Which Inks Have Disappointed You?

[Bigeddie]

Diamine Majestic Blue, it just smears everywhere after days of 'drying'.

 

No other complaints with the rest of the Diamine line that I have tried... I'll even stick up for Salamander!

[SujiCorp12345]

I was not at all impressed by Iroshizuku Momiji. Maybe I'm just not a red kinda guy.

[SeeksAdvice]

Sailor Jentle Blue disappointed me right off the bat. It wasn't saturated enough or blue enough to suit me and it quickly moved to the back of the shelf. A year later I tried it again, just for the hell of it, and I did an about-face. Since then I've used more Sailor Jentle Blue than any other ink. Last year I felt blindsided by Sailor Sei Boku. The separated, disordered collection of reviews for this ink (the last time I looked they were still in disarray) caused me to miss the few reviews that showed Sei Boku to be teal. I hate teal. I paid $32 for bleeping teal. I started using it with a dip pen and got a better color out of it. Several weeks later I deigned to try it again in an FP. Now it's a semi-regular in my rotation. I don't love it yet. It ain't Sailor Jentle Blue. But it's growing on me.

 

If you don't like your Sei-Boku ... I really like it for waterproofness, etc.

Wouldn't call it teal. Tsuki-Yo is teal. Initially was caught off-guard by the color of it too. Didn't seem as dark as I had initially expected. However, it's really durable, and much better behaved than Noodler's inks. Now, I mostly save it for when I know I'm going to have to do precision writing in "blue" on garbage paper along with my MBMB, DRI, and Salix. If it weren't for the cost, and the fact that Iroshizuku's are easier clean-ups, Sei-Boku would probably be in my rotation more. I like it better than Kiwa-Guro, and I like that stuff quite a bit (just clean-up is a challenge at times).

[Beckwith]

Iroshizuku Ajisai (Hyrdanga)... Not as saturated as I was thinking it would be, and also not quite as dark. Probably just my fault for not looking carefully enough at the sample card. No complaints about the properties unrelated to its color though.

[paulmcmanus]

Really interesting topic, this one, especially seeing how different one's experience of an ink can be. Unlike some of the contributors I found Noodler's Liberty's Elysium to be a very satisfying and perfectly behaved blue, and the Iroshizuku Asa-gao is, I think, my all time favourite blue. Diamine's Meadow is a very pleasing green.

I was very, very disappointed with Caran d' Ache Idyllic Blue. Someone else mentioned the price and I fully agree - for that kind of money I'd be expecting the full 3 Michelin star performance - and it doesn't deliver. I love Diamine's Blaze orange but find their Pumpkin quite awful.

[gmax]

Iroshizuku syo-ro was a washed-out disappointment to me, especially as ku-jaku is one of my favourites, and yama guri is also very nice.

 

Diamine Eclipse has proven darker and less subtle than I had hoped. It's also quite dry, whereas my other Diamine inks flow well and are a pleasure to use.

 

Rohrer & Klingner inks seem very well-behaved, and I have more on the way

[setriode]

I have a bottle of the old version of Pelikan 4001 Konigsblau which is thin, watery and dull. A bottle of old Mont Blanc blue is similar.

[Bookman]

 

If you don't like your Sei-Boku ... I really like it for waterproofness, etc.

Wouldn't call it teal. Tsuki-Yo is teal. Initially was caught off-guard by the color of it too. Didn't seem as dark as I had initially expected. However, it's really durable, and much better behaved than Noodler's inks. Now, I mostly save it for when I know I'm going to have to do precision writing in "blue" on garbage paper along with my MBMB, DRI, and Salix. If it weren't for the cost, and the fact that Iroshizuku's are easier clean-ups, Sei-Boku would probably be in my rotation more. I like it better than Kiwa-Guro, and I like that stuff quite a bit (just clean-up is a challenge at times).

 

When Sei Boku comes out of my FPs it is teal, no question about it. I just looked at the teal "swatch" Mrs. Bookman had the audacity to get from our carpet supplier. It could've been Sei Boku's father. But I use the ink anyway. I journal frequently with a dip pen, and it's my go-to ink for that. It's so dark the tealishness disappears. It has even been a semi-regular in my red Singularity, usually fitted with a .6 stub and usually kept as an eyedropper.

[Algester]

In general I've found that inks whose online writing samples used as reference for purchase were written with wide (M+), high flow nibs tend to behave quite differently after purchase when used with finer nibs, or nibs with lesser flow.

