Gel-Ink Look But With Fountain Pen Ink?

[knarflj]

I like shading, so I'll be no help suggesting inks, but I do find that the script I use and the way I hold the pen also affect the amount of shading I see. Specifically, print tends to generate more colour variation than cursive because it has lots more pen lifts; and if I rotate the pen in my hand whilst writing instead of keeping the nib always in the same relation to the paper, I will get more colour variation because some nib-to-paper relations allow more ink to get on the paper than others. My first thought when I saw your image in post #34 was not that the nib needed tuning, but that it looked as though you'd rotated the sweet spot of the nib off the paper in a couple of places. That may of course just be me projecting my own bad habits onto others, but it might be worth checkiing.

 

Jenny

[cellmatrix]

Sorry it wasn't directed at you, but at the general idea of shading vs non-shading. Please don't take it personally any insight/comment should be free and welcomed in forums.

 

no problem

[thudthwacker]

If you want to have less shading, I'd recommend giving Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng a try. In my Lamy Safari (medium nib), it puts down a really dark purple line (granted, a pretty wide one) with no shading I can see. It's also a really great, almost unbelievably robust ink.

[CoolBreeze]

Perfect timing! I received this sample as well and just got to testing it.

 

Noodler's Kung Te Cheng- this is a great color that I like a lot. I see extremely slight if not any shading with both crappy paper and CF - with both Pilot Metro - M-nib and Pilot CH91-M-nib. With Black N' Red I do see shading with my Pilot CH91 M Nib. Unfortunately, I didn't use my Pilot metro on this paper. I heard that this had some issues drying out in a pen if not used. I tested this 3 times in my Pilot Metro laying horizontal. At both the 18.5 and 28 hour marks all was fine. At the 43.5 hour mark, the pen was dry.

 

Pilot Prera - M Nib - CF paper - good combo - no feathering or bleed through (except on a few dots where I got a little heavy handed - very few though).

 

Pilot 91 - M Nib - CF Paper - bad combo - no feathering (maybe 1 or 2 spots where I got heavy handed - very rare) but significant bleed-through. 35 second dry time.

 

Pilot 91 - M Nib - Black N' Red - decent combo - no feathering or bleed through (except on a few dots where I got a little heavy handed - very few though). 3 second dry time

[tvradio]

I am relatively new to fountain pens but have lots of experience with rollerball/gel testing disposables. My favorites are the Uniball 307 or the Pentel Energel.

I LOVELOVELOVE the vibrant blue of my Uni-Ball 307, and would really be interested to know if there is a fountain pen ink that duplicates it.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sITIbMr8Ixs/VYCCXrKELWI/AAAAAAAAgLY/B3eeslMyZ2M/s0/IMG_0877.jpg

Edited August 3, 2018 by tvradio

[CoolBreeze]

I LOVELOVELOVE the vibrant blue of my Uni-Ball 307, and would really be interested to know if there is a fountain pen ink that duplicates it.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sITIbMr8Ixs/VYCCXrKELWI/AAAAAAAAgLY/B3eeslMyZ2M/s0/IMG_0877.jpg

It really is very nice. Every once in awhile it gets really dark and it had me perplexed. After looking closely, it was actually the most intense red sheen. It was an interesting surprise.

[CoolBreeze]

Spent some time at the DC pen show this weekend and did a little ink testing. There was not many inked pens (although most you could dip). That being said, of the inked pens I tested I found a few shaders and non-shaders. I'm only reporting on inked pens and not dipped ones.

 

Pilot Blue-Black - overall this is a relatively pale/unsaturated ink to my eyes. It was inked in a couple pens and multiple nib sizes of each. Lamy 2000 in fine, medium, broad, oblique broad, oblique medium, & double broad - I did not enjoy the shading in any of the nib sizes. It was also in a Sailor Pro Gear Slim in extra fine, fine, medium fine, medium, broad, zoom, & music nib - I also did not enjoy it in any of these either. All of this was on CF paper. I also tried the Lamy 2000-Medium nib on Black N' Red paper - same results as above.

Edited August 6, 2018 by CoolBreeze

[cellmatrix]

Spent some time at the DC pen show this weekend and did a little ink testing. There was not many inked pens (although most you could dip). That being said, of the inked pens I tested I found a few shaders and non-shaders. I'm only reporting on inked pens and not dipped ones.

 

Pilot Blue-Black - overall this is a relatively pale/unsaturated ink to my eyes. It was inked in a couple pens and multiple nib sizes of each. Lamy 2000 in fine, medium, broad, oblique broad, oblique medium, & double broad - I did not enjoy the shading in any of the nib sizes. It was also in a Sailor Pro Gear Slim in extra fine, fine, medium fine, medium, broad, zoom, & music nib - I also did not enjoy it in any of these either. All of this was on CF paper. I also tried the Lamy 2000-Medium nib on Black N' Red paper - same results as above.

