What Has Been Your Least Favorite Ink So Far?

[inkstainedruth]

On 9/12/2021 at 6:10 PM, 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.

Yes but was that Washable Blue or Permanent Blue?  I wish I could still get Permanent Blue here in the US.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bookman]

The worst: It's a tie between Noodler's Pacific Dawn at the Golden Gate (like a knackered chicken, all feathers and bleeding; and the color, somewhere between derivation ad nauseum and gave-me-nausea) and Noodler's La Reine Mauve (my bad: I liked mauve accent colors on building exteriors and it was OK as a T-shirt color, but it turned out I hated mauve as an ink color; didn't see that one coming.)

[inkstainedruth]

My problem with La Reine Mauve wasn't the color.  It certainly was well named and DEFINITELY mauve.  

The problem I had was that it was a mess.  Literally.... The pen I had it in burped ink into the cap, which (since I'm a poster) got transferred to the end of the barrel, and there was mauve ink EVERYWHERE -- including on the *heel* of my palm....  I described it as "nib creep, section creep, how'd the heck did it get on the HEEL of my hand creep...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[agentdaffy007]

ST Dupont Spring Green. The only ink bottle that I have ever flushed down the drain. Beautiful bottle that I put J. Herbin Perle Noire in. 

[NgunnawalJack]

Lamy mango 

[Sharad Pratap]

1. Parker (Luxor) quink blue and quink black - repackaged Bril inks at much higher cost and both of them do fade away after a while.

2. Pelikan 4001 Violet - very very inconsistent behaviour....mostly very dry and thick. I could never get a good thick wet flow from this ink out of any of my pens.

3. Bril Turquoise - feathering and bleeding and smells like alcohol.

4. Bril Royal blue and Bril black - both of them have a tendency to fade away.

5. Bril green - feathering and just too light to even read.

6. Bril Violet - very thick and dry ink with a very restricted flow.

7. Bril red - very pale

8. Camlin permanent black - writes like a very light grey and fades away after a few weeks.

9. Daytone Extra fine purple ink - very thick and after a few days forms some kind of gooey sediment in the feed and nib which severely restricts the flow.

10. Daytone extra fine dark storm ink - bleading and feathering

11. Daytone extra fine yellow ink - yellow is not a good colour to read or write with. Who even had this idea of yellow being a good colour for writing ink?

12. Daytime extra fine scarlet ink - very pale orange-ish red

[Merrick]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:30 PM, AlexItto said:

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.

I am having this exact same issue with Ferris Wheel Press Buttered Popcorn, which is really disappointing because I love the look of it. I feel like I wasted my money on a bottle. 

[Penguincollector]

On 7/26/2023 at 11:45 PM, Merrick said:

I am having this exact same issue with Ferris Wheel Press Buttered Popcorn, which is really disappointing because I love the look of it. I feel like I wasted my money on a bottle. 

  I find yellow inks to be very dry in general. There are a few things one can try:

     Try it in your wettest pen unaltered, some pens are firehoses and these dry inks will tame them. 

    Take a really thin stick, like a hollow syringe or the thinnest toothpick like object and dip it into dish soap and then into the converter, barrel (eye dropper), or an ink miser if filling a piston filler (I wouldn’t use this ink in a sac pen of any sort as the description says it’s highly saturated). This will add surfactants to the ink and make it wetter. This can take a lot of trial and error to get the right feel. 
    Buy White Lightning from Vanness Pens and follow those instructions. It’s adding surfactants but a more calibrated process. The product is rather inexpensive, but often sold out as it’s exclusive to them. This reminds me that I actually need some.

  I just bought Lamy Vibrant Pink and the vibes just aren’t there. Maybe it needs a Lamy fp to show out. 

  

Edited July 28, 2023 by Penguincollector
Added not fave ink

[Merrick]

1 minute ago, Penguincollector said:

  I find yellow inks to be very dry in general. There are a few things one can try:

     Try it in your wettest pen unaltered, some pens are firehoses and these dry inks will tame them. 

    Take a really thin stick, like a hollow syringe or the thinnest toothpick like object and dip it into dish soap and then into the converter, barrel (eye dropper), or an ink miser if filling a piston filler (I wouldn’t use this ink in a sac pen of any sort as the description says it’s highly saturated). This will add surfactants to the ink and make it wetter. This can take a lot of trial and error to get the right feel. 
    Buy White Lightning from Vanness Pens and follow those instructions. It’s adding surfactants but a more calibrated process. The product is rather inexpensive, but often sold out as it’s exclusive to them. This reminds me that I actually need some.

 

  

All excellent suggestions! Good to know that yellow inks are drier in general as well. 

[fireant]

Shaeffer's King's Gold. I've seen photos and the ink looked amazing. But I really disliked it once I loaded it into a pen and took it for a spin.

[ParramattaPaul]

Diamine Jungle Green

[fireant]

On 7/28/2023 at 12:29 PM, Penguincollector said:

  I just bought Lamy Vibrant Pink and the vibes just aren’t there. Maybe it needs a Lamy fp to show out. 

 

 

Wait, what? Okay what about Edelstein Star Ruby? Have you tried Montblanc's Pink (the saturated one not the icky pale one)?

[miig]

DeAtramentis Camelien Red. I adored the color, a perfect red for me. But it produced hard starts on pens that had never had them before, plus burping sometimes. I looked at reviews and saw that other people have experienced the same. That was a pity, because I really wanted to like that ink. But it was too high maintenance...

[AmandaW]

4 hours ago, fireant said:

Edelstein Star Ruby?

I gave mine away.

 

I haven't liked the Montblanc inks I've bought, including Poppy Red, Lavender Purple and Irish Green - all gone, or going, to new homes. I even gave away my Oyster Grey - and I like grey. The recently arrived Vincent homage is still here... for now.

 

[A Smug Dill]

20 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

I gave mine away.

 

Thank you again! 🙂

[lapis]

Anything from a studio which is basically organic. Such a fluid too often goes kaput. Like my Blue Merle, Aristotle, Arsenic Gray and/or Manganese Blue Black.

[Penguincollector]

10 hours ago, fireant said:

 

Wait, what? Okay what about Edelstein Star Ruby? Have you tried Montblanc's Pink (the saturated one not the icky pale one)?

  I like Star Ruby, it’s pretty! I haven’t tried MB pink, I just started liking pink this year, to be honest. I used to hate it - I even gave away a bottled of Diamine Hope Pink at the last hub without even opening it.  

[RJS]

Montblanc Lucky Orange was comedically bad- I see why I was given it as a free gift! Dries on the nib in seconds and clogs overnight. Diabolical stuff. 

[amberleadavis]

Have I mentioned Concord Bream. What a lousy ink.

[kestrel]

At least Concord Bream had a pretty label.  I seem to remember sending a sample to @amberleadavis.  Sending the whole bottle would have been cruel and unusual punishment.

 

I would add to the list Robert Oster Khaki.  Well-behaved but the color was a dead ringer for the skin color of a corpse after several days in the ocean.  I didn't need that memory coming back.