Pen And Ink Filling Rules - How Do You Choose Ink / Pen Combinations?

[Runnin_Ute]

only one.

 

No duplication.

 

But that is pretty easy for me right now with only four pens.

Currently:

My True Writer Silver Anniversary (fine) has Diamine Sherwood Green in it.

the Lamy Al Star (1.1 mm) has Diamine Blue Black

Waterman Phileas (fine) Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

Waterman Phileas (medium) Monteverde Brown from a sample.

[amberleadavis]

 

Thank you, all. I'm enjoying this....

 

Mike -- if your women are that ??? then maybe you need a database too.

Amber, I couldn't agree more with you. How cum, you knew that? They all (the three wives) do exist in a database of mine, and... until today... I still don't know which of those inks was the best (as re wetness, you know)... head turning red...

 

 

Hmm.... sounds like a personnel problem to me.

[amberleadavis]

only one.

 

No duplication.

 

But that is pretty easy for me right now with only four pens.

Currently:

My True Writer Silver Anniversary (fine) has Diamine Sherwood Green in it.

the Lamy Al Star (1.1 mm) has Diamine Blue Black

Waterman Phileas (fine) Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

Waterman Phileas (medium) Monteverde Brown from a sample.

 

 

Whoops, I had to slow down to read....I thought you were saying only one ink. I started to panic on your behalf. I'm relieved to know that you have more than one ink.

[SusanA]

Hmmm, I was just pondering this, and my guidelines are:

 

1) what will I be using the pen for

2) the nib type and size

3) ink characteristics + nib characteristics

4) ink color should look good with pen color

 

Choosing is actually more complicated than I thought.

[TomJKT]

I started a similar topic in the Italian forum: Colorful Italian Pens - And The Matching Ink?

I tried out to match the pens with their complimentary or analogous color ink. Sure this is only related to aesthetics - that's why I posted in the beauty forum , further considerations regarding capillarity and other technical matters will influence the choice of ink as well.

@amberleadavis, If I would have known that Pelikan and Sailor pens declared war, I would never have put them in the same pen tray! I just hope nobody was hurt.

[amberleadavis]

 

@amberleadavis, If I would have known that Pelikan and Sailor pens declared war, I would never have put them in the same pen tray! I just hope nobody was hurt.

 

I don't know ... but now that I think about it, they must be at war because my friend won't even put them in the same pen carrier.

[dcwaites]

Wet inks go in dry pens, dry inks go in wet pens.

e.g. Noodler's HOD in a fine-nibbed Hero 100, Noodler's Black in a medium-wet Platinum Preppy

Visconti Blue or Parker Penman Sapphire in a medium-dry Parker 100

Powdered Clerical inks (Angus or Thistle) in a Myers Post Office dip pen.

 

Mature (not quite vintage) Parker Quink with Solv-X in any pen that seems to have crud in feed problems. A few days of writing usually sorts out that problem.

 

As for which particular ink, that depends on the paper, not the pen (after following the Wet/Dry rule).

Inks that spread (Diamine, Private Reserve) on really good paper (Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Mondi, Stora Enso).

Inks that don't spread (Visconti, Parker Penman, Parker Quink, Sailor Jentle, Waterman, Sheaffer Skrip) can be used on lesser papers.

[Bugmerc]

This has been an interesting topic. I enjoy reading all your quips and rules. My life is often complicated enough, my pens and writing is an escape from that, so I don't have any rules, I also don't have many pens but I do have quite a few ink samples. I like fun colors so my rules are basically what fun color do I want to try in which pen?

I guess that's not much of a "rule", but I'm good with that!

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Match brand of pen with brand of ink ... Pelikan ink goes in Pelikan pens

. . .

AND keep the war theaters differentiated...Sailor ink does not go in Pelikan pens. Pelikan ink does not go into Sailor Pens.

About the only thing I do that's even remotely like this is that I do NOT put anything but Sheaffer ink into my vintage Sheaffer bottles. If it's Pelikan, and it needs to be rebottled, it goes into an empty Pelikan (or rebranded Pelikan) bottle. Vintage Sheaffer bottles are too hard to find, these days, and current Sheaffer bottles are too abominably bad, to break that rule, even if it weren't for wanting the shape of the bottle to indicate the parentage of its contents.

