Lesser Known Ink Brands

[Harlequin]

After using some Akkerman inks I´m almost sure that the manufacturer of the Akkerman inks is Diamine.

 

I would bet money that Akkerman Shocking Blue is identical with Diamine Majestic Blue.

I´ve both, and in a side by side comparison I can see no difference in color, saturation, shading, behave and also the sheen is identical.

 

I still recommend Akkerman inks, if you live in Europe they are a good choice (price, quality, and the bottles are really cool.... maybe if buy more inks it is more ecconomical as they have scaled shipping taxes).

 

Especially Oranje Boven, Voorhout Violet andHofkwartier Groen are great colors (still did not discover the Diamine clones for these).

Also Shocking Blue is great, but if you already have Diamine Majestic Blue you don´t need it.

 

But maybe there are no identical Diamine inks for all Akkerman inks as Diamine also create custom inks like Racing Green for missing-pens.

 

So if you can get Diamine inks easier in the US you are also fine (in my opinion one of the best ink brands out there).

...<snip>...

I was really hoping that line above instead read that you HAD found an exact Diamine clone of Voorhaut Violet; that's a purple/violet ink I really like. I only have a small sample of it, most of which is gone now.

 

I don't know how common it is, but a particular Stipula ink I've tried, Verde Muschiato (aka Musk Green) is really good as well. But I don't usually see Stipula mentioned a lot, either.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Harlequin

[Pterodactylus]

Hi Harlequin,

 

I've found no Diamine clone for Voorhout violet, but I have an ink which is very similar to it.

Caran d'ache Storm is close enough to be a brother of Voorhout Violet.

It is a little more violet and shades in my opinion a little better.

I like both, if you have one of them I think you don't need the other one.

Personally I prefer the CA Storm.

Maybe this could be also an alternative for you

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img14/2624/er0t.jpg

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[Harlequin]

Wow, those are close! Do you know if the Caran d'Ache Storm, or even other Caran d'Ache inks, relatively availabe in the US?

[Pterodactylus]

I'm not familiar with the US sellers, I know that Goulet sells them.

Just looked at their page, but they are really expensive there 23$)

 

In Europe you can get 30ml for 10-14€ which is also expensive, but not that expensive compared to the Goulet price.

The Akkerman inks are really a bargain compared to this with 16,5€ for 150ml (including the really nice bottle).

[Harlequin]

The only problem is that Akkerman is not available at all in the U.S. I think. It seems that going with Caran d'Ache would, for me, be almost as cost prohibitive as Iroshizuka.

[Pterodactylus]

The only problem is that Akkerman is not available at all in the U.S. I think. It seems that going with Caran d'Ache would, for me, be almost as cost prohibitive as Iroshizuka.

 

You could import it directly from Akkerman, www.vulpennen.nl

 

They take 20€ to ship a bottle to the US and you get a bottle for 13,64 € as you don't pay the European taxes.

I think you have to calculate a little bit, how many bottles you can get including shipping and US customs compared to what you get from a US seller for that price.

You can play with their shopping card and see directly what they charge for shipping for a specific amount of bottles.

[encremental]

Kaweco's purple cartridges are very nice, and a unique colour

[OPG4711]

Asprey makes a really nice purple -- that's the only color they sell, but it is nice!

[Harlequin]

Is it just called Asprey Purple? link or image?

[Pterodactylus]

Today I received Diamine Grape, also very similar.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img24/7643/nw8x.jpg

 

BTW:

Sometimes I don´t understand you US guys.

I often read Akkerman inks are not available at the US.

But you just can order it directly from Akkerman online.

 

The shipping costs are reasonable you will get several bottles for 20€ shipping costs.

This sounds for me very OK to ship huge bottles with a lot of ink over half the globus.

Just for comparison, shipping of 6 inks from the Netherlands to Austria within Europe costs me 14,5 € (only a fraction of the distance without a big ocean in between).

 

You even get a bottle for a cheaper price than we europeans, as you don´t have to pay the taxes.

 

And when you compare the costs per ml it is still a cheap ink compared to others, even if you buy only one bottle (ratio gets better with more).

