Inky T O D - Ink Colors At Work?

[WirsPlm]

I use any color I want, partially because I can (no one else really needs to use what I write, we use electronic documents for team stuff) and partially as a way to avoid people asking me for my notes (happened more than once and it's quite annoying, because I'm not their scribe), people see me taking notes in bright colors and kind of veer off.

[indigoskye]

I'm an artist and writer, so I can pick and choose whatever ink colors I wish for work.

 

Black is for general notes, outlines, brainstorming. Currently I am using Stipula Ebony Black, but I also use Iroshizuku Take-sumi, Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black or PR Black Velvet.

Blue is for my bullet journal. Currently I am using Noodler's 54th Mass, but I alternate with Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo.

Red, purple, green, turquoise is for editing and reviewing. Currently I have inked: Diamine Oxblood, J. Herbin Violette Pensee, Pelikan 4001 Turquoise, Sailor's Epinard

[FountainPenCowgirl]

I use every color of the rainbow and enjoy every minute. It's why I'm in fountain pens, actually. I work in a creative role at a university. Even signatures are fine, as long as it's dark enough to be seen or scanned.

 

Particularly fun and appropriate in that setting: having several great options in our school color(s). Browns rule!

Edited June 14, 2014 by FountainPenCowgirl

[cybaea]

There are other inks for work than Registrar's ink!?

 

I try to avoid bright greens and bright reds as they have cultural meanings that can make my writing mis-understood.

I try to avoid black as it blends in with forms etc.

 

Things I like in work inks:

• Waterproof - not everyone is as careful with drinks as I am
• Shading and sheen - an analogue touch in a mostly digital workspace
• Colours that do not scan accurately (e.g. Noodler's fluorescent inks) - rebellion against the digital tyranny!
• Colours that stand out from forms - so no black and no cyan (corporate colour is process cyan)
• Inks that work on nasty paper - lowest bidder printer paper
• Inks that don't smear easily.

But in reality I use almost anything. I had Diamine Majestic Blue last week: it smears, isn't waterproof, and scans ok.

[visvamitra]

Well - I don't really care about business etiquette so I use whatever color I like. Today I have three pens filled with: Autumn Oak, Lie de The and Yama-Budo. I like all these colors and use them in everyday business situations. If someone has problem with me writing in orange its his problem not mine

[gmax]

Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris is my default blue-black-teal. Yesterday I used Montblanc Lavender Purple, but that was in a Smythson notebook, so not too vivid - lovely in fact

[byggyns]

In my office, we don't really hand write or sign anything, so anything I write is normally for my own notes. I'll use anything that I can read easilly. I don't use excessively bright colors or my Turquoise, but other than that, anything. One of my favorites is PR Tanzanite, followed by Noodler's Navy. I've also used various other blues, browns, purples, burgundies, but I keep red & green around primarily to edit printed docs. I can't seem to proofread and annotate digitally.

 

I keep a sample vial of Noodler's black in my desk for any emergency refills- it will mix with pretty much all of the rest of my inks. I've only had to use it once so far.

[Oldane]

Hello. I'm a new member, and this is my first post here. I have used fountain pens since my school days - that is for more than 50 years. I have quite a lot of pens, but the one I use for day to day work is Pelikan M800 in various incarnations. At present it's a clear demonstrator which is inked up.

 

As a physician, I need permanency when writing prescriptions, patient files etc. I depended on Montblanc BB for many years, but it is now discontinued, so I have been looking for alternatives. I bought a bottle of Montblanc Midnight Blue with iron-gall, but that has now been replaced with a non iron-gall formulation. I have ended up with Registrars Ink (Diamine or ESS - both based on the same official UK specs for ink for official documents) and Rohrer & Klingner Salix.

 

Montblanc Midnight blue (iron-gall version) may have the lowest iron-gall content of them all. After soaking and or prolonges exposure to light, there was only a faint light gray line left.

 

The Registrars formulations have a high iron-gall content and they are somewhat ideosyncratic and don't flow well in all pens - though they flow satisfactory in my Pelikans. They are also very little lubricating.

 

Salix has a lower iron-gall content and "behaves" better in most of my pens. It lubricates better than Registrars. It's not quite so demanding with regard to pen cleaning as Registrars ink.

 

Both the Registrars and Salix are waterproof and light resistant - that is, the blue anilin dye componet washes away and/or fades when exposed to light for a long time, while the gray or black iron-gall component stays for ever. Registars leaves an almost black line. Salix leaves a more mid gray line (because of the lower iron-gall content).