 

Pilot Blue - Black, I love this stuff so much I bought the 350 ml bottle. It does not shade much in wider nibs, but in narrow nibs and flex nibs which is what I mostly use, it has some nice subtle shading, not overdone. I also like the color and properties, its both low maintenance and waterproof (a rarity among inks). Obviously my experience is the opposite of yours, but thats ok, in fact its one of the fun parts of ink preferences - by nature they are so individual and personal.

[jmccarty3]

Pilot Blue-Black is one of those ultradependable inks, like Waterman Serenity Blue. It never causes a problem, and is perfect for any kind of business application. The only fault I find with it is that it is uninteresting, compared to some of the other blues and blue-blacks. I picked up a bottle of Sailor's new Sou-boku, a dark blue nanoparticle ink, at Dan Smith's table in DC this week, and will be anxious to try in in the fine nib Sailor Pro Gear Realo I've been using at the office lately.

[CoolBreeze]

Speaking of Sailor Inks - I think I actually found some liquidy looking inks. Just when I became ok with not getting that look (and I still am ok with it as long as I don't get shading). After looking closely at all of these, I wish I tested more. They are really interesting. All were done on CF paper with a medium nib Sailor Pro Gear slim.

Sailor Jentle Sky High - This was a very interesting color. To me it was really two colors. The blue was beautiful and liquidy. There was also an intense sheen that looked like intense shading which was also beautiful. The sheen was just inconsistent and made it look very shady or have a wide spectrum of color. I just wish the ink was one or the other.

Sailor Jentle Ultra Marine - This was the best of the bunch. It looked ultra liquidy with very very little color variation. Variation was due to some sheen that darkened the color up ever ever ever so slightly that made it added the most gorgeous liquidy depth. Home run.

Sailor Shikiori Yazakura - This was a very shady ink. It went from very pale to slighly dark. It was mostly washed out to my eyes. Not a fan.

Sailor Shikiori Shimoyo - This was a very saturated dark ink but not liquidy to me. I saw no color variation at all but it is a very dark ink. If you look every so closely, I think I saw a hint of green. Google says its blue. I didn't see that though.

Sailor Shikiori Yonaga - This was very similar to the Ultra marine. It looked ultra liquidy with very very little color variation. Variation was due to some sheen that darkened the color up ever ever ever so slightly that made it added the most gorgeous liquidy depth. It is a very very dark blue and I really had to get up close in the light to see the beautiful blue color. Still a great color though.

These are my findings so far!!!

Edited August 7, 2018 by CoolBreeze

[CoolBreeze]

Pelikan Edelstein Aquamarine - this could be the worst ink I have tested yet. It looks incredibly unsaturated and washed out with the multiple combos I tried. Overall, this is a major no-go.

 

Pilot CH91 - M nib - There was a lot of shading with this pen on both no-name journal paper and CF paper. On the CF paper, it looked the most washed out. It looked slightly more saturated on no-name journal paper. Still incredibly shady and washed out on both.

 

Pilot Metropolitan - M nib - interestingly enough it was the least shady on CF paper but it also was the most washed out on it too. On no-name journal paper, it was more shady but also slightly more saturated.

[cellmatrix]

Pilot Blue-Black - overall this is a relatively pale/unsaturated ink

 

Its hard to make firm conclusions about the appearance of an ink. One person might say its washed out, others might say its bold, some might say the color is boring another might call it elegant. I think it varies considerably depending on personal taste, the pen/nib used, especially the flow rate, how long the ink has been in the pen, and on the paper (here is an example written on a Rhodia pad).

[CoolBreeze]

It is very hard. I am only providing one data point. It is especially helpful to those that have similar experiences as me, tried other things, and found better alternatives that they can provide to help in the quest. Or conversely, if someone knows that I like the look of one ink, maybe they can provide ones similar. If anyone disagrees with the way I see the ink color or how it works in my pens, this thread will probably not help them.

 

Eta - even if people do disagree, they can still help. They may not agree that an ink is dull but might provide options that they view that are richer than that one.

Edited August 12, 2018 by CoolBreeze

[cellmatrix]

Eta - even if people do disagree, they can still help. They may not agree that an ink is dull but might provide options that they view that are richer than that one.

 

thats why I am on the thread - to try to help. However I do have my own biases and talking with you and the others here helps me to better understand them. Anyway, good luck on your quest. My opinion is that if you were in the age of easy availability of parker penman sapphire, you would be a very happy camper.

[CoolBreeze]

thats why I am on the thread - to try to help. However I do have my own biases and talking with you and the others here helps me to better understand them. Anyway, good luck on your quest. My opinion is that if you were in the age of easy availability of parker penman sapphire, you would be a very happy camper.

