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View Full Version : The Great Ink Surprise, What Ink Surprised You MOST?



JoeTxMarine
October 8th, 2012, 08:34 AM
I'm just wondering, what ink did you not really expect to like; say in a sample, but you were blown away after using it first or few times and fell in love with?

I'm new to Fountain Pens and have been ordering lots of samples. I am hoping to gain insight from this in terms of expectations from say high vs. less expensive or what I consider plain (like a brown) vs vibrant (like Purple) colors.

Plus it'll be fun!! :)

KrazyIvan
October 8th, 2012, 09:04 AM
Hey Joe, I really did not expect to like brown inks but they give a certain old world charm to my writing that I like.

jar
October 8th, 2012, 09:57 AM
About 50 year old Waterman Black cartridges. Almost totally dried out so added a little tap water and they seem to be working flawlessly.

Ordinal
October 8th, 2012, 10:36 AM
I didn't expect to like Waterman Violet - it looked much too bright, I previously preferred more dusky purples like J Herbin Poussiere de Lune - but it has become one of my favourite inks now. It has the great flow and reliability of Waterman inks generally, combined with decent shading and a colourful but not garish tone.

snedwos
October 8th, 2012, 11:10 AM
Noodler's El Lawrence. I opened the sample vial and my immediate thought was: "Ugh, I am not putting this evil-smelling oily gunk in my pens!" I tested it with a dip pen and thought it looked interesting, so I threw all caution to the winds and loaded it up into a wide nibbed italic pen (with little water) and was blown away. I really love the warm olivey (?) grey.

inky
October 8th, 2012, 11:16 AM
Two colors come to mind. Noodlers Red-Black. At first I was thinking it was pretty close to Waterman's Havana Brown but in certian pens it defiently leans more towards well, a red-black. I like it because it is just diffrent enough to switch things up but still perfectly usable at work. The other color is Waterman serenity blue. It has always been described to me as a boring blue. I tried out a sample of it and loved the color.

snedwos
October 8th, 2012, 11:19 AM
Two colors come to mind. Noodlers Red-Black. At first I was thinking it was pretty close to Waterman's Havana Brown but in certian pens it defiently leans more towards well, a red-black. I like it because it is just diffrent enough to switch things up but still perfectly usable at work. The other color is Waterman serenity blue. It has always been described to me as a boring blue. I tried out a sample of it and loved the color.

Parker Washable Blue is the boring blue. And yet I did kind of like using it.

Bogon07
October 8th, 2012, 05:08 PM
Noodler's Habanero which I bought on whim as I like the orange in Japanese Gel pens. It is very enjoyable to write with. so much so that I've now add Cayenne and Apache Sunset.

Noodler's RedBlack depends on the pen and paper.

John the Monkey
October 9th, 2012, 06:12 AM
"Proper" greens - I'd used really dark green, like Diamine Evergreen, but was very surprised to like stuff like Emerald, and Light Green. Shame that green ink has a bit of an image problem in the UK!

KrazyIvan
October 9th, 2012, 08:33 AM
Oh yeah, Mont Blanc Irish Green is a good one too.

tiffanyhenschel
October 9th, 2012, 11:17 AM
MB Carlo Collodi surprised me. I bought a bottle on a whim at my local pen shop because it was an LE ink, and they only had one bottle left. I didn't expect to like it because brown inks are usually ho hum to me, so it sat in its box, unused, for about three months. Then one day, I tried it. Wow. It is beautiful with a medium/broad italic nib. After that, I scrambled to find another source and bought two more bottles.

manoeuver
October 9th, 2012, 11:33 AM
"Proper" greens - I'd used really dark green, like Diamine Evergreen, but was very surprised to like stuff like Emerald, and Light Green. Shame that green ink has a bit of an image problem in the UK!Enlighten me, Mr. Monkey, about the green ink stigma if you'd care to.

KrazyIvan
October 9th, 2012, 11:45 AM
Didn't it have to do with spies or some cloak and dagger thing?

