Please Help Me Choose A Dark Olive Green For Daily Use (Among Some Shortlisted Candidates)

[Uncial]

I would recommend Diamine Salamander. Her bin Vert Empire is also good but steer clear of their Olive Green, it's much too light.something a little darker but still on the murky olive side of green might be Kobe Rokko green or Noodlers Sequoia green. I would also second the Stipulated. I recently got GVFC moss green which is stunning, but it is definitely green (if you know what I mean) and not an olive or murky green.

[Uncial]

The predictive text on this thing is driving me nuts

[geoduc]

Anyway, my current top choices are tokiwa-matsu and alt-goldgrun. And since there are some reviews commenting tokiwa-matsu being as dark as black in EF nib, maybe I'll get alt-grun and mix it with some other inks.... If there is no better option coming by....

 

I can see tokiwa matsu running too dark in a very wet EF nib, but it seems to hold its color well in the fine nibs I use. The pen in the example below has medium to slightly wet flow. Pardon the chicken scratch.

 

[Pensei]

I have developed a great affection for Miruai. And to anyone who says, Well, that's not a dark olive green, I would say, You are right . . . unless you have the right paper. It is a remarkably variable ink.

[migo984]

Anyway, my current top choices are tokiwa-matsu and alt-goldgrun. And since there are some reviews commenting tokiwa-matsu being as dark as black in EF nib, maybe I'll get alt-grun and mix it with some other inks.... If there is no better option coming by....

I use tokiwa-matsu all the time in F and EF nibs and it never looks black to me. Always a definite green shade.

As has also been mentioned Kobe #49 Kitano Olive Green is also a great ink.

[chingdamosaic]

Just received the Kobe ink samples, no greens.... ;_____;

[liapuyat]

There is Diamine Dark Olive, which is fairly new. I use that and my other favorite, Sailor Tokiwa-matsu.

[visvamitra]

Diamine Safari is rather nice.

[ksm]

On the following sample there is Tokiwa-Matsu:

 

 

But I would suggest another contender:

 

 

Top entry on second picture if KWZ Ink IG Green Gold, I've written this three months before I've made this scan, so it should be final colour of this ink.

[bone215]

Ching...

Regarding the Private Reserve ink Avocado I offer the following.

Capable of diluting in various degrees of color.

Shake bottle 24 hours before using.

Also PR Sherwood dilutes in that direction as well.

 

Faber Castell sample of Moss was very nice to use.

 

good luck in your search

[DrDebG]

I have been using L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Olivastre a lot lately. It is a wonderful balanced "olive" green, not too much yellow and not too much brown. And it is not so dark that you can't enjoy the color in it. It's made in France, but there are many retailers who sell it, or can give samples.

[pgcauk]

Ching,
I have been living with the same question, and spending quite a bit of money on it over the years. Not sure that I have the answer yet, but happy to share some of my exploring.
I'm going to write the narrative on this portable device and then add in some scans once I get to HQ.
My first attempt was KWZ IG Green #4, which is a lovely ink but much bluer than I was imagining (yet to try their Green Gold, the IG version looks particularly scrumptious!).
Next up was Diamine Salamander, which I was really excited about but didn't ring the bell for me. First experience of the subtlety of greens, shifting from green to brown with not just changes of nib and paper, but also the light you are reading by! Proton007 speaks the truth!
AltGoldGrun is a lovely drawing ink. I haven't used it for writing much.
Burma Road Brown was so exciting that I turned around and bought Safari too, but before I'd even given them a spin I started hearing about Tokiwa Matsu, and became so convinced that this would be "the one", that I forked out for that too!
I don't enjoy Tokiwa Matsu at all! It dries to a lovely color undisturbed, but in the bottle, freshly applied and (deal-breaker) with a wash applied it's again a blue "pine-green". I also discovered that sheen is not for me - I find the shiny red over olive green quite distracting!
I spent significant time and dollars exploring what I call "earth greens" and "stone greens", which is probably outside the territory here, but which did lead me to my beloved and no-longer-produced-under-this-label (I have written to Dr. Jansen to find out the new naming) De Atramentis Marone / Jean Jaques Rousseau, which I am including in the samples below.
Impressed by the Kobe inks #28 and #45, I have got to the end of my sample of #49, and committed to ordering a full bottle, without really resolving it's appeal;
Pros - nice sombre greyish green, great for sketching (without wash!), magnificent shading (= typical Kobe!).
Cons - bluer than I would expect from an olive, reminding me more of the foliage than a martini! As with Tokiwa Matsu, adding a wash brings out a blue-green dye rather than the inks regular color.
It's raining today, so I did a few more samples than I probably should have, but there were several delightful discoveries. Hopefully it's of some help!

