Mysteries Continue: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Is Wrong Again

More Mysteries at hand for Dr. Inkenstein in....

...The snow report! This was kind of a rush job...snowstorm (that is, when this was first composed!), power loss (no heat, light, or innerwebz)....got power back today, got ink a couple hours ago.

Loaded directly into a Sheaffer No Nonsense, which doesn't get on very well with the ink, though I thought it would. But I wanted to use a cartridge pen this time, ratherthan the Dollar piston-filler. I might swap the cart into a slightly better Sheaffer.

A light, bright springlike (and we could use some spring!) ink. Lighter than both the MB Irish and the JH Lierre Sauvage. No sheen for me, hardly any shading. I see a turquoise halo in the chroma, which may not show up in this scan. 

You'd think Dr. Inkenstein woukd have guessed correctly this time.  Especially since the MI in question was ALSO one I own, and RIGHT THERE ON THE PAGE AS A COMPARISON.

Hint:  it wasn't MB Irish Green.  Mystery Ink # 15 was JHerbin Lierre Sauvage. Which I own.  And had loaded.   Will I ever get one right?  Tune in next time.  The Ink Mysteries continue.....

The Department of Mysteries: In Which Favorites Are Revisited

Long time no ink.  But a kind soul (this means you, Scooby!) at Fountain Pen Geeks has revived the Great Mystery Ink Extravaganza, and I was lucky enough to get on board.  MI 14 turned out to be blue.  This was fortunate.  Dr. Inkenstein likes blue.

Ur scribblz, I haz demz:

 

This was Rhodia paper, and the ink delivery system was a Dollar Demonstrator used for countless ink tests.  

This particular ink seemed to start hard after I had loaded and left it on its side for a couple of hours, but it wrote with a fairly suave and slinky manner.

I started to guess:  Sailor Jentle Blue also has red sheen, but MI 14 probably isn't this; I have JB in a JinFari at the moment, and the Jentle ink looks darker. This is a bright blue that looks denim-y in heavier application.

Is it a Robert Oster ink? I'm pretty unfamiliar with the line, apart from some pen pal letters.

Diamine Blue Velvet got on my fingers, too, every time I used it. Clearly, though I loved its properies and color, that ink hated me.

Mystery Ink 14 turned out to be.....Akkerman Shocking Blue. Which I already had.   So why couldn't I guess right?

Shootout! In Which Jinhao and Delike Go Toe-to-Toe

Of the Jinhao 992 and the Delike New Moon...I use them and enjoy them both. Maybe it's the ink, but the 992 lays down a wetter, heavier line. (Not to mention the jewel-cracking issue....the pen with a glass jaw?)

 The New Moon cost more, but as a Sapporo homage, it does the job (as does the Pilot Prera, or so I think, and the NM is half the Prera's price).

The finer, slightly drier Delike would be better for sketching and liner notes. I can feel the difference writing, even though that may not show well on the image. 


 

Coloriffic: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Gets A Delivery

Sooooo many colorrrrrs!

Dr. Inkenstein recently purchased a bunch of these off fleabay. They're so cute I laugh every time I pick one up. Yes, they have the famed logo of Big Brown. They probably date from the 1980s or 90s.  NO idea of their true history, though.

They are comfortable enough to hold, and seem to be of decent build quality.  Dr. Inkenstein will use these as travel companions and diva-y ink testers.  And maybe give a couple away.

New Pen In Town: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes With The Flow

So there are a couple new Chinese pens being talked about that Dr. Inkenstein has had the misfortune, err, good luck, to stumble upon.  After swearing off pen purchases.

You can see just how long THAT lasted.

Here's the Jinhao 992 with a quick test using Noodler's 41 Brown and absolutely no flushing of the pen, which is how we do things around here.  I also forgot the model number of this pen. It's not written anywhere that I noticed.

On this paper, with this ink, it writes a wet medium-fine line that was almost too thick for sketching. By contrast, the Delikes I also just got, which are Chinese homages to the Sailor Sapporo, write a needle-fine line.



