🎉Gel Pens Turn 40! Sakura’s Ball Sign Tiara Knock Brings Back the Spar

Hey there, stationery lovers! ✨ If you're into ✏️ sparkly pens, retro vibes, and a little bit of gel-ink magic, you need to know about this: gel ink ballpoint pens are turning 40 this year 🎉 and to celebrate, Sakura has released a super cool version of their best-selling glitter pen — say hello to the Ball Sign® Tiara® Knock! 💎✨

This pen was featured on the popular radio show “Takoto Naomi’s Stationery Grand Strategy!”, where Naomi Fujii (aka Nao-chan) tries out the latest stationery each week 📻. And spoiler alert: she loved this one. 😍

🖋️ A Glittery Legend Returns: Ball Sign Tiara Knock 💫

Remember the original Ball Sign Tiara from 2000? That pen was a sparkly superstar 🌟, inspired by birthstones and packed with glitter. It sold 46 million units worldwide in just one year! 😲 Back then, middle and high school girls couldn’t get enough of its ✨ shiny ink.

Now in 2025, it’s back — but better — with a click-style design! That’s right, no more pen caps to lose. It’s called the Ball Sign Tiara Knock 🖊️, and it looks just like the original... so much so that Nao-chan tried to pull the cap off before realizing it’s a click pen! 😂

🎉 Happy 40th Birthday, Gel Ink Pens! 🎂🖊️

Gel ink pens were born in 1984, starting with the Ball Sign 280 by Sakura Craypas. These pens combined the smoothness of water-based ink with the long-lasting color of oil-based ink — and that combo changed the stationery game forever 💥.

Over the years, Sakura released a whole glittery galaxy of pens under the “Ball Sign” series. Let’s take a quick tour through the sparkle-filled history! ✨📚

🪄 Meet the Magical Ball Sign Pens (and Some Hidden Treasures!)

🔹 Ball Sign 80 Kirara (1997) – Metallic rather than glittery, and perfect for writing on dark paper 📷 (a favorite during the sticker-photo booth craze!).
🔹 Ball Sign 80 Fuchidoru (1998) – This pen added a silver border automatically when you wrote! 🪄 Great for secret messages too – erase the top to reveal the words beneath!
🔹 Ball Sign Tiara (2000) – So. Much. Glitter. 💖 Just tilt the paper and boom! Sparkles!
🔹 Ball Sign 80 Moonlight (2002) – Bright neon colors that pop on black paper. Great for days when you need a little cheer ☀️.
🔹 Ball Sign Aqua Lip (2003) – Transparent, jelly-like ink 💧, kind of like lip gloss! Works great for masking areas before adding fountain pen ink.
🔹 Ball Sign Soufflé (2004) – Soft pastel colors that puff up a little. You could even write on plastic! 🎀
🔹 Ball Sign Luxe (2005) – Think of it like the golden sister of Fuchidoru – sparkly gold outlines that peel like a scratch-off sticker game ✨🪙.