Have you ever seen a beautiful chalkboard in a restaurant or cafe, featuring detailed lettering and illustrations of the food, and wondered how they get such precise and saturated designs? Any time I’ve tried to do a drawing with chalk, it looks like it was done by a child. Which is partially a problem of artistic talent (I lack it), but some of it comes down to the tools. I’m guessing that most professional chalk artists actually use chalk markers, which have a precise tip and dispense liquid chalk ink. A while back I was asked if I wanted to try out Chalkola chalk markers, and at first I wasn’t sure I’d have anything to use them on. But the wheels started turning pretty quickly once I realized that you can use them on paper, glass, or other non-porous surfaces, and I came up with a few projects. For one thing, I remembered that I had some chalkboard signs that would be perfect for a Halloween greeting. Steven has all of the drawing ability in this house, so I recruited him to write up a sign to put on our door.
Super cute spoooooooky, right?

The Chalkola pens are really easy to use, and have very vibrant colors. I used the white pen the most, so I’m guessing it will run out the soonest, but you can buy the white ones separately. They’re much more durable than regular chalk, and while you can use them on glass surfaces, my attempt to use them on jars that go in the fridge was a fail–the condensation makes the writing quickly rub off. So no wet surfaces. And the first time you use them, you do have to pump the tip a bunch of times to get the ink flowing. But overall they seemed great and I’d definitely recommend them for anyone who wants to upgrade from regular chalk. I was inspired to paint some terracotta pots with chalkboard paint and decorate them, and I’m sure I’ll use them on many more projects. If you want a set of your own, you can use the code CHALK20A for 20% off on Amazon.

Disclosure: A set of Chalkola chalk markers were provided to me for review.