Same ink, same paper, different pens: different colors?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Skydiver, some inks are saturated, some less, of those I look for two toned shading inks.

New in the last 5-6 years are inks with sheen.

Glitter is 'new' in that time period also.  I chase shading inks, so glitter inks got to shade too.

To find two toned shading you need 80g Rhodia (normal 80 g copy very poor) or a good 90g or better paper. And of course a shading ink...something not too saturated.

 

Writing is 1/3 nib width/flex, 1/3 paper and 1/3 ink...and in that order.

Paper is the waxed dance floor your nib and ink tango on.

 

I suggest getting a ream or box of good to better paper with every 3 inks you buy....sooner than you think you will have a number of good papers...in those paper never go into a printer.

So a ream can last a three years, a box a year.....the more different good papers you have the longer they last. Southworth is a good box of US paper.

 

I did it all wrong, first the pens, then the inks and finally the papers.

It takes much more effort to get a list of good to better papers you will need, than inks or nib widths and flexes.  I'm not talking about calligraphy superflex.

nails -1X or no tine bend or tine spread.

 

Semi-nail can be mashed to to 2 X...slight tine bend. P-75, modern post '97 Pelikan 400/600.

 

Regular flex/Japanese 'soft', can be mashed to 3X a light line....can't write with it so maxed. soft +. Pelikan 200, some Esterbrooks, Wearevers....and not being into US pens can't help you more but know from a life time ago, they had that in major brands too.

 

Call it vintage  '50-70 in German pens. I have run into English pens that were semi-flex.

Semi-flex is a flair nib....not a flexi one. Semi= almost.... It is not a calligraphy nib.

Mostly vintage. German or English, though Shaeffer made a semi-flex semi-flex on some early Snorkels.

Semi-flex can be mashed to 3 X and if ham fisted written maxie. It's a tough nib. After a while your Hand gets lighter so you can ask or demand line variation...on demand. Natural pressure will give flair to your writing.  Soft ++.

 

Maxi-semi-flex is vintage and German, found more on Osmia pens, in both gold and steel = good. Other brands like vintage MB, Geha, Pelikan can be luck of the draw in maxi. Call it '50-70 also.

Maxi-semi-flex is Soft +++,

 

Superflex is for later.

 

 

[Skydiver]

Oh no! You've re-awakened the paper junkie in me. I used to be a weekly visitor in the Papyrus stores and other stationary stores round the Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond areas. If only I had gotten into fountain pens back then when I was young and single. 🙂

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Paper will sneak up and blackjack you. But good to better paper is so needed.

 

My start.....

A number of years ago here in Germany, Aldi had a back to school sale with Blutten hammered, laid, linen effect and marbled papers that got me off of being a lump on the log. The next year I got some more...having tried to get a German paper selection, done on the cheap...whit poor results. The third year I was going to buy the store out, and send massive amounts around the world by mail.....but they didn't  carry it. After that getting better papers was and is slow.

 

I have remnants of a 1980's cheap German paper pad, which unfortunately had no water mark, so I can never trace that paper down. It is wo well coated, it is still my best paper but with 12 sheets left, it is rationed.

Do surf Ebay and others for 'antique' papers.

 

I often say the golden age of fountain pens nibs died in 1970....and the golden age of paper died unnoticed in the '80's**....however we are living in the golden age of inks.

In the '80's I was a ball point barbarian, who would have seen no reason to waste beer money on paper......If one could see the future there would be no reason to get out of bed.

 

** Bonus money replaced stock options, so quality died.

[HalloweenHJB]

  On 9/26/2023 at 5:37 AM, Misfit said:

I had this happen with Montblanc toffee brown being in two pens. One was a True Writer, B nib and a Lamy with a 1.5mm nib. The ink looked different. Still brown, but different. 

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After more years than I'd like to admit to, I have found that ALL inks will vary in hue because the variety of different variables is more broad than we consider normally. Just the main variables of pen / nib, paper, number of days in pen, temperature, humidity, —and the EYES that view the ink— will create variations.  As much as I wish all inks were perfectly consistent, it's simply not possible. 😬

 

So I just enjoy the variations, and pair the inks with the pens and papers I like the most.  

[Bo Bo Olson]

Consistency is boring....different papers, different nib widths...either makes you ink sit up and take notice.....or one finally finds a combo that takes the ink out of boring.

 

..........do write down, when you have found perfection....I know I found it twice, but don't know where i hid the info.

[HalloweenHJB]

  On 10/18/2023 at 11:54 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

Consistency is boring....different papers, different nib widths...either makes you ink sit up and take notice.....or one finally finds a combo that takes the ink out of boring.

 

..........do write down, when you have found perfection....I know I found it twice, but don't know where i hid the info.

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Perfectly said. 🎖️

[inkstainedruth]

  On 10/4/2023 at 11:27 PM, Skydiver said:

I'm still in the gotta try everything phase.

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I've been on FPN for over a decade, and I'm STILL in that phase....

Found a bottle of ink (in its box) that had somehow ended up on the floor under my desk when I was looking for something else last night.  And was going "Where did YOU come from?  Why aren't you in the box with the other Japanese brand ink bottles!"  So realized I had missed using that ink (Platinum Classic Forest Green, which is an IG ink) and pulled out a cheapie Parker Vector I hadn't used for a while that I thought the ink would look coming out of (the reboot design for the Looney Toons Tasmanian Devil, with the dark pink background).  

And you know?  I was right!  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Skydiver]

Sounds like an awesome find!

 

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah, I had forgotten how much I liked that ink and its color....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

I was sitting at 9 pens inked...2 over my 7 inked pens, in I wanted to use up more inks.

Then suddenly I found out I had 7 gray inks....and inked the pens for that.

someone gave me for a cheap nice three Parkers including a P-51 and two old Flighters, a P-15 & a P-50....so I had to ink them.

Could well be I now have more than 17  pens inked....like in the old days.

Just like that in two 'working' days. (4 of non-pen freak days)....

 

Got to go write up four new cards for what inks are in each pen, the 3 new Parker pens and an old Vac that is being used for the first time since repair.

[Skydiver]

LOL! Fountain Pen Geek problems... Hey! I resemble that! 🙂

[senzen]

Short answer: yes, an ink can look wildly different, I had Helianthus in two Lamy Vista each with an M nib, one looked yellow, they other orange; here's other examples:

 

 

It took me a long time to find the right pen that could produce that medium hue consistently, with the Carène M.

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Senzen, in your two examples you show much more difference than mine. Much more.

What papers..... and was that the same paper for both?

[amberleadavis]

@Skydiver

 

Just to make you crazy ...

 

In this CRV (co-razy-view), @zwack and I used the same pen, ink and paper.  The resulting writing looks quite different.

[Skydiver]

LOL! I'll have to check it out.

 

[senzen]

  On 10/22/2023 at 7:38 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

Senzen, in your two examples you show much more difference than mine. Much more.

What papers..... and was that the same paper for both?

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For Kon Peki, very likely HP 32; for Blue Velvet, Rhodia.