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hey, so, another iron gall ink, this one a sample from goulet pens. i obviously have more experience now with the essri, but this is another intriguing one. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7375/12449096264_4bc829b010_c.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3792/12448741893_d261b78e30_c.jpg enjoyable to use, but a bit finicky at times: very light sometimes and dark others. not sure why, as both times the ink was rather wet. oh well. enjoy. -p

so, another iron gall from Rohrer and Klinger to complement their salix blue: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3777/12448708835_d3fceb9f3e_c.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3789/12449208014_27c341d082_c.jpg cool ink, but i have no use for that particular shade, except perhaps in my journal i use for church, and the exacompta forum journal paper does not really seem to agree well with this ink (or any of the other iron galls come to think of it). enjoy -p

hey, another almost daily use ink for me, definitely on the cheap paper i am sometimes forced to use, and (oddly enough) on death certificates (although there are no requirements on inks here in the states). http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448763733/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12449114864/ one thing that i have noticed, though, is that the cheaper papers (and those with more bleaching agents in them) seem to really bring out the character, whereas heavier papers and those without bleach tend to manifest as just a dark blue. a great ink though, and i'll likely be getting more when this bottle runs out. but, it does require fastidious cleaning, first with distilled vinegar, then ammonia after a good solid flush. and, my vanishing point's convertor and cartridge just seemed to cause this stuff to "clot" up and stick to the sides and innards of the pen. also, a friend of mine with a lamy vista whom a gave a sample refers to this as the squeeky ink. i have noticed that a bit with my lamy 2000. odd. -p

so, cleaning out a backlog of reviews of ink samples, here is another iron gall: salix. lighter than essri and diamine, but well behaved. interesting. http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448700105/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12449199144/ http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5499/12448700105_88e4827dd8.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5531/12449199144_08354a8da7.jpg dry time? depends. seemed to be 20+ seconds on clairefontaine, 10 on cheap stuff flow? dry, very dry. perhaps not as bad as essri or diamine, but dry pen clogging? not witnessed, but then i used a small sample and went throught it too quick to notice enjoy -p

ok, so how about a very practical, and very much underrated and overlooked black: x-feather. i have used most of them now, and i will be keeping x feather in at least one of my pens for work at all times. great on most all papers (especially in finer and drier nibs), bulletproof, cheap, and very black. also, quite smooth and just looks good. the only drawback is the exceedingly long dry time. so, here it is: as for viewing these consider the following: -shot with a point and shoot at a higher iso (so as to eliminate the need for flash and its issues making inks and papers look odd) in 60W equivalent tungsten balanced light. -adjust your monitor to get the best effect. see sandy's reviews for more on that -this is perhaps more of a torture test as well to show how things look in the most unflattering of circumstances and in suboptimal light http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448652095/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448797723/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448621775/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12449119654/ http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/12448652095_8d12174d83.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/12448797723_790fdb383f.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3767/12448621775_368807ee0e.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5494/12449119654_ce05f1e924.jpg i have gone through 2 bottles in the last year or so and will be buying more. enjoy. -p

Here's my take on the vac 700, a daily use pen for me. http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12448581975/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/politovski/12449084884/ enjoy -p