Most Disappointing Ink Buy

[BillZ]

Texas Live Oak. Beautiful shade of green BUT it bleeds and spiderwebs terribly! I've tried it in several pens and on several papers with no sucess. Every so often i try it again. Einsien was right

 

I am insane.

 

 

Lol no, there are just too many variables here. Now, if you kept trying it in the same pen with the same paper...

 

Actually though, since you are a member of FPN perhaps the latter part of your statement goes w/o saying

Sorry about missing your reply. I was out of town and touch. Yes,I've tried the ink in a couple of Lamys-Al-Star and Safari with EF,F and M nib. Also a few Levenger TWs wit F and M nib. Even put it inmy MB Starwalker F nib. I've tried it on Moleskine,Piccadilly,SpiceBox and Excompta journal. Even on my Crane stationery. It just likes to spiderweb.

[Ad_Astra]

 

Lol no, there are just too many variables here. Now, if you kept trying it in the same pen with the same paper...

 

Actually though, since you are a member of FPN perhaps the latter part of your statement goes w/o saying

Sorry about missing your reply. I was out of town and touch. Yes,I've tried the ink in a couple of Lamys-Al-Star and Safari with EF,F and M nib. Also a few Levenger TWs wit F and M nib. Even put it inmy MB Starwalker F nib. I've tried it on Moleskine,Piccadilly,SpiceBox and Excompta journal. Even on my Crane stationery. It just likes to spiderweb.

 

Have you tried it with different levels of wetness though? Or just different pens you have that may or may not have the same level of wetness?

[BillZ]

Lol no, there are just too many variables here. Now, if you kept trying it in the same pen with the same paper...

 

Actually though, since you are a member of FPN perhaps the latter part of your statement goes w/o saying

Sorry about missing your reply. I was out of town and touch. Yes,I've tried the ink in a couple of Lamys-Al-Star and Safari with EF,F and M nib. Also a few Levenger TWs wit F and M nib. Even put it inmy MB Starwalker F nib. I've tried it on Moleskine,Piccadilly,SpiceBox and Excompta journal. Even on my Crane stationery. It just likes to spiderweb.

 

Have you tried it with different levels of wetness though? Or just different pens you have that may or may not have the same level of wetness?

 

I'm sorry,I don't understand what you mean by "different levels of wetness"? Are reffering to the fact that some pens write "dryer" than others in the amount of ink delivered when one touches the paper?

[scribbler77]

This might be blasphemy, but Noodler's Black was my worst (with Borealis Black and Polar Blue shortly behind it). Regardless of the paper it NEVER seems to dry. I can swipe a finger across it a week later and smudge it significantly, on Rhodia, copy paper, and 25% cotton 32lbs Southworth. Don't know if I have a bad batch, but it just will not dry for me, which sucks because I work in Engineering where my notes need to be permanent, thus my getting bulletproof inks.

 

 

Have you tried blotting it? Works for me, regardless of the pen.

[pw1224]

J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil.... I've tried it in two pens now and in both cases, the results look like pencil on the page. I thought it would be a nice brownish/grey. Ah well, at least it was only a sample.

 

[andru]

This might be blasphemy, but Noodler's Black was my worst (with Borealis Black and Polar Blue shortly behind it). Regardless of the paper it NEVER seems to dry. I can swipe a finger across it a week later and smudge it significantly, on Rhodia, copy paper, and 25% cotton 32lbs Southworth. Don't know if I have a bad batch, but it just will not dry for me, which sucks because I work in Engineering where my notes need to be permanent, thus my getting bulletproof inks.

Have you tried blotting it? Works for me, regardless of the pen.

MafiaGeek, I've heard that you can dilute Noodler's Black with water to solve this problem without sacrificing its other properties. Be sure to use distilled water (cheaply available at a pharmacy; may depend on your location). I've heard even 1:1 works, although you could try less water than that for starters. I'm using Noodler's Heart of Darkness and don't have the problem on the papers I use, so I can't give you my own experience on dilution, but you can find posts about it in the ink forums.

 

As for blotting, I've not used a proper blotter, and tissue makes an awful mess at blotting; but it seems to me it would change the appearance of the result? Maybe not with a deep black, but where any shading is involved.

 

Since blasphemy was mentioned, it feels somehow like sacrilege to blot fountain pen writings. I'm not joking; it feels very wrong! I'm sure it's just me...

