Straits Art fude nib fountain pen

I remember buying my first fude nib fountain pen from Straits Art (Singapore) more than a decade ago.

A fude nib is a bent nib designed for writing Asian calligraphy. It's actually a rather versatile nib that can be used for drawing too, and is quite popular with artists and urban sketchers.

This fude nib fountain pen selling at Straits Art has no brand on it. The whole pen is made of plastic and feels plasticky, and it feels like it may crack if you drop it on the ground.

The advantage is it's very lightweight, comparable to disposable pens. I don't mind pens made with plastic. Many fountain pens are made with plastic, different types of plastic of course, namely Lamy Safari, Pilot Penmanship, many desk pens.

The pen is so light that it feels like I'm holding a (thicker) pencil.

This is a so-called eyedropper pen where you have to refill it with an eyedropper (a plastic one is provided). The body can hold a lot of ink, maybe 4 to 5 times the amount compared to a typical ink convertor. That's great because fude nib uses a lot of ink and having such a huge ink reservoir means you don't have to reload the pen as often.

This is a fantastic pen to bring overseas for sketching. The main reason why I prefer my Pelikan M200 or multiple Uniball Air for overseas sketching trips is because I want to refill ink when I'm overseas.

Design on the nib is quite simple.

This nib is made in Germany with an Iridium point.

A fude nib is versatile because you can produce a variety of lines depending on the position of the pen. When drawing and writing, position of the pen is always changing slightly so the line variation is created automatically. This is unlike using a flex nib where we have to make a conscious effort to press harder to get a thicker line.

To get a thicker line with a fude nib, we have to tilt the nib so that the broad area is in contact with the paper.

The pen nib is reasonable smooth on the paper. Ink flow is good.

This is not a pen you'll want to open up when there's still ink in it. The ink is likely to spill out because ink can gather near the opening where the rubber stopper is.

Price of the pen is only SGD 15 and it's really worth the money at that price.

Main selling point is the huge ink reservoir. Downside is the plasticky feel which I personally do not mind.