EDIT: Found it: http://www.tigerpens.co.uk/blog/green-ink-the-colour-of-eccentrics-and-spooks/

manoeuver
October 9th, 2012, 12:35 PM
Didn't it have to do with spies or some cloak and dagger thing?

EDIT: Found it: http://www.tigerpens.co.uk/blog/green-ink-the-colour-of-eccentrics-and-spooks/

Holy shit! I'm crazy! I knew it!

John the Monkey
October 9th, 2012, 01:33 PM
Oh, good find Ivan! In my youth I worked in a low ranking position in the civil service, and we received our fair share of green ink letters there - ours were from eccentrics rather than spies though :)

Bogon07
October 9th, 2012, 06:18 PM
I've always been rather fond of the phrase “a letter ill-written in green ink” from I think Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim.

inky
October 9th, 2012, 08:49 PM
Parker Washable Blue is the boring blue. And yet I did kind of like using it.

Haven't used the Blue but I do like Quink black. I use it in a deskpen all the time.

Ordinal
October 10th, 2012, 01:09 PM
I grew to hate Parker Washable Blue when I was at school, because it was the only ink we were allowed to use until we were old enough to be trusted with permanent black. But it's actually quite decent, if you like blue. The same thing as Waterman Florida Blue these days though in a worse bottle.

snedwos
October 10th, 2012, 03:19 PM
Green ink is traditionally the letter used to write rude and nasty letters, isn't it?

The Good Captain
October 11th, 2012, 08:17 AM
Diamine Misty Blue - it's got more poke than haar!

Freddy
October 14th, 2012, 04:20 PM
Diamine Denim. I am not a huge fan of blue inks because I find them boring. However, a sample of this won me over and I immediately purchased a full bottle. The name is a perfect descriptor as the color reminds me of Original Levi 501 Shrink-To-Fit Jeans before they are washed. It is an ink that will work in a business, as well as a casual, setting.

geoduc
October 14th, 2012, 10:37 PM
Noodler's Zhivago. The color wasn't a surprise, but the behavior was. It has excellent water resistance for the rare times when I need that, and is one of the best inks I've found for use on cheap copy paper. I'll be buying a bottle in my next order.

Newjelan
October 15th, 2012, 03:32 AM
Kaweco Brown - bought some cartridges on sale ages ago and only tried it yesterrday. It's a rich, dark brown with nice shading in my Visconti Van Gogh with Gold B nib *swoon*

Laike
October 15th, 2012, 10:42 PM
Noodler's North African Violet. I never thought I'd dig purple, but I received a sample from the Goulet's Ink Drop and I really loved the colour. So I ended up buying the bottle.

Bogon07
October 21st, 2012, 05:04 PM
Noodler's Zhivago. The color wasn't a surprise, but the behavior was. It has excellent water resistance for the rare times when I need that, and is one of the best inks I've found for use on cheap copy paper. I'll be buying a bottle in my next order.

One of my favourites and the 3rd ink I purchased.

I'm finding the intense violet ink that came with the Platinum Preppy to be a very attractive colour.
Similar in searing the eyeballs like Daragon's Napalm.

fountainpenkid
October 23rd, 2012, 06:45 PM
Diamine Kelly Green...in a bad way. :(

snedwos
October 25th, 2012, 07:11 AM
Do elaborate, Will?

fountainpenkid
October 25th, 2012, 02:51 PM
Smells wierd. Too dark to be Kelly Green. Stains celluloid. Too wet for most uses...the list goes on and on....

Scrib
March 12th, 2013, 02:16 PM
That would be Diamine Blue-Black (the new formula). I was sent a sample cartridge with a bulk order of inks. The moment I tried it there was no looking back. If I hadn't been sent that cartridge I might never have tried it, the swabs I had seen of it online never took my fancy.

