Must The Colour Of The Ink Match That Of The Pen?

[Mike_in_HK]

Dear fellow FPNers,

 

Please forgive me if this is an oldie that has been dealt with before, but I am new to FPN.

 

I have seen on various threads both here and elsewhere, a variety of comments in relation to whether or not the colour of the ink that one uses should match the colour of the fountain pen.

 

For me, it seems to detract significantly from the overall experience of using a fp if the two colours are not at least somewhat in harmony, one with the other. Red pen......green ink.....yuk! For me, a direct match is neither desirable, practical nor achievable. But I do believe that a warm coloured pen should be used to deliver a warm colour ink and a cooler colour pen, a cooler colour ink. Gold, silver, black and demonstrator pens appear to me to be immune to this 'rule' and may be used to deliver any colour.

 

What is the general view amongst you all?

 

Mike

[Chthulhu]

No: use whatever ink color you want to in any pen you own, and please don't disparage green inks; there are some very nice ones out there. :-)

[Cerbervs]

I do not have enough pens to go through the spectrum.

[wallylynn]

if you make exemptions for so many, you might as well not have a rule

[Randal6393]

Usually match the two. But, on occasion need to break it. When I want a very wet line to bring out the color in Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses, for examply, I fill up a Levenger True Writer that is Seafoam Green. Wettest pen I own.

 

Enjoy,

[mbrandt]

I have always thought that the color of the ink should only match the mood that I am in that day.

[GabrielleDuVent]

I generally designate a pen to an ink, but that's more of a mixing issue than colour issue. Some of my inks are scented, and believe me when I say that hyacinth and rose does not mix well in the long run. So: one pen, one ink.

 

I do tend to match the colour of the barrel to the colour of the ink, but that's all up to my whimsy. My Lamy Vista has Lamy blue, and my MB has Pelikan blue. Pilot 78G has a red barrel and black ink.

 

I don't really use FPs for the FP experience, though, so I may be an anomaly. I'm looking more for "wow, the ink flows as soon as the nib touches the paper!" experience, not "wow, this feels classical and dignified!" experience. Can't really feel dignified about writing with a Preppy. So I might be the black sheep in here.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

This has come up before, but no harm in that.

 

If this were the rule, I'd have to buy a purple pen for the times I want to use purple ink. Or perhaps, well, what do you think goes with purple? Right now I've got my purple in a vintage celluloid Conway Stewart which is a sort of green based camouflage pattern. Brown ink in a black pen, and black ink in a brown one, well, no real color clash there. But I really don't care. Any color ink in any colored pen. And for remembering which color is in which pen, if I don't have more than perhaps six inked, I won't forget.

 

I'm more concerned with whether the color of the ink I'm using is right for whatever I happen to be writing with it. And since that depends on personal judgments which I can't expect other people to share, it's not worth going into in more detail. It's just that sometimes I'm going along writing in green, for example, and it doesn't look right for the subject matter. So I change to blue, which is good for everything.

Edited September 21, 2013 by ISW_Kaputnik

[bayport714]

Matching ink color to pen color is not a rule. However, it is a hard and fast rule that ink and pen colors must compliment each other.

[ac12]

I match mine, to some degree, to help me remember what color ink is in the pen.

And the more inks of different colors that I use, the more important this becomes.

 

My neutral colors:

- My black desk pens are all inked with blue inks; 2x Cross/Pelikan, 1x Waterman. Until I get over my blue phase and switch back to black.

- My flighters have blue and green inks.

[inkstainedruth]

Nope, not me. Mostly (there's a few exceptions here and there). I'm more concerned with behavior (i.e., putting wetter inks in drier pens, less "problematic" ones in vintage, etc.)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[SharkOnWheels456]

3 out of 5 of the pens I own are black, so this isn't usually an issue.

For my red Esterbrook J, I've only used Black (PR Velvet Black), Blue/Black (Noodler's Ellis Island) and Green (Diamine Sherwood), but that's just because I've used each color for an extensive period of time, not because I've been afraid to switch it up. That being said, I wouldn't put Apache Sunset in this pen. I feel you should be somewhat conscious of what color you put in your pen...

 

For my Burgundy Sheaffer 440, I use Black and Blue, but once again, that is for functionality. It is the finest nib I have (though I did recently discover that my M5 nib on my Snorkelis an amazingly smooth reverse writer that turns in to a F), so I usually like to use it for taking tests since it lays down the smallest line and is the easiest to use on crappy paper.

[N2theBreach]

I don't match colors. I don't have many pens in regular use so, like Gabrielle, it's more of which ink characteristics go with which pen.

 

In fact, sometimes a color mismatch illlicits a comment or two. Typical: (black Lamy Safari with waterman south sea blue, when I let them try it), "Nice pen! Ooo...pretty ink, too!"

[Mike_in_HK]

No: use whatever ink color you want to in any pen you own, and please don't disparage green inks; there are some very nice ones out there. :-)

Mike - I didn't make myself clear. You are absolutely correct. There are, indeed, some wonderful greens out there. It was just the thought of something like JH Lierre Sauvage flowing from a bright red pen. Too much of a clash for me. Others will disagree.

Mike

[Chthulhu]

Mike - I didn't make myself clear. You are absolutely correct. There are, indeed, some wonderful greens out there. It was just the thought of something like JH Lierre Sauvage flowing from a bright red pen. Too much of a clash for me. Others will disagree.

Mike

Actually, you were quite clear, and I misread what you wrote. Sorry for the confusion. :-)

[The Good Captain]

I tend to chop and change but don't have any particular rules as such. The same for ink brands in certain pens and not others; and that's not just to do with any possible harm either.

[murraypaul]

I must admit I recently bought a pen at least in part because it matched the colour of the ink I was using.

I'd been using a black Lamy Studio with Lamy Violet ink, when I happened across a Violet Studio. I couldn't pass it up, so now have to find the best back for an EF Lamy nib

Now I just need Lamy to make a Sherwood Green Studio...

Edited September 21, 2013 by murraypaul

[Sandy1]

I do not have enough pens to go through the spectrum.

 

We can resolve that situation . . .

[alexander_k]

Writing with fountain pens is also an aesthetic choice. In many cases, especially with black and workhorse pens, I'm not too critical about the match. However, I'm usually in search of the right ink for the right pen (that's the official reason why I have so many of both), not only in terms of function but also with respect to colour. For example, I have a nice CS Churchill in Yellow Whirl, a colour I would have never chosen but then I could get this one at a fraction of the listed price and with a broad nib. I enjoy writing with this pen so much that it has led me to expand my inks to Diamine Ochre, a perfect match for my taste. Now I need a pen with a medium nib that matches Ochre too. The search goes on.

 

PS And don't think I don't have enough brown inks at my disposal but these match brown pens: two Falcons, a Parker and a Pilot.

[alexander_k]

 

We can resolve that situation . . .

 

Absolutely! Just buy everything you desire and can afford. That's what you learn here. Only last week I was clearing a couple of boxes in a storage room at home and to my shame I discovered a hoard of pens I had bought a few years ago and totally forgotten - mostly user-grade but including a couple of gems, like a Mercedes that just needs a bit of nib work and a mint Pelikan 140. Now, which ink would suit a black semi-flex pen?