Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink

[Bo Bo Olson]

Mine on the whole turned disappointing black or dark gray with no boue...only on one paper did it stay blue...that was an old Eaton typing.

 

The others seemed to fade that touch of blue into touch of too black after a few days.

 

 

Magic...is not Majik.

[Chiro75]

Obviously the ink behaves differently in Germany than in the USA! Lol

[Sandy1]

UPDATE- First, I want to repeat that this is one of my new favorite inks. BUT. I inked up my TWSBI 540 F with ESSRI a week ago and put it aside. Yesterday I tried writing with it.

 

✃ snip ✁

 

So I guess I warn you to be careful. What went wrong? Well, either I didn't use the pen enough, or the 1 week sit was bad for the ink. That, or a TWSBI Fine must be avoided at all costs. My TWSBI is now happy with that tonic ink, Waterman Florida Blue.

 

ESSRI is still being used in my Pelikan 140 Medium Nib with no problems at all. I use it nearly every day. That may be the solution.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the update on ESSRI behaviour in different pens.

 

I thought the TWSBI, with its capability to be disassembled for cleaning, would be a wonderful pen to use with i-g and other high maintenance inks. However, now I wonder if that also implies that ink can get into every nook & cranny, making it imperative to disassemble the pen for thorough cleansing, including a soak, before and after using such inks. (?!?)

 

While I don't like to think that your experience with the TWSBI is typical, I fully support the idea of using pens with ESSRI on a daily basis.

 

Ah, if one were to consider ESSRI is the 'shop ink' for Registrars, then it may well be used on a daily basis, even if not for making entries in official documents. (Registrars need grocery lists too!)

 

And then there's the wonderful experience with the Pelikan! Why am I not surprised?

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

My update:

 

Received my second bottle of ink that was missing from the original shipment with no problem. Not the greatest communication in the world from ESS (not big fans of returning email), but the bottom line is that they fixed the problem without any hassle and that's what counts.

 

As far as the ink itself, it's still all over the map for me. It's definitely darkening with time on the papers I write on, but to a dark blue, rather than blue-black, in my estimation. That being said, my only experience with blue-black is Noodler's, which is definitely blue, but very dark. On the blue-black spectrum, Noodler's, to me, sits favorably on the black side of things whereas the ESSRI is way over on the blue side of things.

 

I've had no flow issues. I have done very little writing int he past week and my medium nibbed Esterbrook LJ starts right up, no issues at all.

 

I have yet to see any feathering or bleeding issues on anything I've written on. This is probably the best-behaved ink I've ever used in that regard.

 

Because it goes down so light, there is a tendency to want to push harder on the pen. I don't think that means that it's "dry" per se.

 

Now that I haven't re-inked for about a week, the initial line is a little darker (if I leave ink in my Esties they ALL darken and concentrate), but the only main thing I noticed that is different is that the ink doesn't dry as fast in the darker shaded areas. This is typical of all my Esties and any ink I use.

 

I still LOVE the writing of a line and watching the ink change before my eyes. Very cool!

 

The initial test in a Moleskine notebook (probably 5-6 years old) showed no change to blue-black. It stayed light blue, and took on a grayish, cold overtone, but it's light, faded blue and subsequent writing in the same notebook showed the same behavior. For whatever reason, the ink won't color-shift in that particular notebook, but writing in other moleskines shows doesn't behave this way.

Hi,

 

More updates!!

 

From Replies received, it does appear that there is some kind of wobble as to its identity as a Blue-Black, which is driven by variations in pen and paper.

 

I recognised that property from the initial stroke, and that's mentioned in the Review proper, but I'd not anticipated anywhere near the sensitivity that is being reported. And poor Moleskine - their paper seems sooo inconsistent for FP use.

 

Bye,

S1

[Sandy1]

And, out of curiosity, has anyone mixed this ink with anything? I know it's acidic, so it wouldn't play well with basic inks (hello, precipitates!), but I wonder if it's possible to add a few drops of something like Noodler's Black to make it darker. I have ZERO experience with ink mixing, so I was hoping someone who does it regularly may've been experimenting with this ink and adding something to darken it, to see if it behaves the same way only dries darker...

Hi,

 

Mixing is tricky business with an i-g ink.

