Tombow 56645 Dual Brush Pen, N00 - Colorless Blender, 1-Pack, Blendable Brush and Fine Tip Marker Review (2026)

A blender built for water based markers

The Tombow 56645 Dual Brush Pen N00 is a colorless blender with the same dual tip design as Tombow's colored Dual Brush Pens: a flexible, resilient nylon brush tip for fine, medium, and broad strokes, plus a bullet tip on the other end for narrow, consistent lines. Instead of pigment, it carries a water based, blendable, acid free, and odorless clear ink that is certified AP non-toxic by ACMI. It is designed to be used alongside Tombow's own Dual Brush Pens and other water based markers, softening and spreading their color rather than adding any color of its own, which is the standard way a colorless blender pen functions.

Blending for ombre lettering

For hand lettering, the brush tip is the more useful side for blending, since its flexible nylon fiber can pick up color from the edge of a freshly written letter and drag it into a soft gradient, which is the basis of the ombre and watercolor style lettering effects popular with brush pen calligraphers. Working while the Dual Brush Pen ink is still wet generally gives a smoother transition than going back over dried ink, since the blender has fresh pigment to spread rather than reactivating something that has already set into the paper. The technique takes some practice to control how far the color spreads, but the blender itself performs the core function reliably as long as it is paired with compatible, water based ink.

Cleaning up edges and hairlines

The bullet tip on the opposite end is suited to smaller, more controlled tasks than the brush tip, such as softening a hard edge where two colors meet, lightening an overly saturated stroke, or cleaning up a small area without disturbing the surrounding lettering. This makes the pen useful beyond broad blending work, since it can double as a precision touch up tool for fixing minor color mistakes in a finished piece. Because both tips draw from the same reservoir of clear ink, switching between broad blending and fine cleanup does not require a separate tool, which keeps a lettering kit simpler.

What it will not do

This is a water based blender, and it is built to work with Tombow's water based Dual Brush Pens and similar markers, not with alcohol based marker systems. Alcohol based markers use a different solvent that a water based blender cannot properly dissolve or spread, so pairing this pen with an alcohol marker line will not produce the same smooth blending effect it gives with Tombow's own ink. Letterers who work across both marker types should expect to keep a separate alcohol based blender on hand rather than relying on this one for everything.

Who should buy this blender

This pen is a good fit for brush lettering artists and calligraphers who already use Tombow Dual Brush Pens and want to create smooth color transitions, ombre effects, or soft shading in their work. The dual tip design covers both broad blending and small detail cleanup in a single pen. Because it is sold as a single pen, letterers who blend frequently or work on larger pieces should expect to go through it faster than an occasional user would and may want to keep a backup on hand, and anyone working primarily with alcohol based markers will need a different blender entirely.

Frequently asked questions