What Has Been Your Least Favorite Ink So Far?

[ParramattaPaul]

My favourite colour is green.  Yet, I tried a green ink and it just didn't appeal to me.  It had nothing to do with the ink itself, or even the shade of green.  It was simply after a lifetime of using blue and black inks (& red on occasion), green just seemed strange and off-putting.  Mental conditioning?  Probably.

[AlexItto]

On 8/2/2021 at 9:09 PM, Mark Meske said:

My biggest disappointment in the last couple of years has been J. Herbin Corail des Tropiques. It's a beautiful coral when you swab it but too pale to read easily when put through a pen, even a broad nib.

Funny, that's one this newbie really loved! I guess you can't really call it an everyday writer, but I loved the interesting color. I love using more than one ink in writing (titles, section titles, or heads of lists) and I loved it with most blues.

[AlexItto]

TWSBI Prairie Green. Ran dry on most papers I tried, and even though the shade is not particularly light, it was difficult to read because of inconsistent shading.

Ferris Wheel Press Buttered Popcorn. Same reasons. This one is very light, though.

[AlexItto]

On 1/24/2020 at 7:18 PM, Carguy said:

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

 

Mike

 

Because of the color, the flow..?

I actually like this light brown, because it's not reddish or orangey and clearly different from the chocolate browns.

[AlexItto]

I guess all this depends on what you like,  but I couldn't help noticing all those bad experiences with Noodler's.

I have read a few reviews and have been intrigued by some colors,  but I must admit I hate their packaging. Seriously, who designs those awful labels?

I don't display my inks on the desk, but I love a pretty bottle. I know, I'm so shallow! 😆

[nibtip]

Platinum black and blue-black.

Ugliest black forever, for the former.

Concerning the latter, I dislike royal blues. Also, it is so unlubricated, (not undry), it feels like plowing furiously in the paper.

Down the drain.

[Carguy]

18 hours ago, AlexItto said:

 

Because of the color, the flow..?

I actually like this light brown, because it's not reddish or orangey and clearly different from the chocolate browns.

I guess I’m just not a fan of brown inks because I just don’t have them. Wasn’t a fan of ancient copper either.

[inkstainedruth]

19 hours ago, AlexItto said:

I guess all this depends on what you like,  but I couldn't help noticing all those bad experiences with Noodler's.

I have read a few reviews and have been intrigued by some colors,  but I must admit I hate their packaging. Seriously, who designs those awful labels?

I suspect that it's Nathan Tardif himself....

Although some I find really amusing (like the label on the bottle for Park Red; I like the ink too).  The boxes? Ehhhh....  I suspect that it's cheaper for him in the long run to have a single box design for each size bottle, and then just stamp the particular color name (or at least an indication as to what the ink is) on the top of the box.

But remember -- one positive review is not going to go as far as ten negative ones.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ParramattaPaul]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

one positive review is not going to go as far as ten negative ones.

Air Traffic Controllers have a version of that.  It's, 'One ah-sh*t erases all previous atta-boys.'

[Dip n Scratch]

On 9/10/2021 at 1:43 PM, nibtip said:

Platinum black and blue-black.

Ugliest black forever, for the former.

Concerning the latter, I dislike royal blues. Also, it is so unlubricated, (not undry), it feels like plowing furiously in the paper.

Down the drain.

Would the Platinum black be their Carbon Black? That does look as though it is brown.

Platinum BB is a rather dark blue. Which is really all I can say about it. I was using cartridges in a 0.5 Preppy.

I wouldn't buy a bottle of either.

[Peter_H]

Interesting thread.  I haven’t enough experience of inks to have a strong dislike of any just yet, but I have withdrawn my bottle of Waterman black (old labelling) because when dry it never looks properly black to me.  Seems to be more of a brown to my eye, when viewed from most angles.  It’s a well behaved ink, but I have moved over to the blacker Lamy Crystal Obsidian instead.  So far, so good.

 

The Diamine Oxblood crystallisation is quite a puzzle.  I wonder if it happens so fast because of some kind of catalytic interaction with the nib material.  The usual suspects would be the platinoids, so we are talking about the more expensive nibs, but it could also include some of the modern formulations used for “steel” nibs as well.  Just a thought…

[gyasko]

I posted way upthread about not liking certain colors.  (Black, gray & Waterman blue black or whatever they’re calling out now.