If I had to choose one ink, it would be Diamine Blue-Black (but only the new formula, NOT the old formula which has too much green in it for my liking).

fpquest
March 12th, 2013, 06:25 PM
Iroshizuku Fuyo-syogun. Even though I heard good things about the brand I figured I'd be underwhelmed. Plus it's a gray which I usually think of as watered down black. It's now a standard ink for me, despite the cost.

cedargirl
March 13th, 2013, 12:41 AM
Lexington Gray. I don't like black inks that aren't rich and black, but bought Lexington Gray for it's waterproof qualities for my drawing kit. I put it into a medium nib pen and I love it. Weird. I still don't like Quink Black in a medium nib because it's not black enough!

woosang
March 13th, 2013, 06:43 AM
Noodler's Zhivago. The color wasn't a surprise, but the behavior was. It has excellent water resistance for the rare times when I need that, and is one of the best inks I've found for use on cheap copy paper. I'll be buying a bottle in my next order.

Ooo I'll try that!

woosang
March 13th, 2013, 06:45 AM
For me noodlers black swan in English roses.. It's a pleasant brownish colour. I think it looks great fir a letter when you just don't want blue

woosang
March 13th, 2013, 06:45 AM
Iroshizuku Fuyo-syogun. Even though I heard good things about the brand I figured I'd be underwhelmed. Plus it's a gray which I usually think of as watered down black. It's now a standard ink for me, despite the cost.

Adore this ink!

KrazyIvan
March 13th, 2013, 09:27 AM
I'm going to find out if Diamine Syrah Red and Saddle Brown will surprise me. Well, it has to be a surprise, I have never sampled them. I figured with the Jetpens clearance, I could afford to try full "sample" bottles. :p

woosang
March 13th, 2013, 02:19 PM
well let us know! They sound interesting

snedwos
March 15th, 2013, 01:26 PM
Grey is so much more than just watered-down black. Artists will rarely mix grey from black plus white, chromatic greys give you so much more possiblilities!

jor412
March 18th, 2013, 05:24 AM
Noodler's El Lawrence. I opened the sample vial and my immediate thought was: "Ugh, I am not putting this evil-smelling oily gunk in my pens!" I tested it with a dip pen and thought it looked interesting, so I threw all caution to the winds and loaded it up into a wide nibbed italic pen (with little water) and was blown away. I really love the warm olivey (?) grey.


Noodler's Zhivago. The color wasn't a surprise, but the behavior was. It has excellent water resistance for the rare times when I need that, and is one of the best inks I've found for use on cheap copy paper. I'll be buying a bottle in my next order.

I agree with these two. El Lawrence, because of the olive tint, and Zhivago, because when I found the right pens for it, I saw the mostly hidden green. Both are excellent to use.

KrazyIvan
March 22nd, 2013, 11:20 AM
I'm going to find out if Diamine Syrah Red and Saddle Brown will surprise me. Well, it has to be a surprise, I have never sampled them. I figured with the Jetpens clearance, I could afford to try full "sample" bottles. :p

Definitely a surprise. I like Diamine Syrah a lot more than I thought I would. Saddle Brown is a let down. Maybe it's the pen I am using (540 with a B nib, self ground to a stub). I am going to have to load up a wider stub with it to see if it makes a difference. Really, I am not quite sure what I am looking for in a brown ink. Maybe more of a golden brown, this one is too dark.

The Good Captain
March 23rd, 2013, 02:15 AM
Diamine Majestic Blue. I thought I'd give it another go and am really glad I did. A great colour as we all know and with care and the use of the right paper, it DOES dry!

ThriveToScribe
April 7th, 2013, 02:02 AM
"Proper" greens - I'd used really dark green, like Diamine Evergreen, but was very surprised to like stuff like Emerald, and Light Green. Shame that green ink has a bit of an image problem in the UK!

Is it used in poison pen letters, or something? Or anonymous letters to "The Times"? I vaguely recall something about it in an old, Golden Age mystery.

