Some Ink Tests

[Lithium466]

11 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I didn't honestly like Sargasso Sea when I tried it.  I got a sample when it first came out, mostly because people described it as a replacement for Parker Penman Sapphire.  But while the color was pretty, it was a very cloggy ink.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

That's annoying 😕

There's also Cornflower which was kind of cloggy, now that I remember.
But isn't Penman Sapphire closer to Blue Velvet? I see Sargasso sea a touch more purple, like Sailor Nioi Sumire (maybe it's my screen, I only have N-S).

Despite my best resolution and exhausted ink budget for the year, I'm debating a Diamine order...

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Lithium466 said:

J. Herbin Bleu des profondeurs, which is my latest ink crush, thanks to @LizEF.

[USG]

5 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Guess now I will have to add a 30mL bottle of Sargasso sea in my next order!
I have to admit I don't mind the moldy smell, if it's anything like Aster or Sapphire blue. It's usually not to pungent coming from EF nibs, less than the typical Sailor smell, which I really like. Reminds me of primary school Watercolor paint 🥰

 

Do you have Diamine velvet blue? Not as purple. Or maybe Sailor ink studio 743...or J. Herbin Bleu des profondeurs, which is my latest ink crush, thanks to @LizEF.

 

Yes, Sargasso smells like Sapphire Blue.  As long as it doesn't bother you, I think you'll be alright. I still don't like the smell but I like the color and I seem to be getting used to it.  🙂

 

I have a sample of Blue Velvet, definitely not as purple as Nioi-Sumire, but I haven't explored it very much...  Negative on the other two.  Haven't tried them yet.

 

The other thing I found was that the paper makes a difference.  The most shading and sheening was on Cosmo Snow.  Both were equally nice and dark on Tomoe River S 52,  but not as vivid on 68...  And surprise me, Sargasso out-shaded Nioi-Sumire on the off white View Corona 52. That was particularly curious because when I had Nioi-Sumire in a [M] KOP it had a much lighter colored presentation (on that paper).  The takeaway being that the flow adjusted [M]Jinhao X-159s really brought those ink colors into their own on View Corona.

[USG]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I didn't honestly like Sargasso Sea when I tried it.  I got a sample when it first came out, mostly because people described it as a replacement for Parker Penman Sapphire.  But while the color was pretty, it was a very cloggy ink.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Hi ISR

I can see what you mean by cloggy.  Sargasso coats the bottle and the converter.  I haven't had any problems yet but I just started using it.

 

I never was a big fan of Penman Sapphire and I still have about 1/4 of my original bottle left. 

 

Some said it looked like a neutral blue but to my eye it looked like a heavily saturated Turquoise.  It may look blue in the bottle but when you washed it out of a pen, the water didn't run blue, dark blue like Aurora or sapphire blue like Edelstein, it ran turquoise.

 

 

 

[Lithium466]

I might have missed it, but did you try Diamine Bilberry?

 

https://theserialdoodler.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/ink-swab-diamine-bilberry/

[USG]

On 10/30/2023 at 7:43 AM, Lithium466 said:

I might have missed it, but did you try Diamine Bilberry?

 

https://theserialdoodler.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/ink-swab-diamine-bilberry/

 

Hey, thank you for that... it's an "Outliner" ink.  It's on my list now  😃👍

 

(btw, no clogs with Sargasso so far.)

[Penguincollector]

On 10/30/2023 at 4:43 AM, Lithium466 said:

I might have missed it, but did you try Diamine Bilberry?

 

https://theserialdoodler.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/ink-swab-diamine-bilberry/

 Pretty ink. Saw this one day too late for my Cult Pens order.

[USG]

OK, a couple of updates:

 

I was reading a thread about using Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing for ink.  It's arriving tomorrow and I can't wait to check it out.  Crazy ! 🤪

 

Next:

I have an Omas 360 demonstrator that was stained by some blue or turquoise ink many years ago.  Many flushes with Rapido-Eze and the stain persists.  Filled it with R-E and left it for weeks.  Then numerous water fills and no progress.

 

 

Then I read a thread about being able to clean out stains with certain ink, but I can't find it again to give credit to the people who were in the thread (amberleadavis). 

 

Of the stain removing inks mentioned I found 1/2 a bottle of Parker Quink black with Solv-X and loaded it into the pen.  Surprisingly it "Outlined" a little when I wrote with it.

 

So here is day one with vintage Parker Quink Black with Solv-X.  Picked up a little "Outline" sheen.

 

 

Day 2 looked like this with nice "Outline" sheen, probably because it became concentrated over the years. 

 

But when I look through the pen with a flash light, I can still see the blue stain... so we'll have to see if the Solv-X can remove the stain in my Omas Demonstrator.

 

 

 

[USG]

12 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

 Pretty ink. Saw this one day too late for my Cult Pens order.

 

It's an "Outline" ink, so I'll have to get some.  Maybe a sample first to see if it outlines for me.  I'm concerned because some of the inks that outlined for me didn't for you. They should have.  Especially on Iroful or Cosmo Snow paper.  Hey btw, Cosmo snow is discontinued so it looks like Iroful is going to be the only game in town for "Ultra" sheening,(unless another player picks up the Cosmo formula).

