Pen/Ink/Paper Trios

[Lithium466]

3 hours ago, USG said:

 

Thank you Lithium, those suggestions are wonderful, especially the 743 and the Ruri.  They look so nice and bright.

I'm curious, which blue-greens bother you?

 

Did you get any of the pens we discussed a number of months ago?

 

Anyway, while I was checking out inks for my EF pen and the new 630<AU> I noticed that Amazon was selling the 629<AU> for less than on Aliexpress, and I ordered it.  It arrived quickly and really like this little pen.  I ordered a Medium knowing it was going to write like a Fine.  It's a fabulous writer.  It has about the same pencil feedback and softness as my Sailor 1911Ls and is just so much fun to write with.  The only problem is that changing inks is an ordeal.  It doesn't have a screw in nib collar like the larger 630 or a removable section, so you can't access it from the front.  The only way to flush the pen is to remove the plastic piston assembly which I don't like to doing as often as I like changing inks.  So what this means is that I'll have to dip the pen until I find a suitable ink and then stick with that, (which I do for a lot of my favorite pens).  I've gone through 10 inks and haven't found one to stick with.  It currently has Edelstein Sapphire but I'm going to try Lithium's suggestions of 743 and the Ruri.

I hope you like the inks! I went through a (long) blurple phase, but I'm starting to get over it now. As I always had a love/hate relationship with turquoise and green leaning inks (Diamine Asa blue for ex, or some like Sailor Manyo Sumire, or even Kon-Peki that everybody adores), I was always going toward the redder/purple side of blue, but possibly Kuretake Shimbashi iro is converting me. I have PR Tropical blue there, not too sure about it. Lake Placid blue is a great middle blue, some will say boring but it seems to glow under fluorescent light (my office)! Paper and lighting have a huge part in how some blue (and I'm sure other colours too) will look to me...and I'm slowly growing a dislike for Kokuyo business paper (64g), that I used to adore...go figure, but I'm totally blaming @Penguincollector for sending me much better papers!

 

Anyway, I never bought the 630! I wanted a yellow one, which was out of stock, then the indecision of being snob and wanting the gold nib, then the hesitation of spending so much for a Chinese pen...never did anything in the end.

Your presentation of the 629 on the other hand made me realize that only my "small nibbed" pens were constantly inked (like the Parker 45 that have he tiniest nibs, or the small 1911s), so I just ordered one in blue, EF. Really wanted that bright red but for some reason it looked cheap to me on the pictures, so blue it is. Delivery December something in my neck of woods, if I'm still kicking by then I'll report back!

(really not a fan of piston fillers and your "hard to clean" made me pause for a good 5 minutes. That is some serious self control there.)

 

Edelstein Sapphire...meh. To me (from memory) it was barely better than 4001 royal blue, and not eradicable. Herbin EdS is like half the price and less purple. There's also Octopus Fluids Ultramarine that looked similar, so I didn't buy it.

 

[USG]

19 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

Lake Placid blue is a great middle blue, some will say boring but it seems to glow under fluorescent light

 

Haha, you noticed that too...  it definitely glows 😀

 

21 minutes ago, Lithium466 said:

I hope you like the inks! I went through a (long) blurple phase, but I'm starting to get over it now. As I always had a love/hate relationship with turquoise and green leaning inks (Diamine Asa blue for ex, or some like Sailor Manyo Sumire, or even Kon-Peki that everybody adores), I was always going toward the redder/purple side of blue, but possibly Kuretake Shimbashi iro is converting me. I have PR Tropical blue there, not too sure about it. Lake Placid blue is a great middle blue, some will say boring but it seems to glow under fluorescent light (my office)! Paper and lighting have a huge part in how some blue (and I'm sure other colours too) will look to me...and I'm slowly growing a dislike for Kokuyo business paper (64g), that I used to adore...go figure, but I'm totally blaming @Penguincollector for sending me much better papers!

 

Anyway, I never bought the 630! I wanted a yellow one, which was out of stock, then the indecision of being snob and wanting the gold nib, then the hesitation of spending so much for a Chinese pen...never did anything in the end.

Your presentation of the 629 on the other hand made me realize that only my "small nibbed" pens were constantly inked (like the Parker 45 that have he tiniest nibs, or the small 1911s), so I just ordered one in blue, EF. Really wanted that bright red but for some reason it looked cheap to me on the pictures, so blue it is. Delivery December something in my neck of woods, if I'm still kicking by then I'll report back!

(really not a fan of piston fillers and your "hard to clean" made me pause for a good 5 minutes. That is some serious self control there.)

 

Edelstein Sapphire...meh. To me (from memory) it was barely better than 4001 royal blue, and not eradicable. Herbin EdS is like half the price and less purple. There's also Octopus Fluids Ultramarine that looked similar, so I didn't buy it.

