Back to Basics?

[Baka1969]

Hi everyone,

 

Is anyone else getting more practical with their ink choices? Although I have dozens of ink options, brands, and colors I find myself wanting to ink more with blues, blacks, greens and useable colors over the more whimsical colors like pinks, purples, reds, yellows or oranges. Don't get me wrong, I still love and use a sheen or shade (no shimmers). I just find myself wanting more suitable ink colors for day-to-day usage. Is it just me? 

 

My favorite inks to fill pens with recently are Organic Studios Nitrogen, Noodler's Heart of Darkness, Monblanc Irish Green, Diamine Salamander and Diamine Majestic Blue. I also have a Lamy Studio with a fine 14k nib filled with Baystate Blue that I use regularly. 

 

I have other pens filled with reds, browns and the purple/pinks, however, they rarely get used and I find aren't practical for everyday writing. 

 

I also happen to like Diamine Wagner that my Bordeaux LeGrand is inked with. It's a yellow-ish light/medium green (think olive) and I'd love to find more times to use it. 

 

Am I going nuts to want to resort to more basic colored inks? Like I mentioned above, I still use inks with sheen and I really like to see shading. Yet, when it come to colors and situations, the blues, blacks and greens are what I'm reaching for over the (to me) much less useful colors. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I love me some Claret and Apache Sunset. Who doesn't like a bit of Imperial Purple or a ribbon of Honey Blast? I just can't find a daily use for them. Sure, I can use them when I do some of my transcribing. But I don't feel the color when I'm doing so. A color switch would be more of a function of a change for the sake of the change. How do I make a color fit what I'm doing? Even if it's just the few times I write for pleasure.

 

What do you think? Where are you at? Has anyone else here moved to more practical ink colors? 

 

Happy Holidays

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Baka1969
errors

[Doc Dan]

I like colors, but I keep my main pen inked with black ink. I ran out of blue, but have some in my cart and will keep my second pen inked in blue. This is practical. No, you aren't the only one. 

[RedPie]

I have some colors. Lately I am using only 2 or 3 all the time. Green, blue and black. I do like eternal colors. I think I am getting lazy....LOL

[Baka1969]

3 hours ago, Doc Dan said:

I like colors, but I keep my main pen inked with black ink. I ran out of blue, but have some in my cart and will keep my second pen inked in blue. This is practical. No, you aren't the only one. 

 

2 hours ago, RedPie said:

I have some colors. Lately I am using only 2 or 3 all the time. Green, blue and black. I do like eternal colors. I think I am getting lazy....LOL

 

😀

[thisteensy]

I'm going through an experimental phase, but I will never not love good strong blue black inks for writing, and Platinum Carbon Black for drawing.

[orpheus]

You're certainly not the only one. I have some big bold colors, but most of the time I go conservative. I write a lot, and I like my inks to be beautiful, but "transparent" to my eyes -- i.e., to not grab my attention away from what I'm writing.  I'm always on the lookout for an excellent blue-black for everyday use.

 

Robert Oster's Velvet Storm is about as wild as I get these days, and that's not a wild ink at all. I love it. You might try it. It's a rich dark green. Almost green-black. It's very well-behaved. To me it looks very saturated. It's still suitable for everyday use, but if it were any richer it would command too much of my eyes' attention to use everyday. (Which, I suppose, shows you how much I'm in the back to basics camp.)

[inkstainedruth]

I like a lot of different colors (I remember when I discovered that you could get PURPLE ink ).  But always have at least one pen inked up with something "practical" -- and also water-resistant/waterproof (blue, black or blue-black) for addressing envelopes or signing checks or the like.  

But for the other writing/drawing?  Then I can have fun and while I'm not overly enamored with shimmer inks I do have some.  So, journaling, making shopping lists, drawing, or writing poetry or my feeble attempts at fiction?  It's whatever I feel like using at any given time and have inked up....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Baka1969]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

I like a lot of different colors (I remember when I discovered that you could get PURPLE ink ).  But always have at least one pen inked up with something "practical" -- and also water-resistant/waterproof (blue, black or blue-black) for addressing envelopes or signing checks or the like.  

