Some Ink Tests

[USG]

In other news, the Pilot Blue Black made it in before the big storm that's hitting the NE.

With a wet nib the ink is sorta OK but it's on the pale side with dryer nibs.

 

 

This is a relatively wet nibbed Jinhao 82 Mini pen I got to compare to the Sailor Slim Mini.  (it's not this dark)

 

This is from a slightly dryer nib from a Wing Sung 699.

If you look closely you can see a darker outline around the letters.  I don't see that nuance very often.

[LizEF]

33 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  I got the idea from watching @LizEF‘s videos. 

 

38 minutes ago, USG said:

I've been thinking about getting that too....  👍😀 

Atm I'm using a 6X6 Velum sheet as a barrier.

The glove is so much more convenient!

[USG]

20 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

The glove is so much more convenient!

 

😀👍

[USG]

The Colors, Hot off the Press.

FOR BEST VIEWING, CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

 

 

[Mechanical]

5 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

 I bought an artist’s glove this winter because I am constantly having to use lotion. It’s a big help. It leaves the first three fingers free and covers wrist, ring finger, and pinky. 

 

I'm going to try this, especially with some papers.  This is one thing I never have problems with on A6 size paper, but is common for me on A5 and A4 sizes.

[Mechanical]

On 2/10/2025 at 11:02 PM, USG said:

Haha, who would have thought Pink Cliff is BB....

 

The name is weird!  I've been told the reason for it, but somehow it didn't stick.  Looking under brighter light I think maybe it is actually a dark navy blue.

[Mechanical]

Ah, @USG, these four are all on my favorites list: Shin Kai, Pilot BB, Platinum BB, and Sailor Souboku.  The Pilot BB may perhaps grow on you over time.  I've used it in a lot of different pens and it never gives me trouble, is always legible, and has a bit of water resistence.  It's not a vibrant color, but it does have a lot of blue in it... which I like.

 

p.s. I was inspired by your testing and ordered some Cosmo Snow paper before it is too late.  You get such nice results with this.

[Penguincollector]

4 hours ago, Mechanical said:

 

The name is weird!  I've been told the reason for it, but somehow it didn't stick.  Looking under brighter light I think maybe it is actually a dark navy blue.

 The only pink I have seen (in Pink Cliff) is on chromatography paper at a pen meeting. 

[USG]

4 hours ago, Mechanical said:

Ah, @USG, these four are all on my favorites list: Shin Kai, Pilot BB, Platinum BB, and Sailor Souboku.  The Pilot BB may perhaps grow on you over time.  I've used it in a lot of different pens and it never gives me trouble, is always legible, and has a bit of water resistence.  It's not a vibrant color, but it does have a lot of blue in it... which I like.

 

p.s. I was inspired by your testing and ordered some Cosmo Snow paper before it is too late.  You get such nice results with this.

 

I've been writing with the ink since it arrived and the more I use it the more I like it.  The color from a 'M' nib is decidedly darker than initial my dip pen examples.  Next I'll try a 'F' and than an 'EF'.

 

I agree with you about the color.  It has a lot of blue in it.  👍😀  It will look even darker when it settles in....  speaking of 'settling in', I think I like the darker 'settled in' more condensed shades of most inks better than their out of bottle color except for maybe the light turquoises... maybe??

 

I think you're going to like Cosmo Snow paper.  I think you said you have Iroful, which although is not as white, is very similar to Cosmo Snow in its ability to show ink nuances.  The down side of both papers is that oily finger prints result in ink resistant spots...😀

 

12 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

 The only pink I have seen (in Pink Cliff) is on chromatography paper at a pen meeting. 

 

OK, someone had to look it up...

 

"Pink Cliff" ink is named so because it is a special edition ink from Lamy that matches the color of their "Pink Cliff" Safari fountain pen, which features a primarily gray body with a striking pink accent, giving the overall impression of a "pink cliff" despite the ink itself being a deep blue with shading; the name reflects the color scheme of the pen rather than the exact ink color. "

[USG]

Pilot Blue Black on Yu-Sari and Cosmo Snow paper

 

First Yu-Sari paper

BEST VIEWING CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

Reverse writing with this nib was super smooth

 

Now Cosmo Snow, same pen

 

Reverse writing

 

Same pen, Fine nib, Cosmo Snow

[Mechanical]

On Pink Cliff naming, thanks to @Penguincollector and @USG.   I notice that Goulet now lists this as "Lamy Cliff," probably a good decision on their part.  Their take on the color is "deep blue/grey".  There's a nice swatch over at Vanness which shows a pinkish sheen; their take on the color itself is "deep navy blue ink with medium shading and low copper sheen".   I do wonder if something was lost in translation on naming this one.