[inksmears]

PR MIdnight Blues fast dry. Nib creep? More like a nib stampede. It made a Lamy EF look like a Pelikan BB on decent paper...not an exaggeration. I literally could see the ink creep out during a meeting. After inking it with that junk, I lost my pen later that day. I still say it ran from me after what I did to it

 

Noodlers Polar black. Flowed terrible, but had major nib creep overnight.

[MrsGouletPens]

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.

Did you buy it in the last year? There have been some major QC/formulation problems going back to July 2011, where it kept showing up as a lighter royal blue or even more turquoise. Completely inconsistent and all over the blue spectrum. Supposedly a new correct batch is on the way to us, but they've said that a few times before... I'll believe it when I see it! But anyways, there may be hope for you yet!

[LioTheGr8]

The only bottle of ink that I have ever hated was Private Reserve Tanzinite. nib creep was terrible, left splotches all over my journal, nearly impossible to start, very dry, and the final color was a rather dusty violet which I wasn't to fond of.

[mark e]

i'm totally content with all my vintage skrip inks, but the n-o-s emerald green was definitely disappointing--washed out, looked like cheap dry-erase marker green--but i think i can fix that by doing a 1-1 mix of some of the em-green w/ diamine green-black, which leans too black for me

 

noodler's eel black, noodlers blue-black---let's just say, "it aint because of the color"

 

pelikan4001 blue-black--white label w/ teal lettering, probably 70's vintage (no price scanner code)---no sitb, but clogged every pen in which i used it--within hours--is this typical of I-G ink?-- i might as well have sucked up superglue into my pens--bummer---i didnt even have time to appreciate what a great blue-grey ink it is

[mark e]

This might be blasphemy, but Noodler's Black was my worst (with Borealis Black and Polar Blue shortly behind it). Regardless of the paper it NEVER seems to dry. I can swipe a finger across it a week later and smudge it significantly, on Rhodia, copy paper, and 25% cotton 32lbs Southworth. Don't know if I have a bad batch, but it just will not dry for me, which sucks because I work in Engineering where my notes need to be permanent, thus my getting bulletproof inks.

Have you tried blotting it? Works for me, regardless of the pen.

MafiaGeek, I've heard that you can dilute Noodler's Black with water to solve this problem without sacrificing its other properties. Be sure to use distilled water (cheaply available at a pharmacy; may depend on your location). I've heard even 1:1 works, although you could try less water than that for starters. I'm using Noodler's Heart of Darkness and don't have the problem on the papers I use, so I can't give you my own experience on dilution, but you can find posts about it in the ink forums.

 

As for blotting, I've not used a proper blotter, and tissue makes an awful mess at blotting; but it seems to me it would change the appearance of the result? Maybe not with a deep black, but where any shading is involved.

 

Since blasphemy was mentioned, it feels somehow like sacrilege to blot fountain pen writings. I'm not joking; it feels very wrong! I'm sure it's just me...

 

not just you, andru

[radellaf]

Sacrilege? Didn't it used to be standard practice? Rocker blotters and all... or was that only needed for dip

pens?

 

As for the Noodler's Black, yeah, that's usually a joy to use but depending on paper needs some dilution, especially if it has a chance to dry out in the pen between uses. Other brands, I often top off with more ink if I find them half dried out... Noodler's -- no. But then my pens may go months without use. Not sure if that's common or not. The letter exchange is about all the use they're getting, and I keep having writer's block even with those informal pieces.

[Bo Bo Olson]

HP inkjet paper..of course one don't get shading or much on ink jet paper. It is designed to absorb ink quickly and dry fast.

 

Shading ink is designed to hang out on top of the paper for a bit, so it will shade.

 

Pure laser paper should be the way to go.

 

I don't see how a combo paper laser and ink jet can be much better than pure ink jet.

 

I don't know much about recycled paper. Who knows what sort of rubbish paper got recycled?

I've no need for it. It might be good enough for a computer, but to waste ink on it...no.

 

I like J. Herbin Cafe des Iles and Lie de Tea. I've never had any problems.

 

I also like Florida South Sea blue one of the first shading Inks I got.

I've not been using it much in I have a few more turquoise inks.

 

I also wonder about folks talking about inks being 'washed out'. Perhaps they are two toned shading inks, and the person is more experienced with vivid monotone inks.

 

One should have both types of ink and a few 90 g and better papers.

