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

[inkstainedruth]

I had to look Diamine Turtle Belly up -- and it was not REMOTELY the color I was expecting....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth 

[midnightblues]

@inkstainedruth I've never had any luck finding ink second-hand, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places! Estate sales aren't so common over here sadly, stuff generally ends up in house clearances and I suspect ink would go in the bin ☹️

I've got all my Diamines and Wearingeuls in now, all swatched and sort-of put away, I need some more ink boxes! Just waiting for Parcelforce to appear with my Iroshizuku - apparently it's now at the local depot. Maybe Monday!

@Just J I did not picture Turtle Belly as fiery orange! Do turtles have orange bellies?! Great colour though. I've only tried one of 3 Oysters' inks - Doldam, it's a nice grey with an unusual yellow undertone but my TWSBI finds it a touch on the dry side. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on them now they're available easily in the UK. 

[inkstainedruth]

Oh, it almost never happens.  Pens, yeah.  Inks, not so much (other than maybe cartridges).  Obviously the person who owned the big stash of pens at the estate sale I was at last weekend was not just a c-worder collector, but an FP user as well (there were several brands of ink: Diamine, Noodler's, and Private Reserve that I definitely recall seeing).

As opposed to this morning's trek around the area....  At the first sale, I had a reasonable place in line, but a half hour before the doors were to open, some cop showed up telling people in line that  parking on the side street got a bunch of complaint calls to the police department.  So I had to go move my car, and then of course I was WAY back in line.  So the one thing I went to look at (a Wahl-Eversharp ringtop pen & pencil set) was gone by the time I got in the door, and the Sheaffer boxes from another photo?  A BP/pencil set and a bunch of what looked like cufflinks.  At the second sale?  They decided to pack the No Nonsense calligraphy set and what turned out to be a book on calligraphy all together with an eight pack of Winsor & Newton inks (which I'm pretty sure are NOT FP safe....  And at the 3rd one?  Again (like the first sale) a bunch of NOT FPs, plus I had to park along a main road and then hike up the hill to the house, which was on a private road (snooty neighborhood down river from me).  By the time I got home I'd been up for 5 hours before I'd had breakfast, then about an hour ago had trouble logging into FPN and having to reset my password just now -- even when I copied and pasted the previous password instead of typing it.   

Plus, I have not heard back yet from the reservation clerk for an event next month for the OTHER hobby (I couldn't figure out how to do the "online" reservations for both me and my husband, which includes on-site dorm space and meals for both of us.  My husband told me he'd take a stab at trying to make the reservations but ended up spending an hour showing me "funny" memes on FB instead....   And it's now 3 PM ET and I've been up since 5 AM and just had lunch about an hour ago, after having BREAKFAST around 11:30 AM.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

As I said, in the morning (Friday) my inks cleared customs, and haven't moved an inch (Saturday)...so my guess with my enthusiasm for German postal service, Thursday or Friday to move the ink 60 miles or 100km.

[Just J]

3 hours ago, midnightblues said:

 

@Just J I did not picture Turtle Belly as fiery orange! Do turtles have orange bellies?! Great colour though. I've only tried one of 3 Oysters' inks - Doldam, it's a nice grey with an unusual yellow undertone but my TWSBI finds it a touch on the dry side. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on them now they're available easily in the UK. 

There's ~4 species within the genus known as Red Bellied Cooters; the others are decidedly yellowish, some with red-tinged markings. I think the pic below is the color they had in mind - at least, it's the one of the 4 with this near of a match. 

 

 

I'll try & post up a sampling swatch when I can get the time. 

[Just J]

2 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

As I said, in the morning (Friday) my inks cleared customs, and haven't moved an inch (Saturday)...so my guess with my enthusiasm for German postal service, Thursday or Friday to move the ink 60 miles or 100km.

Don't feel bad, Bo Bo. I just had an order coming from Dallas TX come to Charlotte Hub (all USPS; 20 minutes away), then to Concord, whose border we share (5 mins away). For some unknown reason it then was transferred to the Gastonia processing center that was inundated with operations moved from shut-down facilities in west NC that got hit by Helene, & which then took another week to get to me. Thankfully there was no rush requirements for the items involved, but I gotta wonder why the heck that happened, being 5 minutes away then sending it 2 HOURS further away for 'additional sorting'.   

[Bo Bo Olson]

Modern management, having little to do with rare common sense.

That is what happens when someone who has never sorted mail, is telling the workers what to do and how.

[inkstainedruth]

Well, given that here in the US, the current Postmaster General had sorting machines DESTROYED   and scrapped a few years ago -- I think in Erie,PA and/or Buffalo, NY (don't know about other parts of the US)?  JustJ's story isn't all that surprising, sadly.  

