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Oct. 11th, 2023 11:38 pmI probably should be working on Treason's Crusade right now in the last hour or so I have before I should go to bed, and yet I'm going to write a Dreamwidth entry because I am very excited about my new dip pens.
So I'm for some reason (friend tides tending that way I think) getting back into fountain pens and fountain pen inks, and while I do have a number of inks and a couple of Platinum Preppy fountain pens that I'd actually forgotten I had, as well as a manuscript cartridge pen with multiple nibs that I may actually just give away, I also have one Manuscript or Speedball (I think it's Speedball) dip pen. I've been using it to try out inks but honestly it's a bit scratchy and now that I've tried other dip pens I'm even more annoyed by the scratchiness. So I purchased a number of other dip pens, both as single unit dip pens (or nibs/holders that came packaged together) and as nibs with one handle.
The first one I tried was the single unit dip pen by Midori, one of their MD Paper line, and holy crap it was my favorite of the bunch even having tried out the other two that also came today. I got several lines written with one dip, a truly impressive amount of writing, and it writes a nice fine line. It is so smooth on the paper. It's simple, it's easy to hold, the only thing is that you can't replace the nib. But, honestly, I'm not sure I even mind that. It's got a price point of $26 which is not bad for a very smooth, very efficient writing utensil, especially one like a dip pen.
The second one I tried was the Kakimori pen nib with a nib holder, and this one ended up being my least favorite of the bunch. It only wrote a few lines before it ran out of ink, I think because it also deposits more ink on the page per stroke than the Midori, if that makes sense. Kakimori does make a couple other pen nibs, a sort of tubular arrow point shape thing, but they were out of stock so I haven't tried them yet. This one was a bit scratchy, though still much less so than the Speedball. I would easily use this over the Speedball. This was also the most disappointing because the nib was $26 and the holder was $33, so all told an impressive almost $60 for a mediocre dip pen experience. Though the holder can be used, I think, for a number of other people's nibs, so that investment may yet prove out.
The third one was between the first two, the Sailor Hocoro. I keep wanting to type Horoco, I think because it reminds me of the wind. The Sailor Hocoro holds about as much ink as the Midori, but it has a nib with a curve to it and a broader point and it definitely takes some getting used to. The design is intended to give the options of various line widths, and it does do that, but it takes some getting used to. I think I figured out how to use it to make the kind of line I want when I'm writing in English cursive, and I may play around with the nib using some other alphabets later. We'll see. This one I got in a special pack with a new Sailor Ink, a sample bottle with a Hocoro pen, for $26. My understanding is that the pen itself is actually cheaper than that.
Overall I'm quite excited about the whole experience. I actually also have no idea what I'll write with dip pens, if anything, primarily I was using my dip pen before for artwork. But it was still fun to play with new toys, especially in two out of three cases pretty frugal toys. I'm quite pleased. And I feel very scholarly, in a writing magic spells on scrolls in a fantasy world kind of a way.
So I'm for some reason (friend tides tending that way I think) getting back into fountain pens and fountain pen inks, and while I do have a number of inks and a couple of Platinum Preppy fountain pens that I'd actually forgotten I had, as well as a manuscript cartridge pen with multiple nibs that I may actually just give away, I also have one Manuscript or Speedball (I think it's Speedball) dip pen. I've been using it to try out inks but honestly it's a bit scratchy and now that I've tried other dip pens I'm even more annoyed by the scratchiness. So I purchased a number of other dip pens, both as single unit dip pens (or nibs/holders that came packaged together) and as nibs with one handle.
The first one I tried was the single unit dip pen by Midori, one of their MD Paper line, and holy crap it was my favorite of the bunch even having tried out the other two that also came today. I got several lines written with one dip, a truly impressive amount of writing, and it writes a nice fine line. It is so smooth on the paper. It's simple, it's easy to hold, the only thing is that you can't replace the nib. But, honestly, I'm not sure I even mind that. It's got a price point of $26 which is not bad for a very smooth, very efficient writing utensil, especially one like a dip pen.
The second one I tried was the Kakimori pen nib with a nib holder, and this one ended up being my least favorite of the bunch. It only wrote a few lines before it ran out of ink, I think because it also deposits more ink on the page per stroke than the Midori, if that makes sense. Kakimori does make a couple other pen nibs, a sort of tubular arrow point shape thing, but they were out of stock so I haven't tried them yet. This one was a bit scratchy, though still much less so than the Speedball. I would easily use this over the Speedball. This was also the most disappointing because the nib was $26 and the holder was $33, so all told an impressive almost $60 for a mediocre dip pen experience. Though the holder can be used, I think, for a number of other people's nibs, so that investment may yet prove out.
The third one was between the first two, the Sailor Hocoro. I keep wanting to type Horoco, I think because it reminds me of the wind. The Sailor Hocoro holds about as much ink as the Midori, but it has a nib with a curve to it and a broader point and it definitely takes some getting used to. The design is intended to give the options of various line widths, and it does do that, but it takes some getting used to. I think I figured out how to use it to make the kind of line I want when I'm writing in English cursive, and I may play around with the nib using some other alphabets later. We'll see. This one I got in a special pack with a new Sailor Ink, a sample bottle with a Hocoro pen, for $26. My understanding is that the pen itself is actually cheaper than that.
Overall I'm quite excited about the whole experience. I actually also have no idea what I'll write with dip pens, if anything, primarily I was using my dip pen before for artwork. But it was still fun to play with new toys, especially in two out of three cases pretty frugal toys. I'm quite pleased. And I feel very scholarly, in a writing magic spells on scrolls in a fantasy world kind of a way.