 

This is especially true for J Herbin because their inks aren't as saturated as others. Some other inks may not shade because the nib's width and flow are insufficient to bring out shading properties.

 

So, it's not the ink that's disappointing, it's just a mismatch of expectations, unless there are some obvious quality issues.

what I learned J Herbin inks are not for the driest of writers THEY WILL LOOK TOO bland heck I only got to like Ambre di Birmanie after doing a flex writting session with it Terre de Feu looks awesome on my Faber-Castell Ambition in Coconut but thats a very wet pen in Medium my Lamy pens don't like J. Herbin inks though...

[Tanzanite]

Private Reserve Blue Suede, DC Supershow Blue and American Blue because they never dry completely on paper and make the pens need more cleaning.

Rohrer & Klingner Blau-Schwarz (blue black) because it is not blue black but green black. I could just as well use the Verdigris that cost one third of what the Blue Black cost. I expected it to be a true blue black.

[Tom Traubert]

Diamine Kelly Green - love the colour but it only works in my wettest stubs.

 

Parker Quink washable blue - never mind washable, how about pre washed!

 

Pilot black - grey

Edited June 7, 2014 by Tom Traubert

[Mishka5050]

J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe - too watery, not legible, not good for highlighting either...not sure what to do with it tbh

[stephanos]

I tend to like broader nibs and wetter writers, though I also use more sober fine nibs for work. Four inks that I particularly don't like:

 

Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline - wishy-washy, certainly not the vibrancy I had expected, and far too light on the paper. I don't expect to use this again.

 

Diamine Golden Brown - not "golden", more like khaki, could more properly be called shades-of-used-nappy/diaper. This was probably the greatest disappointment, because Diamine makes some of my favourite inks (including Sargasso Sea, which I like very much). Ditto on likelihood of using again.

 

Mont Blanc Midnight Blue - I had expected a really nice blue-black, but got a dark grey with some faint blue elements. I much prefer Pelikan 4001 blue-black. But at least it's a sober enough colour that I can use it at work.

 

De Atramentis Lachs (Salmon) - insipid colour, very light. And very expensive for a 35ml bottle. It's otherwise well-behaved, but I don't expect to use it again.

 

 

Someone suggested a "disappointment swap". That's actually quite a good idea. I could quite happily part with my De Atramentis (35ml), Diamine (30ml) and Edelstein (50ml) bottles (though I'll hold onto the Mont Blanc for the bottle, unless someone wants to trade for MB Toffee Brown).

There are some colours that others don't like that I know I do (Sargasso Sea, Lie de Thé, Lierre Sauvage), and others that I'd be happy to try out, either because I've never tried anything by the maker - e.g., Iroshizuku or Private Reserve - or because I like other inks in the range - J.Herbin and R&K come to mind.

[vicki92]

Diamine Hope Pink. Beautiful Colour, but mine became filled with sediment, a perpetual froth and some pretty bad SITB. I guess I'm thankful that I only spend £2 on that bottle. That is the only ink I have ever had that problem with.

 

Colour wise, Parker Quink Black as it is not so black. I try to think of it more as graphite and like it better now. It's no Aurora Black.

[WaskiSquirrel]

J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe - too watery, not legible, not good for highlighting either...not sure what to do with it tbh

 

I agree. I like the color, just wish it was less watery. I'm glad I only bought a 2 mL sample.

 

I'm going to define "disappointment" as being that I expected a lot and the ink failed to deliver.

 

I wish I'd learned to buy samples earlier in my ink career! But, a few other disappointments (not samples) have been:

 

• Noodler's Periwinkle - a horrible ink that clogged any pen; the color was much as expected, but nowhere near as bulletproof as expected
• anything Pelikan Edelstein - pretty bottles, but the inks are such a let down -- though I just got a sample of Adventurine, so we'll see if that one is different; the inks are just so dry and look so watered down.
• De Atramentis Scotch Whisky - I'd used scented samples before, and this was my first scented full bottle. The only time it smelled like Scotch was the first time I opened the bottle. The color was just "meh".

 

The rest I have to say were samples only.

[mhosea]

When Sei Boku comes out of my FPs it is teal, no question about it. I just looked at the teal "swatch" Mrs. Bookman had the audacity to get from our carpet supplier. It could've been Sei Boku's father. But I use the ink anyway. I journal frequently with a dip pen, and it's my go-to ink for that. It's so dark the tealishness disappears. It has even been a semi-regular in my red Singularity, usually fitted with a .6 stub and usually kept as an eyedropper.

