Inky T O D - Color Swatches - Black - Please Post Your Pictures And Tell Us Your Thoughts

[Jan2016]

Birmingham Emerald View Oxidized Brass

 

[senzen]

Perle Noire in european fine, japanese extra fine and my two darkest inks. Just as I was scheming to hack the penmanship's feed to improve hard starts, it starts to behave .

 

[Jan2016]

Birmingham Steel Building Smoked Iron:

When applied generously it comes close to black...

 

[ErrantSmudge]

Lamy Black.

 

This is an underrated black ink; it doesn't show up often in the ever-present "what's the best black" threads here on FPN.

 

It's not the blackest black around -- it's a "soft" black, with purple undertones. But it is a very well-behaved ink, and flows well with good lubrication. What's notable is it also a very fast dry ink, even on Clairefontaine paper. This makes it a good choice for a general note-taking ink, and I think a better choice than Noodler's Bernanke Black -- which is formulated as a fast-dry ink but isn't anywhere near as well behaved (or as dark!) as Lamy Black.

 

I have a bottle of Noodler's Heart of Darkness for when I want "blackest ink EVAR" and also when I need a waterproof ink. But I appreciate the qualities of Lamy Black and also use it in my pens, especially for vintage pens.

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[ErrantSmudge]

Monteverde Onyx. This is a soft black.

 

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

The weather forecasts heavy rain and even thunderstorms for the next three days. Here's hoping we will all come out of it unscathed.

 

Pen used: Wing Sung 601.

Ink used: Diamine Onyx Black.

Paper used: Rhodia pad #18 blank 80g/m.

 

[Torrilin]

Lamy Black is definitely underrated. It’s not very saturated, so in swabs it doesn’t look very black. But it writes very black, and it’s very lefty friendly. And the low saturation means if you hit it with a waterbrush you get soft washes, not a black puddle. And you can keep fine details.

 

I haven’t played with it much in fat nibs, so I’m not sure if it can be talked into shading. That seems to be what pushes the grey button for a lot of people. But it doesn’t seem like pure saturation is the way to eliminate shading in black inks. Otherwise this one wouldn’t read as black ever.

 

I’m not sure there’s any other black with the combination of excellent dry time and art friendly washes. And definitely not for as cheap.

 

The next closest I can think of is Font India, but it’s not as well behaved.

[Torrilin]

 

Some early noodling with a TWSBI eco 1.1 and Platinum Carbon Black. Favorite black ink. And 1.1mm is a really love hate relationship... wide enough for nice line variation, but so brutal and unforgiving if youre trying for crisp calligraphy.

 

 

Great to draw with tho!

[amberleadavis]

http://www.sheismylawyer.com/2017_2_Ink/06-June/slides/2017-06-10_Ink_24.jpg

[Aysun]

Q-swab and a bit of writing using a dipped fine sheaffer nib.

 

Scribal Workshop Raven Black v2

Edited April 24, 2018 by Aysun

[uceroy]

My favorite of these black's

 

is definitely Noodler's Heart of Darkness. It works beautifully in my Rotring isograph, which is now finally seeing some use again

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by uceroy

[amberleadavis]

I love the doodles.

[Ememel]

I already posted in another Black ink ToD that I mistook for this one. This topic however seems to be the more active one with more swatches so I'll repost the same photo here as well.

 

Here's Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi. It's soooooo smooth to write with, don't know if it's the ink itself or the pen&ink combo, since both are new to me and I don't plan to ink other pens I own with black. But at some point I will fill the same pen with Pilot Black and Diamine Onyx Black and then I'll get back to this topic with some thoughts on how the inks compare to each other.

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Eek. My images have disappeared.

 

Here are some black ink chromas, at least.

 

http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/6615/7066/7531/blax_chromas001-640p.jpg

 

As a sucker for complex chromas, I find the MB Black fascinating. Is it even a black at all? Waterman and Quink look quite similar.

[Noihvo]

Eek. My images have disappeared.

 

Here are some black ink chromas, at least.

 

http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/6615/7066/7531/blax_chromas001-640p.jpg

 

As a sucker for complex chromas, I find the MB Black fascinating. Is it even a black at all? Waterman and Quink look quite similar.

 

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Well...my Waterman Black is almost vintage (1990s), while I bought the Quink Black recently. What that might mean is beyond me. ❓

[Noihvo]

Well...my Waterman Black is almost vintage (1990s), while I bought the Quink Black recently. What that might mean is beyond me. ❓

 

[A Smug Dill]

 

Among the three, Hero 234 is the darkest, Platinum Carbon Black is the closest to being waterproof, and Sailor kiwaguro is the one that sheens.

[pgcauk]

One of my students just got back from Japan and, good student, brought me a bottle of ink! It was exquisitely wrapped, of course, and inside was more exquisite packaging containing a bottle of Lennon Tool Bar Heaven, which I'm thinking is in their "Atmospheric" range, but I don't see it available stateside yet. Interesting enough to post on here? It's not a grey, but a very unsaturated black. I don't use black ink, but this has some charm?

 

[lgsoltek]

I don’t like black inks but I’ll make an exception for this: