Pudding Pens!

Huge thanks to Sara in Colorado for telling me about Pudding Pens, from Korea. The best place I've found (in the U.S.) for these pens is Cute Tape. I have also seen them on etsy and ebay. (Sadly, Jetpens.com does not have them.) Please note the credit card and the cell phone are there for size reference.

Here's are some comparison shots of what the pudding pens look like vs. some of my other favorite gel pens from Sakura Glaze, Sakura Souffle and Pilot's Sweet/Latte pens. More detailed information on those gel pens can be found in my pen post here.
In a nutshell, both the latte, sweets and pudding pens are a .05 mm tip vs. the souffle, glaze and aqualip fine pens are a .07 (note: aqualip fine, which are exactly like the Sakura Glaze pens but the aqualip fine tip is just a smidgen thinner than the regular glaze pen, are not available in the U.S. except through jetpens.com.)

The glaze and aqualip fine pens are a gloss finish vs. the rest of the pens (lattes, sweets, souffle and pudding) are a matte finish.

The latte/sweets even though they are the same tip size as the pudding pens seem to write a bit thinner (the ink doesn't come out of the pens as thick).

Why did I buy the pudding pens? Honestly, because I've been looking for a fine tip black gel pen to love. I have been hoping for a few years now that Pilot would release more colors in their Sweets and Lattes line (I've had the sweets/lattes since they came out and there haven't been any new colors, to my knowledge.) Sweets/Lattes have 19 different colors in their two ten pack sets (white is included in both sets) but they do not have a black. Pudding pens have a black as well as colors that are different (note the greens, yellows and oranges in this photo here):
(LS is Latte/Sweets, P is Pudding, G is Glaze, ALF is aqualip fine and S is Souffle)

The downside is that the pudding pens do not seem to be waterproof (I tried coloring over them with a permanent marker and the pudding pens ran.) Considering that I don't plan on putting my journal pages out in the rain, nor do I ever seal my pages with anything, this shouldn't be a problem.

They do work on dried acrylic paint, however, I do not recommend painting over them (see above).

One thing to note, the latte/sweet pens last a very, very long time. I have only had the pudding pens for a few weeks and I am not sure yet as to how long they last.

Would I recommend them? Totally.

I love all of the gel pens in the post above for various reasons. I've tried a ton of pens. I know what my favorites are and I've shared them here and with my students in classes. I tend to usually have a black and white (not clear) glaze pen (or a white souffle as there is no difference between the white glaze and the white souffle. Just make sure you're reaching for the white pen and not the clear pen), the latte/sweet pens and my rapidosketch .35 pen with me whenever I take my journal out and about. I've now added the pudding pens to that pile.

I keep all of my little pens in a $.99 pink "cigarette" case that I bought in Japantown a couple of years ago. Another friend had bought me a clear case that didn't last long and when I saw the cute little pink case, I knew it was perfect for my mini-pens!