 

 

I have all the Blue-green inks you mentioned but don't use them often.  I found that after sitting in pens for a long time they developed much more palatable colors than straight out of the bottle.  Take Asa Blue for instance.  After sitting in a pen for a while it loses a lot of the green and becomes a much more palatable blue...

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Close up it looks like this:

[Penguincollector]

On 10/14/2024 at 9:20 PM, USG said:

@Penguincollector I saw that there's a new Manyo ink out Budo.  I like Sailor inks.  What do you think?

  I missed this on my last go-around. The midnight blue is beautiful, but I wonder what Japanese grapes looked like in the Heian period. It seems to be selling out quickly. 
 

9 hours ago, USG said:

PGC, don't you have one of these?

 

  I don’t. I have the 698 and piston 699 with gold nibs, and the hooded nib 618 in gold plated steel. How did you end up fixing the problem with the long knife nib?  What did you choose to ink the EF with? 
 

@Lithium466 Shimbashi- Iro is gorgeous, one of my favorite inks. I was just wondering what it would look like if a bit of Shikon was added to darken it a bit. 

[USG]

13 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I missed this on my last go-around. The midnight blue is beautiful, but I wonder what Japanese grapes looked like in the Heian period. It seems to be selling out quickly. 
 

 

  I don’t. I have the 698 and piston 699 with gold nibs, and the hooded nib 618 in gold plated steel. How did you end up fixing the problem with the long knife nib?  What did you choose to ink the EF with? 
 

@Lithium466 Shimbashi- Iro is gorgeous, one of my favorite inks. I was just wondering what it would look like if a bit of Shikon was added to darken it a bit. 

 

I remember your blue 699, CopyCatMe bought one after I saw a picture of yours.  I didn't know there was a piston version.  I also didn't know yours had a gold nib.  Is there anything unusual about it like the grind on the gold nibs on the 630 and 629?

 

Before I forget, Your blue Pilot Lucina is very nice 👍😀

 

To me the 630 was a strange animal with an unusual nib grind I didn't expect.  My solution was to make peace with the fact that it was not a medium nib and then polish the areas, with 1200 grit, where the feedback would become excessive when writing certain letters or holding the pen at certain angles.  I probably didn't have to do that but I was expecting it to write like a super smooth medium 630 steel nib.

 

The Jinhao EF nib project morphed into 2 of them.  One has Sailor Sigure and I only got as far as Diamine Majestic Blue in the other because I became distracted with the 630<Au> and 629<Au>.

 

I really like the way the smaller 629 writes.😀👍

 

 

Close Ups

 

 

 

 

 

[USG]

19 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Delivery December something in my neck of woods,

 

Why so long?  Where did you order it from?

[Penguincollector]

13 hours ago, USG said:

I remember your blue 699, CopyCatMe bought one after I saw a picture of yours.  I didn't know there was a piston version.  I also didn't know yours had a gold nib.  Is there anything unusual about it like the grind on the gold nibs on the 630 and 629?

 

  Nothing unusual,  but it does feel similar to my Sailor PGS in terms of feedback. It’s pleasant. It likes wet inks, and puts down a Western Fine line. I wish it was a bit smaller, but it’s a gorgeous pen that punches above its price for sure. 
 

  What size is the 629? Is it smaller than the 699? The 698 is definitely shorter than the 699 and the Lucky soft nib is wonderful. The alloy is a nice color as well, compared to other nibs of the same karat. 

[Lithium466]

On 10/18/2024 at 7:13 AM, USG said:

 

I have all the Blue-green inks you mentioned but don't use them often.  I found that after sitting in pens for a long time they developed much more palatable colors than straight out of the bottle.  Take Asa Blue for instance.  After sitting in a pen for a while it loses a lot of the green and becomes a much more palatable blue...

Nice! That would be the pink/reddish sheen taking over the original green?

I'm on the fence for MV Horizon blue and Capri blue...and then Diamine Florida blue, that now because of you I have to buy too.

 

On 10/18/2024 at 11:57 AM, Penguincollector said:

@Lithium466 Shimbashi- Iro is gorgeous, one of my favorite inks. I was just wondering what it would look like if a bit of Shikon was added to darken it a bit. 

Argh, another ink I have to buy

 

12 hours ago, USG said:

 

Why so long?  Where did you order it from?

Amazon! Hopefully they are just covering themselves and it will be much faster.

[lamarax]

 

😔

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, lamarax said:

 

😔

 

  A club member brought one of these to a meeting this summer. It’s rare that I find a modern Kaweco I like, but this is one. 