 

As far as behavior goes, i’d say Robert Oster Evening Sapphire mainly because it easily transfers off the page.  I want inks to stay put.  When they wander off the page,  my wife gets upset.  It’s one reason i like iron gall inks.

[VillersCotterets]

Parker Quink Washable Blue is a disappointment that keeps renewing itself every time I use it.

It's a perfectly good ink, affordable, available everywhere, well-behaved. It has everything I would normally like but unfortunately it fades to a pale boring shade of blue that I really dislike. It's a shame because on application,  for several minutes, the saturation is good and the shade very suitable for everyday use. A few hours later, it's makes me sigh. It's discouragement in a bottle. 

There are (too) many blue inks out there to bother with it anymore. I waste it as much as I can, by using to to fix nibs and flush pens of dried up inks, just to finish the ?%/* bottle. Happily, it won't be long.

[gyasko]

34 minutes ago, VillersCotterets said:

Parker Quink Washable Blue is a disappointment that keeps renewing itself every time I use it.

It's a perfectly good ink, affordable, available everywhere, well-behaved. It has everything I would normally like but unfortunately it fades to a pale boring shade of blue that I really dislike. It's a shame because on application,  for several minutes, the saturation is good and the shade very suitable for everyday use. A few hours later, it's makes me sigh. It's discouragement in a bottle. 

There are (too) many blue inks out there to bother with it anymore. I waste it as much as I can, by using to to fix nibs and flush pens of dried up inks, just to finish the ?%/* bottle. Happily, it won't be long.

 

 

The fading is paper dependent.  I have decades old notes in  Parker Quink Blue in better quality Japanese notebooks  but my grad school notes on cheap American spiral notebooks have faded.

[VillersCotterets]

39 minutes ago, gyasko said:

 

 

The fading is paper dependent.  I have decades old notes in  Parker Quink Blue in better quality Japanese notebooks  but my grad school notes on cheap American spiral notebooks have faded.

It's not my experience. The fading starts as soon the ink is dry and it becomes already annoying after only a few hours on Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Tomoe River, Midori, etc.

[Dip n Scratch]

I would never buy it too. Happily I only had a few cartridges of it.

There are far better blues out there. Even cheap ones like Camlin and Raduga.

[ErrantSmudge]

21 hours ago, VillersCotterets said:

It's not my experience. The fading starts as soon the ink is dry and it becomes already annoying after only a few hours on Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Tomoe River, Midori, etc.

 

I have found both Lamy Blue and Monteverde Mailbu Blue to fade in the same way.  I ended up with three 30-ml bottles of Malibu Blue as pen show giveaways.  I've poured them together into a TWSBI inkwell and now I'm trying to use it all up by writing out language grammar exercises (essentially throwaway writing) on cheap, highly-absorbent paper.

 

The only inks that have inspired me to pour them out for their terrible performance was a six-bottle set of Levenger inks I bought over a decade ago.  Cardinal Red, Gemstone Green and Mocha feathered terribly on just about any paper.  And while Cobalt Blue is a deep, rich blue that didn't feather uncontrollably, it basically never dried and would smear even a month after writing.   I poured out the green, red and brown, and PIF-ed Cobalt Blue, Amethyst and Raven Black.

[NgunnawalJack]

On 9/12/2021 at 11:12 PM, Peter_H said:

The Diamine Oxblood crystallisation is quite a puzzle.

I noticed that too after a several weeks in my pen.  When I came to clean up for another ink.  Is this common?  It was my first and only use so far. I intend to use it more as I like the colour.

[RevGina]

Sad to say, but I'm really not a fan of Noodler's inks at all. Every Noodler's ink I've bought just didn't work. Feathering, bleeding, all over the place. 

Runner up to that are Cross cartridges. I don't know if the ones I have are just kinda old, but it was like writing with a gel pen and super goopy. 

[inkstainedruth]

On 9/10/2021 at 11:34 PM, ParramattaPaul said:

Air Traffic Controllers have a version of that.  It's, 'One ah-sh*t erases all previous atta-boys.'

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth