Pen Color Vs Ink Color

[Delphideo]

I've noticed I prefer to have my Cross Century II Blue with Montblanc Bugundy and my red Pelikan with any blue ink; my Lamy Al-Star Lavander has MB Blue-Black. Other than that I usually mix and match according to what type of ink I want to try out with a specific pen. This usually has a wow factor for people who see me write with my pen, as they expect the ink to match the color.

 

This does rise a question, though: what ink would match a demonstrator? Grey, white or invisible?

[notgiven]

Besides, if they match, people might think your pen is one of those fancier disposables they have these days and throw it out when it runs out of the color-matched ink!

 

THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

 

:roflmho: Good point.

 

 

I don't do it compulsively, but it does make it quite a bit easier to remember which ink is in which pen if I do. I know what is in whatever pen that is my current daily writer, but I easily forget the others.

 

What do you put in demonstrators? Blue Ghost?

 

People here have so many ink. Even if the pen match the ink color, I'm not sure how they remember which pen has which ink, without writing. I only have 3 ink right now, a blue, a blue black, and a black, so it's hard to mix up.

 

Demonstrators look great with many ink color, and Blue Ghost looks awesome in a demonstrator.

[jonwat]

Yes. except fpr my Flighters.

 

I even bought a NOS green marbled Frontier so that I could use my Diamine Woodland Green ink.

[KCat]

 

People here have so many ink. Even if the pen match the ink color, I'm not sure how they remember which pen has which ink, without writing. I only have 3 ink right now, a blue, a blue black, and a black, so it's hard to mix up.

 

 

For the most part, as long as you're using all the inked pens regularly, it's easy to remember. Depends on how many you keep inked and actually use daily. Right now I have about 15 inked and all are used at least 3 or 4 times a week so when I pick them up I know what's in them. If they've sat for a couple of weeks or more (bad kitty!) then I can't guarantee I'll remember).

 

Pink Champagne Decimo - Levenger Pinkly

Blue VP - Violet Vote

Red VP - Violet Vote

Pelikan Grand Place - Mediterranean Blue

Pelikan Piazza Navona - Tsukushi

Sapporo Mini Black - Tsuki-yo

Sapporo Pink - Yama Budo

Lamy Al-star green - Texas Live Oak

M200 green - Ebony Green

M200 blue - Ku-jaku

Esterbook 9128 - Yama Budo

Esterbrook Relief - MB Toffee

Grey 150 - Diamine Graphite

Sapporo Orange - Noodler's Eel Blue

Namiki Falcon Blue - Tsuki-yo

 

So - see, not only did I remember the inks, but I actually remembered the pens I have inked. hm. How come I can't remember what day it is?

 

I think I remember for the reason I gave above - I mostly assign ink to nib v. to pen color. So I have a certain expectation in mind for a pen when I pick it up therefore I have a certain expectation in mind for the ink in it. Pinkly is my editing ink - the Decimo is a very fine nibbed pen great for editing. My VPs are my workhorses and Violet Vote is a workhorse ink. Tsuki-yo is a luxury ink that is rather sexy as is Yama budo - so the Sapporo broad nibs and the two flexible nibs are good choices for these luxurious inks. Now the greens and ku-jaku are somewhat matched to the pens (though Live Oak needed a dry writer like the Lamy). I suppose the Graphite is as well but it wasn't what came to mind when I filled it. I just saw a clean pen. The Sapporo and Eel Blue were matched based on a fine nib needing a rather slippery ink. So - back to ink meeting an expectation in a pen that serves a purpose (very fine line handwriting).

 

I do go on.

[brunico]

Black (Sailor Kiwa-Guro) in the charcoal Lamy, but any colour in the demonstrators and the one neutral-coloured pen (graphite Al-Star).

 

When I had coloured pens, it never used to bother me until I thought about it...

[notgiven]

 

People here have so many ink. Even if the pen match the ink color, I'm not sure how they remember which pen has which ink, without writing. I only have 3 ink right now, a blue, a blue black, and a black, so it's hard to mix up.

 

 

For the most part, as long as you're using all the inked pens regularly, it's easy to remember. Depends on how many you keep inked and actually use daily. Right now I have about 15 inked and all are used at least 3 or 4 times a week so when I pick them up I know what's in them. If they've sat for a couple of weeks or more (bad kitty!) then I can't guarantee I'll remember).

