Stop My Muji Pen From Smearing?
The best way to stop your Muji pen from smearing is to allow it to dry before you touch it. This should not take very long, and you can decrease the drying time by lightly blowing on the paper to increase the amount of air flowing across the ink. This should encourage it to dry more quickly.
Making light lines and not going back across them should also help to reduce the drying time and prevent the pens from smearing. If you are careful, you can also press a piece of paper lightly over the top to soak up some of the ink, but be aware that if you move it to the side at all, it will smudge the pen. This is a tricky maneuver.
Finally, using high-quality paper is a good way to reduce the risk of smudging. If the paper can soak up the ink, it will dry more quickly and there should be no problem with it getting smeared when you touch it.
Can You Use Highlighter On A Muji Pen?
Many people want to use colorful highlights, but find that the pen underneath smudges. This can mess up the highlighter tip and makes your work look messy – or even unreadable. However, you can use highlighters with Muji pens if you allow the ink to fully dry before you put the highlighter on.
Some people claim that the Muji pen will still smudge, so it’s wise to test this on some scrap paper before you use it on important work. In general, however, once the Muji ink is dry, it should not smudge.
If you find that it does, you can still use a highlighter, but you will need to put it on the paper first. When you wish to highlight a word or phrase, simply take your highlighter, run it along the space where that word or phrase will fit, and then give it a few seconds to dry before writing over the top of it.
You will quickly learn how to estimate how much space is needed for your highlighter, and this is a great solution to your pen smudging.
Conclusion
Overall, Muji pens do have some risk of smearing, and if you touch the ink when it is wet, it will blur onto the surrounding paper. However, if you give the pen a little time to dry, you should be able to touch it safely without any further issues.