 

Just make a little example:

1 Bottle Akkerman 150ml shipped to the US = 13.64 € + 20 € = 33,64 € --> price per ml = 0,224 €/ml

1 Bottle Caran d'ache Storm 30ml (don´t know what Goulet charges for shipping) = 23 $ --> price per ml = 0,77 $/ml = 0,575 €/ml (unshipped)

 

So even if I consider that you order only 1 bottle Akkerman shipped to the US it is half the price of Caran d'ache Storm from Goulet unshipped (Took US customs not into consideration but this will shift the ratio not substantial).

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[Harlequin]

For me- and by no means am I typical when it comes to ink- paying more than $45 for one bottle of ink, no matter how reasonable it may be per mL, is just not a really "do-able" purchase. Not when I have SO many other choices that are 1/3 the cost or less. But I'm not the "average" FP user where ink is concerned, so others may feel differently.

 

 

 

 

 

[Uncle Red]

Scribal Workshop is a nice new brand here in the States. I got the Goulet's Ink Drop that was the first 5 colors and they all performed very well with very little to no feathering on even the cheapest paper. The Zhulong red is outstanding and there was almost no feathering or bleeding with a wet flex pen on cheap paper. Great color.

Not at it's best but here's a sample.

[Harlequin]

That does look nice! I have been wondering about Scribal Workshop, especially the difference in their Crypids and... Bunny (not sure on that second name) lines. Any info you can share in regards to that, Uncle Red?

[Pterodactylus]

For me- and by no means am I typical when it comes to ink- paying more than $45 for one bottle of ink, no matter how reasonable it may be per mL, is just not a really "do-able" purchase. Not when I have SO many other choices that are 1/3 the cost or less. But I'm not the "average" FP user where ink is concerned, so others may feel differently.

 

Hi Harlequin,

 

I did not want to offend somebody.

Of course this is expensive.

I just had the impression, that most people consider the Akkerman inks as very expensive without looking at the fact that they will get 5 times more ink in a bottle as for example when buying a Caran d'ache or Herbin ink.

Maybe also shipping costs are in general less than in Europe.

My experience is that I always pay about 10 € +- 5 € when order something.

In general shipping in Europe across border countries is most times expensive.

E.g. when I Order something from Germany I often has to pay several times the amount as within Germany even that the German border is only a couple of kilometers away.

Maybe at some point you get used to accept that shipping (even accross only a couple of km) is extremely expensive, costs sometimes even more than the thing itself.

I'm always surprized how Asian Ebay seller can include shipping accross the earth for almost nothing, when I look on the other hand that shipping a pen in a small envelope a couple of kilometers costs me 10 to 15 €.

[MartinCB]

Just a suggestion re. Akkerman inks. It seems that apart from the ink itself almost everyone is in love with the Akkerman bottles. If, as it has been suggested, these inks are made by Diamine then why not place a one off order for say 3 or 4 bottles of your favourite colours direct from Akkerman in Holland and just bite your lip over the shipping charges. When the ink is getting a little low simply top up using Diamine which is easily available almost anywhere. I am planning to do this as I just can't resist those cool vessels.

 

Hopefully this may spur someone in your own country to import Akkerman or prompt the company to look for a local distributor

[Harlequin]

The bottles I can get, lol. As soon as I figure out a way to cap them...

[notbob]

The Zhulong red is outstanding

 

Hard to tell from yer sample, as the ink and the lighting change across the page. Looks a bit like Diamine Ruby, a new fave red ink I have a sample of.

[Harlequin]

Is the Diamine Ruby a darker red as well, or does it tend to skew in the brown or orange directions?

[notbob]

Is the Diamine Ruby a darker red as well, or does it tend to skew in the brown or orange directions?

 

Somewhat darker, but not brown, which my bottle of MB:AH definitely was. So brown, in fact, I gave it away. Not pink nor orange, either. If it skews towards any other shade, I would say magenta or purple, but not really. It really looks like what I would think ruby should look like, or what I though MB:AH was gonna look like. I'm still trying it on different papers with diff nibs. I plan on a red ink comparison as soon as I finalize my testing method and get my photo chops together.

 

I looked at Zhulong Red smears on other websites. It definitely appears to be a bright loud red. I see a sample in my future.

[hardyb]

I purchased a bottle of Duke which I believe is a Chinese company. I really like it and I got it from:

 

https://www.bertramsinkwell.com/Duke-Ink/