What Is The Best Ink In Each Color?

[888007888]

for me ...

 

Black: Aurora Black

Blue: Kobe no. 51 Kano Cho Midnight

Purple: Sailor Shigure

Green: Montblanc Irish Green

Turquoise: Montblanc UNICEF

Brown: Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Guri

Orange: KWZ Honey

Red/Pink/Burgundy: Noodlers Black Swan in Australian Roses

[ErrantSmudge]

Black: Noodlers Heart of Darkness

Blue-Black: Aurora Blue-Black

Blue: Monteverde Sapphire

Purple: Rohrer & Klingner Cassia

Green: Diamine Sherwood

Turquoise: Lamy Turquoise

Brown: OMAS Sepia

Orange: KWZ Grapefruit

Red: Sailor Irori

Pink/Burgundy: Monteverde Garnet

Edited January 8, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[FPRebel]

Black: Noodler's X-Feather, Iroshizuku Take Sumi
Blue: Blackstone Sydney Harbour, Chesterfield Zircon

Blue/Black: Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo
Purple: Lamy Dark Lilac

Green: Kaweco Palm

Light Green: Bungbox Tsuyuhikari
Turquoise: Lamy Turquoise
Brown: J. Herbin Lie de The'

Orange: Sailor Jentle Kin Mokusei

Red: Noodler's Nikita Red and Montblanc Corn Poppy
Brown-red: Montblanc Shakespeare Velvet Red

Pink: Noodler's Ottoman Rose
Gray: Noodler's Lexington Gray

25% of my favorites are Noodler's, yet if you had asked me prior to my listing I'd have told you Sailor Jentle would run the table.

Edited January 8, 2018 by FPRebel

[hinky]

I know that the post asked the best for EACH color, but after giving it some thought, I realized that the best for me would greatly vary depending on the pen/paper combo I'm currently using (and whether or not I'd need some water resistance). So I guess my answer is the top 2/3 per color 😂

 

Black: Noodler's Black or J. Herbin Perle Noire

Blue-Black: Noodler's 54th Mass. or J. Herbin Bleu Nuit

Blue: (I don't use Blue often) J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir or Waterman Florida Blue

Blurple: Diamine Imperial Blue or Sailor Nioi Sumire

Brown: Noodler's Walnut or PR Chocolat

Brown-Gold: J. Herbin Lie de Thé or Noodler's Kiowa Pecan

Brown-Red: Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses (I love this ink)

Brown-Other(can't pinpoint color): Noodler's Nightshade or Robert Oster Dark Chocolate or Sailor Doyou

Green: Noodler's Sequoia or Diamine Salamander

Orange: Diamine Autumn Oak

Purple: Diamine Damson/Vivaldi or J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune

Purple (Bright): Waterman Violet or Pelikan Violet

Red: Noodler's Tiananmen or Diamine Red Dragon

Sepia: R&K Sepia or J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil

Teal: R&K Verdigris or Sailor Yama-Dori

Yellow: J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie

 

I have so many Browns and Blues making it so hard to choose (I cheated by putting the different shades in different categories). Also, I prefer blurples over straight blues (more intersting-looking). I didn't realize I had so many Noodler's and J. Herbin inks 😅 I've been in this hobby for just a little over a year and I guess I went slightly crazy buying inks 😂

[Torrilin]

2018 update:

 

Well my "consulting gig" living in our RV ended up being two years, not just three months. We are now back in our townhouse, and all of my inks are back together again (plus quite a few extras).

 

While I don't plan on doing this again, if I did, my choices today would be:

 

Black: Delta Black

Blue: Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa and Montblanc Royal Blue

Blue/Black: Graf von Faber Castell Cobalt Blue

Purple: Montblanc Lavender Purple and Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-shibuku

Green: Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-ryoku

Lt. Green: Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku-rin

Turquoise: Waterman South Seas or Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki and Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-jaku

Brown: Graf von Faber Castell Hazelnut Brown

Orange: Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake

Red: J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne or L'Artisan Pastelier Callifolio Andrinople

Pink: J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen or Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsuji

Burgundy: Montblanc Burgundy Red, L'Artisan Pastelier Callifolio Grenat or Diamine Syrah

 

My consulting business has me driving around the western US quite a bit. So, I will generally take 4 fountain pens and cartridges to fit. I don't mess with taking bottles or vials of ink anymore.

