Some Ink Tests

[USG]

Ink Test Compilations:  Highlights and Close Ups are in my Albums.

 

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[USG]

1 hour ago, AmericanMonk said:

@Penguincollector@USG Happy to help when I can.

 

Thanks for starting the thread, USG. You've got some brilliant examples! I came here for the blue inks you've shared to see if I can find a good replacement for Colorverse Supernova, which I love but is expensive and dries a bit too slowly for this lefty.

 

I've recently tried Troublemaker Simoun and have high hopes for it. Do you have any other suggestions for me to try?

 

As an aside, I don't care for blurples but I really love what you've done with Bilberry!

 

Hi @AmericanMonk  I'm always looking for a new blue ink too... My preference are for blues that lean purple rather than teal, like Sailor Shikiori Yonaga.

 

I don't know what inks you've tried but these are some interesting blue inks that I'm using:

• Diamine Sargasso Sea
• Diamine Majestic Blue
• Diamine Florida Blue
• Diamine China Blue
• Diamine Sapphire
• Diamine Imperial Blue
• Monteverde Horizon Blue
• Private Reserve American Blue
• Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue
• Sailor Ink Studio 743 (thank you @Lithium466)
• Sailor State Illinois
• Sailor Shikiori Nioi-Sumire
• Iroshizuku Asa-Gao
• Iroshizuku Shin-Kai
• Noodler's Liberty's Elysium
• Robert Oster Blue Water Ice
• De Atramentis Lavender
• Aurora Blue
• Visconti Blue
• Lamy Blue
• Waterman Blue - Don't discount Waterman Blue 😀
• Parker Quink Blue Black

 

 

 

What are you looking for besides color, sheen, shading, etc?  What paper are you writing on? Are your pens wet or dry?  Many times the same ink will look very different depending on paper and nib wetness.

 

Below is Horizon Blue and Waterman Blue from different pens on Iroful paper.

 

For instance Sailor Manyo Konagi, one of my favorites, can look like a turquoise from a dry nib as seen below....

 

Or a darker vibrant blue from the wetter nib of a Sailor KOP

 

 

[Lithium466]

@USG, how's your Diamine Imperial blue? Mine was very disappointing, not at all like in the (old) reviews. Kind of like a less saturated Diamine Sapphire blue.

 

I'm building courage to take your advice on not discounting Waterman blue. The effort of having to overcome my school time methyl/methylene blue overdose, plus having to clean the pen after a few minutes of use might kill me (/jk).

 

I have Lamy blue in bottle, and for some reason it's more saturated than the disappointment that it is in cartridges (like Visconti blue?). Sprinkle a few drops of Diamine Bilberry and you have a nice sheening dark blue.

 

On a whim I bought some Private Reserve Black Magic Blue, hopefully it will be better than Cosmic Cobalt.

 

Edit: I think I would put Sailor Doyou as darker than Pilot Black 🤔

[Penguincollector]

 @USG, you should try Colorverse’s Fountain Pen Day ink for this year, it’s a really vibrant blue. I can send you a sample if you’d like, but if you prefer to buy a bottle, it’s still for sale at Vanness. 
 

Colorverse 2024 FPD blue

 

@Lithium466, I understand that weird association with certain inks- but Waterman Florida Serenity Blue has so much going for it. The red sheen, the blue that shades in the right pen but also is very saturated out of others, not to mention that it plays well with sacced pens. I say give it a try, it might surprise you.  Regarding Lamy blue, I only have a few cartridges from pens that I have bought, but it’s almost a blurple already. 
 

@AmericanMonk The Colorverse Supernova is a beautiful color, as is the Troublemaker Simoun, but the two look nothing alike to me, at least on screen. Were you looking for a direct replacement, or a blue that you like just as much?  I think you would like Sailor Manyo Konagi, as it seems to show many of the blue shades that these two inks have in common, and it’s a bit on the dry side. It’s also listed as an alternative for Simoun. As an aside, here’s the Inkswatch link to Colorverse Supernova alternatives:

 

Colorverse Supernova on Inkswatch

 

 

[USG]

18 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

@USG, how's your Diamine Imperial blue? Mine was very disappointing, not at all like in the (old) reviews. Kind of like a less saturated Diamine Sapphire blue.

 

I'm building courage to take your advice on not discounting Waterman blue. The effort of having to overcome my school time methyl/methylene blue overdose, plus having to clean the pen after a few minutes of use might kill me (/jk).

 

I have Lamy blue in bottle, and for some reason it's more saturated than the disappointment that it is in cartridges (like Visconti blue?). Sprinkle a few drops of Diamine Bilberry and you have a nice sheening dark blue.