ThriveToScribe
April 7th, 2013, 02:04 AM
The ink the surprised me most recently was Diamine Ochre, written in a faux leather diary I found with ivory paper. Maybe it does that on white paper, too, but it goes on golden and then turns brown. It changed the look of my handwriting when I reread the entries. (Probably a good thing).:-)

woosang
April 7th, 2013, 02:08 AM
I've been writing with Mont Blanc Carlo Corroli ink. Like the one above, changes colour.. This one goes on orange and dries brown with a slight outline. It's rather cool

Barbara
April 7th, 2013, 06:36 AM
Two colors come to mind. Noodlers Red-Black. At first I was thinking it was pretty close to Waterman's Havana Brown but in certian pens it defiently leans more towards well, a red-black. I like it because it is just diffrent enough to switch things up but still perfectly usable at work. The other color is Waterman serenity blue. It has always been described to me as a boring blue. I tried out a sample of it and loved the color.

Noodler's Red-Black surprised the daylights out of me. It's far from boring, which is what I was expecting. I'm using it much more than I thought I would.

woosang
April 7th, 2013, 12:43 PM
Hmm maybe I should dig it out and have another look at it

ThriveToScribe
April 7th, 2013, 01:00 PM
I've been writing with Mont Blanc Carlo Corroli ink. Like the one above, changes colour.. This one goes on orange and dries brown with a slight outline. It's rather cool

Hmm...I might save up for that one! (I wonder who Carlo Corroli is?) :-)

ThriveToScribe
April 7th, 2013, 01:03 PM
Noodler's Red-Black surprised the daylights out of me. It's far from boring, which is what I was expecting. I'm using it much more than I thought I would.

Is it vastly different from the Black in English (or Australian) Roses, do you know?

woosang
April 7th, 2013, 07:32 PM
Oh it very different. The roses inks are a pink share one being more than the other and red /black is a blackish red. Hmm I'll do a swap of all three when I get home to make it clearer if you like

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

woosang
April 7th, 2013, 07:33 PM
Shade pinkish shade

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

woosang
April 7th, 2013, 11:17 PM
Is it vastly different from the Black in English (or Australian) Roses, do you know?

Here you are.
1994

Sorry it's sideways :-(
Hope it helps you decide

woosang
April 7th, 2013, 11:18 PM
Is it vastly different from the Black in English (or Australian) Roses, do you know?

The closest is black swan in Australia. Roses to red - black the English is more mauve/purple

Bogon07
April 8th, 2013, 05:04 PM
Here you are.
1994

Sorry it's sideways :-(
Hope it helps you decide

That is odd my BSIAR looks like the #2 blob. And ranges from black purple to a pinkish magenta colour. I'd heard the BSIER tends towards a more red brownish tone.

Red Black has a mind of its own varying from black to red tinged brown to a very dark red.

woosang
April 8th, 2013, 05:06 PM
I think, as all noodlers batches are handmade per say, each batch will be slightly different but aust roses fir me is more brown than English

menunes
April 8th, 2013, 05:20 PM
The last ink I got was Sailor Gentle Blue (sky blue, I think the label was in kanji). I like it very much, it has that red sheen. It's a sort of cobalt blue - cerulean blue. I also loved the Carlo Collodi, it's one of my faves.

PS: woosang, your handwriting is beautiful, what pen are you using, or is it a dip pen? (I've read and replied to your letter btw, lovely inks you got there):)

woosang
April 8th, 2013, 05:23 PM
The last ink I got was Sailor Gentle Blue (sky blue, I think the label was in kanji). I like it very much, it has that red sheen. It's a sort of cobalt blue - cerulean blue. I also loved the Carlo Collodi, it's one of my faves.

PS: woosang, your handwriting is beautiful, what pen are you using, or is it a dip pen? (I've read and replied to your letter btw, lovely inks you got there):)

The Sailor Sky High is my go to ink for everything. Love it. I do enjoy the Carlo as well.

Dip pen for letters, fountain pens for diaries and work

Carole
April 9th, 2013, 10:17 AM
I'm sitting here with a bottle of R & K Scabiosa and a surprised look on my face. I wanted to try a new iron gall ink--and so far, every combo of pen and paper I've tried with this ink, has given a different color result! I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it's a complex color, gray/purple. The shading is pretty good; this ink does feel a bit dry. I hadn't expected the metallic aroma, either. It's iron-y.

woosang, thanks for that lovely writing sample!

