Graf von Faber-Castell Stone Grey (cartridge)

[yazeh]

Graf von Faber-Castell Stone Grey (cartridge)

 

Photo courtesy of Faber-Castell website

 

This was a tough ink review. My initial experience with the cartridge was very unpleasant. I couldn’t make the ink flow in my Kaweco, or Osmiroid (which doesn’t like dry inks) but it worked well in a Jinhao 450. I had to use two cartridges as one burst.   

  

So, I checked several reviews, and was surprised that they were talking about a saturated grey, wet and well lubricated ink. So, I took a 3^rd cartridge and syringed the ink out in a Lamy Safari, to test for an extra week or so. The experience was very different and pleasant. I used it mostly for sketching, as the written review had been already done. However, when I didn’t use the pen for a week, I had to prime the feed again. 

 

However, this ink is no Sailor Doyou (wet and well lubricated), nor it is as wet and saturated as Noodler’s Lexington Gray.  

 

I really loved this ink for doing washes, and for drawing. There’s a purple component in the chroma, that shines through in washes. 

It has a gorgeous Chroma:

 

It’s a lovely pencil grey, that behaves well on copy paper.

  

I would recommend you getting a sample, before investing in a bottle, and using  a wet pen. 

 

Writing Samples:

I didn’t use a Japanese Ef, so I tried to emulate it by reverse writing. It worked fine with three of the papers, probably because I had left the pen alone for a week or so. But stumbled with Rhodia. I tried to salvage it with the Osmiroid which has a needlepoint semi-flex nib.  

The shading is accentuated to the extreme by the scanner. 

 

Not a colour for Midori, yucky yuck  

 

 

 

Photo:

You can see a pencil comparison, which I added after I scanned the review. 

 

 

Comparison:

Water test:

Left side 10 seconds under running water.  Not bad, eh  

 

Art Work:

You can appreciate the range and the beauty of the colour here, in contrast with J Herbin Vert de gris:

 

 

·      Pens used: Kaweco (EF/F/M/B), Jinhao x450 fude nib, Osmiroid Copperplate nib, Lamy Safari

·      What I liked: Lovely color, very well-behaved on copy paper. 

·      What I did not like: I had trouble with the cartridge. 

·       What some might not like: Ink is on the dry side, and it’s pricey.

·      Shading: Yes, but the scan is more extreme than reality

·      Ghosting: No.  

·      Bleed through: A bit with a #6 fude nib. 

·      Flow Rate: Cartridge, awful. Syringed ink, good.

·      Lubrication: On the dry side. 

·      Nib Dry-out: Yes between changing nibs. 

·      Start-up:  Ok. After a week I had to prime the Safari

·      Saturation:  Pastel

·      Shading Potential: Yes. 

·      Sheen: No. 

·      Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. 

·      Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.

·      Staining (pen): No. 

·      Clogging: Did not notice.

·      Cleaning: On the easy side. Though I had to soak the pen overnight.

·      Water resistance: Very good. 

·      Availability: Cartridges, 75 ml bottles. 

 

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier  

 

 

 

[lapis]

Great! I have always loved -- and still do love -- all greys. (To get off track, yes, greys are even better than blacks inasmuch as I love asking [and getting asked] "Hey, what's that in there that's not grey?") First thing I saw in it, too, was a pencil graphite-grey. I have and use this ink a lot, but only in pens without a cartridge. Okay, in Safaris and AL-stars, too. Never had a problem yet with wetness and/or lube. BTW, I am also a big advocate of these bottles. IMO, they are among the very very best!!

[yazeh]

18 minutes ago, lapis said:

Great! I have always loved -- and still do love -- all greys. (To get off track, yes, greys are even better than blacks inasmuch as I love asking [and getting asked] "Hey, what's that in there that's not grey?" F

 

18 minutes ago, lapis said:

irst thing I saw in it, too, was a pencil graphite-grey. I have and use this ink a lot, but only in pens without a cartridge. Okay, in Safaris and AL-stars, too. Never had a problem yet with wetness and/or lube. BTW, I am also a big advocate of these bottles. IMO, they are among the very very best!!

Great to know that the ink behaves well, and that my experience was due to cartridge /pen malfunction

[LizEF]

The yellowish bit at the bottom of the chroma is a surprise.  Interesting color combo there.  But it doesn't seem to come through in writing...

 

Fun water-test sketch.  Fabulous drawing - here the ink comes out of its shell, so to speak.  Great job, @yazeh!  Thank you for enduring a persnickety ink long enough to find its niche.

[yazeh]

8 minutes ago, LizEF said:

The yellowish bit at the bottom of the chroma is a surprise.  Interesting color combo there.  But it doesn't seem to come through in writing...

To me this is more of a drawing ink, than writing. When I first started inking up the contours, I really appreciate its pencil like quality. I've learned to appreciate greys overtime, but not for writing  

8 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Fun water-test sketch.  Fabulous drawing - here the ink comes out of its shell, so to speak. 