 

On a whim I bought some Private Reserve Black Magic Blue, hopefully it will be better than Cosmic Cobalt.

 

Edit: I think I would put Sailor Doyou as darker than Pilot Black 🤔

Imperial Blue

I've come to the conclusion that inks vary by batch, some more than others.

 I only have Diamine Imperial Blue in one pen atm, an EF Kaigelu 316A but I have Diamine Sapphire Blue in a couple of pens.  Top right is out of a Sheaffer Connaisseur <m>.  I wanted to see what the color looked like out of the bottle so I dipped the Connaisseur's nib into the bottle.  That's the lower left.  It looked a little darker.  Lower right is one of my project pens, a Momento Majohn with a Leonardo medium nib. That ink has been in the pen for a while and has had a chance to "settle in" and concentrate, so it picked up the sheen that those inks don't normally have.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

OK, now what have you done to the Lamy ink?  You added a few drops of Bilberry?  Sound interesting.  What color was the sheen?

 

I haven't tried Private Reserve Black Magic Blue,or Cosmic Cobalt but I have American Blue in a Pelikan M800<b> and a Lamy 2K <OM>.

 

Ah, the infamous Doyou.   So dark no light escapes.  PGC called it the VOID which is a really good name for it.  I got it to clean the turquoise ink stain out of an Omas 360 demonstrator.  It's been months and the jury's not in yet on that one.

[USG]

11 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

@USG, you should try Colorverse’s Fountain Pen Day ink for this year, it’s a really vibrant blue. I can send you a sample if you’d like, but if you prefer to buy a bottle, it’s still for sale at Vanness. 
 

Colorverse 2024 FPD blue

 

Looks like a very dark blue.  Could be interesting if it doesn't end up looking black like a lot of the Diamine Holiday inks.

I have a sample ordered along with a bottle of Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, which has turned out to be the most consistent shading blue ink I've come across.  I could be wrong but it seems to do it's trick from any pen and on all my usual papers.

OPEN IMAGE IN A NEW TAB

[AmericanMonk]

On 11/12/2024 at 1:29 AM, USG said:

I'm always looking for a new blue ink too... My preference are for blues that lean purple rather than teal, like Sailor Shikiori Yonaga.

 

Your samples got a bit quiet for a few months but you've obviously been busy! Thanks for the efforts and thanks for the reply!

 

I don't have much experience with blurples, sapphires, or royal blues. I'm afraid I won't be much help there. But I have sampled some that you haven't already mentioned (to me) in this thread, including Monteverde Sapphire; Noodler's La Couleur Royale and X-Feather Blue; Visconti's Blue (cartridge); Pelikan's Eldelstein Sapphire and 4001 Royal Blue; Colorverse Quasar; and Taccia's Ao (which might be a neutral blue but its pink sheen tends to behave like a semi-transparent film, so pink + blue = blurple). If you have any curiosities about those inks that you haven't already answered for yourself I'd be happy to help out.

 

 

On 11/12/2024 at 1:29 AM, USG said:

What paper are you writing on? Are your pens wet or dry?  Many times the same ink will look very different depending on paper and nib wetness.

 

Most of my pens have an average flow but I have access to the full gamut. I'm partial to Jinhao Centennial 100s and x159s with a Fine nib, Pilot Metros with a F, M, or Stub, and my Sheaffer No Nonsense Italic F pens.

 

I don't always have a choice in paper, I don't use ink for art (other than splashing around with Copperplate or Pilot Parallels sometimes), and some of my writing involves filling in forms. I highly value inks that perform well on cheap paper, can put down a crisp line, and dry quickly. These values are also why I tend to prefer the European Fine/Japanese Medium range for inks like Supernova, even if thin lines sacrifice some of the ink's nuances.

 

My personal stock of everyday paper includes composition/journal notebooks from Vietnam that I find at my local grocery store or dollar store. They work well with FPs 80+% of the time so I consider them to be an exceptional value. They work much better than my ream of HP32. Thanks to @OCArt's suggestion, I've been using some sugarcane paper. It won't replace your preferred papers but I'll parrot his recommendation—it's an excellent, cost-effective paper if you're comfortable with the tan color.

 

My "fine china" includes Rhodia, old batch Tomoe River, Clairefontaine, and Midori. They only come out on special occasions so I don't usually consider them when deciding whether or not I like an ink.

 

 

On 11/12/2024 at 1:29 AM, USG said:

What are you looking for besides color, sheen, shading, etc?

