Brown Ink

[DrCodfish]

Brown for me is a staple, perhaps as much as blue is for most other folks. It's 'normal' fo rme and I think once you start using it you get thee pretty easily. Letters, journaling, etc, I don't hand write business letters so ink color does not factor in there. Perhaps my favorite is Diamine Chocolate.

[mirosc]

I seldom care about matching ink color and occasion. Usually the combination of ink and pen is fixed and I rather choose the pen to write with and not so much the ink. So I just take whatever ink that pen provides me.

[TomJKT]

I use brown tsukushi, though only for personal not for business purposes. Will still have to try it on ivory/creamy paper as many suggest here. Also I would avoid a brown which looks like p**p (don't call me an expert in this ).

[papabear16]

I use browns when the mood strikes. I like browns. I don't use ink for corresponding at work so what others think doesn't matter.

 

Browns tend to feel more antique than blues and certainly blacks. So they are more fun, for me.

 

 

I like them as they (to me) impart an "old manuscript" look. I like FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown, Diamine Chocolate, and Akkerman Bekakt Haags

 

This sounds a lot like my take.

[andymcc]

I love using brown ink for sketching I think because it reminds me of the old masters...even if my drawing skills don't

 

I couldn't find one that I really liked so now I mix my own, I use diamine quartz black and raw sienna to make a warm grey/brown and then I can tweak it with other colours like rustic brown to make it more red etc

[arcadeflow]

I like brown, I have the slovenian brown Sheaffer Skrip. It has some kind of reddish and old copper hues, when dilluted it is reddish. It is not on the tobacco/chocolate/horse saddle side. I wanted the red one but the brown was on sale. I was looking for something that would look like some ancient medieval script, even though I have no idea if they used reddish tones. I believe brown tones are easy to use, like black and blue.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I write in six colors, and tend to use, reuse, abuse, and misuse my scratch paper to the point where I may need all six to make my latest notation stand out. And to color-code the lines when I have to do a nesting analysis of a program source listing. And to second at least one prior comment, brown does look good on cream-colored paper.

 

And Jeffery, don't encourage Nathan; he's already incorrigible.

Edited June 13, 2013 by hbquikcomjamesl

[joly1]

you should try wallnut ink made to tint wood,you can buy a liter for cheap,I have been using it for years in all my pens: Noodler,Pelikan,osmiroid to draw,it never damaged any pen,if it cloggs, it is still water soluble and a quick flush will clean the feeder and nib.

[Monophoto]

I've used brown ink routinely for more than 20 years. I started with a bottle of MB (a plastic bottle, not the modern shoe-shaped glass bottle) that I found on clearance at a stationery shop. I also used Cross brown in cartridges (no longer made). And I had a bottle of PR Chocolate (very rich) and am currently using some Noodler's Beaver.

 

For years, I mixed my own by combining equal quantities of MB Black and MB Burgundy.

 

There is a lot of debate about the social implications of using colors other than black, blue-black, or blue. My opinion is that most of that debate exists either because a few people are prejudiced to believe that there is some mystical significance to the very narrow selection of colors that the major manufacturers of ball point pens offer, or because people want to find something (anything) to argue about. But even if we do believe some of the chatter about color, the fact is that brown is sufficiently somber and serious to be used for business applications, and it is distinctive enough that it is possible to clearly differentiate original signatures from photocopies.

[dorothynotgale]

I use brown for a few reasons.

 

One is practical, and relates to why I use any color habitually: I color-code, and so last semester, for example, my Creative Essays class was brown. Diamine Ochre ink in brown notebook and on pass-around workshop copies meant if anything got loose, I could easily stick it back in the appropriate (brown) folder.

 

Now, as to why I chose it for that particular class, and why I own/use it at all - that's a whole different question, one with many answers:

 

1) I feel it looks pretty and antique, especially on cream paper. When I type a formal letter or send out a resume printed on cream, brown is my color of choice for the signature.

 

2) The "old manuscript" thing others have mentioned above.

 

3) It is dark enough to be legible and formal, but to my gut it feels a little ... less rigid and more creative (?) than black or blue-black.

 

4) It looks cool in my Carniolan Honey Ahab.

 

5) I just like brown. I'm dressed entirely in chocolate tones right now.

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

There is a lot of debate about the social implications of using colors other than black, blue-black, or blue. My opinion is that most of that debate exists either because a few people are prejudiced to believe that there is some mystical significance to the very narrow selection of colors that the major manufacturers of ball point pens offer, or because people want to find something (anything) to argue about. But even if we do believe some of the chatter about color, the fact is that brown is sufficiently somber and serious to be used for business applications, and it is distinctive enough that it is possible to clearly differentiate original signatures from photocopies.

 

I wondered about this when I was in junior high, when gel pens were all the rage and I wanted to write essays in my clearly legible, fuchsia pink pen. I was told absolutely not, the penalty for writing in any colour other than blue or black was death (I'm joking). I am not sure just how much of this is urban myth and how much of it is true, but here is apparently why (this is from my notes from the Writing Etiquettes class in high school, so some of them might be a little... made-up):

 

Red: for showing deficits (same goes with pink). Also used to show corrections. Can make editing rather confusing.

Blue: favoured by some to show which is a copy and which is the actual document. Also, makes photocopying easier.

Black: long-time favourite by notaries, as it was the most fade-proof. This is from the 1600s when Louis XIV was alive and kicking.

Brown: People used blood to err, do some serious oath-writing and such. They dried brown. This was during the Middle Ages and a bit later. So brown implied a seriousness of "break this contract and you're going to have a momentous amount of pain".

