What ink(s) are you waiting for in the mail?

[brokenclay]

When I returned to fountain pens last year I went a little nuts on ink samples in all kinds of colors, but for some reason during the lock down I suddenly turned back to blues and blacks. I ordered and am waiting for Goulet's medium blues and non-waterproof blacks sample sets.

 

My Goulet order (placed May 13) has arrived. I discovered that I have 9 pens inked, and have decided that I need to write them dry before filling anything with any of the new samples. We'll see if I actually stick to that.

 

I must have noticed but forgot that one of the blues is Bay State Blue, which is a little frightening after everything I've read about it here. Might have to leave it for last. Or designate a sacrificial pen.

[XYZZY]

R&K Salix and Scabiosa. My only IG experience so far is Diamine Registrars and wanted to try something different, and these two seem to be consistently liked. And I had a gift card from Goulet that covered two bottles and shipping

Edited June 7, 2020 by XYZZY

[Studio97]

I swore to myself, no more inks, but I've been at home recovering from surgery, and found J. HERBIN 1670 Caroube de Chyper on line. In less than 2 hours it was boxed up with a tracking number. Something to look forward to. Couldnt help it and my wife said, "well you're stuck at home, so..."

[Thymen]

Two 70ml bottles of Pilot Blue Black

 

Took a while, but they arrived today. Inked up my Pelikan M1000 - F with it. A friendly, easy-flowing ink wit a more blue than black colour, and sufficiently water-resistant.

 

Like it..

[inkstainedruth]

Woohoo! This order is showing as Out for Delivery today - it was supposed to arrive tomorrow. I love it when a package shows up a day early. It makes up for all the packages that show up late in these days.

 

I'm very fond of Edelstein Topaz. Even though it's more or less identical in color to the much less expensive Diamine Havasu Turquoise, it just seems to flow a bit better.

And I'm completely with you on packages showing up sooner than originally promised.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tasmith]

Platinum Pigmented Blue cartridges to go in the also just ordered Platinum Prefounte to go with the recently purchased bottle of Platinum Pigmented Blue I really like.

[Studio97]

My HERBIN 1670 Caroube de Chyper arrived today. Already looks good in my journal. Then I splurged on a 50ml bottle of Montblanc Shakespeare Velvet Red, my second bottle of this and it is the only ink I use in my MB fountain pens. Free shipping and was shipped out within a few hours.

[ScarletWoodland]

A bottle of Sailor Okuyama

 

Plus samples of:

Diamine Blue Velvet

Monteverde Ocean Noir

Sailor Nioi Sumire

PurePens Cotswolds

Noodler's Habanero

 

I already have a sample of Habanero but it'll be a good while till I can justify a big enough EU order to import a bottle, so another sample will have to tide me over.

[A Smug Dill]

Four bottles of Hero 232 blue-black ink, and five bottles of Hero 234 carbon ink, that I'd long given up on ever receiving — after no updates in three whole months since they were supposedly handed over to the airline in China — showed up (again) on my Australia Post account and were delivered this week. The latter of those two parcels spent a bewildering 97 days in transit.

I'd lodged inquiries with Australia Post last month, and it took not 48 hours but a whopping 28 days for it to reply at all; ironically, the gist of the reply was that too long has past since the parcels were supposedly sent, and there was now nothing it could do to help me track them down. Disappointingly, in each "parcel" the ink bottles — in their flimsy cardboard retail packaging — were wrapped together only in a thin sheet of foam barely held in place by narrow strips of tape, inside large plain (and thin) shipping bags with no other protection. Not that I needed or even wanted that much (cheap!) ink, but given the likelihood of Chinese sellers "cutting corners" and failing to properly package small items for the post, I thought ordering each ink in multiples of four would force the seller to at least bind the retail boxes together in two-by-two formation to give it extra resilience, even if the bulk, fragility and total weight were to fail to (ideally) make him/her ship the merchandise to me packed inside strong cardboard cartons to survive the journey. I couldn't combine shipment across different products (i.e. ink colours), and so I ordered four bottles of Hero 232 and eight bottles of Hero 234, and paid for two lots of fixed shipping charges (for up to eleven bottles per lot) by ePacket. Both parcels for which I was given tracking numbers have now been received, and while it was a complete surprise that none of the bottles arrived broken in spite of the long journey and not having been properly pack, there were no signs of damage or unauthorised opening in transit that would explain why three bottles of from my order are absent.

Alas, AliExpress has already fully refunded my order last month in accordance with its late delivery policy, so I can't really take the position that I was wronged by the seller; instead of being shortchanged three bottles of cheap ink, I'm nine bottles ahead. All the same, I'm completely bemused by why the seller would fail to send me my full order, if it bothered to send me anything at all, when the items are so cheap; and at no point did they contact me to say they didn't have sufficient stock to fulfil the order, or that they only sent a lesser number of bottles.

Now, to identify a converter-filled gold-nibbed pen into which to put the Hero 232 iron-gall ink, that I wouldn't fret about should the ink somehow damage the pen... I'd probably prefer something that uses a Platinum or Sailor converter, since they can be easily disassembled, and Platinum #3776 Century models as well as all gold-nibbed Sailor models I've used have proven to seal very well when capped. I think, though, right now the most likely candidate is the Parker Duofold Centennial Big Red Vintage; the cap is reasonably effective, much more so than the one on the Sonnet, but it's a pen I won't worry about if it gets wrecked or lost.

