Costly Blues: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Blames FPN

The Fountain Pen Network has done it to me again: forced Dr. Inkenstein to buy MOAR INK.  

Forced, I tell you.

What happened is that someone proposed the idea that everyone (or as much Everyone as could be crammed into a phone booth) buy one ink every thirty days and test it to failure. ( 'Scotty!  The engines!')  

 

Sort of a grand Ink-of-the-Month Club.

Except that the ink is IROSHIZUKU.  From JAPAN.  Which costs way more than the five-ten bucks a bottle Dr. Inkenstein is comfortable with.

 

Iroshizuku comes in a very pretty bottle that you will not be ashamed of as it sits on your ink shelf.  And they make a lot of inks.  As there was already a bottle of Ku-Jaku in Dr. Inkenstein's cabinet, the thought was, 'One down, eighty billion to go.'  But Ku-Jaku doesn't come up to bat for a few months.

 October's ink is Tsuki-yo, which was luckily in my ink sampler bin.  So, whew.  That gave me time to order a few more samples.

 

And on re-visiting this ink, I like it more.  In its chosen ink delivery system of the Pilot Metropolitan, it glides.  It is a teal-leaning blue-black that should behave decently in any decent pen. 

 

I've compared it to other inks and in other pens in a mini-review that reads right-to- left.   And I ended up ordering a whole bottle. 

Silver nib flashes

Silken skates soar homeward bound

Into Moonlit Sky 

 

 

 

More months will bring more ink reviews.  Check out FPN for other comparisons and for the 'rules' if you should wish to participate.

 

If they do this with Sailor inks, I am sunk. 

Blue-Blacks: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Ponders A New Obssession

Lately, Dr. Inkenstein has been, well, let's say highly INTERESTED in blue-black inks.  After all, they are our favorite colors, if you include those inks that lean teal, like Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku and Chesterfield Teal.

So based on various online reviews and scans, I tested a bunch of new inks (all except the Everflo, which is not at all new and has been on my ink hutch for years, and is not a true blue-black but it's here for comparison purposes).

Part of the 'fun'of testing inks is finding a perfect ink/pen combo.  The Nemos write dry.  The Hero and Lamys write wet.  The dip pen dips.  So many different factors, including paper!

The paper here was, uhh, an Office Depot composition notebook with Brazilian paper.  The scan looks different from the photo.  The differences are interesting.  The ink colors in real life are also different.  On to the particulars.


 Brand(s):  Everflo, Diamine, OrGaNicS Studios (sample courtesty of a pen pal), Private Reserve

Color(s): True Blue, Eau De Nil, BlakWa, Ebony Blue

Intensity:  Ebony Blue the highest and most saturated; the Diamine and OS less saturated.  Everflo was tough to place.  It's semi-saturated, and not a real BB, but whatever.  ;p

Flow:  All except the OS had decent flow, that is, until the PR EB had been in the pen for a couple of weeks, and then it needed multiple water-dips to start.  It also began smearing badly.  FPG had a discussion on similar problems with intensely saturated inks; it appears that it's just part of the breed.  Dilute or suffer.

The reluctant nature of the OS was not due to the pen (A Hero Summer Colors), because with its provided cart of Hero ink, that pen is an absolute gusher.  I believe the Diamine would have good flow but the Nemo pens are dry writers.

Shading:  None whatever in the Everflo.  All others had varying good degrees of shading, and the PR had SHEEN!

Summary:  While OS and Diamine Eau De Nil look almost identical on paper, in the scans and photos they look quite different, with the OS Blakwa appearing far more green.  Possibly the BlakWa shades a bit better than Eau De Nil.


What follows is the scan AND the photo of the four inks.

We have further blue-blacks to test: Noodler's Blue-Black, a sample of Chesterfield Night Sapphire, which I like a lot, and the cart that arrived with the Hero Summer Colors.  Until next year!

Ahoy Mateys! In Which Dr. Inkenstein Swabs the Deck With Autumn Color

Are you one of those fountain pen aficionados who changes ink color according to the season?

When fall is in the air, away go the bright pinks, turquoises, spring greens, and out come the October/November colors.

Far from being in-depth reviews, these samples are just quick impressions, in the hopes that one or more of these inks might catch your eye. Most of the testing was done with a glass dip pen and the swatches were applied with cotton swabs.
　
Many of these inks are available from dealers like isellpens and Goulet pens.

We've got some autumnal browns up first:

　
　
Ahoy, maties!  Behold J Herbin Rouille D'Ancre. This not-really-brown, not-really-pink color does not have a huge following, but it's the kind of ink oddity I really like. The name means Rusty Anchor, and yes, that is a great name for a dockside bar. Like most JH inks, this is watercolory and shades well, showing its qualities best when used in any pen with a wet B nib. There is just enough pink in the formula so the color will work in a fountain pen with a pink barrel. (Dr. Inkenstein is a little particular that way.)
　
　
On to Terre de Feu, which looks ruby in the bottle but brown on paper. But as browns go, it has great shading, and there's always just the slightest, corner-of-your-eye hint of burgundy. This ink and my red-swirl Parker Frontier pen are an inseparable combo.
　
　
Lie de The has more olive undertones, and in an actual nib (not a swab) comes across as a medium-dark brown that leans yellow.


More browns:

　
Sheaffer Brown shows a bit of red, and like just about all Sheaffer inks, it's well-behaved. As the sample notes, it has an almost caramel shade to it.
　
Speaking of food, when I want a dark neutral brown that reminds me of cocoa, Noodler's 41 Brown usually gets the nod. I dilute it up to 50% with water for an ink that starts right away even in my dry writers (Stypen Creeks).
　
Waterman Havana brown is new to me. It looks deep mahogany-red in the swab, and seems to shade well. If it's anything like other Waterman inks, it should be a good mixer with those of its own kind.
　

A few burgundy-esque inks:

New to me here: Noodler's Black Swan In English Roses. This seems like a nice brick-burgundy, and though I'm disappointed not to see any halo effect, it worked well in a Waterman Carene (M), where its red components harmonized with the tomato color of the pen's barrel.
　
Black Swan In Australian Roses, also new, on the other hand, looks purple in the sampler tube, but swabs out a pleasantly antique-ish dusty burgundy. But ditto on the halo effect. Wasn't there. TT__TT
　
　
J Herbin Rouge Caroubier---the name means 'Locust.' I'm thinking they were referring to the tree, not the bug, since the label shows a leaf, but it's not the locust leaf I'm familiar with. It's ruby-orange in the bottle, swabbing out coral-pink. Another ink that would probably show best in a broad-nibbed pen.
　

Finally, on to some cooler colors.

　
Pilot Iroshizuku (color-drop) Fuyu Syogan is new to my collection. 'Old Man Winter' swabs out a blue-steel color, and appears to shade beautifully. It will add to my small collection of grays, and maybe one of these days I can afford a full bottle. -_-
　
Noodler's Blue Nose Bear, also new to me, is supposed to be another 'halo' color, and in this case, it's true! (some might see the halo as bleeding/feathering), but I love this evergreen-blue color so much I can't wait to put it in an actual pen. The scan really doesn't do this elusive and strange color justice. It would probably fare well in a fine- nibbed pen to let the feathering magic do its work, such as any Hero 329 or 616.
　
JHerbin Gris Nuage was my first gray, and it's a true gray, delicate and neutral, like a cloud as its name suggests. Maybe it's a bit too delicate and watercolor-ish for some, but it suits Dr. Inkenstein just fine.

Up next:  maybe some socks, maybe some more fountain pen tests, maybe another fanfic.