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Levenger Inks? General Impressions?


tmenyc

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A colleague, it turns out, has five or six flavors of Levenger inks here at work, and I admitted to having never had any contact with Levenger. And, he said even though one shouldn't start a sentence with And, one rarely sees any comments here about them. So I'll ask -- what are they like, are there any characteristics that seem to apply across the line, who makes them, are any really wet or really dry, are any really problematic?

 

Thanks!

 

Tim

Tim

 timsvintagepens.com and @timsvintagepens

 

 

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Tim, the only one I have experience with is Cobalt Blue. It is a lovely, vibrant color, but it's very slow to dry, and will smear on the page long after other inks would. A small price to pay, in my opinion. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

 

Lisa in Raleigh, NC

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I didn't like the color of Cocoa.

 

Cardinal Red developed SITB after 7 or 8 years.

 

Smokey is one of my favorite colors. It was discontinued. The hunt for its replacement goes on.

 

Gemstone Green was replaced by Private Reserve DC Supershow Green. I liked the latter better.

 

Raven Black cartridges are OK but in bottled ink I prefer Private Reserve Velvet Black.

 

Blue Bahama is my favorite color and therefore my favorite blue.

 

I never tried it but they stopped making Pinkly.

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Levenger bottles are about the sharpest looking I have seen, IMHO. Cobalt blue is a beautiful color, but the ink bleeds through something fierce, making it tough to write on both sides of a page.

Adam

Dayton, OH

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

-- Prov 25:2
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I have used both Raven Black and Cobalt Blue. Finished the Cobalt Blue long before the Raven Black. I finished it off this spring. It is a Semi Permanent (Levenger's words) ink. I spilled some on some Made in Brazil comp paper - strong bit of red in it that showed on the bleed through. There are full reviews on both Raven Black & Cobalt Blue (and others) in the ink review forum.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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Thanks,everyone...much appreciated! Does anyone have any idea who manufactures it?

 

Tim

Tim

 timsvintagepens.com and @timsvintagepens

 

 

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I received a 6-pack of Levenger ink as a gift, a couple of years ago. I would say the inks are good general purpose inks. People have trouble with Cobalt Blue because it is too saturated for their paper. Adding water will solve the problem. Cocoa is very saturated and will deposit glop in feed fins, over time. The the glop dissolves immediately in fresh water. The inks I received are not water resistant and not very light fast. Currently, I keep Gemstone Green in a desk pen and use it for writing drafts. When the bottle is down to about half full, I fill it with water. I have done this four times without noticeably degrading the color. I keep Raven Black in a Sheaffer NoNonsense pen with an F Italic nib. I use this pen to write music notation. Again, I fill the half-depleted bottle with water, as needed. It is still as black as the inside of Hrothembogie's watch pocket.

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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+1 for Cobalt and the lovely bottle. I believe I read an unconfirmed report that Private Reserve makes it for Levenger. Certainly appears very similar to me.

"how do I know what I think until I write it down?"

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Love Cobalt blue, used up a bottle and bought another. They made my favorite gray but it was discontiued. They also have a great bottle design with the plastic cone in the top that helps you get more of the ink in your pen.

PAKMAN

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I like Cocoa. It's a pretty reddish brown. I've found it to be well behaved in all of the pens I've used it in. And I agree, the bottles are great.

Learning from the past does not mean living in the past.

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thanks, all -- very helpful. The saturation is a common thread among all of your comments, so I certainly wouldn't be surprised if PR is the manufacturer.

 

Tim

Tim

 timsvintagepens.com and @timsvintagepens

 

 

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I've done some mini reviews of the Levenger inks, Colrehogan supplied samples for the 2012 Summer Fade Experiment. The inks are very saturated. They are made in the US. The bottles are IMO a good design.

 

Cardinal is one of my favorite true reds. Cobalt and I are having a small disagreement at this time, but I do love how vibrant it is and it does not disappear in my experiments.

 

I buy these inks and would recommend them to others. If I lived near a Levenger store, I'd probably own a lot more Levenger stuff because they have great customer service.

 

I'll try and post some images for you.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://sheismylawyer.com/2013-FADE/slides/2013-FADE_019.jpg

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://sheismylawyer.com/2013-FADE/slides/2013-FADE_020.jpg

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://sheismylawyer.com/INK/attachments/2013-07-07_Davis_013.jpg

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://sheismylawyer.com/INK/attachments/2013-07-07_Davis_600-012.jpg

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://sheismylawyer.com/INK/attachments/121_small.jpg

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://sheismylawyer.com/INK/attachments/118_small.jpg

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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