New To The Ink Thing

[Liquid360]

I've only recently entered into this fountain pen thing. It was with relative ease that I was able to buy a few really nice pens, but the ink has been far more difficult. I've read reviews, but obviously it's mostly subjective and the options are vast. Based only on appearance, here's what I've ordered through Amazon. Any advice? Recommendations? Warnings?

I'm just killing time as I await delivery. It's sad to have some really nice hardware, but no fuel [emoji853]

J.herbin 1670 Anniversary Ink Caroube
J. Herbin 1670 Anniversay Stormy Grey
Caran d'Ache Electric Orange
J. Herbin features Emerald of Chivor
J. Herbin features Red


http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161129/7c964a61e347f394e6970bfce0c7fe9f.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161129/4321156e389441bcfb44bd5f1116f94a.png


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wile E Coyote]

Ok, I'll bite.

There's tons to say but I'll keep it short. The 1670 inks are very nice but the bottles can be difficult to use. You might want to get a syringe, eyedropper or another bottle to make filling easier. Or you can wait until the CDA bottle is empty. You don't say anything about the pens you have, but I find the 1670 inks really show their "stuff" with wet broad nibs. A Pilot Parallel pen might be a good inexpensive next pen, or get them all. Never hurts to have too many pens.

Another suggestion would be to get a nice boring well behaved ink. Everybody needs a bottle of Waterman and Parker Quink. Color isn't super important, I go for the blues or blue-black. Don't worry, you'll have too many inks in no time.

[Sammyo]

I'll join in too...
One thing to be aware of with the J. Herbin inks, is that they have particles in them; it's what makes them all sparkly. Because of the particulate, it CAN (not definitely will!) block up some feeds. The result of this can either be “no shiney, shiney bits” or no ink coming out of the pen at all. A quick flush of the pen with water is normally enough to get things going again.

Another thing about the J. Herbin inks… people want the sparkle… and it’s not always there every time you uncap and use the pen. One thing that I have seen avid users do, is to hold the pen on it’s side in your hand and roll it gently backwards and forwards for a few seconds (the more the merrier) before uncapping it.

You should have no issues with the Caran D'Ache.

Food for thought :D

[Pterodactylus]

As said these Herbin inks are special because of their sparkles and you will notice sparkle density inconsistencies.
When you start writing there are a lot, when you write more they will get less and less up to the point where they are not noticeable anymore (until you stop again). This is true for all sparkle inks also the Diamine, the sparkles simply can't be held in suspension in the ink (as they are physical objects). Don't forget to shake the bottle before filling well and also the pen before writing. This lack of consistency is IMO the major drawback of these inks (and normally nobody tells you in the reviews when you see only a few written words).
Cleaning out the sparkles from the pen is also more difficult than with normal inks, especially if you use pens which you can't fully disassemble.
You might also notice hard starts especially after you did not write with the pen for a longer time.
As said they might also cloak the feed (but not necessarily).
In general these inks are better in pens with generous flow and broad nibs (less problems).
I have also a couple of Diamine and Herbin sparkle inks, they are IMO show inks to get a wow Effekt Using them for a few words like greeting cards,.... but I consider them not as ideal daily usage inks (which you can also do for sure, but expect the mentioned drawbacks above).

You will not face any problems with the Caran dˋ Ache ink (beside that they are IMO too expensive).

[datainadequate]

If you get bored with ink that sparkles, start trying inks with a sheen (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/198510-inks-with-a-sheen/page-16) :)

[kevmid]

As you say the ink reviews are subjective and options vast, so one thing you might like to try is buying small samples of different inks to see which ones you like.

I found this a useful way to experiment with many different brands and colors without committing to a whole bottle of ink every time. A lot of sellers offer this option in sample tubes of a few mls - Goulet, Andersen etc. In this way I found inks that really suited me and my pens and then I bought those bottles. As I don't have as much time to write as I would like, then I could easily finish a sample but it would take ages to finish a bottle, especially one you end up not liking so much - unless you can pass it on.
Keeping notes or a swatch book on the inks you've tried is also a handy reference for the future

[grainweevil]

Another suggestion would be to get a nice boring well behaved ink. Everybody needs a bottle of Waterman and Parker Quink. Color isn't super important, I go for the blues or blue-black. Don't worry, you'll have too many inks in no time.