ThriveToScribe
April 10th, 2013, 07:37 PM
Here you are.
1994
Hope it helps you decide
Sorry it's sideways :-(
That's okay. I to have a different point of view sometimes! :-)
THANKS for the swatches, what a nice sampling of some lovely colors in the red family. Yes, it will help me decide (like, maybe ALL of them!)
Also, love your calligraphic script.

ThriveToScribe
April 10th, 2013, 07:50 PM
Didn't it have to do with spies or some cloak and dagger thing?

EDIT: Found it: http://www.tigerpens.co.uk/blog/green-ink-the-colour-of-eccentrics-and-spooks/

Fascinating! I've always loved British eccentricity, although that trait skipped a generation with my own English mum. I hoped that some of it would drip down to her American daughter.

woosang
April 11th, 2013, 05:21 AM
Sorry it's sideways :-(
That's okay. I to have a different point of view sometimes! :-)
THANKS for the swatches, what a nice sampling of some lovely colors in the red family. Yes, it will help me decide (like, maybe ALL of them!)
Also, love your calligraphic script.

Thank you. :-)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

caleath
April 11th, 2013, 02:54 PM
Burma Road Brown was a big surprise...and Diamine Midnight too.

Cornet
April 13th, 2013, 07:51 PM
Green was the colour for poison pen letters and for eccentric rants to the editor. In those days there were fewer greens and they tended to be a bit darker that the modern "Kelly" type greens. Still if you do want to write poison pen letters I am sure the recipient will not mind if you write in a modern brighter green.

jor412
April 13th, 2013, 09:28 PM
Burma Road Brown was a big surprise...and Diamine Midnight too.

Burma Road Brown is quite interesting. Sometimes it's brown, sometimes it's a dark olive, and sometimes, though I think this might be my eyesight, it's greyish. El Lawrence is similar although murkier than BRB. My problem with Burma Road Brown though is that it tends to clog my pens. I'm not sure why that is but I suspect diluting it some with distilled water will help. How's Diamine Midnight like? That's on my list of inks to try. :)

79spitfire
April 14th, 2013, 01:16 PM
Noodler's EL Lawrence, and Chelpark Sapphire. The color on the Noodler's blew me away, and it was well behaved, never got past the sample, $18 was just too rich at the time.

The Chelpark Sapphire is dirt cheap (when you can find it) and has just the right balance of saturation, good behaviour and ease of clean up, in other words its a quality product! I also have Chelpark blue-black, but it wasn't as surprising, mostly because I already knew what to expect, and it delivered. (oh yea, it's seriously water proof as well!)

ThriveToScribe
April 19th, 2013, 07:57 PM
Green was the colour for poison pen letters and for eccentric rants to the editor. In those days there were fewer greens and they tended to be a bit darker that the modern "Kelly" type greens. Still if you do want to write poison pen letters I am sure the recipient will not mind if you write in a modern brighter green.

Just receiving a handwritten letter in green ink would be delightful.
But wait, does one add some poison, perhaps, to the ink? That would be an interesting and possibly lethal way to get one's point across. (Note to self: File away as plot device)

Murfie
April 19th, 2013, 10:23 PM
Burma Road Brown is quite interesting. Sometimes it's brown, sometimes it's a dark olive, and sometimes, though I think this might be my eyesight, it's greyish. My problem with Burma Road Brown though is that it tends to clog my pens.
I love Noodler's inks but Burma Road Brown was a real surprise. Agree with the above quote. I put it in a wet writer and if you stopped writing for just 30 seconds the nib had to be primed to work again. It was like writing with dirty mud (with a matching color). On the other hand I tried some Bernanke Black in the same writing session and was very impressed with the flow and saturation on Rhodia paper. Now this is a dry ink.