 

My avenue of pursuit is to lower the density and moderate the pH by dilution, then see which [blue-Purple] can be added.

 

So far I've done a dilution set which is curing. Some rather interesting results at first blush, especially from the flexi Waterman; but at 2/3 strength there was railroading at high flex, ~1mm. Likely to be posted in January.

 

Then perhaps: (1/3 Distilled Water + 1/3 ESSRI) + 1/3 'X' Blue.

I'll try the Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue as the first X: likely benign as they come, but will fade and has little water resistance. So that's a trial only.

 

I'd like to see something like Noodler's Ottoman Azure for its richness, or Sailor Jentle Sky High for its 'bright eyed' aspect (plenty wet too!).

 

In a mix there's concern about degradation of line quality and shading - a mix won't behave like ESSRI! Too often simple mixes show the worst properties of each ink.

 

I'm also trying a sample of highly oxidised but not concentrated-by-evaporation ink that may show maximum terminal density right from the pen. And a sample treated with an antioxidant, which may not go so grey-black hence retain more Blue.

 

All that will have to wait until I return . . .

 

Bye,

S1

Edited December 23, 2011 by Sandy1

[Bo Bo Olson]

Conception of Blue-Black and a blue that turns totally black is where I think part of the problem is.

 

I was always under the impression that a blue-black is a blue that has black...or a black that has blue...but not a blue that turns totally black.

 

IMO a blue black should have some blue even if it is a black-blue at the end.

 

On most of my papers it turned black, only on a couple was there some blue...one or two took some turning into the light to get that blue tinge.

 

I think it is more paper driven than nib, though on EF and XXF I sometimes get a gray with a faint touch of blue.

 

Some times extra narrow nibs were just a gray. Some of the Mediums too. My Cross Townsend nail M was often gray...or often enough to think often.

 

Some nibs just gave me gray.

An Osmia maxi-semi-flex F gave me gray, yet a Rupp maxi-semi-flex F gave me black; mostly.

 

I just did a quick look at the 46 papers I tested with this ink.

The only thing consistent is the inconstancy, nibs that give me something blue tinged on a few papers don't on others.

[Sandy1]

Mine on the whole turned disappointing black or dark gray with no boue...only on one paper did it stay blue...that was an old Eaton typing.

 

The others seemed to fade that touch of blue into touch of too black after a few days.

 

 

Magic...is not Majik.

Hi,

 

Oh my!

 

So much time and effort that you've worked with this ink!

 

Papers and pens in numerous amazing combinations!!

 

and poof! Not the desired result at all.

Rather a long tough way to find out that ESSRI isn't 'the one', but there's the next one, yes?

 

Bye,

S1

[Bo Bo Olson]

Minor league compared to your work Sandy.

I learned how much I don't know about paper...

 

Paper wise I'm still at that 'what's that?'

A bottle of ink.

'Ink comes in bottles? Wow what will they think of next?' level.

 

Nothing was lost, much was gained.

I now know enough about paper, to have a start.

 

I was always going to do a paper test. I finally did, and had many more papers than thought. 1/3 of them was from good folks that sent me a few sheets over a couple of years.

 

 

 

I have ESSR, Waterman and Pelikan Blue-Black and Pelikan Blue-Blue-Black.

I'll just have to keep adding Royal Blue to that Blue-Blue-Black until I have a Blue...that is dark enough. :roflmho:

 

I got to get that Japanese BLUE-black some day too.

 

I also learned that to take 15 pens with 15 inks over 15 papers is too much work.

 

Six pens should do.

I save a lot of ink that way.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Bo Bo Olson

[Michael_V]

I really like this ink, but it can have a surprisingly different appearance depending on the paper and the pen that I use. With Rhodia paper it goes on a watery pale blue and quickly becomes a nice blue-black and then ages to dark blue-gray. I was just using ESSRI with some Crane's 100% kid finish notes and it seems to start and stay as a medium blue with good shading edging toward gray. Medium and larger nibs do seem to play to the strengths of the ink by allowing more shading and I have not noticed any feathering even with cheap paper stock.

 

Typically I would like more consistency with an ink, but since I read through a good portion of this thread before placing my order, I actually looked forward to experimenting and finding out how to match this one with pen and paper. With the size of the bottles from ESS, I will have lots of opportunities to play with this ink.