 

I do travel internationally a great deal now. Because of my crazy schedule when I travel, I have reduced my fountain pen equipment to generally 4 Lamy Safaris with cartridges, or Pilot Petits with cartridges. My cartridges always include a blue, turquoise, green and red or pink. Because the amount of ink is so small, I don't bother including them in my quart size bag. I haven't been stopped yet, although in Germany last year they did carefully look over my pens in the pen roll. And then I will use my Traveler's Notebook with Tomoe River paper as my daily journal and notebook.

 

I can definitely see the merits of cartridges if trips are long. For most trips, I find two TWSBI is sufficient ink. I’d probably add a Platinum as a third pen if I really needed a cartridge pen. Very different nib feel, but it takes cartridges of my favorite black ink, and so far I largely don’t hate Platinum’s other ink choices. The other strong contender would be something that can take standard cartridges, since I really like several Diamine inks. Including Diamine Syrah. And there’s a couple Herbin inks I’d rather not try to live without. Both Pelikan and Kaweco may offer colors that fill necessary holes too, but I haven’t spent enough time with them to know for sure. If I can find a school pen that has an acceptable xf nib AND an acceptable 1.9mm or so italic nib that takes standard carts, I’d be a happy woman.

 

I could definitely live off Lamy black, blue black and violet cartridges for a good long time, but their green and red inks are not acceptable color wise and they don’t have any good brown/orange/yellow/peachy pink sorts of inks for drawing skin so I’d probably not be able to stick with just my Safaris and cartridges. Sooner or later I’d want a color they don’t offer. This is annoying because I have a full set of Lamy nibs and I love several of them beyond all reason.

[DrDebG]

I can definitely see the merits of cartridges if trips are long. For most trips, I find two TWSBI is sufficient ink. I’d probably add a Platinum as a third pen if I really needed a cartridge pen. Very different nib feel, but it takes cartridges of my favorite black ink, and so far I largely don’t hate Platinum’s other ink choices. The other strong contender would be something that can take standard cartridges, since I really like several Diamine inks. Including Diamine Syrah. And there’s a couple Herbin inks I’d rather not try to live without. Both Pelikan and Kaweco may offer colors that fill necessary holes too, but I haven’t spent enough time with them to know for sure. If I can find a school pen that has an acceptable xf nib AND an acceptable 1.9mm or so italic nib that takes standard carts, I’d be a happy woman.

 

I could definitely live off Lamy black, blue black and violet cartridges for a good long time, but their green and red inks are not acceptable color wise and they don’t have any good brown/orange/yellow/peachy pink sorts of inks for drawing skin so I’d probably not be able to stick with just my Safaris and cartridges. Sooner or later I’d want a color they don’t offer. This is annoying because I have a full set of Lamy nibs and I love several of them beyond all reason.

 

Great comments!

 

I love TWSBI pens, but not in dry climates - and I live in an arid, high desert area. I ended up giving my TWSBIs to my daughter who lives in a humid climate. They work great for her.

 

When I travel internationally, in many countries that I work in, my translators usually comment on my fountain pen. Some have never used a fountain pen before. So, it is not unusual for me to give a fountain pen to my translators. So that is why I typically take less expensive pens with me and cartridges. It is a great introduction for them. Interestingly one of my translators has become so interested that she recently joined FPN to learn more.

 

Another reason why I take less expensive pens is that in some countries, my pens are inspected. I have never had one taken away, but I always run that risk. One of my colleagues had his expensive ball point taken from him at a security screening in a Central Asian country. Because there were 3-4 armed soldiers around him, he decided to not argue. So, when I travel, I work very hard to maintain a low profile. I generally do not wear any jewelry (including my wedding ring), and less expensive pens. I don't even take all of my camera gear anymore. If I can get by with iPhone pictures, that is fine with me. I dress nicely, but conservatively. While I am not worried, I try to be careful and wise in what I do and say.

