Brown.

[Sailor Kenshin]

So here are my current browns, most of them in bottles, but a few are just sample vials, such as De Atramentis Black-Brown, Diamine Strauss and Chocolate, and Skrip Brown.

Apart from the JH Cafe des Isles, in a Guanleming 193, and the Diamine Strauss in a Waterman Kultur, the tests were made with a glass dip pen. Paper is Rhodia Ice.

You could almost call the Sailor Kobe Brick Brown Red....a red. And Diamine Strauss looks pinkish to me.

J Herbin Cacao du Bresil is another one of those great, indefinable colors...kinda grayish-plumish-brownish, but alas, the scan seems to have stripped out all the other elusive tones, leaving only gray.

If you don't count the sample vials, I seem to have far fewer brown inks than greens or turquoises. This is a good thing, I mean, unacceptible! Yeah....

What's next? Another brown from DA? Maybe Sailor Doyou? Iroshizuku Yama-Guri? Or something unknown and exotic? G'wan....suggestions welcome. :)


https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1693/24805350872_d989b8fd4d_z.jpg

[Lady Onogaro]

I like the Kobe Brick Brown Red. The Waterman Havana looks like of purple.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I like the Kobe Brick Brown Red. The Waterman Havana looks like of purple.

I guess it does, in the scan. It's a warm brown with red undertones.

[Robert]

After trying several browns and sepias, I'm hooked on Iroshizuku yama-guri - - now well into my second bottle of it.

[bluesea]

After trying several browns and sepias, I'm hooked on Iroshizuku yama-guri - - now well into my second bottle of it.


Interesting moving from Sepia to what I would consider a grayish brown. I definitely lean towards the former, and even beyond, searching for the transition from reddish to purplish.

[KKay]

WHY did I click on this link? Sailor, I must resist putting any of these lovely colors on my list. :music:

[caribbean_skye]

do i need to send you a sample of kwz honey?

[Sailor Kenshin]

Heeeheeee.....

Next on my inky to-do list: blues. Turns out that, apart from sample vials, I don't have many: a NOS Rotring Ultramarine, Waterman Florida Blue, Skrip Blue, and JH Eclat de Saphir. All my favorite 'blues' either lean black, turquoise, or teal.

[erpe]

Another great brown you might want to look at: Conway Stewart Kingsand (or the close match Diamine Ochre). Beautiful shading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVAMGu3X9g

[migo984]

Heeeheeee.....

Next on my inky to-do list: blues. Turns out that, apart from sample vials, I don't have many: a NOS Rotring Ultramarine, Waterman Florida Blue, Skrip Blue, and JH Eclat de Saphir. All my favorite 'blues' either lean black, turquoise, or teal.

Blues! Don't get me going on blues! I have so many - the quantity makes my bottles of green inks pale into insignificance, and I have >50 of those little chlorophyll blighters :-)

[TSherbs]

Blues! Don't get me going on blues! I have so many - the quantity makes my bottles of green inks pale into insignificance, and I have >50 of those little chlorophyll blighters :-)

yikes! :blink:

[bluesea]

Heeeheeee.....

Next on my inky to-do list: blues. Turns out that, apart from sample vials, I don't have many: a NOS Rotring Ultramarine, Waterman Florida Blue, Skrip Blue, and JH Eclat de Saphir. All my favorite 'blues' either lean black, turquoise, or teal.


I have 7-9 blues you haven't listed including a bluish peacock and a few iron galls, but no sample vials.

[naimitsu]

If you want to try more browns...

I plopped Private Reserve Vampire Red in the brown category regardless of the name. There is a slight red tint to the color, but it's firmly in the brown category for me. With that said, it is an interesting color. Not necessarily a color I like, but it is different.

Also, Toucan Sienna is a nice red-brown with some darker brown haloing on Apica Permium.

Paradise Pen Canyon Brown turns almost burgundy when it concentrates (i.e. when I forgot about it and the fluid portion evaporated, leaving a more concentrated color in the pen!)

[inklord]

Have you tried the "Great Four Browns" (GFB) - as I dub them - from Franklin-Christoph? They are 'Dark Chocolate' (a warm blackish brown), 'Brown 732' (medium dark warm), 'Terra Firma' (a darker brick than Diamine 'Terra Cotta'), and 'Black Cherry' (very dark purplish brown). Also: R&K Sepia, my all-time winner, the one ink I'd take to the desert island in my L2k!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Have you tried the "Great Four Browns" (GFB) - as I dub them - from Franklin-Christoph? They are 'Dark Chocolate' (a warm blackish brown), 'Brown 732' (medium dark warm), 'Terra Firma' (a darker brick than Diamine 'Terra Cotta'), and 'Black Cherry' (very dark purplish brown). Also: R&K Sepia, my all-time winner, the one ink I'd take to the desert island in my L2k!

No, I have not tried them! Do they make their own inks?

Bluesea, I forgot that I have a bottle of MB Blue. I don't think it's a blue-black, but we'll see.

[Marsilius]

Doyou. It is almost too dark and subtle to be a color, like dark tree bark, but an underrated ink.
I like Visconti Sepia a lot in a wet pen, and it seems quite close to the Montblanc Toffee.
Yama-Guri lovely, but not shiny.
I like PR Chocolate, except that its dry time sometimes ends on my hand where I glide accross the page.
Diamine Ancient Copper if you don't mind a little gunk every now and then.
Montblanc Da Vinci Red Chalk has a nice terra cotta powdery look. Also, tends to "smear" off a bit light and dry?
And finally, I am hoarding my last half bottle of Rikyu Cha, which is browner the wetter it goes on. I dream of that one coming back on the market. Doyou did: It could happen . . .