Definitely seen the teal in dry pens and when it is diluted. However, here it is in a relatively wet but fine Sheaffer Flat-Top. Bear in mind that this is under the very bright light of the scanner. Here in front of me with my desk lamps only it looks like a perfect little blue-black with no teal, though it's throwing that pinkish sheen in places.

 

20140608

[Bookman]

Definitely seen the teal in dry pens and when it is diluted. However, here it is in a relatively wet but fine Sheaffer Flat-Top. Bear in mind that this is under the very bright light of the scanner. Here in front of me with my desk lamps only it looks like a perfect little blue-black with no teal, though it's throwing that pinkish sheen in places.

 

20140608

 

I don't doubt that other buyers have gotten a better look out of their Sei Boku. They must. And I get what you're saying about wet pens doing a better job of making Sei Boku presentable. That's consistent with my dip-pen experience. FYI, on my monitor your Sei Boku entries, while darker than your Noodler's Navy entry, nevertheless have a strong teal component. And for me, leaning toward purple: good; toward teal or turquoise: bad.

 

(Also FYI, when I got my Sei Boku and was crestfallen at its teality I posted on the subject, beginning with a question about whether I'd gotten the wrong ink by mistake and eventually leading to my discovery of the confusing division of reviews of this ink in the Index of Ink Reviews. Under the heading of "waterproof" I had read the reviews for "Sei boku Nano Carbon [blue-black]" before my purchase because that was the ink in which I was interested. [i know, I know, it isn't a carbon ink. I'm just quoting the Index of Ink Reviews.] Whatever "blue-black" was, it wasn't Sei Boku—it couldn't be—because it had a separate listing, a separate name. And so I didn't look at those reviews. But it turned out those "blue-black" reviews were also Sei Boku reviews. And if I had looked at seanruss' review beforehand, I seriously doubt I would have bought the ink.)

 

Meanwhile, my M215 is pretty wet. Same with my Waterman Phileas and Pilot Knight. I can't use Aurora Black in these pens, they're so wet, I have to use Pelikan 4001 Black, not that there's anything wrong with it. All wet pens. I want everyone to look at that entry up there with Noodler's Navy. On my monitor that's teal. And that's a dead-ringer for what my Sei Boku looks like to my eyeballs from all my pens except my dip-pen nibs. (I'll admit that because I'm hypersensitive to teal I'll probably see more of it than people who like it.) My dip-pen experience proves that I can get a darker color out of that ink. I can even say I'm a satisfied customer with that color. And as I'm not going to make my wet FPs wetter just for the sake of Sei Boku, I'll be satisfied, nay, happy to keep using it with my dip pen.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Bookman

[amberleadavis]

Have I whined yet about QSH? I was so excited about the ink..... then it was cloggy and hard to use. Or Tsvetanya, I really wanted to love it. It has yet to flow in any pen I've tried it in. Why do I mention only Noodler's inks - because over all, I love Noodler's inks. I expect and receive a great quality and great value.

[mhosea]

FYI, on my monitor your Sei Boku entries, while darker than your Noodler's Navy entry, nevertheless have a strong teal component.

There's some, but it's rather weak, not strong. Here's a different view taken with a digital microscope rather than a scanner.

 

 

Even the Navy is far too blue to be called "teal", though "teal-leaning" would be acceptable.

 

Of course there are many factors in color perception, and you know what you like and don't like. Point is, though, that I don't think we're perceiving the same thing in quite the same way.

Edited June 9, 2014 by mhosea

[Bookman]

If I only see the tip of teal's nose coming around a corner, I've seen teal.

 

If we take true blue as a dividing line for discussion purposes, then to my eyes Sei Boku is in roughly the same range on the green side as Aurora Blue and Diamine Imperial Blue are on the purple side. And I suspect that the FPNers who can't stand purple see a lot of purple in Aurora Blue. I, on the other hand, hardly notice it. Sometimes I don't see even a hint of purple unless it's adjacent to writing done with Pilot Blue or new-formula Omas Blue. Sei Boku leans toward green generally and teal—itself leaning toward blue—more specifically. If I loathed blue and loved green I still wouldn't buy teal ink or even teal-ish. The bottom line is that whatever word properly describes the color range of your Sei Boku and Noodler's Navy exemplars, I don't like it, I never have, and I wish I had seen those other reviews before I bought the stuff.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Bookman