Edited January 8, 2018 by DrPenfection

[Torrilin]

Yeah, for Platinum read “preppy”. Cheap, light, comfy for drawing and they don’t dry out it they’re idle for a while. My Safaris tend to dry out. The TWSBI are my best for not drying out, and an eco is just as nice as my 580... and at least locally eco and Safari are the same price. Obviously mileage varies a lot!

 

I will freely admit tho that one of the TWSBI was bought to use with Platinum Carbon Black after I determined it was the best ink I have found for not drying out in pens and I’d had an awful trip where I ran out of that specific ink. Logically it shouldn’t be the best, but that’s how it works for me. And having a decided favorite ink affects my choices a lot.

 

And of course an ink’s idle time isn’t often a key point in reviews. People will talk about hard starts and dry time, but not necessarily idle time. Probably a lot of it is you need a good deal of experience with an ink in several pens to get a good feel for whether a hard start or short idle time is an ink issue or a nib issue.

[IndigoBOB]

Black: Noodler's HoDarkness or Aurora Black (less maintenance, but less permanence).

 

Blue: Haven't tried enough to find one I love, but Pilot Blue and Blue Black are always recommended to me.

 

Purple: Sailor Shigure (offers a more lubricated option)

Green: Noodler's Air-corps Blue Black (is kind of a turquoise).

Turquoise: Noodler's ACBB (is kind of green).

Brown: Noodler's Walnut (offers a dry ink option)

Orange: I don't have enough experience with oranges

Red/Pink/Burgundy: Noodlers Black Swan in English Roses

[Orange25]

Black: Noodler's Heart of Darkness

Blue: Noodler's Baystate Blue

Purple: Mont Blanc Lavender Purple

Green: Mont Blanc Irish Green

Turquoise: don't really use this colour

Brown: hate this colour!

Orange: Noodler's Operation Overlord

Red: Diamine Monaco Red

Pink: De Atramentis Document Ink - Fuchsia

Burgundy: don't really use this colour

BSB, Lavender Purple, Irish Green and the Fuchsia are probably my favourites.

[displacermoose]

My choices for this week:

 

Black: I don't use black unless I'm forced to, so I'd substitute Sei-boku. If I were forced to use black it would be Heart of Darkness

Blue: Sailor Souten (I just got in to blues, so this could change very quickly)

Purple: Sailor Shigure if I'm allowed a burgundy or magenta, J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune if I am not

Green: Sailor Rikyu-cha

Turquoise: Iroshizuku Syo-ro (it's blue-green even if it pushes the envelope for a proper turquoise)

Brown: J. Herbin Lie de The

Red: Sailor Oku-Yama

Burgundy: De Atrementis Edison

Orange: Diamine Ancient Copper

 

Yes, I'm a Sailor nut. I also like lots of the in between colors. Rikyu-cha is an example. This week I'm calling it green because I need a green, but it also fits in the brown category. And then there's ina-ho (another favorite of mine) gold? green? brown? Who knows? Who cares? But my list of favorite colors runs more like:

 

Teal blue-black

Blurple blue-black

Grey blue-black

Blurple

Blue with a touch of green

(but NEVER green with a touch of blue)

Blue with a bit of turquoise

Brown w/ green

Brown w/ grey

Brown w/ gold

Red w/ brown

(but NEVER brown w/ red)

 

And so on...

[allen_paris]

Black: never never never

Blue/Black: bleu noir herbin

Blue: Aurora or Visconti ones

Turquoise: Visconti one

Dark Teal : tsuki yo

Green: Syo Ro

Brown: or auadacieux LV

Orange: yu yake

Red: MB love

Burgundy: Black Swans in Austrailian Roses

Pink: never again

Purple: CDA ultra violet (regrets for the storm violet)

Grey : kiri same or oyster grey

[mhm802]

My preferences:

 

Black: Iroshizuku Take-sumi

Grey: Diamine Grey, Diamine Graphite

Blue-Black: Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite, Iroshizuku Shin Kai

Turquoise: Visconti

Cerulean: Iroshizuku Kon Peki

Green: Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine

Purple: Levenger Amethyst

Red: Diamine Matador

Brown: Parker Penman Mocha (still have half a vintage bottle)

 

Haven't experimented with oranges or pinks

[FPRebel]

If anyone wants to trade some small samples of their favorite ink in each color category, pm me.
Scroll up about 10 posts to see my list.

