Levenger Ink Question

[scribbler77]

I have all their inks and have bought all over the years at a discount. With the discount of 20% or more they are among the cheaper inks. The bottle and packaging (important for safe shipping) are superb.

[mm1624124]

 

You mean that you have attempted to post mediocre ratings on their website but they never were actually posted? That is troubling.

 

Yep, that is what I mean. Made several attempts; I don't think 3-star comments are welcomed. I've ordered various items over the years; so, I have registered on their site both for reviews and for ordering. Neither have worked. I get a message that the comments will be reviewed but they are never posted. I finally have left comments under other reviewers' posts. Shame really as it has to do with performance of their paper products with fountain pen ink. Bottom line is Levenger paper products are not manufactured for fountain pen inks. Too bad because I am in love with Circa and with Ledgerdomain. Gave the journal away and will probably have weanie roast this year with all of the circa paper products I bought in good faith, but can't stomach to use it anymore. I want a 5-year journal in the worst way!!! but won't spring for it.

Edited January 19, 2014 by mm1624124

[Sailor Kenshin]

Yep, that is what I mean. Made several attempts; I don't think 3-star comments are welcomed. I've ordered various items over the years; so, I have registered on their site both for reviews and for ordering. Neither have worked. I get a message that the comments will be reviewed but they are never posted. I finally have left comments under other reviewers' posts. Shame really as it has to do with performance of their paper products with fountain pen ink. Bottom line is Levenger paper products are not manufactured for fountain pen inks. Too bad because I am in love with Circa and with Ledgerdomain. Gave the journal away and will probably have weanie roast this year with all of the circa paper products I bought in good faith, but can't stomach to use it anymore. I want a 5-year journal in the worst way!!! but won't spring for it.

I'll take 'em off your hands.

 

If you really MUST leave a bad review of Levenger products, Amazon sells them. They post all reviews.

[msolok]

Thanks all. Next sale they have on inks I will grab a few.

[mm1624124]

I'll take 'em off your hands.

 

If you really MUST leave a bad review of Levenger products, Amazon sells them. They post all reviews.

 

 

For the Circa, I'll see what I have left. I've been using most of it for on-the-fly notes for meetings and daily work that I toss once its usefulness has ended or has been transcribed into more formal documents. Most of it was special ordered for odd-sized Circa notebooks no longer available.

 

For the reviews, the point was communicating how much I loved the concepts, the general constructs of the products, but as a fountain pen seller with their own brand, they should seriously consider offering under their paper brand, paper that also works well with their fountain pens. Also, the problem was that I had spent quite a bit of time researching their site for information about how well the paper products worked with fountain pens and could only find comments that were several years old under very few items. That is a tad strange for a fp seller, no? No matter, the notebooks ended up in the hands of happy recipients.

 

Lately I've been frustrated to see Levenger recommend Circa to a reviewer/fp user that left a mediocre comment about one of its notebooks--Circa is no better. I don't consider the recommendation disingenuous, but it does suggest Levenger and its customer service aren't fountain pen users and just ignorant of their products.

[FLJeepGuy]

I've been an on again/off again customer of Levenger for close to twenty years. Throughout most of their early years, extending into the 1990s, they were a very fountain pen focused company, carrying full lines of pens from most of the big companies. Somewhere along the line, they started to shift their focus. They introduced the True Writer line of pens and their inks around the same time. Since that time, their fountain pen specific offerings became minimalized, and their paper products shifted to a cheaper and less fountain pen friendly stock. These days, I hardly ever order anything from them.

 

Even so, I've used their inks since they were introduced. Their color and performance has remained consistent throughout this time and Levenger inks (except for the red) in my experience are some of the lowest maintenance inks I've used. They perform well in almost any pen, are fairly saturated, but are extremely easy to clean out when switching inks. Their bottles are some of the best in the industry and I save all of my empties for decanting other manufacturer's inks into. The bottles are 50ml (minus a bit for the plastic insert) and are very stable due to their conical design. In addition, I believe that their bottle provided the original design for TWSBI's bottles as they are nearly identical in size and shape including the plastic insert (TWSBI specific filler and faceted bottle being notable differences).