Edited May 11, 2013 by hbquikcomjamesl

[Elizabeth in NJ]

I've been laughing about the WWII ink rules since I read this a few days ago.

 

So, what color would you put into a white colored pen?

 

Noodler's Whiteness of the Whale, of course!

[amberleadavis]

I too am enjoying the topic. I keep wondering when my fellow LVPP member is going to pipe up to tell me that I posted his rules incorrectly.

[JulesSilvan]

My main rule is no matching ink colour to barrel colour unless it's black.

[MaddyMarcel]

My main concern is always to match the ink to the nib - what flows well and lays down an aesthetically pleasing line. There are combinations I like - black in my root beer SJ, or Noodler's Luxury blue in my ivory True Writer - but I also enjoy going "off program", filling either of these with, say, Herbin's Poussière de Lune.

 

So no real rules for me. But Amber, I admire your friend's capacity for systematic thought ...

[inotrym]

I don't have any strict rules, but I find myself enjoying only black ink in my wet F/EF nibs.

I tend to keep all my interesting colours for my 1.1 vista. (soon to be replaced by a twsbi mini classic )

[senzen]

1. Use whichever pen has the best flow.

2. Use whichever pen gives the closest color to what I think it should be.

3. Solve strange problems. While my Waterman Laureat with an F nib flows great, I'm under the impression the ink somehow leaks, towards the cap... My brand new J. Herbin Vert Empire was going to disappear quickly if I didn't stop using it... Unless I'm imagining things.

[loudkenny]

I try to match my 51's barrel colors to the ink inside if I can because I take a lot of notes. So, I have PR Ebony Purple in my plum, Ebony Green in my Forest Green, and DCSSB in my Cedar Blue vac. I don't see saturated inks as an issue in my 51's because I wash them out every time I refill them.

 

My Vacs and my Waterman all get Quink Washable Blue with Solv-X because it seemed a little weird to use DCSSB in a Vac.

Ken

Edited May 19, 2013 by loudkenny

[rizo52]

 

1. Intended usage (business or personal): business; dark blue, black, graphite, red for corrections: personal; whatever I feel like (Apache Sunset in the fall, etc.)

2. Match the color to some color on the pen/nib, or what it may coordinate best with.

3. Keep experimenting withing rules 1 and 2.

[mboschm]

Whatever ink I may fancy in the pen I want to use.

Exception are iron gall/nano inks that mainly go into my P51, basically because I use this pen and inks for writing exams and because it clogs a lot less.

[GabrielleDuVent]

I'm like your friend, Amber. Very similar, actually.

 

Rule 1: By purpose (letter writing pen has Pelikan blue)

Rule 2: By brand (Lamy in Lamy, Platinum in Platinum)

Rule 3: Pen colour (Purple Plaisir has J Herbin purple)

Rule 4: By nationality compatibility. I would never, ever, put J Herbin in my Lamy. I would, however, put Lamy ink in my Platinum.

 

The only exception to this is my Parker. I just don't care for that pen (sorry Parker), so it gets filled with whatever I feel like. As the result, it's had everything from Noodler's to Pelikan. I think that pen is my lab rat.

[Paddler]

I match the ink to the nib and the nib to the paper.

 

Examples:

I have a Levenger Stanley Desk Journal. I use it for my commonplace book. The paper is "fountain pen friendly" (meaning it does not feather or bleed), but it writes a fat line. The paper is also narrow ruled. To write in the book, I choose an XF nib that writes a dry line. A dry nib needs a thin ink. So to write in the book, I use a tweaked and smoothed Spencerian "Countinghouse" No.2 nib and Noodler's Upper Ganges Blue ink.

 

My "Notabilia" journals are FP friendly too, but they don't write a fat line and are wider ruled. These get either a smoothed Spencerian "Service" No. 49 nib and a thicker Pelikan Fount India ink, or a Platignum medium italic nib and Noodler's Legal Lapis.