[USG]

Current Musings on Tomoe River-S paper.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

[USG]

On 10/19/2024 at 2:58 PM, Penguincollector said:

  Nothing unusual,  but it does feel similar to my Sailor PGS in terms of feedback. It’s pleasant. It likes wet inks, and puts down a Western Fine line. I wish it was a bit smaller, but it’s a gorgeous pen that punches above its price for sure. 
 

  What size is the 629? Is it smaller than the 699? The 698 is definitely shorter than the 699 and the Lucky soft nib is wonderful. The alloy is a nice color as well, compared to other nibs of the same karat. 

 

A picture is worth a thousand words....

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

 

 

 

 

On 10/19/2024 at 2:59 PM, Lithium466 said:

Nice! That would be the pink/reddish sheen taking over the original green?

I'm on the fence for MV Horizon blue and Capri blue...and then Diamine Florida blue, that now because of you I have to buy too.

 

Amazon! Hopefully they are just covering themselves and it will be much faster.

 

All are wet inks:

Monteverde Horizon Blue

DC Supershow Blue (I have the PR version)

PR American Blue

Diamine Florida Blue

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, USG said:

A picture is worth a thousand words....

  Thank you, that was helpful. 

[USG]

On 10/18/2024 at 11:57 AM, Penguincollector said:

What did you choose to ink the EF with? 

 

These are the EF pens and inks so far....  I haven't settled on a color yet though....

Blue Flame is a nice color but it has an overpowering sheen.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 These are the ones that Sheened

 

 

[Penguincollector]

  I don’t mind the sheen on Blue Flame one bit. It’s gorgeous! How is that ink in a fountain pen? Is it prone to clogging at all?  Shigure is intriguing. I bought it because of your tests.

[USG]

31 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  I don’t mind the sheen on Blue Flame one bit. It’s gorgeous! How is that ink in a fountain pen? Is it prone to clogging at all?  Shigure is intriguing. I bought it because of your tests.

 

Well, the Dipton Blue Flame is in a Jinhao X159 <EF> and so far no clogging.  The big disappointment was Manyo Budo.  It turned out to be a dull dark green ink that didn't do any tricks.  Even darker was Sailor Dipton Dark Cave.  As a dark green, It had some sheen, but it was no Emerald of Chivor. I'll Pass on both.

[USG]

44 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I don’t mind the sheen on Blue Flame one bit. It’s gorgeous!

 

The sheen isn't too bad with an EF nib, but sheen-wise, it's right up there with Polar Glow and Jack Frost.  It has its place. 😀

[USG]

51 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Shigure is intriguing.

 

What pen do you have Shigure in?

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, USG said:

 

What pen do you have Shigure in?

  Nothing yet. I used my Majohn N8 glass F nib to swatch it. 
 

  I think I feel the same way about Manyo Konagi as you feel about Budo, except that I love the color. I was expecting it to shade more, or to shade differently than it does, I guess. I will have to try it on different papers and see what happens. My other Manyo, Koke, is very dramatic. 

[USG]

44 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

I think I feel the same way about Manyo Konagi as you feel about Budo,

 

I'm surprised. Konagi is one of my favorite inks.  It has a reddish glow around it  It shades, and it sheens but not outrageously.

The effect is best observed on Cosmo Snow and Iroful.  On Tomoe River-S it mostly shades.

 

I tried to get Budo to do something, I used two nibs, a Long Blade and a wet medium. but no dice.  Nada, Zilch, Nothing...

 

This is not the greatest pic, but you can get the idea.

AS USUAL CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Just did three Ink Reviews, with a F, a M and a wide...B, OB,BB or so. On two different papers.

 

Pure Pens: Beddgelert a brown ink. Not for me, too dark so little shading.

Pendine Sands...a light brown ink, that I liked.

Blens of Antrim, a greenish shading ink. I like it too, and it becomes # 22 green=greenish ink I have. It is light enough to shade, and off the top of my head, I came up with no matches. DA Golf a shading ink is a bit lighter.

 

Cannon Black label Premium was one of the two papers, in I was given advice many don't have the good to better papers like Clairefontaine Triomphe. I had it in my mind as a good 80g copy paper, that shaded.

Previously I thought it a good paper on the inks I had used in there was some shading....but I wasn't looking deep enough. For Pure Inks it was not as good as with some other inks......no list of inks used o that copy paper , just grab a narrow nibbed pen from a pen cup, and edit.

 

Paper makes a huge difference.

 

Clairefontaine Triomphe was the second paper the Ink Review form was printed on.

My advice is buy Clairefontaine Triomphe or Rhoda 80 or 90g paper or similar top class paper, before buying your next ink. One don't have to use them all the time, but it really shows of the inks so much better than common copy paper. Those papers will never end up in a printer.

Mondi 120g is a good paper.

I don't find Mondi 100g to be as good as I thought at the start. It ended up in the printer.