 

Pink Champagne Decimo - Levenger Pinkly

Blue VP - Violet Vote

Red VP - Violet Vote

Pelikan Grand Place - Mediterranean Blue

Pelikan Piazza Navona - Tsukushi

Sapporo Mini Black - Tsuki-yo

Sapporo Pink - Yama Budo

Lamy Al-star green - Texas Live Oak

M200 green - Ebony Green

M200 blue - Ku-jaku

Esterbook 9128 - Yama Budo

Esterbrook Relief - MB Toffee

Grey 150 - Diamine Graphite

Sapporo Orange - Noodler's Eel Blue

Namiki Falcon Blue - Tsuki-yo

 

So - see, not only did I remember the inks, but I actually remembered the pens I have inked. hm. How come I can't remember what day it is?

 

I think I remember for the reason I gave above - I mostly assign ink to nib v. to pen color. So I have a certain expectation in mind for a pen when I pick it up therefore I have a certain expectation in mind for the ink in it. Pinkly is my editing ink - the Decimo is a very fine nibbed pen great for editing. My VPs are my workhorses and Violet Vote is a workhorse ink. Tsuki-yo is a luxury ink that is rather sexy as is Yama budo - so the Sapporo broad nibs and the two flexible nibs are good choices for these luxurious inks. Now the greens and ku-jaku are somewhat matched to the pens (though Live Oak needed a dry writer like the Lamy). I suppose the Graphite is as well but it wasn't what came to mind when I filled it. I just saw a clean pen. The Sapporo and Eel Blue were matched based on a fine nib needing a rather slippery ink. So - back to ink meeting an expectation in a pen that serves a purpose (very fine line handwriting).

 

I do go on.

 

Impressive memory. You got a good system going on there .

[Ada]

I don't do it compulsively, but it does make it quite a bit easier to remember which ink is in which pen if I do. I know what is in whatever pen that is my current daily writer, but I easily forget the others.

 

 

I have no trouble remembering which ink is in which pen, because this is information I don't really need to remember. If it were crucial that I remember it, I wouldn't.

[KCat]

I don't do it compulsively, but it does make it quite a bit easier to remember which ink is in which pen if I do. I know what is in whatever pen that is my current daily writer, but I easily forget the others.

 

 

I have no trouble remembering which ink is in which pen, because this is information I don't really need to remember. If it were crucial that I remember it, I wouldn't.

 

LOL! Yup. That's the problem.

[FayeV]

Nonono, you can't put green ink in a red pen! Particularly not bright green like Kelly Green!

 

 

I think the very first ink I put in my red Pelikan M205 was Rohrer & Klingner's Smaragdgrun, a bright emerald green color. I love seeing green ink come out of a red colored pen.

[Pravda]

I totally spend brain energy doing that, i.e trying to find or match the perfect ink for each of my pens.

 

It doesn't have to be the same colour as the body/barrel, but it should as others said not clash or distract me when writing.

 

This is even harder when some inks behave better, or not so well, in specific pens. Every time I think I am done, I start over hehe

[AndyYNWA]

Neutral pen colours, like black, grey and white, I can fill with any ink colour. But I find it harder to deviate to much if the pen is coloured, i.e. no green ink in a purple pen.

 

Maybe I should eliminate the problem by just buying demonstrators in the future.

[Mastiff]

I tried to match them. The only exception is with black pens. As I do not like black inks it is OK to put any ink in black pens for me. Otherwise, I feel very uneasy seeing any colour mismatch.

[BayesianPrior]

This (and my compulsion to collect the entire series) is the very reason I need to buy an M800 tortoise at $600+. I've got a $15 bottle of Sailor Doyou that I want to start using

[amberleadavis]

Many of us have obsessive ink filling rules: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/245296-pen-and-ink-filling-rules-how-do-you-choose-ink-pen-combinations/

 

At THE LAS VEGAS PEN POSSE, we have discussed the "rules" we each have for choosing which ink belongs in which pen.

 

One of my fellow TLVPP has always had the most elaborate guidelines .... I'm sure he'll jump in and correct my misunderstandings ....

• Match brand of pen with brand of ink ... Pelikan ink goes in Pelikan pens.
• Match color of ink with barrel of pen ... Pelikan Amber ink goes in the Pelikan Tortoise.
• When you cannot meet Rule 1, then choose by country....
  • German inks can go in a German Pen ... So MB ink can go in a Pelikan Pen.
  • If you can't match by country, then try and match by continent or trade zone. So if you count MB is Austrian not German, it can still go in a Pelikan pen.
  • BUT try and follow the WWII Axis / Allied alliances....
    • Herbin ink does not go into Aurora pens
  • AND keep the war theaters differentiated....
    • Sailor ink does not go in Pelikan pens. Pelikan ink does not go into Sailor Pens.