[ppmiranda]

I really enjoy these posts. Can't wait for the blue one as I'm always looking for a blue nice blue.

[dam]

Wow, Herbin Cacao du Brésil seems completely gray! The name suggests something else completely, at least it does in my mind.

[oldstoat]

Diamine Rustic Brown is a good orangey-brown, very similar to Pelikan 4001 Brown, but their Saddle Brown is a bit... meh! Ochre is pretty good and Oxblood, once dry is like, well, dry blood. My favourite is their Chocolate Brown. Well behaved, and beautiful on cream paper.

[naimitsu]

Oxblood, once dry is like, well, dry blood.

This is exactly why I can't bring myself to use Oxblood. Too many nose bleeds in my childhood, and so much blood dripped on papers in class! When I tested the color, my nose started feeling watery. Totally psychosomatic, but at least I'm aware of it ;)

[TSherbs]

naimitsu, you expressed my opinion on this exactly. I tried to like Oxblood and just couldn't.

[Dreck]

Oxblood, once dry is like, well, dry blood.

This is exactly why I can't bring myself to use Oxblood. Too many nose bleeds in my childhood, and so much blood dripped on papers in class! When I tested the color, my nose started feeling watery. Totally psychosomatic, but at least I'm aware of it ;)

LOL. You poor thing! It's visual similarity to actual blood is precisely why I use it when grading papers.

[KKay]

Hey I loved Oxblood. It didn't seem like dried blood to me. Syrah is very close to it, but a bit more red. I almost bought Oxblood. It flows really well in my Pilot Prera with F nib too.

[naimitsu]

Oxblood, once dry is like, well, dry blood.

This is exactly why I can't bring myself to use Oxblood. Too many nose bleeds in my childhood, and so much blood dripped on papers in class! When I tested the color, my nose started feeling watery. Totally psychosomatic, but at least I'm aware of it ;)

LOL. You poor thing! It's visual similarity to actual blood is precisely why I use it when grading papers.

You are totally evil! I like it ;)
I have been tempted to put Oxblood in a pen for signatures... especially legal documents. But alas, only black and blue are acceptable legal colors :(

[Lady Onogaro]

do i need to send you a sample of kwz honey?

If she doesn't want it, I do. :)

[Pilotman49]

Most of these browns seem to lean toward the red or purple end of the spectrum. Need a real brown brown.

[TSherbs]

..... I almost bought Oxblood. It flows really well in my Pilot Prera with F nib too.

The Prera F is a good test of an ink's flowbilation.

[KKay]

Yes, it is. That is why I usually try inks out there first. I have a pretty good feel for how much ink flow will be, just from that one pen alone. Dang it Sailor. I am fighting off the urge to put browns on my list. I may lose the battle.

[migo984]

Most of these browns seem to lean toward the red or purple end of the spectrum. Need a real brown brown.

A few inks you might like. Do-you is always top of my darkest brown ink list (this photo doesn't sufficiently show up the brown under-tone). To me, almost the perfect ink.

ps waving "hello" to Bogon07 :)

[inklord]

Have you tried the "Great Four Browns" (GFB) - as I dub them - from Franklin-Christoph? They are 'Dark Chocolate' (a warm blackish brown), 'Brown 732' (medium dark warm), 'Terra Firma' (a darker brick than Diamine 'Terra Cotta'), and 'Black Cherry' (very dark purplish brown). Also: R&K Sepia, my all-time winner, the one ink I'd take to the desert island in my L2k!

No, I have not tried them! Do they make their own inks?

Well, at least they bottle their own. Lots of great colors, all shown on their web page in the "Ink Cellar". The F-C inks seem to be on par with some of the greatest inks out there (Sailor, Pilot, Diamine, R&K). Nice upright bottle, 2 oz for around $13.

[migo984]

Well, at least they bottle their own. Lots of great colors, all shown on their web page in the "Ink Cellar". The F-C inks seem to be on par with some of the greatest inks out there (Sailor, Pilot, Diamine, R&K). Nice upright bottle, 2 oz for around $13.

I have a few F-C inks, including Dark Chocolate and Black Cherry. I agree they are well-behaved inks but for me, they fall short of being "on par with some of the greatest". They're lacking a certain je ne sais pas. I think it may be that, although the colours are attractive, they tend to appear rather dull and flat to me.

[Scooby921]

Have you tried the "Great Four Browns" (GFB) - as I dub them - from Franklin-Christoph? They are 'Dark Chocolate' (a warm blackish brown), 'Brown 732' (medium dark warm), 'Terra Firma' (a darker brick than Diamine 'Terra Cotta'), and 'Black Cherry' (very dark purplish brown). Also: R&K Sepia, my all-time winner, the one ink I'd take to the desert island in my L2k!

I have F-C Brown 732. One of my favorite inks. I love the shading.

[bluesea]

Most of these browns seem to lean toward the red or purple end of the spectrum. Need a real brown brown.


Omas Sepia is probably as close as I'll go to basic brown.


http://i.imgur.com/0ZpVU5I.jpg (http://imgur.com/0ZpVU5I)

[naimitsu]

Most of these browns seem to lean toward the red or purple end of the spectrum. Need a real brown brown.


Omas Sepia is probably as close as I'll go to basic brown.

I don't know if these have been mentioned yet, but of the handful of browns I have tried, these are the browniest browns I've seen:

J. Herbin Cafe des Iles
Private Reserve Ebony Brown
Diamine Macassar
Paradise Pen Canyon Brown (this is a "brighter" brown that darkens perceptibly as it evaporates in the pen)