 

I have tried various US made "bulletproof" inks, but the colors are not to my taste. I guess I'm very conservative in that respect. The iron-gall inks mentioned above has colors I find suitable for formal use. They are not without their quirks, but those quirks are very well known and predicable and can be handled.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Oldane

[amberleadavis]

Welcome, Oldane! Thank you for that information.

[Aurko]

I'm a private tutor, so I personally end up carrying two pens. One that is inked with Old Manhattan Black (Noodler's), Blue-Black (Sheaffer, R&K Salix), Brown (Sailor Doyou), or, only recently, a dark grey (Montblanc Permanent Grey), and mostly for explaining things and showing work, writing down instructions and homework, etc. and another pen that is inked with red (Sheaffer), turquoise (Sheaffer) or Green (iroshizuku Shin Ryoku), for things that need a little bit more energy, like edits, corrections, etc.

 

Permanence is a much bigger issue with assignments and long term things, so all the inks I choose in the first pen are either water resistant or water proof. Sheaffer Blue-black fares the worst of all these inks, but actually surprised me. I would have expected it to fare worse. I really like the colour though. I would have to say I use the Sailor Doyou the most.

 

For markups and corrections, permanence doesn't matter as much to me.

 

Edit to add why I need permanence, and also to add Salix, which I use a good deal too.

Edited September 11, 2014 by Aurko

[Icywolfe]

I would say that Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue is retina searing also.

[phoenixfeder]

I use almost every color at work, with the exception of yellow and other very light inks. I did try Abraxas Grüne Wiese (light green with lots of shading) last week and got told by my collegue that it doesn't show up on photocopy.

For official documents I have to use blue, blue-black or black, but for all other notes I use whatever color I fancy. Even some eye searing ones for notes that need to stand out. The more urgent the matter the more eye searing the note.

[cybaea]

Hello. I'm a new member, and this is my first post here.

 

Velkommen til FPN, oldane! Dejligt at have flere danskere her.

And thank you for the informative post. I like Diamine Registrar's ink too - works well on many papers.

[Christi0469]

We use blue ink for contract signing (it makes it very easy to tell the black and white copies from the originals) so I am in the habit of using blue ink pretty much everything work related. My preference is for dark blue inks with blue blacks and purplish blues sneaking in from time to time. i do use other colors for informal notes, doodling and personal miscellany done while at the office.

[Elyptic]

I mainly use whatever color I fancy for my personal notes, so long as it's dark. Bright colors just don't feel right in the office environment I work in.

 

However, I do have specific inks I use for specific things. For example, Bad Belted Kingfisher for signing documents -- need it to be bulletproof and want to be able to tell original signature from copy.

[Sholom]

Two separate categories of office ink: notetaking/signatures vs. lab notebook.

For the lab notebook (reasonably water & UV-resistant:

Noodler's Walnut

Noodler's BBK

Noodler's Air Corps Blue-Black

Noodler's/Swisher Aquamarine (discontinued)

Noodler's/Swisher Tahitian Pearl (discontinued)

 

for other office use, all the above plus:

Noodler's Ottoman Azure

Private Reserve DCSS

Noodler's Eel Blue

FPN Van Gogh Starry Night

R&K Verdigris

Diamine Teal

Noodler's Green Marine

R&K Alt-GoldGrun

PR Avacado [sic]

R&K Sepia

Diamine Raw Sienna

homemade golden brown (darker than Noodler's or Diamine; recipe to be revealed in the not too distant future)

Noodler's Nightshade

(no blacks at the moment)

[william2001]

I mostly use black because I think it's "formal".

And plus, some of my teachers/director make me use black.

-William S. Park

[RMH]

A color other than black or blue would be inapprpriate at my work. Given the (bleep) paper, Xfeather does the best job, but what a bore, so I also use Quink & Waterman Mysterious Blue. Am considering a black with a tinge of green- something like Noodlers Zhivago...

[Coop]

Blue, blue-black and black. A bit on the boring side, but I have to fill out official government documents from time to time and had a few rejected because the ink color was not as specified... Even one that was done in J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir, they said I wasn't allowed to use purple ink :/

[zuph]

I work as a design engineer, and have to mark up drawing all the time, so by company convention, I carry around a minimum of: One dark color that can pass as black, one blue-ish or purple-ish color, and one red color. If I happen to have more pens inked up (I dislike having more than 3 pens inked at a time), then I'll use whatever for my own notes.