 

 

[Penguincollector]

  Having seen the Pink Cliff Safari in person, the ink really does match the blue-grey color of the body. It’s a very nice ink, it looks like the sky here sometimes. 

[USG]

On 2/11/2025 at 5:08 AM, Lithium466 said:

I've been using Graphilo for several days, and I have mixed feelings. It's quality paper, no bleeding/feathering/ghosting with any of the inks I tried, and yes both sides are very similar (and usable since it's also thick enough).

On the other hand, it's making inks dry faster than say some TR paper, so it's not doing much (if at all) in terms of sheen, shading, etc (although shading I wouldn't really know, perhaps with the right ink and pen). It's also not as smooth as I like, and it's not white, so I don't see any reason to really recommend it, nor to buy some more.
To recap, for me it's fine...good paper, boring, not smooth enough, pass.

 

My research for the perfect blue ink failed miserably (momentarily). I have Lake Placid blue looking close to Herbin Eclat de Saphir concentrated, and Iroshizuku Asa-Gao not as dark as I remembered. Also not as wet as Lake Placid blue, and not as fun as Taccia Ao. I found a leftover of Sailor Ink Studio 743 and it's really a smooth ink! With dry out tendencies on a dry nib, like many Sailor inks unfortunately. Maybe there's something between 443 and 743 that could please me better? Right now I'm very tempted to buy some Noodler's Baystate blue.

 

Anyway, to cure that blue ink depression, I had to buy some greens, Lady Emerald and Taccia Midori. And maybe a few other things...just when I started another cycle of decluttering my ink collection (again, rude people of my household complained).

 

As a side note, I was very pleased with Iroshizuku Kosumosu (thanks @Penguincollector!). Good flow and more saturated than I thought. Colorverse Fountain Pen day 2024 is nice too! 

Too bad Graphilio didn’t work out, but I suspected as much.  There’s a lot of Blah paper out there, but so far none of them have been able to displace the big 3.  TR-S, Cosmo Snow and Iroful.  And speaking of Iroful, I don’t know why I’m not using it more.  Maybe it’s that degree of un-whiteness.  I don’t know but I’d better get used to it because when the supply of Cosmo Snow runs out it’s going to be the only game in town.

 

The quest for the perfect blue…. I’m finding that after a few days in the pen a lot of my blues start looking the same.  It’s very hard to tell the difference between a Lamy Aion<ef>with PR Lake Placid Blue, a Namiki Shogun<f>with Asa-Gao and a Momento Z<f> with Edelstein Sapphire, once those inks have settled in.  Surprisingly, the Kon-Peki in my Wing-Sung 601 and the Sailor Sumire in a Platinum President don’t seem to ever settle in.  Maybe it’s my imagination.  I like Sailor #743, so why did it get displaced by lroshizuku Shin-Kai in my Sailor 743<sf>?  Thin lines like darker inks?  And what happened to Konagi, a pink glowing former favorite?  Lost to history….   I liked PGC’s recommendation of Colorverse Fountain Pen day ink but wonder if it too will ‘settle in’ and look like the rest of the darkened ‘blues’?  The ‘new to me’ Pilot BB has some interesting shading possibilities in a ‘F’ X159 nib but I buggered up a ‘M’ nib trying to get the flow copious enough to look darker.  You have assured me the ink will darken on its own so possibilities may exist.  Anyway, my hands down ‘Flavor of the Moment’ Blue Ink is Platinum BB.  It’ has a certain Pizazz. 👍

 

 

[Lithium466]

Platinum BB doesn't punch in the same category, being an iron containing liquid

I'm surprised that you don't experience some sort of darkening with all/most of your inks...maybe you have some particularly good sealing pens? But then you say Sumire in a Platinum President doesn't, and my own President is among the worst sealing pens I have!

