Most Disappointing Ink Buy

[The Good Captain]

Diamine Majestic Blue - nice colour but its drying times and smearing make it difficult for me. I solved that by cutting it with other paler colours.

Diamine Asa Blue - a little light for me but not too bad and I mix a bit with Majestic.

Monteverde Blue-Black - too grey but I'll try it with Majestic.

[Jadie]

Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses, much to my surprise. It just refused to shade for me in any nib. Maybe I lack experience with flex nibs, but other inks (Apache Sunset, R & K's Alt Goldgrun) have all performed admirably, so I don't understand why BSIAR refuses to perform.

 

It's a shame, because I -really- want to like this ink, but it just doesn't like me...

[terminal]

PR Shell Pink... Something is up with my bottle.... its not pink - its pink + brown... Quite an ugly shade in my opinion

 

+1,000,000 you beat me to it

 

I HATE THIS INK

 

Private Reserve Shell Pink is the world's worst ink.

[Trebster]

Adding my "gosh, I could have had a V8®" for:

 

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown (or however it's labeled this year): I've a bottle and a half now. That's a net gain of one full bottle for a color that never really shook my tree. It's actually really good ink, as are all of the Pelikan offerings. But it kind of hurts my eyes to look at a full page of it.

 

Noodler's Polar Blue: I guess I should have saved this for January journaling at 5000 meters where I'm certain it will perform to spec. It didn't perform for me at lower altitude at room temperature. Even my nibmeister-tuned Montblanc balked at Polar Blue. It came to me on the recommendation of a clerk at Swisher's. In her defense, she attempted to match a color request and may have been unaware that Polar Blue is marketed for, well, polar use. The color, while curious, left me scratching my head.

 

Putting a positive spin on things: Despite faint praise all around, I found Private Reserve Purple Haze to be stunning, and unique. I was thrilled with my sample and ordered a full bottle. Also, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz is now among my favorites.

[CatBookMom]

Pretty much anything Mont Blanc. Bought several when it seemed the shoe bottle was being discontinued. I guess I just don't get the love of the ink colors, but oh, those bottles!

 

Iroshizuku Murasaki-shikibu (Japanese Beautyberry) - bought this at the LA Pen Show. I was all excited about a purple in this line, but it's awfully close to Waterman Violet, and really nothing special as a color.

[NedC]

1) Parker Quink blue-black: Weak colour that shifts drastically when drying, virtually no water resistance, just plain boring, and I usually like boring but this bored me to tears.

 

2) J. Herbin Rouge Caroubier: Lovely color actually, but rather thin and weak hence not all that useful to me.

 

3) Noodler's Permanent Brown (Pendemonium exclusive): I'm not really being fair here; there is nothing wrong with either the copout of the ink's performance per se, it makes a lovely sketching colour, but it really should be named something like Permanent Raw Sienna Hue because that's what it is. Nice for direct pen sketching, especially when combined with another, darker shade but a bit too light for general use and writing.

 

4) Noodler's La Reine Mauve: I love the colour, a beautiful vivid deep violet, very saturated, and there's the rub, it has a tendency to clog and the worst nib creep of any ink I've ever used. I do still use it, but only in my Safaris which are easily and quickly disassembled for easy and thorough cleaning.

[JimB]

but my results so far have not matched what I see on screen in reviews here or in other blogs. Maybe I need to try them out of premium glossy paper. I've been sticking to heavy HP inkjet paper and Staples' Sustainable Earth paper.

 

Absorbent paper will tend to show little shading, as will dryer pens. Do you have inks that shade a lot with the paper and pens you are using?

 

Yep, I sure do! Private Reserve Sepia, which I bashed as being too dry and so thick it would clog any pen, turned out to be true ONLY for my first bottle. I wanted it to work! I tried another sample and BINGO! it was just what I wanted, and exactly like the reviews. Good shading on "regular" paper I can get from ESSRI, any of the Black Swan series, Rohrer and Klingner Scabiosa, and Noodler's Benevolent Badger Blue.

 

But you're right, there are some inks that do NOT like absorbent paper. I see the Apache Sunset I used on Rhodia paper does have some shading, better when dry than when wet. But for myself, I'm not willig to plunk down $$ for ink that only serves me well with glossy paper. YMMV.

Edited July 24, 2012 by januaryman

[JimB]

...

 

OP - if you're not getting incredible shading out of Apache, then there's something wrong with the pen or paper. That ink is unreal about the shading. I admit it is more yellow than I like, and I have doctored it now and again with Sheaffer red, Saguaro Wine, or Widowmaker to get colors more to my taste. A Pilot 823 M has been host to all of those.

 

Actually, I never said it did NOT shade, but that the shading was not the darker, deeper orange-red I saw in reviews and scans. My complaint is that it was too yellowish, too light to read if writing anything longer than a note or a paragraph. Journaling? Fuhgeddaboutit!

[Jimothy]

Rohrer & Klingner Alt Goldgrun was a let-down for me. I use primarily fine nibs, and in my pens, this ink looked like difficult-to-read snot.