On 11/12/2024 at 11:48 AM, Penguincollector said:

Were you looking for a direct replacement [for Supernova], or a blue that you like just as much?

 

At this point I am quite saturated in inks and am only looking for inks to replace ones that take too long to dry. Namely the Colorverse Supernova, KWZ's Honey, and (to a much lesser extent) KWZ's Walks Over Vistula.

 

What I love about those inks is that they have a gem-like depth to them that makes them appear to glow. So many shading inks get pale in the highlights that can make them look (by my eye) like they were written with a pen that is experiencing flow issues, especially if they don't have smooth transitions between the highlights and shadows and/or they're 50/50 of each shade. I love inks where the shading highlights (and/or shadows) are rare (15-33% of the text) but when the show up they really pop out. The inks I'm looking to replace are almost electric with their vibrancy, both in the base color and the highlights.

 

I'm not necessarily looking for direct replacements, especially since I don't always get to choose the paper. I was, for example, looking for a replacement for Noodler's (Navajo [Turquoise) of the Mesas] for the same reasons as Supernova, and never found a direct replacement. I did, however, find a few options that are close enough.

 

You've both mentioned Sailor Manyo Konagi so I'll add a sample of that to my cart for my upcoming Black Friday sale purchases. Noodler's Liberty's Elysium is tempting but I don't have much faith in Nathan's inconsistencies. I have a sample of Waterman Serenity Blue that I swatched and promptly ignored (it looks flat in my swatchbook so I never inked it into a pen). I don't think it'll replace Supernova but I'll spend more time with it. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

 

On 11/12/2024 at 11:48 AM, Penguincollector said:

The Colorverse Supernova is a beautiful color, as is the Troublemaker Simoun, but the two look nothing alike to me, at least on screen.

 

Simoun gets darker and its shading becomes more subtle with age, is more prone to sheening (especially the first few words when one first picks up the pen), can experience the sheen smear misbehavior, has very minor spread (not enough to turn a M to a B but it is not as thin as Supernova), and has a hint of green compared to Supernova. But I have only tested it through a Pilot M nib so far and the two inks are extremely similar in writing, especially when the Simoun is fresh.

 

The attached pic was on a random receipt floating around on my desk. Some notes:

• Paper unknown but obviously FP-friendly.
• The pens used were two Pilot Metro with M nibs.
• The photos were color-corrected in accordance with what Photoshop claimed were the darkest and lightest pixels. Both the inks appear lighter in the photos compared to what I see in real life.
• There is nothing materially different between the various "Troublemaker Simoun X" samples. I wrote multiple samples to find out how much the ink would lighten up the more I wrote with it. Not much, in this sample.
• The photos didn't pick it up but the "Colorverse Supernova" sample at the top of the photo is slightly cloudy because... lefty overhook. Simoun appears lefty-friendly in my tests so far, but I purposely rubbed my finger across the four Troublemaker samples to see if they would smear. You can see some smears on "Troubl..." with the 1st and 4th examples, which I am assuming are due to the sheen.
• The scribbles were doodled with Simoun.
• The second picture was taken at an angle to show the sheen better.
• The "Refilled" samples are because both samples were almost out of their respective pens and I added a few more drops to the converters. I didn't clean the pens at all when I refilled them so I neither expected nor saw any difference.
• Neither ink bled or ghosted through to the reverse side of the page.

[Penguincollector]

  I was given a Kokuyo Campus notebook at my pen club meeting on Sunday. It doesn’t do so well with large nibs, there’s some bleed through, but they look good on the page. All shimmer inks today.
 

[USG]

2 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I was given a Kokuyo Campus notebook at my pen club meeting on Sunday. It doesn’t do so well with large nibs, there’s some bleed through, but they look good on the page. All shimmer inks today.
 

 

Bravo... those shimmers are begging for closeups....👍😀

LOL... Show me your Shimmers.....🤪

 

[USG]

8 hours ago, AmericanMonk said:

Your samples got a bit quiet for a few months but you've obviously been busy!

 

I've been posting on @Penguincollector's thread

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/374141-peninkpaper-trios/page/38

 

[USG]

8 hours ago, AmericanMonk said:

I've been using some sugarcane paper. It won't replace your preferred papers but I'll parrot his recommendation—it's an excellent, cost-effective paper if you're comfortable with the tan color.

 

My Staples Sugar Cane paper is light gray.  😀

 

LOL, It seems we're all on the same page, pens, inks and paper....

 

I have vintage Visconti's Blue (which lost it's color), Eldelstein Sapphire, 4001 Royal Blue; and Colorverse Quasar.