Thanks. I want to show off the complexity of this ink. I'm sure @namrehsnoom would really like this ink  

8 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Great job, @yazeh!  Thank you for enduring a persnickety ink long enough to find its niche.

Thanks. I try to be as fair as possible. I'm glad I was patient enough with this one  

Incidentally, this might go well with your Fog Grey  

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Incidentally, this might go well with your Fog Grey  

Yeah, but I don't like greys that well.  I'm sure I can find another dry blue-grey or blue-black for the Visconti.

[Sailor Kenshin]

@yazeh, I always love your excellent, detailed reviews, not to mention your sketches.  But please don't tell me that Mousie has put Kitteh in a PIZZA OVEN! 
 

I'm a gray ink lover as well, but this one has me scratching my head, as I don't normally care for dry inks, unless they're used for taming gusher pens.  But at any rate thanks once again for your Ink-Splorations!  💝

[namrehsnoom]

What a cool grey! That chroma looks really intriguing…. Thanks for showing it so beautifully @yazeh. Just took a look at my ink stash, and yes there was a stone grey bottle there that hasn’t been used and tested yet. It has now moved over to my desk, so I can check it out in a couple of pens. 
 

Great drawing… works really well together with that Vert de Gris. I was looking for Mousy and couldn’t find the little guy for quite a while , until I realised that was probably no hanky in the breast pocket. 

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Yeah, but I don't like greys that well.  I'm sure I can find another dry blue-grey or blue-black for the Visconti.

Viscount- E says, use Essri 🐍

 

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@yazeh, I always love your excellent, detailed reviews, not to mention your sketches.

🙏

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

 But please don't tell me that Mousie has put Kitteh in a PIZZA OVEN! 

If it is a pizza oven, it'll be an abandoned one, to protect Kitteh  

1 hour ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I'm a gray ink lover as well, but this one has me scratching my head, as I don't normally care for dry inks, unless they're used for taming gusher pens.  But at any rate thanks once again for your Ink-Splorations!  💝

A pleasure! This one might be Ok for your lovely sketches if you still have time for it  

 

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, namrehsnoom said:

What a cool grey! That chroma looks really intriguing…. Thanks for showing it so beautifully @yazeh.

A pleasure 🙏

1 hour ago, namrehsnoom said:

Just took a look at my ink stash, and yes there was a stone grey bottle there that hasn’t been used and tested yet. It has now moved over to my desk, so I can check it out in a couple of pens. 

 

I was almost sure you had a bottle of this ink. It's your type of ink, slightly dry, subtle shading and intriguing chroma. I'm really looking forward to your review, impressions and art work. 

1 hour ago, namrehsnoom said:

Great drawing… works really well together with that Vert de Gris.

Thank you. I went for the same tone, pastel tone, and the colours did marry well

 

1 hour ago, namrehsnoom said:

 

I was looking for Mousy and couldn’t find the little guy for quite a while , until I realised that was probably no hanky in the breast pocket. 

Mousy is always there, sometimes not visible to the naked eye  

[LizEF]

36 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Viscount- E says, use Essri 🐍

 

[SashK]

This one is worth exploring. Big time addicted to gray inks. For me the big draw of the GvFC inks is their lightfastness and waterfastness, which is a nice plus. 

 

Thanks for the review @yazeh, I'll need to find a sample of this to start.

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, SashK said:

This one is worth exploring. Big time addicted to gray inks. For me the big draw of the GvFC inks is their lightfastness and waterfastness, which is a nice plus. 

 

 

3 hours ago, SashK said:

 

Thanks for the review @yazeh, I'll need to find a sample of this to start.

If you have a different experience keep us posted  

[Bo Bo Olson]

I broke my vow not to go over €20 for once MB Oyster, now Cool Gray....worth the money.

Pelikan Moostone is also worth it's money.

Daiamine Silver Fox at €12=13 was also worth buying.

........................................

Someday, and perhaps soon, I'll use up my last W.Germany Pelikan gray cartridge, and the Silver Gray one........................I really liked both of them, Silver Gray most.

 

Pelikan once made 15-20 different cartridge inks. The Orange was great too. I didn't care much for the three (or more) girlie pink, rose, lavender colors which I gifted.

[InesF]

... this is, no doubt, one of the 50 shades ...

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for taking so much effort for the review! 👍

I have used (and will use) some grey inks but still waiting to become friend with any of the "diluted" blacks. However, it makes a noble and stylish artwork-cat!  

[yazeh]

4 hours ago, InesF said:

... this is, no doubt, one of the 50 shades ...

4 hours ago, InesF said:

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for taking so much effort for the review! 👍

It was worth while in the end

4 hours ago, InesF said:

I have used (and will use) some grey inks but still waiting to become friend with any of the "diluted" blacks. However, it makes a noble and stylish artwork-cat!  

I understand your point of view. I swayed to grey, when I saw a review of 5 grey inks for artwork, and saw their possibilities. Their quite fun, if you use water brushes etc. But for writing, it depends on the shade of the grey