Now, I would have said that I don't have any hard and fast rules, but I've recently been proven wrong. My beloved teenage daughter had an opportunity to flirt with a cute teenage boy. I'm a good mommy, I made the opportunity available to them and compensated them for their efforts. They were tasked with the "fun" job of refilling all my already clean fountain pens. I picked out the colors and had them fill while I was in a meeting. Much to my surprise, strange inks ended up in my pens. Well, not strange so much as unexpected. Seems I had some rules that I had not articulated.

 

So, most of my pens are TWSBIs so my ink selection process should be simpler than Xxxxx's, right?

• Never mix inks in the original bottles. If you dip the pen in, only use that ink.
• If it's a Vac 700, then it should be filled with one of the inks from the Vac 20 bottle.
  • Except the Amber Vac - gets Pelikan Amber ink.
• The ROC should only get Red or Blue Ink.
• The Gold Sheaffer ladies calligraphy pen always gets some sort of leafy green ink.
• The 540 with the Pendleton Nib always gets a great shader in blue or green.
• The Yellow 540s get orange, red or yellow inks.
• The Smoke 540s get dark colors (Sherwood Green, Deep Burgundy, Dark Purple).
• The Blue 540s and Blue Pelikan get blue inks.
• The Namiki capless gets J Herbin Anniversary ink.

So, at the end of the adventure ...

• Noodler's Catalpa was the only fatality - they both ended up covered in the ink, but neither of them had the fingerprints of the other party, so they both lived.
• Neither teenager could figure out how to fill the Vacs.
• The ROC ended up with Liberty Elysium (only because I stopped them from a dreadful fill of PR Avocado ... the horror!)
• The Gold Sheaffer was filled with Levenger Amethyst. (I didn't remember giving them that bottle).
• The 540 with the Pendleton nib ended up filled with MB racing green.
• The blue 540s ended up with Dragon's Napalm, Edelstein Amber and Diamine Syrah. (red / gold colors)
• The yellow 540s ended up with Manhattan Blue, a Pilot Iro blue/turquoise and Catalpa (bluish inks)
• The smoke 540s ened up with the Herbin Ann Ink, PR Avocado and the blue Pelikan M200 was filled with MB Diamond.
• The Namiki was filled with my beloved bloody orange.

As you can imagine, I was so confused when I went to doodle.

 

So, what are your rules for loading up your pens with inks?

[Wandering Man]

Oh my. I didn't realize I've been doing this all wrong.

I rotate through all of my pens. They are pretty much in order of purchase.

I rotate through all of my inks. Again pretty much in order of purchase.

My wife makes fun of me for my rotations.

 

I'll get blue inks in red pens, green inks in brown pens, red inks in black pens.

 

Pretty much random. I'm not sure I want more rules.

[FayeV]

Neutral pen colours, like black, grey and white, I can fill with any ink colour. But I find it harder to deviate to much if the pen is coloured, i.e. no green ink in a purple pen.

 

Maybe I should eliminate the problem by just buying demonstrators in the future.

 

I still need a method of remembering which color I have filled each pen. No, it's not because I have too many pens in rotation. The thought had crossed my mind (last year) to get more demonstrators so that I could see what color ink is in the pen. After using 2 Lamy Vistas, I've come to the conclusion that I can't really distinguish ink color with most of the darker colors.

 

I love green ink coming out of a red colored pen (such as R&K Smaragdgrun in my red Pelikan M205).

I love bright pink coming out of my white colored pen (such as J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen in my white Pelikan M205).

But I also do the matching thing (such as R&K Alt Goldgrun in my Pelikan M400 white tortoise).

 

I came across this old thread while looking for ideas to fill my new silver colored Lamy Al-Star. It ended up with Akkerman Shocking Blue.

[Arkanabar]

The idea has some aesthetic appeal for me -- to have specified, color-coordinated pens for my Six Colors of Ink and my two markup colors. But in practice, no.