I'll second that. If, or when, you have flow troubles, it's incredibly useful to be able to rule out the ink as the problem.

[Chrissy]

I also bought the Amazon offer of Caran d'Ache Chromatic ink in Electric Orange because it was reduced over the Black Friday week. :bounce:

I recommend that you buy a bottle of Waterman (Blue or Brown?) just to try out in every new pen. That way you can get a good idea of how the pen flows and lubricates with ink and more importantly you can directly compare it with all of your other pens using the same 'standard' ink. :) Then once you try your pen with a different ink, you will know whether it's dryer or wetter than your standard Waterman ink :)

[Scooby921]

Another suggestion if you're new to inks and want to try a lot of variety, look for vendors who offer samples. If you're in the USA check out Goulet Pens and Anderson Pens. The offer 2-3mL samples of a lot of different colors for not a lot of money. It allows you to test an ink before spending money on a full bottle.

[Liquid360]

Much thanks!!! This was exactly the sort of advice I was seeking. Getting samples is a great idea for preventing shelves of abandoned bottles. Do certain inks perform differently in different pens? Generally speaking I mean?

I'm on disability and have nothing but time. Having no professional life means everything I do is the result of want and not of need. This is why the sparkles inks. All of this is a sad attempt to retain whatever sanity that remains. I mention this because it gives context to my purchases [emoji4]

My pens...
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161130/a6f108c682f9c3d48e142fd6bd570dfe.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pterodactylus]

You have a nice collection. :)

A good ink should function in every pen, but of course certain ink/pen combinations harmonize better than others.
An rather wet ink together with a wet nib/feed might be too wet, same on the dry side.

If you are searching for general purpose standard inks you might should take a look at Pelikan 4001 (general on the dryer side) Waterman or Rohrer&Klingner inks. They are quite consistent no matter which color and on the market for decades (proved itˋs reliability, consistency, good behavior, safety, easy in pen maintenance, really good price/quality ratio).

Of course there are many other great inks on the market which also behave excellent, but the above ones at least I consider as the standard setting ones since decades.

There are so many possibilities regarding inks.
You should also take a look at great shading, sheen and iron gall inks (nothing perform better on bad paper than IG ink).

[Scooby921]

You have a nice collection. :)

A good ink should function in every pen, but of course certain ink/pen combinations harmonize better than others.
An rather wet ink together with a wet nib/feed might be too wet, same on the dry side.

If you are searching for general purpose standard inks you might should take a look at Pelikan 4001 (general on the dryer side) Waterman or Rohrer&Klingner inks. They are quite consistent no matter which color and on the market for decades (proved itˋs reliability, consistency, good behavior, safety, easy in pen maintenance, really good price/quality ratio).

Of course there are many other great inks on the market which also behave excellent, but the above ones at least I consider as the standard setting ones since decades.

There are so many possibilities regarding inks.
You should also take a look at great shading, sheen and iron gall inks (nothing perform better on bad paper than IG ink).
To add to this...

Between naimitsu and I we likely have 200 different inks at home (most are samples from Goulet and Anderson). Thus far I've only found a couple inks which don't play well in any of my pens. As sammyo pointed out, some of the shimmer / sparkle inks cause feed issues. I had the J. Herbin Bleu Ocean in a couple different pens. The gold particulate which makes it shimmer has clogged up the feed in every pen I've tried. The other bad ink I have is a limited edition Montblanc Season's Greetings brown. Way too wet. I don't have a dry enough pen / nib to use this ink. It comes out so wet and so heavy that it takes days to dry. I believe Noodler's Baystate Blue, while quite nice in color, is one to be very careful with as it will stain everything...including your sink when you try to wash it off your hands our out of a pen. A co-worker has also struggled with Diamine Ancient Copper drying up and getting gummy in the feed on several of his pens. I think if you use it often enough it's not a problem, but I've still seen his pen with what looked like boogers hanging off the feed. Aside from that most any ink works in any pen we've tried in our house.