 

Pilot BB will eventually "settle in", but it may take a while to get to something you like. There is this thread here from someone that concentrated it to "200%":

 

 

 

[Lithium466]

I'm rediscovering a cheap school pen, the Rotring Rivette, such a smooth writer with Diamine Blue Velvet. I can see why I loved it so much at some point!

 

Absolutely terrible picture as usual, and there's almost a hint of sheen if you squint your eyes hard enough.

 

 

Then Taccia Midori in a "wet" 3776 F rhodium plated. Do the silver trim 3776 feel different than the gold trimmed? 

 

[Mechanical]

6 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Absolutely terrible picture as usual, and there's almost a hint of sheen if you squint your eyes hard enough.

 

I dont think I've taken a decent picture in my life.  I'm amazed at USG's photos in this thread; he gets such good results.

[USG]

7 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Platinum BB doesn't punch in the same category, being an iron containing liquid

I'm surprised that you don't experience some sort of darkening with all/most of your inks...maybe you have some particularly good sealing pens? But then you say Sumire in a Platinum President doesn't, and my own President is among the worst sealing pens I have!

 

Pilot BB will eventually "settle in", but it may take a while to get to something you like. There is this thread here from someone that concentrated it to "200%":

 

 

 

I read that review too.  Interesting 👍.  I don’t think I’m going to do that.

 

I think you misunderstood me.  All my inks darken.  I generally prefer the condensed versions to the out of the bottle colors.  An exception being the Kon-Peki in a WS 601 and Sailor Sumire in a Platinum President.  Both were only used occasionally and I remember remarking to myself that the inks stayed light.

 

 

7 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

I'm rediscovering a cheap school pen, the Rotring Rivette, such a smooth writer with Diamine Blue Velvet. I can see why I loved it so much at some point!

 

Absolutely terrible picture as usual, and there's almost a hint of sheen if you squint your eyes hard enough.

 

 

Then Taccia Midori in a "wet" 3776 F rhodium plated. Do the silver trim 3776 feel different than the gold trimmed? 

 

I have a sample of BV.  It didn’t strike me as anything special when I was going through the samples but it looks good enough in your pic to rate a second evaluation.  Now all I have to do is find it…😁

 

I only have one decades old 3776 celluloid with an 18K nib, so I can’t comment on current models… but I have to tell you that I can’t get over Sailor previously plating their 21K 1911L nibs so they would be a yellower gold color than 14K nibs.  A disappointing revelation.
 

My 18K Platinum nib is a deeper darker gold color than Sailor’s new 21K and 14K nibs, which now look the same. 

Top to bottom:

Sailor Slim Mini with 14K nib

”New” Sailor 1911L with what they are claiming is a 21K un-plated nib

Sailor 1911L, with what has been their standard, “Plated” to look like it has a high gold content, 21K nib

[USG]

 

8 hours ago, USG said:

My 18K Platinum nib is a deeper darker gold color than Sailor’s new 21K

 

Top to Bottom:

Platinum 3736 Celluloid 18K nib

New Sailor 1911L 21K nib

Pilot 743 14K nib

[Lithium466]

7 hours ago, USG said:

 

 

Top to Bottom:

Platinum 3736 Celluloid 18K nib

New Sailor 1911L 21K nib

Pilot 743 14K nib

We can't trust the Platinum not being plated too 😂

 

How's the celluloid aging on your Platinum?

[USG]

5 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

We can't trust the Platinum not being plated too 😂

 

How's the celluloid aging on your Platinum?

My 3776 is decades old.  I got it from Chuck Swisher when he first started selling pens online.  I assume it was made for the Japanese market because the line width marketing on the nib is in Japanese, but who knows?😀  I know you mentioned something about shrinking celluloid but this one is seems fine.  It’s a shame Platinum stopped making 18K nibs for this pen.

 

“We can't trust the Platinum not being plated too”.  Ever the skeptic.  That would be disappointing wouldn’t it?  Especially since I was thinking about getting an acrylic 3776.  But I see where you’re going.  The elephant in the room is that the higher the gold content the deeper the yellow color.

 

.