Waterman Havana Brown dries to green

[finalidid]

When I leave my nib out in the open for a while, the Waterman Havana Brown in one of my Challenger Deluxe pens turns a different color. Usually Havana Brown is a lovely chocolate-red brown, sort of the color of coffee with a lot of chicory. It's one of my two main-stay ink colors; the other is Waterman Florida Blue. Oh, and of course, black. Waterman Black. But that's a different issue.

 

Here's the thing. I experimented last night and left the pen lying out open on the desk. The nib obviously would have a chance to dry out while I slept. I guess it must have sat there untouched from 11 pm to 8:30 am. I had noticed something fishy, and I wanted to see if I could replicate it.

 

Yup! The first six or ten inches of line drawn with this dry nib were ... green. Weird, no? So, I figured it could be an older ink inside the pen, something left in the feed or under the nib by a previous less meticulous owner. I got another pen, a really pointy dry Conklin Chicago. Left it out for an hour. Again: Waterman Havana Brown dried out to a dark sea green. On the page, the first few lines are a dry dark green, which then fade into black, then eventually into fresh wet Havana Brown.

 

Explain please.

 

 

[KCat]

I've found most of my browns separate either to a dominant green or a dominant orange color. I've pretty much given up on browns. Browns being what they are (a big amalgam of most of the dye colors or so it seems) this doesn't surprise me. Put a drop of your brown inks on a paper towel or other good wicking paper and you'll get an interesting set of circles of different dye weights. (paper chromatography)

 

It means that I have lost interest in browns because this separation also tends to show up as clogging.

[finalidid]

 

Clogging? Watermans? No way man ...

 

[wvbeetlebug]

When I tried J. Herbin Lie de The it was much more green then brown. It reminded me so much of "baby poop". I have since created my own brown ink using PR Fiesta Red and PR Avacado. I have been wanting to try a little paper chroma experiment myself and see what it looks like.

[Pengrump]

I used Waterman Havana extensively for years. Periodically I'd use it in a pen that didn't get as much use as I had expected it to. When I went to that pen, the first page of writing was always green. At first I was alarmed, thinking my ink had turned into algae, but I noticed when I examined my bottles of Waterman Havana that the ink around the rim separated with the dominant color being green. I still use the ink. It is my most reliable brown. Sometimes it is also my most reliable green. :ltcapd: :roflmho:

[KCat]

 

Clogging? Watermans? No way man ...

 

 

Sorry, but yes. BUT - and it's a big but - :0 the pen was left sitting for over two weeks and it was a very fine nib. The ink turned into a sloppy, skippy ragged line. So upset me because I think Havana is one of the best shades or brown out there.

 

The only "brown" I use now is Diamine Sepia and it's very light on the dye so it doesn't clog. It *does* separate into the green orange though if left in the pen without use for too long.

[finalidid]

I did the paper thing. So far the concentric circles are (from inside out) chocolate, orange, green. Interesting.

 

[CharlieB]

As long as the writing doesn't turn green (a la Waterman Blue Black!), I'll be happy. I like the color of Havana Brown.

[finalidid]

I think if I were really really concerned about pure chocolate color and were using Watermans Havana Brown, for example while addressing formal wedding invitations or something similar, then I'd make sure to have a pad nearby on which I'd draw a line of ink before applying pen to the formal card. That way I could use up any lingering greenishness, so that the color on the card would be all chocolate.

 

I'm a bit surprised at how persistent and sudden the greenishness has become. It takes no more than twenty minutes for the pen to get dry enough that the ink is strictly greenish; and the green lasts for about four lines of handwriting (about one sentence) even at that point. Maybe the amount of green is more an issue of the wicking and drying properties of a given pen; this is an open-collector Challenger, rather "user grade" and not particularly a wet writer either, so it could be that this particular pen tends toward "greening the brown" faster than other pens.

 

[Shelley]

I too am rather a fan of Havana, although I would like to try PR chocolate at some stage, but anyhow, I habe neer noticed any green...but then I am meticules about always puting my cap on my nib...

[FredRydr]

I write and post vintage postcards, and I find on some of the old card stock, Havana looks as usual when wet, but dries to an odd (even ugly) dirty grey color. I wonder what's in the older paper to cause this? Alas, I never know which cards will do this, and Havana looks so good on the old cards, too.

 

Fred

Edited June 22, 2008 by FredRydr