To expand on shading inks, it has been my experience thus far that a lot of Noodler's inks offer great shading. Apache Sunset, Habanero, and Golden Brown are great examples of this. Plenty of others offer great shading, Noodler's tends to be the cheapest way into shading inks. For inks with sheen I have found Sailor inks to be full of sheen in most cases. I get so much gold sheen out of Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu that the green ink looks tan. Sheen inks are going to look a little like the J. Herbin anniversary inks you bought with some shiny, glittery effect, but they do it from the natural pigments in the inks instead of additives.

[Liquid360]

Does anyone have any opinions on the offerings from Kyonooto? The examples look beautiful, the black and green specifically.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/7989772abd7e9902894668cfa0d2a5cf.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/678f5ba02190dbd223497eb2bdcbf075.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/082e91228ca81f4a2d8281c1c3019fc5.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/d260f4deea5124b9f2be3ec8b28e3b0b.png


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scooby921]

I've never heard of them, but perhaps being a Japanese ink sammyo might know more. He's been living in Japan for the last year and acquiring many new fountain pens and inks.

I do think that green looks really nice. I may have to look at these a bit more :)

[migo984]

Does anyone have any opinions on the offerings from Kyonooto? The examples look beautiful, the black and green specifically.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/7989772abd7e9902894668cfa0d2a5cf.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/678f5ba02190dbd223497eb2bdcbf075.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/082e91228ca81f4a2d8281c1c3019fc5.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161201/d260f4deea5124b9f2be3ec8b28e3b0b.png


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have 5 or 6 TAG inks (the makers of both the Kyo-no-oto & Kyo-iro series). I don't have No. 3 but do have the black. No. 1 Nure-bane-iro is a beautiful black ink, with a lush coppery sheen. The inks are made from plant dyes, and aren't typical of Japanese inks. They are less saturated, like a cross between Sailor & Iroshizuku. They shade beautifully & are great for calligraphy. They are well-behaved but feather slightly on poor quality papers. The ones I have clean out well.

They are available from Office shop on Rakuten & are starting to become available outside Japan (SakuraFountainPenGallery in Belgium). I like them a lot.


Here's a swab showing the copper sheen on Nure-bane-iro, compared to Waterman Intense Bkack

28507

[DavidtheGnome]

when I was new to inks I also purchased several of the varieties of glitter/sparkle inks. When they are properly mixed/agitated and dispensed from a large nib pen they can be quite impressive. I have used them for making birthday cards. I like both the J Herbin and Diamine products.

If you're looking for a daily writer my go to is Pilot Kon Peki - its an intense blue ink but not so intense that it cannot be used for everyday note taking or business writing, at least in my opinion. It has a fairly large following in the fountain pen world as do others in the iroshizuku ink family. If you want something less expensive I have also had good experiences with noodlers but I do notice their inks are more subject to nib creep (ink comes out of the breather hole/tines and sits on the top of the nib). Its not a huge deal but more of an annoyance.

If you want to go with something really exotic, try Akkermans shocking blue, I know Vanness pens carries it, I have yet to acquire a bottle of my own but there are multiple forum posts here about it.

Happy hunting!

[naimitsu]

If you want to go with something really exotic, try Akkermans shocking blue, I know Vanness pens carries it, I have yet to acquire a bottle of my own but there are multiple forum posts here about it.

You really should get a bottle if for no other reason than the bottle.
It looks awesome sitting on a shelf, and the dispensing mechanism is neat (I'm an engineer, so I'm also easily amused!).

AndersonPens also carries Akkerman, and if you live close enough to one of the Pen Show venues, they bring a few bottles of most of their inks and they have these wonderful binders of color swabs that I threaten to steal every time I see them!

