Most of these ink swatches were done with cotton swabs, then a glass dip pen, and therein lies the problem.
Can you say 'frustration?' I'm sure you can. None of my glass dip pens wanted to write (The swab below is Herbin Poussiere de Lune).
Enter The Goulet Pen Company. Dr. Inkenstein eagerly watched a video demonstrating glass dip pens and knew something was wrong. Mine were not writing like the pens in the demo.
The glass pens in question did not come from Goulet, but a now-defunct art supply store. I'm pretty sure they were not J Herbon. I don't even recall the brand.
After some intensive Customer Service courtesy of Brian Goulet, I conducted a science experiment and found out one of my culprit pens actually had a broken tip.
Out came the manicure tools. In a matter of minutes, Dr. Inkenstein had inhaled a lungful of glass dust, and the pen was writing.
Then my new J Herbin glass pen arrived. BIG difference. Smooth as, well, glass. Right out of the box. Ink is happy. Dr. Inkenstein is happy.
Colors prettyyyy.