 

The Cobalt Blue and Raven Black are staples in my ink inventory and it's rare that I don't have at least one pen filled with them. They are slightly higher than average price-wise, but when you include the wonderful, reusable bottle, they're pricing is really not out of line. Considering TWSBI gets double the price for a nearly identical but empty bottle, $12 per bottle including a really nice ink isn't a bad deal.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Levenger Raven turned a cranky, scratchy, stingy pen of mine into a great writer. Love the inks, but just don't mention the latest batch of carts.

[Bill]

Levenger Empyrean has remained in the rotation as my go-to "business blue" for exactly four years now (calculated from an old post). It is well-behaved and is a classy, professional color.

 

Sometimes I will spontaneously buy a different color when visiting the local Levenger store but none are keepers like the Empyrean.

[Jackson]

I've been an on again/off again customer of Levenger for close to twenty years. Throughout most of their early years, extending into the 1990s, they were a very fountain pen focused company, carrying full lines of pens from most of the big companies. Somewhere along the line, they started to shift their focus. They introduced the True Writer line of pens and their inks around the same time. Since that time, their fountain pen specific offerings became minimalized, and their paper products shifted to a cheaper and less fountain pen friendly stock. These days, I hardly ever order anything from them.

 

Even so, I've used their inks since they were introduced. Their color and performance has remained consistent throughout this time and Levenger inks (except for the red) in my experience are some of the lowest maintenance inks I've used. They perform well in almost any pen, are fairly saturated, but are extremely easy to clean out when switching inks. Their bottles are some of the best in the industry and I save all of my empties for decanting other manufacturer's inks into. The bottles are 50ml (minus a bit for the plastic insert) and are very stable due to their conical design. In addition, I believe that their bottle provided the original design for TWSBI's bottles as they are nearly identical in size and shape including the plastic insert (TWSBI specific filler and faceted bottle being notable differences).

 

The Cobalt Blue and Raven Black are staples in my ink inventory and it's rare that I don't have at least one pen filled with them. They are slightly higher than average price-wise, but when you include the wonderful, reusable bottle, they're pricing is really not out of line. Considering TWSBI gets double the price for a nearly identical but empty bottle, $12 per bottle including a really nice ink isn't a bad deal.

Your first paragraph mirrors my experience exactly. Even their 3x5 cards took a nose-dive in quality, as did the leather of the pocket briefcase designed to hold them. The nail in Levenger's coffin, for me, came last week when their 'legendary' customer service proved repeatedly remiss and unreliable. 20 + years and countless purchases is a lot to turn away from...but turn I have.

[Sailor Kenshin]

The bottle is 50 ml.

.

 

If it holds up in my next fade experiments, I will be buying Skies of Blue. I liked the color and the flow. It is also one of the colors in my QIV mix. Check out the reviews for some ideas.

 

Anyway, here is Skies of Blue:

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Inklings/slides/2013-Ink_655.jpg

 

 

 

 

I may need this ink. Is there any hint of purple in it? I want a clear, true blue, less purple than Waterman Florida blue, Skrip blue or JH Eclat de Saphir.

[amberleadavis]

I may need this ink. Is there any hint of purple in it? I want a clear, true blue, less purple than Waterman Florida blue, Skrip blue or JH Eclat de Saphir.

 

I think you'd like it.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Ink_Companies/Levenger/slides/Levenger_Skies-of-Blue.jpg

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks.

 

Ooooo....this...Empyrean (I know, totally different, but it's been on my wish list a while)....which first?

[amberleadavis]

Skies of Blue. I bought Empyrean because I thought Skies would be too light, but Skies is prettier and I wish I'd bought it instead.