Took several weeks to get a CD from a 3rd Party vendor -- who told me, when I asked both Amazon and the vendor to have it put inside my storm door, since I was ordering it before going out of town for Thanksgiving, to protect it and then ALSO asked the seller about tracking?  "Oh DHL doesn't provide tracking..." (!).  And not only was I not able to track the package?  It was on top of the mail held over the holiday weekend on my front porch the day after we got back from NYC. And the vendor's address was in the NEXT COUNTY -- a roughly 2 hour drive round trip from where I live.  (I suspect that they didn't want to provide tracking because they were ordering from a slightly cheaper Amazon vendor in Germany and didn't want me to know that).  Whereas, after leaving town the previous weekend, I sat in my sister-in-law's apartment in mid-town Manhattan and ordered a pen from a vendor on eBay (the light grey Pilot Decimo) and THAT seller warned me that because of the time of year, he couldn't guarantee the normal 10-14 Economy Air Mail shipping from Japan....  It took 11.  Eleven days from someplace in Japan to the mailman knocking on my front door because I had to sign for the package.  I was able to track it through Japan Post until it got to the US, then (after being in and out of US Customs in NY in a matter of hours) through the USPS until it was out for delivery.  And arrived IIRC TWO days after my stopped mail -- and the CD -- were left in a stack on my front porch....  DHL didn't even bother with the final delivery, I don't think -- a lot of shippers are apparently paying USPS for the final leg to the recipients' homes.

I think my feedback about the place I got the CD through (who offered me a "partial" refund to amend what I'd say -- oh, I amended it, all right, heh heh) got them kicked off eBay.  The seller in Japan I ordered the Decimo from?  OMG -- that vendor ABSOLUTELY kept the 100% positive feedback rating.   Would I buy something from that seller again?  If it was something I wanted and a decent price, like the Decimo had been, since I didn't get hit with the US distributor markup?  Absolutely!

Of course the joke was on the Amazon 3rd party vendor -- I'd partially paid for it points from other purchases.  The the "partial refund" meant that I ended up pay less than a buck for $13.99 CD, IIRC.  Which is good because I think "remastered" was market-speak for "It's a bootleg...."  (I had misplaced the original CD, which I later found in my house; and I also have had the album -- on vinyl -- since I was about 14...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

@inkstainedruth is right about the current Postmaster General. 

[gregamckinney]

I'm waiting for a couple bottles of Kobe 45, my go to "dark enough to be nearly black but isn't" ink.

 

greg

[Bo Bo Olson]

Released from customs on Friday, near mid day Monday....my package of British inks is still glued to the cement. No movement.

[Just J]

Y'know? I was just noticing the extent of this thread, now 241 pages & climbing....& with its collective grousing & gnashing of teeth & whatnot....we do love our inkydinks doesn't we? LOL 

 

[midnightblues]

My bargain Iroshizukus arrived safely from Japan, checked them over and now have ordered the second batch. Price had gone up a bit, cursed exchange rates, but even so, including DHL shipping, less than half UK RRP. Sweet. 

I have realised I really must stop buying teal inks. Show me a teal and I have a Pavlovian response of reaching for my wallet. I currently have 24, and I ordered Syo-ro and Shin-ryoku, both of which could possibly fall into teal / green. 

Actually, I just realised, 5 of those were samples, and another I threw in the bin (Organics Studio, never again, I was permanently spotted with teal splodges) so that makes only 18 which is positively restrained. Go me!

[Just J]

On 10/12/2024 at 6:21 PM, Just J said:

There's ~4 species within the genus known as Red Bellied Cooters; the others are decidedly yellowish, some with red-tinged markings. I think the pic below is the color they had in mind - at least, it's the one of the 4 with this near of a match. 

 

 

I'll try & post up a sampling swatch when I can get the time. 

 

Sorry folks, but my promise to 'show & tell' slipped my (former) mind. Had a bit of a swabbing & swatching session earlier & here's that Turtle Belly. I really soused it on on the bottom of the left one & over-did it, so re-did it (on right) & the pen puked on the last few letters. That's how my luck runs! 

 

The photo was shot in subdued light on white cardstock, & shows a bit more fiery in brighter conditions. I want to explore it a bit more as, it curiously dries to a deep rich brown on the cotton swab.  

[Penguincollector]

  I’m waiting for 2 Sailor inks: Shikiori Yuki-Akari and the blue that comes with my new Rockhopper Penguin Pro Gear Slim Mini. Look how cute this bottle is!

 

[AmandaW]

Very cute indeed.

[Bo Bo Olson]

My 6 Pure Inks..(made by Diamine) came in yesterday....finally. Shipped 25 Sept...2 days to out of England....25 days and €16 for customs and the rip off fee that the English complain about, for mailing it again, with the postman picking up the money.

I had paid for the mailing.

[Mercian]

40 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

My 6 Pure Inks..(made by Diamine) came in yesterday....finally.

 

Well, after having to go through all of that nonsense, I do hope that you actually like the inks now that you finally have them!

[Penguincollector]

4 hours ago, AmandaW said:

Very cute indeed.

Thankee!

[USG]

13 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I’m waiting for 2 Sailor inks: Shikiori Yuki-Akari and the blue that comes with my new Rockhopper Penguin Pro Gear Slim Mini. Look how cute this bottle is!

 

 

Turquoise and Wonder Blue....  👍😀  Very Cool !☺️