A question on permanent markers?

[GavinD]

I have only recently discovered the joy of making your own flies, but I would like some input from the more seasoned fly tiers:

Most sbs and videos on fly tying make us of Sharpie markers when adding colour, lines, stripes, eyes and the rest to flies. My question is why does everyone refer to Sharpie markers? Are they that much better than other permanent markers? And for those that do use Sharpie do you make use of the normal permanent markers, or do you use the ones made specifically for material marking and colouring? (Saw these for the first time at a Walton's.)

We have some paint type permanent markers and the usual Artline and others at home and was wondering if these will also work, or do there paint pigments or solvents differ from the Sharpie markers?

[BenzoV]

I'm speaking under correction, but I think most of the tutorials you will be watching/reading will be American, and in the USA a "sharpie" is usually just a generic name for a koki pen. I believe "ProMarkers" and "Copics" are quite readily available in SA and are great for the job.

[edd]

Sharpie is a brand name of permanent marker in the US, Copic markers are nice and the come in a huge range of colors

[GavinD]

Thanks for the feedback. Have guessed that "Sharpie" is a brand popular in America, but have seen other sbs's from SA and other places in the world and a lot them refer to "Sharpie" specifically and was wondering if the make is "special" or can one use any decent permanent marker. Sharpie is quite expensive at about R75 for 4 markers alone... but I think I will stick with rather stick with Copics and ProMarkers...

[smallstreams.co.za]

Thanks for the feedback. Have guessed that "Sharpie" is a brand popular in America, but have seen other sbs's from SA and other places in the world and a lot them refer to "Sharpie" specifically and was wondering if the make is "special" or can one use any decent permanent marker. Sharpie is quite expensive at about R75 for 4 markers alone... but I think I will stick with rather stick with Copics and ProMarkers...

It's like making a Xerox, or Hoovering the house. The brand is synonymous with the usage, even if you are using another brand. So it is with Sharpie.