 

 

Michael

[JimB]

Today I decided to test this ink on different paper, using the same pen, written minutes after each other.

 

On Sustainable Earth paper, the ESSRI is medium to light blue and remains blue, but darkens to deep blue or blue-black. Nice shading on the page.

 

Right after that test, I tried it on Moleskine, made in China. Here the ink starts out dark blue and quickly darkens to either black or very deep midnight blue. No discernable shading, but the letters seem to pop off the cream colored page.

 

Pen: Pelikan 140 Medium, ground to cursive italic.

 

Generally: There is no bleed through in either test, but some echoing in the Moleskine, although nothing that would prevent one's writing on both sides of the page - other than my personal dislike of doing so. In short, very well behaved ink. Very different look based on paper alone.

 

It has become one of my favorites in medium to broad nibs.

[Korybas]

Boy, this ink is full of surprises!

The only little bit of info I can share is that, after having ESSRI in my Visconti HS 1.3 and left the pen unused for 2 weeks, the pen wrote a little dry at first, but nothing significant. Then the flow was as before, normal towards dry-ish.

I only just flushed my pen, after having filled it with ESSRI 10 times. Works like a charm!

Edited December 30, 2011 by Korybas

[Michael_V]

I really like this ink, but it can have a surprisingly different appearance depending on the paper and the pen that I use. With Rhodia paper it goes on a watery pale blue and quickly becomes a nice blue-black and then ages to dark blue-gray. I was just using ESSRI with some Crane's 100% kid finish notes and it seems to start and stay as a medium blue with good shading edging toward gray. Medium and larger nibs do seem to play to the strengths of the ink by allowing more shading and I have not noticed any feathering even with cheap paper stock.

 

Typically I would like more consistency with an ink, but since I read through a good portion of this thread before placing my order, I actually looked forward to experimenting and finding out how to match this one with pen and paper. With the size of the bottles from ESS, I will have lots of opportunities to play with this ink.

 

 

Michael

 

UPDATE - after checking on the writing that I did on the Crane's notes, the color did finally turn blue-black, but it took about a day and a half to two days whereas the change over on Rhodia paper is within a couple minutes. Still liking this ink.

 

Michael

[Bo Bo Olson]

Richard said a good blue black takes a day to fully change. This one can take two, depending on the nib and paper.

[Chiro75]

FInally started seeing some of my writing samples in files on copy paper from several weeks ago and it has turned the blue-black I was looking for. So, as long as our admin assistant doesn't bust me when she sees it in its blue form, I should be OK for using it at work! LOL

[drgoretex]

What an insanely thorough post and thread!!

 

I am WAY too impulsive with ink buying. Made it through about half the first page of this thread, and ordered a bottle.

 

Looking forward to trying it against the Lamy BB and the R&K Salix that are en route to me.

 

Ken

[JimB]

You're gonna love it!

[lapis]

Well...

 

A. There aren't all that many iron-galls out today (IMO only 7), so why not just get all of them... and...

B. Considering that Lamy's (in the bottle) is alledgedly about to be disconinued, buy a whole stash of 'em

 

Mike :hmm1:

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

The ESSRI Dilution Samples are here:

http://www.fountainp...n/#entry2203335

 

Those should be of interest to those who like the colour, but find the density too high. I was particularly interested to see results from the flexi nib.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited January 3, 2012 by Sandy1

[Sandy1]

What an insanely thorough post and thread!!

 

I am WAY too impulsive with ink buying. Made it through about half the first page of this thread, and ordered a bottle.

 

Looking forward to trying it against the Lamy BB and the R&K Salix that are en route to me.

 

Ken

Hi Ken,

 

I think this ink is so highly responsive / reactive to changes that involved members are describing their different experiences over time - something I could not achieve in a stand-alone Ink Review. This is yet another instance of the Replies becoming more important than the Topic.

 

I look forward to reading of your inky adventures!

 

Bye,

S1

[Chiro75]

I saw a picture of Diamine's Registrar's Ink, which comes in a 110mL bottle, and it's the same bottle as ESSRI. I know it has been said that people who own both don't think it's the same ink, but is it made by the same company?