Purple: Made from juices of Purpurea. Better go to the Medicis and get a mortgage to afford it. Also, Romans used them to sign official edicts, so it might have had "legally binding" undertones.

Yellow: Quite often used saffron, which is STILL more expensive than gold. Might be cheaper to load your pen with gold and write with it.

Green: Auditors only. This was in England before computers came around.

 

To this day, I have never used brown ink, as I always remember the "break this oath and I'll give you serious pain" part. I know this was long time ago and it might not even be true, but I'd rather not have to pay in blood for forgetting to buy butter. That's a bloody expensive butter indeed. Pun intended.

[queenofpens]

The only brown ink I use (not counting ink drop samples) is PR Copper Burst because it looks very nice in the light pearlescent blue of the Cross Python.

 

With that said, it is a good ink for working puzzles on cheap puzzle book paper where it shows up well, and as a different color for times when I need to switch during my note-taking to make clear to myself which items are related and which are not.

 

I don't mind using it for other business or personal uses if that pen is handy. But I don't write by hand that much any more except for notes to myself, brainstorming mind maps, and puzzles - and even the puzzles are just an excuse to use my pens, these days I can work the same puzzles on a geek gadget instead.

[queenofpens]

Sometimes you need to doodle trees....hence, you may need brown ink.

 

I agree with this one, too, in fact I need a lot of colors for my doodles - I guess I had that lumped into the general topic of brainstorming and mind maps, genuine creativity sometimes takes some strange paths in the process.

[Avetikus]

Intercepted dispatch from headquarters:

 

The War goes well, sir. Our troops have received an added morale boost when we discovered an overran position. Not only did their commander open his eggs on the small end, he was using reddish-brown ink! As any right-thinking soul knows, only sepia inks are allowed by custom, tradition and morals.

 

Hollandaise and sepia forever!

 

Cpt. Lilliput

 

 

(For myself, Yama-guri completed my sepia-quest and Tsukushi gets daily use in my DayRunner. Ina-Ho is a bit single-purpose, but my asa-gao and tsuki-yo purchases should singlehandedly keep Pilot solvent for years.

[Northwoods]

Who needs an occasion? Ancient Copper is my standard everyday ink.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Who needs an occasion? Ancient Copper is my standard everyday ink.

 

Well, apparently, people from the Middle Ages did. The kind that demands repayment in blood in worst case scenarios.

 

This puts an entirely new spin on Merchant of Venice.

[mjarman]

I use brown in letters;as others have pointed out it can give an antique look. Good combinations of ink and paper (to my eye) are Diamine Chocolate Brown or Herbin Lie de The on Paperchase Parchment or Chocolate or Rustic Brown on Paperchase #18 cream

[mirosc]

 

Brown: People used blood to err, do some serious oath-writing and such. They dried brown. This was during the Middle Ages and a bit later. So brown implied a seriousness of "break this contract and you're going to have a momentous amount of pain".

 

I don't know where this information comes from, but it's not true. Blood was not used in the Middle Ages for setting up contracts, oath-writing and such stuff. You might see such a fancy habit in some movies or read it in novels - but that's an idea from the 19th century "romanticism" (like the many other things they made up about the middle ages - we still believe it today, but it's actually very wrong). If you go into archives and look at the medieval manuscripts you don't find anything written with blood.

 

What you can find are rubricated texts where important parts are writting in reddish/brownish ink to highlight certain parts. Thus it can occur that death sentences were sometimes written in red. But even so not everywhere and everytime. This conventional red ink was cheap to make and the ingredients readily available. There was simply no blood involved.

Edited June 14, 2013 by mirosc

[papabear16]

Intercepted dispatch from headquarters:

 

The War goes well, sir. Our troops have received an added morale boost when we discovered an overran position. Not only did their commander open his eggs on the small end, he was using reddish-brown ink! As any right-thinking soul knows, only sepia inks are allowed by custom, tradition and morals.

 

Hollandaise and sepia forever!

 

Cpt. Lilliput

 

 

(For myself, Yama-guri completed my sepia-quest and Tsukushi gets daily use in my DayRunner. Ina-Ho is a bit single-purpose, but my asa-gao and tsuki-yo purchases should singlehandedly keep Pilot solvent for years.

 

I'd like to find a nice sepia. I will look into this.

 

Who needs an occasion? Ancient Copper is my standard everyday ink.

 

Preach! Currently, I don't have Ancient Copper in any of my pens, and it makes me sad. I'll remedy that this weekend. I use it primarily for my notes at work, since I enjoy the color so much.

 

 

Well, apparently, people from the Middle Ages did. The kind that demands repayment in blood in worst case scenarios.

 

This puts an entirely new spin on Merchant of Venice.

 

Bah. I've read Bernard Cornwell. Everything back then seems to have required payment in blood!

[Lisya72]

I used to feel the same way about brown - it either looked like mud, or something you find in a baby's diaper. Then I started getting letters from a pen pal written with brown ink, and changed my mind when I saw how a shading brown ink looks on blue airmail paper. As others have said, on cream or ivory paper, it's even more... renaissance-looking. I use Diamine Macassar for just about everything - business & personal correspondence, journaling, signing legal paperwork, taking notes. It's not black or blue, and it's understated enough to not raise any eyebrows at the office.

 

I used to hate every shade of orange, then I put Apache Sunset in an Ahab. As a general rule, I still don't like orange, but it's all in the ink-pen-paper combination.

 

It's interesting that people mention the use of blue for originals - that used to be the case at my office, but not any more. We used to have to sign in blue ink so that auditors could tell that we didn't use a photocopier or carbon paper to forge a signature. Now all our offices have color copier/fax/scanner/printers so there's not much point in requiring any particular color of ink in signatures.