The 992 is a good size, light in weight, and posts well.  Ideal for Dr. Inkenstein's particular needs.  

The second Jinhao 992 is blue, and I filled it with Dromgoole's dark-dark-gray USS Texas.  Which is apparently a very wet ink, and as these are very wet pens, the result was like an oil spill.  USS Texas was quickly decanted, and the pen refilled with my very dry custom mix of Minato-no-Burushii.  

(A possible head-to-head with this blue 992 and one of the Delikes is bewing.)

Dr. Inkenstein likes these! Maybe I should have gotten more.  

Now, V'Ger: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes Cinematic

Don't get me wrong.  I LIKE Now, Voyager (Warner Brothers, 1942, Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid).  In fact, I watch it once a year or so, when winter is icky and dreary and I feel like taking a cruise to Brazil only I don't have the money because I spent it all on pens and inks.  And maybe some paper.  Plus, this film contains Claude Rains, and if that weren't enough, the icy, inimitable Gladys Cooper, and also that actress who plays a different Nursie-Poo in The Man Who Came To Dinner (also 1942, also Bette Davis):  Mary 'Just Call Me Nursie-Poo' Wickes.

So this repressed Boston spinster (Davis) meets Dr. Claude Rains, who quotes her this poem ending in, 'Now, voyager,' and she goes forth and meets Kirk and Spock and a giant alien Entity...no, wait, wrong movie.

She goes forth on this cruise I can't afford and turns all glamourous and has a totally illicit affair with a married man (Henreid) whose accent is so thick you could use it for pate.  His younger daughter has a complex because she thinks she's not wanted.  She's such a puling little drip no wonder.

Somewhere along the line, Mr. Accent gives Davis a bunch of camellias.  Then there's talk about the  moon and the stars. Thee end.

V'ger is that which programmed me.  Take that, you carbon units!

Oh, wait, right.  Fountain pens and socks. Davis knits in one scene.  Could have been socks.  Maybe.

If this movie was an ink, it would be Iroshizuku Ajisai.  Because hydrangeas are totally the same as camellias, right?

Maybe Dr. Inkenstein will go watch another movie.

 

 

Discontinued, Continued: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Displays Zero Sales Resistance

So... as previously stated, Dr. Inkenstein does NOT need more ink. Seriously. And this has to be why I find myself with ten new inks to test. Ten.  A one followed by a zero.

Paper is Rhodia Ice. Pens are various. The rightmost swabs got a double pass, with some single-pass tail-end showing. 












Many seem dry. Might be the fault of a particular test pen. One of them made an appearance in FPG's Guess The Ink thread.  See if you can match it with the above.

Overall, these are nice enough colors, in spite of some sketchy labeling and occasional hard starting.  And they're being discontinued.  Therefore, on sale.  To which there is no resistance.

 

 

(Updating, now that Dr. Inkenstein has run through just about all of them:

Antique Slate has a definite blue base, that I discovered on cleaning it out of the Dollar demonstrator. It was wet and easy in that pen, no hard starts.

Zircon had a kind of...I don't know, oily? consistency to it, that I found on dipping the nib in water to start the pen writing, because it was always a hard starter.  It looked like a colorful oil slick.

Antique Walnut started hard when left for a day or two in the Metropolitan, but with regular use, flowed well, and may be the blackity-brown of choice for me.

Capri was very well-behaved.  So was the utterly mis-named Cobalt.

Antique Crimson and Orchid stained converters and carts but good! Crimson is weird; it's the only bottle that has bubbles, resulting in almost a soapy consistency, and because of that bubbling up, this ink is frustrating to load a cart with a pipette.

Only the rust-colored Antique Raspberry was always unpleasant to use, dry and hard, and I may give that another go in some garden hose or other.

In all, as the Chesterfield line is being phased out, has some nice colors, and is selling at a good price, Dr. Inkenstein recommends trying a few bottles.)