 

Many of the inks I mentioned, you have similar colors in other brands and vice versa.

 

I found that paper is critical for bringing out an ink's hidden properties.  For instance, Konagi doesn't look like much on regular paper, but on Cosmo Snow or Iroful it becomes something else.... but I recently put it in a dry writing Sailor 1911L and it looked like Kon-Peki even on Cosmo Snow paper. (scroll up for pics)  But from a wet nib it explodes into color under magnification.  To the eye, it looks like there's a pink glow around the words.  So what I'm saying is, if you get a sample of Konagi, not to expect much on regular paper. (Amazon has Iroful)

[USG]

Some Random tests (I finished the page using a dip pen with the nib from a 1930s Parker Duofold)

Click to Enlarge

 

 

[Penguincollector]

@USG, I’ll take some closeup pictures tonight.
 

 I had a cartridge of the Platinum BB that had a hairline crack and the ink oxidized. It looked the same as your picture. If it’s in a bottle and you like the color, you can still use it with dip pens, but the precipitates in the cartridge ink kept clogging my pen and that’s what led to me finding the crack. I was really disappointed in the color at first, but I am now using a fresh cartridge in my BelAge UEF and it’s been much better and is definitely bluer.

[Penguincollector]

   You also inspired me to dip my newest (yet oldest) Duofold as I don’t have enough space to ink it right now..

[AmericanMonk]

7 hours ago, USG said:

My Staples Sugar Cane paper is light gray.  😀

...

So what I'm saying is, if you get a sample of Konagi, not to expect much on regular paper. (Amazon has Iroful)

 

Fair enough! I don't need it to be beautiful across all papers. When it comes to paper found "in the wild" I am happy when the ink/pen doesn't spread, feather, bleed, explode into noxious smoke, or experience other similar misbehaviors. I'll save the beauty aspects to my preferred papers.

 

I found Iroful on Amazon. It appears to be twice the cost of the new Tomoe River (same price but half the quantity). My TR paper is the old batch and I have no experience with the new stuff (yet), but I appreciate its beautiful results. In your opinion, what makes Iroful worth the added cost?

 

Is this your sugarcane paper?
https://www.staples.com/treezero-treefree-100-recycled-8-1-2-x-11-multipurpose-paper-20-lbs-92-brightness-5-000-sheets-ct-228007534/product_697216

[USG]

6 hours ago, AmericanMonk said:

 

Fair enough! I don't need it to be beautiful across all papers. When it comes to paper found "in the wild" I am happy when the ink/pen doesn't spread, feather, bleed, explode into noxious smoke, or experience other similar misbehaviors. I'll save the beauty aspects to my preferred papers.

 

I found Iroful on Amazon. It appears to be twice the cost of the new Tomoe River (same price but half the quantity). My TR paper is the old batch and I have no experience with the new stuff (yet), but I appreciate its beautiful results. In your opinion, what makes Iroful worth the added cost?

 

Is this your sugarcane paper?
https://www.staples.com/treezero-treefree-100-recycled-8-1-2-x-11-multipurpose-paper-20-lbs-92-brightness-5-000-sheets-ct-228007534/product_697216

 

Cosmo Snow and Iroful will bring out properties in inks that don't show up on any other papers.

[USG]

OK, so all the parts for my Flex nib project are in:

The nib is a very smooth EF, but the big question is Does it Flex?  It does.  See Below.

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A quick and dirty test...  it's as fine as my Pilot 743 FA and flexes a little more with a similar amount of pressure.  I wrote 'Ultra Flex' with the 743 next to Jinhao 9016 FPR for a direct comparison of line width.  The Pilot has Diamine Bilberry which sheens gold.  I suppose I could have tried to print better and made those Ss better but this was a quick and dirty.  I haven't filled the pen yet and just dipped the FPR nib into Waterman Blue.

 

 

 

[Penguincollector]

    I love that nib, I hope you do too!

[USG]

4 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

    I love that nib, I hope you do too!

 

So far it's very nice.  Very flexible.

I'm going to repost on "Trios" because that's where we had the original discussion of those nibs.

[USG]

Some Comparisons:

Both pens are active now.  Flex 2 has a wetter Sailor #743 ink than Flex 1 with Waterman Blue.  The Pilot 743 has Diamine Bilberry and the Jinhao X159 Sailor Shikiori Shigure.  On the bottom left is the extremely smooth and wet Goulet flex nib with Sailor Illinois, in a Wing Sung 699.

 

Not all nibs are equal so I always order multiple nibs.  I ordered 3 flex nibs.  2 were smooth and one will require additional attention.

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