A student wrote to me a few weeks back about a recently released dip pen—the Hocoro Fude Dip Pen from Sailor.
I have fude pens from Sailor already. I use Platinum Carbon Black ink in them. It’s a pigmented black ink that will not clog fountain pens. I have had great success with it in those Sailor Fude fountain pens and other fountain pens. Do I really need a dip pen?
That’s what my student wondered, but he knew I’d want to know about the fude dip pens.
I ordered one of the dip pens to test. My thought was, if it worked, then I could use acrylic inks, color acrylic inks, I can’t use in the Sailor fountain pen.
Well there was a hiccup in my plan. My acrylic ink has been in storage for over 3 years. (No temperature shifts just a steady 72 degrees or so.)
Maybe it was the lights in filming, but it seemed not to flow well in this pen and by the time I did the final color ink sketch in today’s video it was clogging the tip.
So I did a little “addendum” using the Platinum Carbon Black ink. You can watch the entire video and see what I’ve decided.
If the embedded video doesn’t run you can view it on Vimeo.
And I’ll put it up on YouTube and put a link here to that as well.
Thanks Roz for your timely review of this fude dip pen! Once again you’ve saved me some time and money. I will stick with the Sailor fude “fountain” pens which I love to use with Platinum Carbon Black pigment ink👍. Always fun to see you in action on video and watch how you make those characters come to life on paper. 🙏
Thanks much Roz! As Paul said, you saved me from buying (yet another) dip pen. There are reviews on Youtube of the non-fude nib version of this pen, though no one else has put the fude through its paces 😉 I’ve had a similar experience with 3+ year old acrylic ink, though I am reluctant to thin it. We all slow down a little with time I guess.
I sure hope it isn’t my ink’s age. I have so many bottles that were in storage. But because it didn’t clog the same way as the Platinum Carbon I am betting it’s acrylic binder in the ink (because PC is also pigmented and it didn’t clog). The top of the pen is more like a regular fountain pen top in that it has a feeder and can hold some ink, so I think the acrylic is a problem. I’ll try some other inks in it at some point but all my FWs work fine in my regular dip pen nibs so I’m not in a rush.
It could also be the heat of the lamps. I usually like to try something before I film it so I have normal light/heat conditions to do the first test, but I just barreled right in on this.
I wouldn’t thin the acrylic ink to put it in this pen though. It’s going on paper so adhesion shouldn’t be an issue with the acrylic film, but it will dilute the ink into such a tint that I don’t think I’d have much fun with it, do you?
Treat yourself to a fine pastry or something to celebrate not needing a new pen!!! (And sketch it of course.)