I've chosen my inks going forward -- Heart of Darkness (and maybe also Perle Noire), Pilot Blue-Black, De Atramentis Aubergine, Noodler's Blue, Diamine Sherwood, Iroshizuku Yama-Guri, and Sheaffer Skrip Red and Turquoise (presuming I ever use up my four or five other black inks, and the bottle of Noodler's Widow Maker, and decide once and for all that Red-Black may not be regarded as anything like a brown). But I haven't chosen pens for most of them.

My blue stripe M400 carries blue ink, and my Dad's black Parker "51" has only ever been filled with black ink (and never Noodler's). But my blue swirl M200 usually carries Noodler's Red-Black, my burgundy PFM has habitually been filled with Diamine Sherwood, my go-to black ink pen has been my burgundy Hero 616 (burgundy to make sure I didn't confuse it with the black "51", and filled with Heart of Darkness for bulletproofness), and my green Platinum Plaisir has only had Noodler's Widow Maker in it, since I ran its original black cartridge dry. I haven't made a decision about my black Plaisir, but Sheaffer Turquoise for markup appeals to me. And I have put all sorts of colors into my copper Estie J, my green Pilot 78G, my stainless Baoer 388, and my red 1mm Sheaffer Viewpoint calligraphy pen.

[Barkingpig]

I was "fine" happily matching my inks to my pens.........

 

Until TODAY.........when I received a bottle of De Atramentis SARAHA GREY..........

 

and promptly recorded a "sample" of it in the Tomoe River pad of creme paper & realised it was written directly underneath the entry of Sailor's TANNA JAPONENSIS from Kingdom Note (via Atsu) It was written when I had filled my Pelikan 600 White Tortoise & "to MY 63 year old bifoculed eyes" .......

THEY LOOK IDENTICAL! Who knew a $10.00 bottle of German ink (with a MOST confusing name when it is "no more GREY" than named!) would look "so close" to a Japanese "special edition" ink?

 

(I am SURE there will be SOMEONE who will "correct" me by explaining "they are NO WHERE similar" BUT on MY paper written with MY OBB & newly arrived J Herbin glass dip pen they sure look like the SAME ink.)

 

So now I foresee my system failing FAST.......I will have potentially two of my favorite ink colors "in play" & probably not be able to "know which pen is which!"

 

Next I may be found in the "old folks home" using a black SheafferNo Nonsense pen with BLUE ink..........& perhaps "not caring!" BUT it sure has been fun to match while I could.

 

........Perhaps if I apply the rule of "no white after Labor Day" & just put the Tortoise away until Derby Day 2016?

[amberleadavis]

I was "fine" happily matching my inks to my pens.........

 

Until TODAY.........when I received a bottle of De Atramentis SARAHA GREY..........

 

and promptly recorded a "sample" of it in the Tomoe River pad of creme paper & realised it was written directly underneath the entry of Sailor's TANNA JAPONENSIS from Kingdom Note (via Atsu) It was written when I had filled my Pelikan 600 White Tortoise & "to MY 63 year old bifoculed eyes" .......

THEY LOOK IDENTICAL! Who knew a $10.00 bottle of German ink (with a MOST confusing name when it is "no more GREY" than named!) would look "so close" to a Japanese "special edition" ink?

 

(I am SURE there will be SOMEONE who will "correct" me by explaining "they are NO WHERE similar" BUT on MY paper written with MY OBB & newly arrived J Herbin glass dip pen they sure look like the SAME ink.)

 

So now I foresee my system failing FAST.......I will have potentially two of my favorite ink colors "in play" & probably not be able to "know which pen is which!"

 

Next I may be found in the "old folks home" using a black SheafferNo Nonsense pen with BLUE ink..........& perhaps "not caring!" BUT it sure has been fun to match while I could.

 

........Perhaps if I apply the rule of "no white after Labor Day" & just put the Tortoise away until Derby Day 2016?

 

 

We want pictures .... please.

[hbdk]

I sure do

 

It is probably slightly neurotic but I try to make as exact a match as possible. I have a couple of demonstrators and they always make be feel slightly uncomfortable in spite of being very nice writers

 

A couple of examples:

 

Nemosine Singularity, Walnut - Diamine Chocolate

Jinhao 601, shiny Blue with a little purple - DIamine Bilberry

AL-star copper - Deep Dark Orange

Picasso Malaga (very dark purple) - Deep Dark Purple

Monteverde Prima, green swirl - Woodland Green (with a few drops of Jet Black added)

 

I could list a dozen more, but you get the picture. Plus side is never being in doubt as to what colour ink a pen will deliver when you reach for it