Parker Quink Black - Turning Grey?

[Robin Hood 001]

Where I live, I can only get access to Parker Quink Ink and I use black. I last bought three bottles but when I got to the halfway mark in bottle 1, the black colour started gradually turning grey with each fill. I don't normally shake the ink, but when I tried it the colour was still greyish-black rather than "black." I opened a new bottle, filled again and it was still the same result: greyish-black, but this colour appeared from the first fill, unlike the gradual change with bottle 1. This is definitely an ink issue as I have a range of pens with different nib sizes and they all produce the same result. Could temperatures affect this? Or is this ink just naturally this colour?

 

Thanks!

[DanielCoffey]

You will want to get this moved to Inky Thoughts by the way.

 

My first thought is are you keeping the bottles in the dark away from light and heat? Inks will lose their colour when kept in bright light.

 

How old are the bottles?

 

If you bought them locally, can you take them back for exchange? Even if you don't have the receipt, this is the good thing about real stores - they quite often look after their customers because it means you come back to them.

[Robin Hood 001]

yes, i'm keeping them in my desk draw.I don't really mind the colour though, i'm just wondering whether there's anything I can do to improve the colour

Edited June 14, 2012 by Robin Hood 001

[DanielCoffey]

Well Parker Black was never the blackest black anyway but if you think the colour has faded and changed more to a grey, I would consider trying to get the unused bottles replaced.

 

For recommendations on blacker blacks, use the Forum Search in the Inky Thoughts forum - there are a lot of threads about black there. You will see names like Noodler's Black, Aurora Black and so on repeated often. They are all available for online ordering.

[torstar]

But today there is no day or night,

Today there is no dark or light,

Today there is no black or white, only shades of gray

Only shades of gray....

 

(and streaks of red)

[idazle]

I've always found Parker Quink black rather grayish. That's why I use Aurora Black for my Duofold and Cross black cartridges for my Cross Century, which are the two pens I always have inked with black.