[Liquid360]

Well... I placed another order, but was limited to Amazon as I was using a gift card. Between this order and my last, I'm set to explore the world of ink [emoji4]
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161202/71fdd4129b9690d6085d26f428370880.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161202/6487b8b8cc19b2e01068f5d9deb7664c.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161202/f3689fcd8896e0f73b1706eb8bffe37f.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161202/5692b121dc64d3ba6b3ba7eefd4e1f1e.png


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[migo984]

Good choices :-) Platinum Carbon Black is a fantastic ink for writing and drawing. I use it in my Kuretake & Pentel brush pens & my sketching fountain pens.

Have fun with your inks & please do come back here to let us know how you get on with them :)

[KKay]

I have the J. Herbin-Emerald of Chivor, and love it. However I will say it only shows it's true beauty on Tomoe River paper. If you like the sparkly inks, use at least a medium nib. I will only use these types of ink in certain pens. I made the mistake of using Emerald of Chivor in my Edison-Collier F pen once. I will never put it in a F nib pen again. It didn't clog completely, but it did clog. I thought I had flushed the pen out good. I filled the pen with Diamine-Autumn Oak and wondered why it was more brown than before. Once I started flushing that pen, teal started coming out of the pen....lol. I tried Caroube de Chypre, but it started clogging the feed of a medium nib pen. (even with the precautions I take) I think it was naimitsu who said to turn/rotate your pen with this kind of ink in it. Then once you are finished tap all around the feed, and turn the pen before storing it. After I write a line or two, I will agitate the ink a little. If you keep your nib pointed down the whole time, gravity will make the glittery stuff settle into the feed. That would be bad for most pens. I also read glittery inks are attracted to ebonite feeds. I think a broad nib would be the safest for these kind of inks, or larger than that. I have tried a lot of inks, and I would definitely say to read reviews, look at color swatches, and then sample like crazy. Be warned, the more you try, the more you will WANT. If there are certain colors you want, just ask for ideas on favorites. After a while, you will find you like inks that are a certain wetness, or by certain brands etc... I would be glad to help you with any questions you have about any inks that I've tried. There are plenty of enablers on here, who would also love to help you out too. :)

[Liquid360]

I have the J. Herbin-Emerald of Chivor, and love it. However I will say it only shows it's true beauty on Tomoe River paper. If you like the sparkly inks, use at least a medium nib. I will only use these types of ink in certain pens. I made the mistake of using Emerald of Chivor in my Edison-Collier F pen once. I will never put it in a F nib pen again. It didn't clog completely, but it did clog. I thought I had flushed the pen out good. I filled the pen with Diamine-Autumn Oak and wondered why it was more brown than before. Once I started flushing that pen, teal started coming out of the pen....lol. I tried Caroube de Chypre, but it started clogging the feed of a medium nib pen. (even with the precautions I take) I think it was naimitsu who said to turn/rotate your pen with this kind of ink in it. Then once you are finished tap all around the feed, and turn the pen before storing it. After I write a line or two, I will agitate the ink a little. If you keep your nib pointed down the whole time, gravity will make the glittery stuff settle into the feed. That would be bad for most pens. I also read glittery inks are attracted to ebonite feeds. I think a broad nib would be the safest for these kind of inks, or larger than that. I have tried a lot of inks, and I would definitely say to read reviews, look at color swatches, and then sample like crazy. Be warned, the more you try, the more you will WANT. If there are certain colors you want, just ask for ideas on favorites. After a while, you will find you like inks that are a certain wetness, or by certain brands etc... I would be glad to help you with any questions you have about any inks that I've tried. There are plenty of enablers on here, who would also love to help you out too. :)

I wasn't familiar with this Timoe paper, but thanks to you and further research, I've placed an order for a few journals. Much appreciated!! Of all the glittery inks I've purchased, it's been the Chivor and especially the red that has impressed. Beautiful inks and thanks to the advice, I have yet to experience any blockage whatsoever. [emoji4] thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[stub]

I have yet to experience any blockage whatsoever. [emoji4] thanks!


A diet rich in fiber helps.

[Chrissy]

I have yet to experience any blockage whatsoever. [emoji4] thanks!


A diet rich in fiber helps.
:applause::pound: