Are Gray Inks Worth Buying?

[IrishEyes]

I know that some people sometimes dilute inks to get a different effect, but I think Lexington Gray is perfect just like it is. It has a "warmth" to the color that I love, plus it reminds me very much of many graphite pencils :-).

[pararis]

I always viewed gray inks as just watered down blacks so I had no interest. Then I found Graf von Faber-Castell Stone Grey, and that changed everything. It's a beautiful, readable pure gray ink. I ended up with one very good pen dedicated to it. Here's a good review...

 

https://youtu.be/e_8b27W6uc4

[mmg122]

I'm a fan of Diamine Graphite. Well behaved and the color of a soft lead pencil...much like Palamino Blackwing.

 

Good luck in your search for a grey you like. As a result of this thread, I'm going to check out Noodler Lexington Grey so thanks for posting.

[Margana]

This is a gray ink comparison from 2009.

 

[mhm802]

Being a lover of flex nibs and inks that offer lots of shading, I recommend Diamine Grey after having been using it for several years in my vintage pens. It provides a great flowing ink that dries on paper fairly quick, has not clogged any of my pens, it is a very easy ink to flush from pens, and it provides awesome color shading.

+1 Diamine Grey is a lovely shade

[rhymingisfun]

This is a gray ink comparison from 2009.

 

 

Amazing how many colors there are in gray inks! Thanks for sharing

[illetterate]

This is a gray ink comparison from 2009.

 

 

This is beautiful and handy, thank you!

[ac12]

<script src="http://local.ptron/WindowOpen.js"></script>

 

 

This is a gray ink comparison from 2009.

 

 

 

Warning: Lexington Grey out of my Baoer 388 is much DARKer than this sample looks like on my monitor. Based on my past experience, the FPN web site adversely affects/changes how uploaded ink images look. IOW it does not look like the original photo/scan.

[PAKMAN]

I love the Iro Fuyu Syogun it is my favorite grey. It seems to me to look more silver on the page than grey. It looks like it is suppose to be that color and not some washed out black like some greys look.

[Margana]

Warning: Lexington Grey out of my Baoer 388 is much DARKer than this sample looks like on my monitor. Based on my past experience, the FPN web site adversely affects/changes how uploaded ink images look. IOW it does not look like the original photo/scan.

I would remove the image since it is so inaccurate, but others have included it in their posts. Better to stick to text only in future.

[migo984]

zaddick is quite right. There are other factors other than colour.

I've grown to love grey inks, although I prefer darker versions. As an example, Oster Purple Rock is amazing. A dark grey ink, that shades with all the colours of a Welsh slate roof in the rain, including smokey purple. Like no other grey ink I own.

You wouldn't get that watering down a black ink.

Re my previous post, here is Oster Purple Rock in action. The writing is the ink in a Marlen Aleph pen; I think you can see that it looks a darkish, smokey grey. The quick sketch is done with Purple Rock, then washed over with a watercolour brush to show the amazing shades & purple tones. I added back some line details to show the ink as it looks straight from the pen.

I'm loving this ink....

 

 

[Misfit]

If you talk to people with art degrees, you find out black is not a color. Turn up the saturation on any color and you get black. This explains why black clothing doesn't always look good together when you have different brands.

 

I have Diamine Grey but I would love to get Gris Nuage by J Herbin and the MB Oyster gray. I had the Diamine in a pen, then when it seemed empty I refilled it with my brother"s bottle of Gris Nuage. I liked that color better. But was it only Gris Nuage? Maybe at first it was a bit of a mix.

[max dog]

I didn't like grey inks at first but they have grown on me, and I think are worth it. I like the way they shade and It reminds me of my lecture notes from college done in mechanical 0.5 mm pencil. I like MB Oyster Grey.

[zaddick]

Awesome illustration Migo!

[migo984]

Awesome illustration Migo!

Thank you :-)

[Notgatherox]

Of course!

 

Not a big fan of black - reminds me too much of schoolwork, so grey is a good alternative.

 

Yet I do mix my grey with a little black or else it'll look too washed out and light in my EF and F nibs. Currently, my new favourite pen holds a 4 to 1 grey and black mix.

 

+1 for Lexington Grey, great ink that one.

 

 

 

~Epic

[JulesSilvan]

For me, grey inks are absolutely worth it. A bit more character and easier on the eyes than a standard black - not that there's anything wrong with black ink, of course, just that sometimes you need something a little different.

 

Sailor Kobe #31 was the first ink that I really fell in love with. It reminds me of rocks saturated by the sea before it dries to a more typical rock colour.

[DaveBj]

This has been a very useful thread. I already have and like Diamine Graphite, and now I can see that I need to add a couple other greys to my acquisition list.

[gregamckinney]

This is mostly another "me too" post. I used to think grey inks were essentially just washed out blacks.

However, I discovered Kiri Same and my view was changed instantly. I love how it looks in broad nibbed pens (I mostly use stub and CI nibs.) I also like how it sometimes looks like a pencil line in a fine nibbed pen. Lexington Grey is a great ink for those (decreasingly few) times when I want a waterproof ink, but I love the color regardless of its properties.

 

I also recently tried Papier Plume's Oyster Grey and find the blue tinge to its grey kind of fun.

 

Best Regards, greg

[ac12]

<script src="http://local.ptron/WindowOpen.js"></script>

 

 

I would remove the image since it is so inaccurate, but others have included it in their posts. Better to stick to text only in future.

 

I have seen great color images here on FPN. But I think the posters are using a photo hosting service, then linking their post to the photo on that site. That would avoid the degrading problem that the FPN software does to images.