I hear you on all counts and Parker Penman Sapphire really seems like it would have been really great for my purposes.

[CoolBreeze]

Organic Studio Nitrogen - this is one beautiful ink that I currently have a love/hate relationship with. I tried it with multiple paper types but with only one pen as of yet.

 

Faber Castell Loom - M Nib - Black N' Red paper - this is one huge sheening ink so you do get some color variation from where the random sheening happens. Sheening is relatively inconsistent but there is a lot of it. Not my favorite combo because of the inconsistent color variation.

 

Faber Castell Loom - M Nib - CF & Rhodia paper - this was a better combo because the sheening was much milder and therefore the color variation was less (about 50% less than Black N' Red) It really is a beautifully saturated blue/teal color.

 

Faber Castell Loom - M Nib - no-name journal - this was my actually a great combo. Color variation was next to nothing as sheen was kept to almost nothing because of the non fountain pen friendly paper. This color w/o sheen is a gorgeous/saturated/and liquidy blue/teal to my eyes.

 

Faber Castell Loom - M Nib - Franklin-Christoph paper - this was a crazy combo. The color was remarkably consistent but with almost every part of every letter having sheen. It literally looked like every letter was glowing - I have yet to see anything like it. It was really beautiful.

 

The hate - I could not stop smearing this ink. My hands are not normally sweaty but any moisture on my hands at all led to smears on all types of the paper above. I constantly go back over notes to make annotations or run my hands over the spine part of a notebook to get previous pages that were written on to lay flat and smear happened over 75% of the time. I would love to have this in my regular rotation but because that happened, I just don't think I can.

 

This type of behavior has happened only once before to me with Private Reserve Tanzanite which made me quickly not want to use it anymore. It was the primary reason I went to waterproof inks. The problem is that the color options are so limited and not as fun. I really hope that there are non-waterproof inks out there that don't exhibit such easy smear. I'm not sure yet if waterproof properties are necessary for how I use inks/pens/paper and remain hopeful.

 

Its an ink based on looks on paper are tied with the nice Sailor inks I mentioned above but I wasn't able to test the Sailors enough to see how they do with smear.

[Torrilin]

No name paper can be really great if you are a lefty and have smearing problems. The big name papers for fountain pen fans tend to have a sizing that promotes slower ink absorption, and that helps you get sheer and shading but it also helps you get smears.

 

Have you played with any of the substitutes for Parker Penman Sapphire? There’s a bunch out there.

[bluebellrose]

if you don't like washed out black stay far away from Parker Quink Black. It tends only to be black hole black in a super wet nib

[CoolBreeze]

if you don't like washed out black stay far away from Parker Quink Black. It tends only to be black hole black in a super wet nib

I think I read that quink blue is similar.

[CoolBreeze]

Monteverde Document Blue - this is an interesting ink and one that I am not all that excited about. I tried it in the multiple pens I have and multiple paper types. It looked the same on all paper to my eyes and the only difference to me was the pen.

 

Pilot metro - medium - no-name journal paper, Black N' Red, CF, Franklin-Christoph - the color, although unique was uninspiring. It looks to my eyes like a light blue/gray with a hint of purple. It looked very "chalky" or "dusty" and not rich, liquid, or saturated. With all paper I got a little shading but it wasn't horrible. It was maybe a slight step up on the washed out scale from Pilot Blue to my eyes but I am not sure if that had to do with the slightly less shading.

 

Pilot CH 91 - medium nib - this pen is a wetter writer and the color changed by at least a shade or two. It got darker and more purple - and I liked that more than the above. There was still shading but it didn't bother me as much because the color started out darker/richer and got slightly more dark. It exhibited the same properties as "chalky" or "dusty" as with the pilot metro. Overall it was better with this pen, but that is not saying much as the bar was low to begin with.

 

The bad - I don't know what you call it but there was a decent amount of dry smear if I touched the ink on the page (multiple days later). I have never experienced this before. When doing my testing my hand was completely dry because I did back to back rubs with the same dry finger on the Organic Studio Nitrogen (which significantly smears at even the slightest hint of moisture) and this ink. No smear for the Nitrogen and smear for the Monteverde. It may be waterproof, but for me the original reason I wanted to try this waterproof ink was not because I needed an ink to be archival or be read on paper if I get caught in a thunderstorm but because I hated when my private reserve tanzanite smeared when flipping the pages in my notebook. It got all over my hands and was a mess. This is not acceptable to me. However it did get me thinking....if the waterproof property of an ink doesn't necessarily mean it won't smear - is the reverse true? Do all non-waterproof inks smear if rubbed with a slightly sweaty finger or can some withstand that and just not a full dunk in the lake.