:embarrassed_smile: I will admit I got a slew of pens, and a bunch of inks before I got some good to better papers.

 

If I may suggest, get paper at least as much as you get inks.

I suggest buying paper that is too good for the computer printer. Buy computer paper and scribbling paper.

 

If I mug some one I can afford an extra stamp, for a letter. I don't need that imported bottle of water.... :hmm1: As far as I remember I've not seen an imported bottle of US water, here in Germany. So I got to find something else to save on... Yes, no more Miller Lite.

 

 

I tend to test an ink with an assortment of 8 nibs, a couple of nails, regular, semi-flex, maxi-semi-flex, and perhaps a full flex nib. There is of course different widths.

 

I use two-three papers (I should be using 5-6), 90g is my lowest, and I'm slowly getting enough heavy paper to be fair.

 

A true test to find the perfect nib width, flex and paper, takes a bit more time than I give it. I'm not giving it a good wide assortment of paper.

 

Paper makes a huge difference. I had some Lamy turquoise, that was Blaaa on 80 g paper. I saw in the Ink Review both reviews showed it shading.

I pulled down a small Oxford Optic 90g booklet and it shaded.

 

Noodlers Golden Brown takes for ever to dry. One can not even think of trying to write on the other side. It must take five minutes to dry. Shades well though. Perhaps one must write page three on the back.

 

DA Havana was very much more Tan (like a light tan colored cigar) than I expected; expecting a brown, like Waterman.

 

This is a great thread. There are so many inks not to buy.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[jgrasty]

The only bottle of ink that I have ever hated was Private Reserve Tanzinite. nib creep was terrible, left splotches all over my journal, nearly impossible to start, very dry, and the final color was a rather dusty violet which I wasn't to fond of.

 

Try a sample of the Fast Dry version of Tanzanite. Much better behavior.

[LioTheGr8]

I recently just added another awful, in my opinion, ink to my list:

 

J. Herbin Rouille D' Ancre. It is just plain, old, ugly! It's a sticky, sickly sort of peach color and I wanted a golden pink. Yuck!

[haldane3]

Herbin bleu nuit. Looks like a dull, drab blue. Not dark or rich at all.

[LioTheGr8]

The only bottle of ink that I have ever hated was Private Reserve Tanzinite. nib creep was terrible, left splotches all over my journal, nearly impossible to start, very dry, and the final color was a rather dusty violet which I wasn't to fond of.

 

Try a sample of the Fast Dry version of Tanzanite. Much better behavior.

 

 

That is the one I had. It was awful, I literally had to use my flex nib as a dip oen, or else writing a sentence was impossible!

[Phormio]

I have two inks that have let me down.

 

1. Noodlers Prime of the Commons - I was very excited to get this ink and ordered from the UK as it was not available here. I got it, loaded my Waterman Culture Krystal with it and it was great. I came back to it the next day and that's when I noticed it separating in the pen. Looked at the bottle and sure enough it was separating there to. The ink ended up damaging the pen but the worst part is that, as far as i am aware, I am the only one who had that problem. Of course, wanting to have the same positive experience as others here I've gone looking for Prime of the Commons but with the UK distribution problems I cant get it anymore.

 

2. Diamine Indigo - Awful, just awful ink. doesn't flow in my pens and the colour is the crappy shade of indigo. Like Noodlers above I've had really good experiences with Diamine but this ink was a massive fail.

 

Note I still like Diamine and Noodlers, just not these two!

 

P.

[jgrasty]

The only bottle of ink that I have ever hated was Private Reserve Tanzinite. nib creep was terrible, left splotches all over my journal, nearly impossible to start, very dry, and the final color was a rather dusty violet which I wasn't to fond of.

 

Try a sample of the Fast Dry version of Tanzanite. Much better behavior.

 

 

That is the one I had. It was awful, I literally had to use my flex nib as a dip oen, or else writing a sentence was impossible!

 

Yes, this is true of most Private Reserve inks; they're too wet for use in most pens with flex nibs.

[LioTheGr8]

Oh no, it was so dry! It would literally become impossible to write because it would stick to my pen like super glue! It just wasn't happening! I would have to shake my pen a gazillion times in order to write half a sentence, and then just resorted to leaving the bottle open and dipping the pen in the ink,since it was the only bottle of ink I had at the time. I ended up spilling it all over the floor, and thankfully it cleaned up well, so I guess that was a small plus.