[Penguincollector]

I’m curious about the bluing, but most of my pens are gold. I do have laundry that could use some, so maybe I’ll try it with a cheap pen. I swear by Solv-X, that’s my go to for every problem pen. I just got my bottle of Permanent Red with Solv-X today, as a matter of fact. I have vintage Quink Black in my  45 Arrow, I will see if I can get it to outline with the phone magnification.

[Penguincollector]

11 minutes ago, USG said:

 

It's an "Outline" ink, so I'll have to get some.  Maybe a sample first to see if it outlines for me.  I'm concerned because some of the inks that outlined for me didn't for you. They should have.  Especially on Iroful or Cosmo Snow paper.  Hey btw, Cosmo snow is discontinued so it looks like Iroful is going to be the only game in town for "Ultra" sheening,(unless another player picks up the Cosmo formula).

  I think the nibs I tried aren’t the best for this, I will try them again in a medium. It’s like Goldilocks, the stub was too wide, the fine too small. I also need to play with the light and magnification more, which can be difficult with my eyesight. I just bought a bottle of Konagi. It’s fountain pen week and I went a bit nuts. I think what I’m going to do is run out inked pens and start over with known outline inks in medium nibbed pens and Cosmo Snow. By then I should have a better grasp of how the light and magnifying app work together to see. 
  I guess we need to buy up the Snow, then. 💸💸💸

[Lithium466]

7 hours ago, USG said:

 

Hey, thank you for that... it's an "Outliner" ink.  It's on my list now  😃👍

 

(btw, no clogs with Sargasso so far.)

I look forward to hear if it "outlines" for you. It doesn't for me with my EF nib (Moonman/Majohn A1, office duty). I'm waiting for my Amazon order of dotted Iroful so maybe that will help!

Apart from that Bilberry is a lovely colour and nicely flowing and lubricated...should have tried it earlier (I've had that bottle for a while).

 

Still waiting for Sargasso sea (was shipped from the UK earlier this week), impatiently. Good to know it's not that clog prone. 
I also got a bottle of Cornflower as I wasn't remembering my sample very well. So many choices in blue/purple/blurple!

[USG]

STOP THE PRESS:  MRS STEWART HAS ARRIVED

 

It's a washed out turquoise color that's thin but viscus and easily clumps in on end of the converter, requiring a "flick" to get it down to the section.  Conversely, once you get it at the right side of the converter, it stays there.

 

Many thanks to the guys in the Mrs. Stewart thread and Amper.

 

 

EDIT:

OK, I just wrote out an A5 page of Kokuyo KB 64gsm paper, let it dry for 10 or 15 minuted and then ran it under water.  Both sides.  I really let it get soaked.  Then ran the writing side under running water some more.

 

Mrs Stewart was totally and completely waterproof.  Not even the slightest hint of a smear. a run or a fade.  The color didn't change. I've never seen anything like it. 

 

When writing it doesn't bleed, feather or show-through on any of the papers I've tried it on:

• View Corona 52gsm
• Thin Kokuyo 52gsm
• Kokuyo KB 64gsm
• Cosmo Snow 75gsm
• Iroful 75gsm
• Maruman 70gsm
• Clairefonatine 90gsm
• Tomoe River S 52gsm

 

From the nib it feels like an unlubricated dry ink. so there's more of a pencil feel against the paper and from this Jinhao x-159 (M) it's a shader with a longer than average dry time.

[USG]

21 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

I look forward to hear if it "outlines" for you. It doesn't for me with my EF nib (Moonman/Majohn A1, office duty). I'm waiting for my Amazon order of dotted Iroful so maybe that will help!

Apart from that Bilberry is a lovely colour and nicely flowing and lubricated...should have tried it earlier (I've had that bottle for a while).

 

Still waiting for Sargasso sea (was shipped from the UK earlier this week), impatiently. Good to know it's not that clog prone. 
I also got a bottle of Cornflower as I wasn't remembering my sample very well. So many choices in blue/purple/blurple!

 

Hi LTM

 

I'm not sure what you're looking for? 

 

I have Diamine Majestic Blue in a Pilot 743 FA, which is the closest thing I have to an extra fine.  I'll show you what it looks like on Tomoe River S 52gsm.  (Pardon my quick and dirty pics 🤪)

 

Here's the ink with a cotton swab for color and size.

 

As you move the light around it starts to illuminate.

 

and becomes this

 

This is a Pilot 743 SFM with Sailor Manyo Konagi on Cosmo Snow <-- this only happens on Cosmo paper

 

It illuminates an Outline like this (I know, not the greatest pic but you get the idea 👍)

[txomsy]

Nice. And the shadow of Mrs. Stewart too. Great to know, please keep it going.

[Lithium466]

3 hours ago, USG said:

 

Hi LTM

 

I'm not sure what you're looking for? 

It illuminates an Outline like this (I know, not the greatest pic but you get the idea 👍)

I'm just curious to see if Diamine Bilberry creates an outline for you. It doesn't for me, as I probably should try thicker nibs, but I have high hopes with Iroful paper (that I have to go get at the Amazon relay now, since I missed the delivery yesterday- it must be precious paper that they didn't want to leave it at my door as they usually do).

