Platinum vs. Platinum: In Which Everyone Wins

Platinum makes a wide range of pens, from the inexpensive Preppys (which Dr. Inkenstein loves and owns a stable thereof) to the still-inexpensive Plaisir (ditto)....but then, I stepped over the edge.

So...Platinum Century 3776.  I had wanted the Bourgogne the minute I saw it, thinking, 'I don't really go for red pens, but this one...!

Like a ruby, glittering on velvet.  

Yes.  Must get. 

 Finally I sprang for one with a Medium nib, and it is soooo beautiful!  Like gazing into a full glass of top-flight burgundy: translucent yet deep, mysterious, elusive.

I had a moment of panic when I couldn't get a partly-empty Platinum cart from a Preppy (filled with Aurora Black) seated. But then I used a new cart and it seated and started writing in moments.

The M is not quite as broad as the Plaisir or Preppy M, or so it seems to me. And the nib is VERY springy. And just a bit scratchy, or it has an even smaller sweet spot than a Sailor nib.

(At that point, I hadn't written but a couple of sentences yet, so hoped maybe the slight catch in the nib would disappear soon.)

I think I have a medium touch, and the nib feels ULTRA-springy!   But then I am comparing it directly to the Plaisir/Preppy line, and those are, happily, nails. 

In the 3776, I have a Platinum Black cart. The Preppy has been refilled with Aurora Black. The difference, so far, has been very difficult to discern. 


Unfortunately, there is still one snaggy spot, and I can't see anything obvious under magnification.


I see a difference in the line width with my nose a foot from the paper...but after all there are two different inks in use. Maybe the line/nib output would have seemed closer with the same ink, but the Preppy does write broader and maybe wetter.

Final thoughts on this gorgeous writing instrument?

To be perfectly blunt, well...I got it at a good price.  It's PURDY.  And I'm getting used to it.  But other than its looks, I did not experience that 'swoon, this is PERFECT!' feeling I get from Sailor ™ pens, or that robust friendliness Platinum offers in its lower-end models.  And if I'm being honest with myself, I'll reach for a Plaisir or a Preppy before the 3776.

Continuation! In which Dr. Inkenstein Furthers the Blue-Black Quest

Three pens loaded for testing.

Due to the ink tests, I decided that Diamine Twilight will be the next ink in my five-dollar Tachikawa manga pen, which may approximate the mix of original black ink and the Noodler's Navaho Turquoise I kept throwing into there.

Five days later, Dr. I. was still soaking and flushing that needle-nib pen that had been filled and never cleaned for ten years....water in cup still blue after one week's soaking. Ten years. Five days. I suppose it will take its own sweet time.

The first batch of blue-black testing, on Rhodia Uni:





The Diamine Prussian Blue looks greener than it is...the Tanzanite and Chopin look all to similar in this scan. I believe the Chopin is a little 'softer.' Thanks to KLP for both those samples!

Ooo...maybe I'll do a trio of chromas...

Which turned into a quartet. Diamine Prussian Blue shows turquoise in its corona. Edelstein Tanzanite washes into a royal blue, while Chopin plays it slate. The Skrip BB is from the conical Slovenia bottle and has a really interesting forest-green center.  Dr. Inkenstein loves inks with complex chromas.

To be continued....soon.

Blue-Black On The Gray Side: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes on a Quest

Once upon a time, Dr.  Inkenstein needed a blue-black ink that leaned gray.  Muahahaaaa!


You don't normally think of spring and summer when you think, 'Blue-black inks!  Yeahhh!'  You kinda think, 'Autumn.  Gray.  Rainy.'


Unless it's a rainy spring day.  In which case, on with the show:

 Chesterfield Sodalite (which is, I THINK, some sort of Diamine ink) was my go-to,  gray-leaning blue-black.

However, when I recently loaded it in a hooded Jinhao 599,  the ink looked gray. Just gray. As in...gray.


And it seemed very dry. Draggy, even!  Perhaps it's IG? In any case, it doesn't seem to be the same ink color I started out with.

So began the Quest for something WET and lubricated, a blue-black that tends toward gray but still has identifiable blue components.

Not greenish. I love that, but have plenty of those!   I went to some fountain pen forums for suggestions and got several good ones.  AND some donated ink samples from KLP and Reprieve and others!

 

Thanks for your generosity!

.I next dip- tested as many inks as I could on a small piece of Rhodia. I used some of the inks sent by KLP and Reprieve (sincere thanks to you both for your generosity!), plus the few I had on hand that were suggested.

Only the Diamine Denim was actually loaded in an actual pen. 





The color in this scan isn't fully accurate, but you can see Diamine Twilight was too green, and JH Bleu Nuit too blue for this Quest, though both are lovely and useful colors. The Hudson looks almost as blue in the scan as Bleu Nuit but isn't.

Of my own inks, visually, the OS Manganese and Hero come close. Of the Ink Gifts, I loved the Tanzanite, Chopin, and HH. 

Next: Loading a few pens and taking them for a short test-drive. Stay tuned.