But for the other writing/drawing?  Then I can have fun and while I'm not overly enamored with shimmer inks I do have some.  So, journaling, making shopping lists, drawing, or writing poetry or my feeble attempts at fiction?  It's whatever I feel like using at any given time and have inked up....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

You make an excellent point that I should have in my OP. Waterproof ink. That's why I have HoD and BSB in at least one pen each. I get frustrated at times by how easily most inks will bleed (or worse) just looking at them. I signed a receipt once and it looked like an ink blot after. With the tip! lol 

[inkstainedruth]

I'm not a great fan of BSB (I don't really like the color, and it's got NO UV resistance at at all).  But HoD is my go-to black, especially when I'm having to sign checks or address envelopes.  And it dries faster than the regular Noodler's Black....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Baka1969]

1 minute ago, inkstainedruth said:

I'm not a great fan of BSB (I don't really like the color, and it's got NO UV resistance at at all).  But HoD is my go-to black, especially when I'm having to sign checks or address envelopes.  And it dries faster than the regular Noodler's Black....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I'm not sure how often I need UV resistance. I actually love the BSB color. I like the vivid hue with that purple tinge. My biggies issue is that it is very nib and paper dependent. It feathers at most papers if you aren't using a fine nib. I finally found a Lamy fine gold nib that mostly works with Baystate Blue. 

 

That said, isn't HoD supposed to be laser proof? lol 

[inkstainedruth]

Not sure about that.  I do know that Kung Te Cheng is pretty much EVERYTHING proof.  But it's so thick that it's like paint.  And can get cloggy very easily.  I tried diluting a fill one time with a drop of Vanness White Lightning, but it diluted the color as well.  Keep wondering whether Photo-flo will have the same problem (someone gave me a sample vial of it but I've never used it).  And I also wonder what would happen if I put a drop of Noodler's Blue Ghost in it (I know that some people use that to beef up the durability of inks as far as water and UV resistance without the color being changed -- but of course those are NOT problems with KTC....

As for BSB?  On the few times I use it, it gets relegated to a freebie Noodler's Charlie, for which I don't care whether the barrel gets stained or not -- and I dilute it about 10-20% by topping off the fill in the barrel with distilled water.  That definitely helps with the feathering issue.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

I have a ton of inks, but lately, I've had a perfume bottle on my desk that I keep filed with a blue mix.  And I keep filling pens from the bottle.

[OCArt]

Really! @amberleadavis You're just going to tease us and not reveal the secret recipe for your mix?

3 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

I have a ton of inks, but lately, I've had a perfume bottle on my desk that I keep filed with a blue mix.  And I keep filling pens from the bottle.

 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Yep generally shades of blue, green and black, go have Dragon blood shimmer in one pen for when the mood takes me

[Penguincollector]

I have a fair few pens inked right now, but I always have at least one black, blue, blue-black, and green among them. Right now I have more blues than necessary, but I’m whittling them down.  I like having options, whether utilitarian or whimsical.

[gone]

If, like me, you consider red to be a basic colour then, yes I only use basic inks. Blue, black, red and green with no glitter, no multicolour shading, no perfumes, etc. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

90% of the time I reach for blue black/dark blue/teal.  
 

The other ten %is my always-filled-with 'Century Red' Platinum 3776 Bourgogne pen, a WS 601 with Monteverde Moonstone, some black in some pen or other, and a seasonal array consisting of turquoise, orange, pink, gray…you know, like that.

[Sholom]

Taking being in more than one pen as being an indication of "basicness", my green is Noodler's Green Marine, my blue-blacks are Noodler's Air Corp and R&K Verdigris, my warm brown is Diamine Raw Sienna, and my "brownish" is Noodler's Nightshade. Since I have 8 blues (or 10 or so if you count teal  and turquoise as blue), none of them repeat but the go-to blue in the set is Noodler's Ottoman Azure. No blacks....

[amberleadavis]

On 12/23/2023 at 8:18 PM, OCArt said:

Really! @amberleadavis You're just going to tease us and not reveal the secret recipe for your mix?

 

 

I already posted it, but it was a bad mix and I had to dump it. 

 

 

Today I washed it out and I'm mixing with Birmingham Twinkly Sprinkle.  I will report back my findings.

[arcfide]

I've always been practical with my ink colors, and I find a particular pleasure in the sense of historical connection to tradition that comes from using or mimicking the inks of the past in one form or another.