What Has Been Your Least Favorite Ink So Far?

[N1003U]

 

when you find a good red, stay with it, could take a few attempts at getting it right

 

Thanks. That is exactly my experience. I have two reds that I use currently: Noodler's Red (for the color), and Pelikan Edelstein Ruby (for the ink properties). I wish I had a red that flows/behaves like the Edelstein and with the color of the Noodler's, but alas, the search goes on.

[torstar]

 

Thanks. That is exactly my experience. I have two reds that I use currently: Noodler's Red (for the color), and Pelikan Edelstein Ruby (for the ink properties). I wish I had a red that flows/behaves like the Edelstein and with the color of the Noodler's, but alas, the search goes on.

Diamine Oxblood and Noodler's Tiananmen Red have been my top choices. Maybe the latter for the little pic of the tanks rolling on the street....

[N1003U]

Diamine Oxblood and Noodler's Tiananmen Red have been my top choices. Maybe the latter for the little pic of the tanks rolling on the street....

 

Oxblood is a fixture in my ink palette, but I see it almost more as a brown than a red. I am still on the hunt for my perfect true red, which, as others have pointed out, is a bit of a challenge and somewhat personal.

 

But, to the topic of this tread, whatever the the ideal red is, for me at least Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red is definitely NOT it.

[Carguy]

Diamine Sepia I dislike, and their Amazing Amethyst has been a great disappointment.

 

Mike

[MKeith]

Mine would be Noodlers Bernanke Blue. A nice blue that doesn't feather. It however is the absolute worst bleeding I have ever seen. This ink will even bleed through Rhodia, Tomoe River and any other paper I have used.

Edited January 25, 2020 by MKeith

[pmitc34947]

Least favorite inks: Montblanc Emerald Green, Cross Green and Cross Red

[KaB]

Diamine Grape: I like the colour. But the ink is so very dry.

[pajaro]

Pilot.

[Olya]

Pilot.

Succinct!

And suprising considering how popular Pilot inks generally are.

 

Why are they your least favourite?

[Tseg]

Iroshizuku Momji... a beautiful lubriscous red ink that dries the color of grapefruit/pink vomit.

 

Runner up, more -most disappointing- than least favorite is my first and only Akkerman ink... love the bottle but my Shocking Blue is insanely saturated, teeth-gnashing dry and a bright red sheen on top of the blue-purple. It made me realize I don't like sheen, but I do like shading... I've never tried shimmer, but off my sheen experience, doubt I ever will.

 

Interestingly, quite by accident, well, on purpose, I emptied the balance of a pen of Shocking Blue into a Chinese Moonman C1 eyedropper pen with Momji, and the result is a very nice purple (in the acrylic pen), pretty well behaved eggplant color ink. 3 parts Momji, 1 part Shocking Blue.

[pajaro]

Succinct!

And suprising considering how popular Pilot inks generally are.

 

Why are they your least favourite?

 

I kept having to flush the pens I used the Pilot inks in and floss the pens in order to keep ink flow. The pens felt gummed up. Parker 51s and Montblanc 144s, fine, medium and stub nibs. The ink was new, but might have had a problem. Not knowing if the ink was contaminated, I threw it away and have not taken a chance on the brand again. Sailor, MB, Parker, Sheaffer, Pelikan and Waterman I don't have issues with.

[DrDebG]

I abhor Lamy Petrol!

 

I do not like its behavior in any pen I have tried with it.

 

I do not like the color - a sickly tealish black. Ugh!

 

Ghastly stuff!

 

Also I do not care for Noodler's inks. While Noodler's has some great colors, I just had issues with them. I have tried close to 30 different colors over the years, and I don't care for the formulation and most of all the smell (fragrance?). It gives me a migraine.

 

Unfortunately, I have much the same problem with KWZI inks. The formulation is o.k. and I love the colors but I get a migraine every time I use them. Just opening the ink to fill the pen is enough to cause a screaming migraine.

[pajaro]

I have only ever used Lamy Petrol in the Petrol Safari, and only cartridges. The bottle is unused. It's another shade of bluish ink. Doesn't seem like it makes a big impression. Coin toss. Inoffensive or insipid, your choice. You can write with it and actually read what you wrote.

[LyaT]

Noodler's Apache Sunset. I do like the shading, but it lost me once I discovered that I kept encountering 'gummy' writing and smear creation days after the fact. ("How'd I get orange on my hand? Ohhhhhh.")

 

I went so far as to splash some Apache Sunset on a piece of paper that I subsequently suspended over the grill of our Vermont Castings (cast iron) gas stove for days, defying the ink to dry.

It did not. It remained damp and ewwy.

 

I moved on without it.

 

~ S.

Agreed!! I bought that color with a lot of excitement, only to find it never dries. The ink stick to the page. Same for my only other Noodlers: black swan in Australian roses. I still load in these every now and then, just to enjoy the color.

 

I also dislike all Sailor inks. I have only two bottles from the seasons collection. They have a strong chemical smell, damn!

 

Diamine November Rain is another one on the dislike list. It has way too much sheen. It is more red than green. The base color is nice dark green, but the sheen is too strong.

[AoKiu]

Noodler's Burning Rome ... the color looks like dirty mopping water!

[Rosendust]

I could get in some trouble posting this, but Noodler's Bernanke Blue! It seems that it feathered and smeared all over basic paper. I am a left-handed person so I like to have the option of quick dry inks!

[pmitc34947]

Up until recently, Montblanc Golden Yellow was my least favorite. Now that we're in the stasis of a Co-Vid19 lockdown, I gave it another try and actually like how it looks on Tomoe River paper. For the longest time, I have used ugly yellow, college lined notepads to take notes and write drafts. Fountain pen inks do not have much of a chance to dazzle on these yellow notepads.

[lovemy51]

honestly i dunno if i posted here before, but i gotta say: Pelikan Black 4001. i find it too dry

[inkstainedruth]

honestly i dunno if i posted here before, but i gotta say: Pelikan Black 4001. i find it too dry

 

Try putting it in a wetter or broader-nibbed pen. I have an IM nib unit from a Pelikan M 200, and even after I had some nib work done on it, it was very wet (before the work it was a gusher even with an iron gall ink in the pen). But I now have it on a different M200 and used 4001 Brilliant Black to do some calligraphy for a project a year ago January, and it was very well-behaved in that pen.

I don't use black ink a lot, but I'm glad I have that as one of my go-to blacks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Parc Monceau]

J. Herbin Gris Nuage leaves me cold.