 

As opposed to easy-to-read snot, I suppose?

 

My worst ink buy was J. Herbin encre bleue parfumee lavande. The colour is pretty boring and it stinks like a chemical factory.

[AlexLeGrande]

1. Semi-disappointment; Diamine Registrar's Ink. In some pens and on some paper, it is just a washed

out blue-black. In and on others, it works just like the positive reviews claim.

 

2. Private Reserve Ebony Purple. I wanted a dark purple, but this stuff never seems to dry.

 

3. Private Reserve Black Cherry. What color is that?

[djpyle]

I wasn't overly happy with Noodler's Manhattan Black, which I didn't think was nearly as dark as standard Black or Heart of Darkness. Or at least my particular bottle wasn't.

 

I also didn't like Diamine Dragon Red very much. It wasn't as vibrant as I was hoping it would be, and it clogged in my VP, which was the pen I specifically bought it for.

 

And I didn't have much luck with my bottle of Noodler's Polor Brown, which was one of the pre-reformulation bottles.

[The Scribbler]

Private Reserve Invincible Aqua Blue - Makes a medium nib look like a triple broad and the color is just terrible.

 

Levenger Gemstone Green & Bahama Blue - The feathering is unlike any other ink I own. Absolutely terrible. Turned me off from trying any other Levenger inks.

 

J. Herbin Vert Empire - Don't like the color. All the scans I had seen were of an interesting shade green. Mine looked gross. After setting it aside for six months or so, I decided to give it one more chance. Opened the bottle and it was completely slimed over.

 

Omas Blue - Just not what I was expecting or wanting. Thought it was going to be a dark, rich blue and turned out to be a lighter royal blue. Perhaps my preconception ruined me on this one, but there are other blues I'd rather reach for.

Edited July 24, 2012 by The Scribbler

[radellaf]

Actually, I never said it did NOT shade, but that the shading was not the darker, deeper orange-red I saw in reviews and scans. ...too yellowish, too light to read if writing anything longer than a note...

 

Oh, OK. Depending how you scan or photograph it, the images can be misleading. Cameras love to add contrast. I have written a few paragraphs with it and especially on ivory paper it can be...usable, but, yeah, gotta agree that, unmixed, it's like you say.

 

In a moleskine with ivory paper...

http://i.imgur.com/bc2hrt.jpg

Edited July 24, 2012 by radellaf

[FPFan]

Isn't all this just wonderful! Hundreds of bottles of different colors of ink and millions of people in the world each with their own different opinion about which ink is wonderful and which one isn't. Aren't we so lucky to have so many pens and different inks to play with and talk about. If we didn't this Forum wouldn't exist!

 

Ah, the infinate wisdom of the Great Creator!

[PAKMAN]

Levengers Pinkly (came in a 6 pack of inks) didn't like color

 

Levengers Always Greener (came in a 6 pack of inks) didn't like color

 

Private Reserve Tanzinite, couldn't stand the nib creep

[Vignette]

Waterman Green. The color just rubs me the wrong way and feels artificial, overbearing, weak and wishy-washy all at once. And I like greens, over half of my inks are green.

[stefanv]

Private Reserve Fast Dry Midnight Blue, the only ink I've ever tried that was able to bleed through every paper I tried it on, even Rhodia 80g and Clairefontaine 90g paper.

 

However, when I contacted Private Reserve to express my displeasure (especially after my positive experience with other PR inks), they offered to send me a bottle of any other colour of my choice. I took them up on the offer, and that's how I ended up with my bottle of Ebony Green, which is a really nice ink.

[mhosea]

Waterman Green. The color just rubs me the wrong way and feels artificial, overbearing, weak and wishy-washy all at once.

 

So Waterman Harmonious Green should have been renamed instead, maybe, Waterman Pretentious Green?

[The Scribbler]

Private Reserve Fast Dry Midnight Blue, the only ink I've ever tried that was able to bleed through every paper I tried it on, even Rhodia 80g and Clairefontaine 90g paper.

 

However, when I contacted Private Reserve to express my displeasure (especially after my positive experience with other PR inks), they offered to send me a bottle of any other colour of my choice. I took them up on the offer, and that's how I ended up with my bottle of Ebony Green, which is a really nice ink.

 

Ebony green is one of the first bottles of PR I purchased. Excellent color, excellent ink.

 

Which reminds me, I haven't used it in a while. Must remedy that...

[meghan]

Rohrer & Klingner Alt Goldgrun was a let-down for me. I use primarily fine nibs, and in my pens, this ink looked like difficult-to-read snot.

 

As opposed to easy-to-read snot, I suppose?

 

My worst ink buy was J. Herbin encre bleue parfumee lavande. The colour is pretty boring and it stinks like a chemical factory.

A nice, deep shade of snot or phlegm would've been an interesting ink to add to the armory, but I just didn't feel that Alt Goldgrun was committed.

 

I bought the sampler of scented J. Herbin inks and was disappointed by each and every one of them, now that you mention it. They all reeked, and none of the colors were anything worth writing home with. (Pun intended.)