(Edited to add last sentence.)

Edited January 10, 2018 by FPRebel

[inkyreflections]

This looks fun so I thought I'd join in.

 

My ink choices are bound to change in a few months time, but at present they are:

 

Black - No thanks. I don't own any black ink

Brown - J Herbin Cafe des Iles

Blue - Diamine Blue Velvet 150th anniversary, Visconti Blue or Cult Pens Deep Dark Blue (this one was tough!)

Green - Diamine Dark Forest 150th anniversary

Orange - Cult Pens Deep Dark Orange

Pink - Graf von Faber Castell Electric Pink

Purple - Montblanc The Beatles Psychedelic Purple or Diamine Bilberry (is it purple or blurple?!)

Red/Burgundy - Diamine Syrah

Turquoise - Waterman Inspired Blue

[Runnin_Ute]

Black - I have Noodler's Black, but like Levenger Raven Black better. Rarely use any black. Have had the current bottle for nearly 4 years and barely touched it.

 

Brown - Diamine Saddle Brown/KWZI 150 Confederation Brown (still working on this)

 

Blue - Waterman Serenity Blue maybe?

 

Green - Got some great greens. Diamine Sherwood, Sheaffer Skrip Emerald, Blackstone Daintree

 

Orange - Noodler's Apache Sunset

 

Pink - Have a couple of samples, but don't use pink as a general rule.

 

Purple - Akkerman Voorhout Violet or Levenger Amethyst

 

Red - Diamine Classic Red

 

Burgundy - Diamine Merlot

 

Turquoise - KWZI IG Turquoise or Diamine Steel Blue or Lamy Pacific

[JakobS]

A few additions to my list:

 

Pink: KWZ Raspberry

 

Burgundy: KWZ Brown Pink

 

In addition to the others previously mentioned in Blood Red: KWZ IG Red #3

Edited January 11, 2018 by JakobS

[sdbruder]

Yes, let me give a try on that, currently my preferred inks for each color are (no guarantee that this will not change dramatically without further notice ):

 

 

• Black: Mont Blanc Ultra Black LE
• Dark Grays: too many to count: Birmingham Jeff Goldblum Independence Gray, Birmingham Steel Building Smoked Iron, etcetera.
• Blue/Black: Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts or Diamine 1864 Blue Black
• Blue: Pass
• Green: Diamine Dark Forest
• Gold: Pass
• ​Yellow: Noodler’s Apache Sunset
• Brown: Diamine Espresso
• Orange: Diamine Autumn Oak
• Red: Diamine Red Dragon
• Pink: Pass
• Purple: I have one but I don’t like it.

—

My pens fixation is becoming inks fixation.

[aurore]

Black: Aurora Black

Blue: Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao

Dark blue/blue-black: Diamine Music Tchaikovsky

Red (burgundy): Sailor Jentle Oku-yama

Fancy and bright: Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-gaki

 

Best value: Pilot/Namiki blue-black 350ml bottle (incredible value for money)

Edited February 2, 2018 by aurore

[IndigoBOB]

Black: Aurora Black

 

Blue: Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao

 

Dark blue/blue-black: Diamine Music Tchaikovsky

 

Red (burgundy): Sailor Jentle Oku-yama

 

Fancy and bright: Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-gaki

 

Best value: Pilot/Namiki blue-black 350ml bottle (incredible value for money)

 

 

Yes, I recently received my 350 mL P/N BB yesterday. Amazing value.

 

It's a quaint ink especially in a wetter writer. But I love the idea of not only having giveaway pens to people interested in fountain pens, but now also some ink to go along with it.

[JonB55198]

 

• Blue = Parker Penman

 

Pen2paper, I tried to send you a PM, but the system informs me you cannot receive any new messages. I was wondering if you had an empty bottle I might buy. The box is a big plus if you have it too.