Edited June 20, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[doublechocolate]

Black Swan Australian Rose - my first bottle from Noodlers. I got the ink sample nearly two years ago and almost forgot it. Inked it with a Kaweco stub nib last weekend. A beautiful burgundy with easily visible shading and it works well on cheap paper too.

[kulnet]

I am waiting on a 15ml bottle of Colorverse Saturn V from Vanness

[aimi]

I just received Waterman Serenity Blue. I figure I should have one fallback ink, though Im pretty unabashed about inks in my pens. And Target has Iroshizuku colours at 16$ so I picked up Kon Peki, which I own two small bottles of (one is almost finished), and which is honestly my favourite ink colour.

Edited June 20, 2020 by aimi

[bongo47]

Just ordered Blackstone Colours of Australia Daintree Green, Lamy Crystal Azurite and Peridot. Was just looking through my samples and saw the Blackstone set. Been sitting there a couple years and hadn’t ordered any bottles of them. Not sure why, so fixed that today.

[Misfit]

I’m waiting on Kaweco Summer Purple, Diamine Ultra Green and Earl Grey, plus Diamine Blue Edition Ho Ho Ho.

[A Smug Dill]

Last night, I struggled between cognisance of already having more surplus ink, in variety and in total volume, than my wife and I could possibly use but little spare room to store it, and the irrational desire for what's new and shiny (or sheeny?) and what appears to be a "bargain". As usual, better judgment lost out.

 

So now I have Sailor Manyo chigaya, shirakashi, kakitsubata and ume on pre-order, as well as four bottles of Pelikan Edelstein IOTY inks of yesteryear on clearance sale. To top up the order, a bottle of Montblanc Corn Poppy Red, one each of R&K Salix and Scabiosa, and some Standard Bindery colours (which I don't actually expect the retailer will be able to supply) too.

Edited June 22, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[Misfit]

Oh Corn Poppy Red is a great red ink. I have a bottle and like the color a lot. Clearance on Edelstein IotY? Is that from an Australian site?

[A Smug Dill]

Clearance on Edelstein IotY? Is that from an Australian site?

 

 

La Couronne du Comte in the Netherlands, actually. €6.57 ex VAT and before applying a discount code.

[Misfit]

Thank you. I really shouldnt look at that website, but I expect I will. Just to see which older IotY they have. Yeah, uh huh.

 

Edit: I looked at the site. I have those IotY, but oh that price on Montblanc ink. $13.99!

Edited June 22, 2020 by Misfit

[A Smug Dill]

Just to see which older IotY they have. Yeah, uh huh.

 

 

Only Smoky Quartz and Olivine are on special sale; Garnet, Aquamarine and Star Ruby are full price.

 

My wife has the Olivine M205 pen but not the ink, and since she likes green, teals and blues, especially dark and/or muted variations, I thought I'd get her a bottle now, even though I'm aware it isn't quite olive in colour (which she also loves) and isn't similar to Monteverde Olivine, but much closer to Diamine Green-Black, and I already have more than enough of those two other inks.

 

I have a spare Smoky Quartz M200 pen to give to a family friend^†, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to have a new bottle of Smoky Quartz ink on hand to give her too, even though I already have my own bottle. Besides, it's brown (which I like) and water-resistant, so what's not to like at the sale price? Gimme three bottles!

 

Her little girls are more interested in my bottle of Noodler's Blue Ghost, but last time I tried to order one through LCdC, it was unable to successfully source any from its supplier over a number of months, and I ended up cancelling the order.

 

 

^† That is, if she chooses the pen out of the selection of my "surplus" pens she can have. I'm not sure whether she'll prefer the Aurora Ipsilon, or Lamy Studio, or Sailor Procolor; and I'm not sure she knows, either, since it'll be her first fountain pen. I also have "surplus" brand new Lamy 2000 Makrolon, Platinum #3776 Century 'Black Diamond', etc. she can have if she wants; but it'll be hard enough to convince her to accept a sub-$100 steel-nibbed pen. She told me recently (not long before the COVID-19 thing) that her late father was a fan of Montblanc and Parker, which she always remembered as messy writing instruments that don't write nearly finely or precisely enough for her tastes, and thus fountain pens never interested her until she saw that my wife and I are so very into them, so I think I'm going to enjoy showing her the modern-day landscape of this hobby beyond "premium" writing instruments sold in department stores here.

[Intensity]

Growing my Graf von Faber-Castell ink collection... I was so skeptical about those inks before: too-expensive, "boutique" bottle increasing the price, long fancy name increasing the price, probably nothing special. Well I am a fan now and take it all back! My most favorite Brown is Hazelnut Brown, and the others are really good. Already have 5 bottles from a while ago and now 4 more are on the way: Turquoise, Cognac, Cobalt Blue, and Violet Blue.

 

Curious about the new Yozakura pink and regretting not getting Gulf Blue. Maybe if I contact the vendor and add the latter to my order...

Edited June 22, 2020 by Intensity