Scans:

So here's what I was working on before I read this post - honest!

Here's what I would consider my top candidates;

. . . and, hey, it's raining, here's a few more, including the browner end and - oh, "Beginning Of Spring" is a beauty!

 

. . . still raining, here's some Greenish Browns:

. . . and here's some sketching - the water pot is #49 (wine glass BoS):

. . . . and, while the rain persists, some water pots from the archive (not necessarily olive, but all greenish):

. . . which are, in case anyone's interested; main sketch = Stipula Calamo Verde Muschiato, proceeding clockwise; Jean Jaques, Kobe Hachibuse Silhouette, KWZ Hunter Green, Rikyu Cha . . . .

. . . De Atramentis' Dark Reseda, Birmingham Pens' Fern Moss Green.

Phew! More than you asked for, but nice to have them all in one place?

Edited March 2, 2019 by pgcauk

[pgcauk]

Oh, if it starts to snow I might order samples of some of the Robert Oster Greens (Avocado, Crocodile, Eucalyptus Leaf, Lemon Grass . . . ) here's one (well-reviewed) that I have made a particular note of:
https://www.myheartytimberbox.com.au/product/robert-oster-signature-ink-verde-de-rio/

[ScarletWoodland]

I have been living with the same

It's raining today, so I did a few more samples than I probably should have, but there were several delightful discoveries. Hopefully it's of some help!

Scans:

So here's what I was working on before I read this post - honest!

Here's what I would consider my top candidates;

. . . and, hey, it's raining, here's a few more, including the browner end and - oh, "Beginning Of Spring" is a beauty!

 

. . . still raining, here's some Greenish Browns:

. . . and here's some sketching - the water pot is #49 (wine glass BoS):

. . . . and, while the rain persists, some water pots from the archive (not necessarily olive, but all greenish):

. . . which are, in case anyone's interested; main sketch = Stipula Calamo Verde Muschiato, proceeding clockwise; Jean Jaques, Kobe Hachibuse Silhouette, KWZ Hunter Green, Rikyu Cha . . . .

. . . De Atramentis' Dark Reseda, Birmingham Pens' Fern Moss Green.

 

Phew! More than you asked for, but nice to have them all in one place?

These are gorgeous!

 

I've just done this dance myself after wanting something darker than Vert Olive and finally went with:

 

Diamine Safari

 

I think I managed to hit it one, remarkably, because I'm loving it so far. It doesn't have a ton of shading but the potential is there as it looks very different in each pen. I probably would have gone for Burma Road Brown had it been available but seeing them scanned together, I'm glad I went with the greener Safari. I still might end up with Noodler's EL Lawrence if I'm in the mood for a challenge

[wvbeetlebug]

Ching...

Regarding the Private Reserve ink Avocado I offer the following.

Capable of diluting in various degrees of color.

Shake bottle 24 hours before using.

Also PR Sherwood dilutes in that direction as well.

 

Faber Castell sample of Moss was very nice to use.

 

good luck in your search

 

I was also going to mention PR Avacado but diluted since you mentioned your found it a bit too saturated. The same goes for Sherwood Green.

[ErrantSmudge]

PR Sherwood is a pine green (to me at least). PR Avacado is an olive green.

[DrScholl]

If you like R&K Alt Goldgrun you may also like De Atramentis Magic Ghost Ink, also called Magische Geister in German. Here's the link on the DA website.

I find it absolutely lovely, a bit more greyish than Goldgrun and better for everyday use, with a nice wet flow and excellent shading...

 

I preferred it over Diamine Safari, though it is a nice enough ink, because of the better shading and the greyish hues

 

And here's a comparison I posted in another thread where you can see the two side by side, among others

 

http://lezardblues.free.fr/stylos/Autres_couleurs/DA_magische2.jpg

Edited March 4, 2019 by DrScholl

[chromantic]

^^ pgcauk - What an amazing assortment! I'm gaga over Verde Musciato atm but that Jean Jaques Rousseau has really caught my eye.

[mulrich]

I was going to offer my opinion but the last few posts did a much better job than I'll ever be able to do.

[pgcauk]

. . . . I had forgotten about Monteverde Olivine - a surprisingly dark option (and the lowermost olive of the five here):

p.s. To the notes above: Safari = awesome! Verde Muschiato = astonishing!

Really this is a great color zone!

I would caution on buying De Atramentis Marone /Jean Jaques Rousseau "Blind" as they have switched the name to another ink, which is red-brown! Once I get clarification as to the new labelling (possibly "Sepia Brown"?) from Dr. Jansen I will pass on the info. Worth persevering though; I was sketching with this one today and it is just gorgeous - the delicate olive tint is not captured by the scans above.