Most Disappointing Ink Buy

[jgrasty]

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.

 

Interesting observation. I'd given up on using Private Reserve inks in my flex pens, so I never tried Fast Dry Tanzanite. Hmmm...

[2GreyCats]

Most disappointing? Has to be the bottle I got earlier in the summer of PR Dakota Red. Based on reviews, and the ink swab sheet in the store, I was expecting a scarlet/vermilion sort of shade.

 

The bottle that I got was a color halfway between "sandstone" and "canned tomato soup". Very non-saturated in appearance and much more orangey with a brown cast than red of any kind. That disappointed me a lot, since I'd been ogling reviews of that one for a while. But, they took it back, also surprised by the shade, and I swapped it for Sheaffer Red for grading papers.

 

(I still love all of their other colors I've seen, and can't wait to try Purple Mojo...)

[2GreyCats]

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!

Okay, now I'm curious. When you say, "golden pink", I can only imagine a sort of peachy-orange. What were you hoping for? A kind of sunset-pink, maybe?

[brunico]

For me, purple is always difficult. I like slightly bluish reds such as Diamine Amaranth and I like slightly reddish blues, but a lot of attempts at getting a pleasant blue-leaning violet or lilac have ended up with some kind of Tyrian purple instead: Diamine Violet, Noodler's La couleur royale and others. Sailor's Fuji-musume was too red, so I'm wondering about PR Purple Haze.

 

Strangely, the blueness or redness of pinks doesn't bother me.

[jgrasty]

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.

 

Based on your report, I put Tanzanite Fast Dry in my Pelikan M400 with a Binder flex nib. Worked well at the start, the ink being dry as you reported. The next day, the pen decided to stop writing. Flushed, refilled with Tanzanite Fast Dry, again. Wrote well, then a few minutes later, wouldn't write. Needless to say, I've never had that happen with this pen, ever.

 

Makes me go hmmm... :blink:

[escribo]

Noodler's Antietam. I was looking for a red for markups; this is just weird. My fault, really. I should have done more research.

[Readymade]

Cocktail inks from Styl'Honore in Paris. Great colours but awful properties.

[outbackpengeek]

Lamy Green. The word that springs to mind is 'insipid'. I was after a green, and was seduced by the bottle with the built in blotter. On the plus side, it taught me not to impulse buy ink without some research.

[2GreyCats]

For me, purple is always difficult. I like slightly bluish reds such as Diamine Amaranth and I like slightly reddish blues, but a lot of attempts at getting a pleasant blue-leaning violet or lilac have ended up with some kind of Tyrian purple instead: Diamine Violet, Noodler's La couleur royale and others. Sailor's Fuji-musume was too red, so I'm wondering about PR Purple Haze.

 

Strangely, the blueness or redness of pinks doesn't bother me.

 

Have you tried Waterman Violet/Purple/whatever they're calling it now? To my eyes, anyway, it seems to be rather more on the blue side (though you'd not know it from looking at the box art). I say this because I really dislike red-purples; that's why I find the purple ink that comes in the cartridges for Platinum Preppy to be so disappointing.

Edited August 24, 2012 by 2GreyCats

[Colors]

Noodler's Antietam. I was looking for a red for markups; this is just weird. My fault, really. I should have done more research.

 

I love Antietam. What did you not like about it?

[irrigger]

PR Sepia. It's such a beautiful color but it's so dry. I have yet to find a pen in which it flows properly.

 

It's funny how tastes differ: I love Yama-Budo. I use it for marking up papers and for my lab notebook.

I had the same issue with my first bottle, and ended up dumping it. A friend gave me a sample, and, trying it yet again, I was pleasantly surprised. The next bottle I got was problem free, and runs nicely from all my pens, but really likes flex or broad.

I'm yet another PR Sepia user. I wonder if they put out a bad batch because my bottle clogs all but one of my pens. Lucky for me it's an early Waterman Skywriter with a really flexible nib. I guess I will pick up another bottle and give it another try!

[jinprairie]

Boss Black ink.

Putrid chemical smell, clogged pens, greyish fading, it's not worth the 3 RMB!

Unfortunately, that's the only brand they sell at stationery shops here (well, sans Hero, but yeah.)

[kestrel]

The original formulation of Noodler's Highland Heather. It had everything going for it. Beautiful color, link to my Scottish heritage, a brand I was usually happy with. Everything.

Then, I ruined all those happy feelings by loading it into a fountain pen. Shame on me. Poor flow, very long drying time, and it eventually clogged the Estie 2668 nib I was trying to write with. Being of the stubborn sort (see heritage comment above) I tried it in a second pen, a Safari tuned to write wet. The same thing happened again. Then a third tier, no-name vintage button filler that was great with all my other inks. Again, very poor flow and then clog number three. It was starting to look like I would have to throw out almost an entire bottle but my thrifty nature (see heritage comment above) objected so, in succession, I tried adding surfactants, diluting with water, reciting incantations over a plate of haggis, and an extended reading of Robert Burns over the bottle. "To a Mouse" (The best laid schemes o' mice and men..." seemed especially apt.). Pen number four was a Levenger. Poor flow followed by clog number four.

I was starting to thing that the haggis would have better flow characteristics than the Highland Heather.

Finally, in frustration, I poured it out in a secluded part of my yard. It killed the grass it landed on.

[brunico]

Have you tried Waterman Violet/Purple/whatever they're calling it now? To my eyes, anyway, it seems to be rather more on the blue side (though you'd not know it from looking at the box art). I say this because I really dislike red-purples; that's why I find the purple ink that comes in the cartridges for Platinum Preppy to be so disappointing.

 

Thanks! I did like it a lot twenty years ago - when it was about the most outlandish ink colour you could buy in the UK - but my tastes have probably changed as I can't now get on with Diamine Violet and others. But I'm enjoying Sailor Grenade, oddly enough, and it fills the pink/red/purple gap in my collection. Some of my purple sensitivity may be about brightness: I've got on better with muted inks like Poussière de lune.

 

Maybe I should just add some of my Grenade to some turquoise until I can figure out what I'm comfortable with!

[SignalboxCat]

PR Invincible black was the one ink I really regretted buying: feathered incredibly even with pens that run dry and paper not prone to feathering (and for comparison, I use a lot of different Noodlers inks without problem). Tossed it into a box and not even considered using is since.

 

I slightly regret buying Noodlers Highland Heather- nothing against the ink, just not keen on the colour. But maybe it'll grow on me and I'll use it some day.

 

:meow:

[leaflet]

Lamy's Blue for me. It is just not the kind of blue I like-it looks dull, and I experience skipping quite often with this ink. I am considering throwing it away.

[Dioxazine]

I used to really not like Noodler's Antietam...

 

...Until I realized that it was a great fall color! I only have like 6mL of it to begin with, though.

 

I never liked the nasty color of Noodler's Air Corp Blue Black. The warm black does not go well with the Navajo Turquoise at all.

 

But now that I have Noodler's Saguaro Wine, I made some lovely purplish-black, well-behaved ink! I use:

 

1 Air Corp (diluted 1:1)

2 Saguaro (1:2)

 

and now it is fantastic and I have no regrets about anything

[todayilearned]

MB Carlo Collodi...

 

 

I just don't like the ink but I'm forcing myself to go through the bottle just so I can use the empty bottle.

[liapuyat]

Herbin Cafe des Iles. It just wouldn't flow in any of my pens. Too bad, I thought the color looked really nice in the reviews.

[todayilearned]

All these people who are disappointed with Iroshizuku inks scare me... I wanted to pick up a bottle of one...