 

Cool experiment with the Mrs Stewart! I think...I think I will soon have some laundry to whiten...or something like that  

[USG]

12 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

I'm just curious to see if Diamine Bilberry creates an outline for you. It doesn't for me, as I probably should try thicker nibs, but I have high hopes with Iroful paper (that I have to go get at the Amazon relay now, since I missed the delivery yesterday- it must be precious paper that they didn't want to leave it at my door as they usually do).

 

Cool experiment with the Mrs Stewart! I think...I think I will soon have some laundry to whiten...or something like that  

 

RE: Bilberry

 

I may have missed it, What paper are you using?  I only see outlines on Cosmo Snow... but wait I'll check Iroful.....

 

EDIT:

OK, I'm back.  Here's the situation.  I hadn't written with the two pens I chose for the demonstration so the ink concentrated in the feed, as it always does when you don't use a pen, and the result was a lot of sheen and the two inks were not able to reach their respective colors, which was Orange for Kin-Mokusei and Yellow for Yamabuki.

So what you see is a lot of sheen but the inks are starting to revert to their "Outline" form as I wrote further.

 

Here you can see both inks are much darker than they would be from sitting in the section... in fact they both look like the same reddish orange color.  Further up there should be pics of these inks "un-concentrated"

 

Under the light, full of sheen.... But....

 

But if you look carefully there are areas that even when concentrated, it "Outlines"

 

So the "Outlining" effect can be seen with Both Cosmo Snow and Iroful paper. 😀👍

 

[USG]

The continuing experiment with Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing.  In all cases the color was much lighter than the iPhone's photographic rendition.   The feel of the nib to the paper is very draggy, harder than pushing a pencil.  A dry nib with no ink glides across the paper with ease.  For some reason this fluid increases the resistance. 

 

So I was listening to Michio kaku discus Gravity on a YouTube video and he said something very interesting.  And he said it in passing, like it was something everyone knows...  Something like "what goes up must come down".

He said "objects aren't pulled, they're pushed".

What do you think about that?

 

[USG]

(11-5-23)

MRS STEWART'S  25 MIN WATER SUBMERSION TEST

 

Most of the ink that was going to get washed off came off when I held it under the faucet. 

 

 

 

 

Michio Kaku:

Clocks beat faster on the Moon than they do on Earth.

Clocks beat faster on Earth than they would on Jupiter.

- So if it would take 10 seconds to empty a medical syringe on Earth, would it take longer on the Moon because the clocks are beating faster but the fluid remains constrained by the lumen of the needle?

 

[USG]

CluelessMe has almost all of my pens inked. It’s a hobby, right? I Never know what pen I want to write with or with what ink or on which paper.

 

Aside from enjoying writing with a variety of my pens, my latest kick is to compare the performance of pens, inks and paper.

 

Let me give you an example.  A while ago I was writing with a KOP filled with Sailor Nioi-Sumire.  As I was writing I noticed that the color and behavior of Nioi-Sumire was very similar to what I remembered Damine Sargasso Sea looked like (on Cosmo Snow paper) and I wanted to compare them.  I could have cleaned out the KOP or another pen and filled it with Sargasso for the comparison but luckily I  had a pen filled with Sargasso, so the comparison was easy.  But wait, those inks look a lot like Diamine Majestic Blue, so now I wanted to compare that too.  I could have cleaned or inked a third pen, but I had one (Jinhao X-159) already filled with Majestic.... but while I was writing with Majestic I was thinking that if memory serves, DC Supershow Blue (Wing Sung 699) and American Blue (Lamy 2K) are also a dark blue inks.... how do they match up?  And you have it. It's a hobby.

 

I'll give you another example.  I just changed the ink in a Waterman Boucheron to re-hydrated vintage J Herbin Cafe Des Iles and I was curious how that compared to some of the other browns I had.  A Parker 45 had Penman Mocha, a PenBBS had Diamine Macassar, an Omas Paragon had Omas Sepia and a Pelikan M1000 had Pelikan 4001 Brillant Braun.

 

During my ongoing "Shading" investigations I found that I only was able to replicate "Curious" shading with certain pens and certain inks and on certain paper.  Sailor Manyo Nadeshiko is a nice shading ink from a Pilot Art Flower pen and a Waterman Patrician but not so much from others, which amounted to needing trick pens, trick inks and trick paper to pull it off. 

 

(Mrs. Stewart's Laundry Bluing also shades well on Tomoe River, View Corona, Thin Kokuyo and Claire Fontaine stationary, but less so on Cosmo Snow and Iroful where the line is more homogeneous. I'm afraid to put it in another pen besides a unplated steel nibbed Jinhao X159)

 

And btw, how does that Sailor KOP nib compare with a Pelikan M1000 nib.  I could guess, or have both pens inked and ready to go.

 

About a year ago I bought a number of Jinhao 80s and equipped them with Lamy nibs in multiple widths and used them for my ink comparisons.  I soon realized that I didn't have enough consistency so I switched to Jinaho X159s as an inexpensive vehicle for my inks.