Mystery Ink #18

[Scooby921]

It's the 23rd and time for the next mystery ink to get started!

As with any mystery ink it is open to FPG veterans, n00bs, newbies, and lurkers. You volunteer, I pick names, I send free ink, you write with it and post your thoughts and observations. Guessing is welcome, but not required. There is nothing to "win" aside from perhaps personal satisfaction that you recognized it. No guess is confirmed until the mystery ink is finally revealed. The point of the mystery ink threads is an unbiased review. Fear not about the quality of your handwriting or sketching abilities. We don't care. We are all appreciative of those with the gift of artistic ability, but how well you draw or write doesn't impact your ability to test an ink and provide your opinion on it.

As always, international participants are welcome, but due to shipping costs can expect to receive 3 or 4 samples and find themselves automatically nominated for the next few rounds of mystery inks.

For this round I already have 3 entrants (international participants from previous rounds). I think I have enough ink for another 5 participants. If you're interested go ahead and toss your name into the "hat" for this round and I'll draw names when it comes time to pick the review group and ship inks.

[suzy01]

I'd love to play again but wouldnt want to take away from someone who hasn't had the chance yet :)

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Wuddus]

Woohoo!

Armed and ready, Scooby :D

[countrydirt]

Count me in as a potential contestant. However, I will bow to newbies who've not had the opportunity yet.

[azkid]

I'd love to play again but wouldnt want to take away from someone who hasn't had the chance yet :)

Sent from my SM-N950F using TapatalkSame here :)

[Sailor Kenshin]

I'd love to play again but wouldnt want to take away from someone who hasn't had the chance yet :)

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

What Suzy said! :)

[FredRydr]

Put me in the hat. :dance3:

[Chrissy]

I'd love to play again but wouldnt want to take away from someone who hasn't had the chance yet :)

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
+1 for this. :)

[Scooby921]

You're all too polite. I was expecting more "gimmie gimmie gimmie"!

[suzy01]

You're all too polite. I was expecting more "gimmie gimmie gimmie"!We're all secretly thinking gimme gimme and hoping to be included in the hat 🤣 but it's so much fun that we also want others to enjoy too because we're nice like that.

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[Sammyo]

You're all too polite. I was expecting more "gimmie gimmie gimmie"!
GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE.... oh! sorry... GOT GOT GOT :facepalm: :jester:
It's gonna be a good one ;)
It's right up my street this one :D

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I'm in as a captive participant from #16 and #17.

Already have this one loaded up and really, really loving it. I am hoping it is not an unobtanium ink because I think I would like to plunk for a bottle of this little beauty.

Images once the start flag drops!

:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

[Wuddus]

I'm in as a captive participant from #16 and #17.

Already have this one loaded up and really, really loving it. I am hoping it is not an unobtanium ink because I think I would like to plunk for a bottle of this little beauty.

Images once the start flag drops!

:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

Awww! I'm still using up the dregs of MI#17 in my two tester pens. I've only got as far as swilling MI#18 in the vial, and holding it up to the light. I am certainly looking forward to trying it out.

[Chrissy]

Well, after the last 3 posts I'm tempted to go with the "gimme gimme gimme" brigade.
Need a good reason? :) I can have US shipping for this MI. :bounce: :laser:

[Scooby921]

Well, after the last 3 posts I'm tempted to go with the "gimme gimme gimme" brigade.
Need a good reason? :) I can have US shipping for this MI. :bounce: :laser:
Yes. I know. I'm actually bottling up samples for you right now. :D

[Kulprit]

I'd love to take a shot at this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[VertOlive]

I'm in, if there be room enough!

[Scooby921]

You're all too polite. I was expecting more "gimmie gimmie gimmie"!
GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE.... oh! sorry... GOT GOT GOT :facepalm: :jester:
It's gonna be a good one ;)
It's right up my street this one :D
Wait, did I give you MI #18? I thought I sent 19, 20, and 22 along with the pen.






I'd love to take a shot at this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I'm in, if there be room enough!
Ooohhhhhhh...Mystery Ink n00bs! IN!!!

[Sammyo]

GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE.... oh! sorry... GOT GOT GOT :facepalm: :jester:
It's gonna be a good one ;)
It's right up my street this one :D
Wait, did I give you MI #18? I thought I sent 19, 20, and 22 along with the pen.

Doh! You, that'll teach me to pay attention! Then I'm well ahead of the game [emoji1]

Sent from my SCV36 using Tapatalk

[calamus]

Are you still taking names for the hat? Please consider (gimme gimme gimme... my preciousss...) my humble self (squeeze nasty hobittses, yesss). Thank you. (my precioussss...)

[KKay]

If you need another participant, I can do another. Sorry I'm just seeing this thread.

[Dronak]

I do like free ink samples :) and I wouldn't mind doing this again, but I'm more than willing to sit out if you'd rather give others a chance and/or the ink's not blue or bluish. I rarely use non-bluish inks, and think I'd be able to give better comments and comparisons for something in that range than any other color family. The choice is yours (or your random draw's) though. In any event, thanks for the offer.

[VertOlive]

To level the field: I have done one mystery ink a long while back so happy to stand down if others haven't had a chance yet.

[suzy01]

Not been a post here for a day or so, any update on who is in or out from the hat?

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[calamus]

The suspense is maddening. I've bitten my fingernails to the quick, and have started in on my toenails.

[Scooby921]

Sorry I haven't updated. Out of town for a week. I'll post up selection results Monday once I get home.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Waiting on the start date here!

As I had it in a wide nib pen I've just signed 58 letters to research participants usign this ink. It looked really good too. :)

[DrPenfection]

If you are still taking participants, please add my name. I just arrived back in the US after a business trip in Asia. Just now checking emails, forums, etc.

[Scooby921]

Ok, I'm home and unfortunately back at work, but it does mean I have a little time to go over the list of volunteers and pick out some names.

Volunteers:
suzy01
countrydirt
azkid
Sailor Kenshin
FredRydr
Chrissy
Kulprit (newbie)
VertOlive
calamus (newbie)
KKay
Dronak
DrPenfection



It appears we have two true newbies, and like any good dealer the first hit is free. They're on the short list just to get them hooked :jester:. Everyone else was put into a random name picker. Combined with international hold-overs from previous participation and shipments here is the total list of participants for MI #18:

Empty_of_Clouds
Pterodactylus
Wuddus
Kulprit
calamus
Chrissy
Sailor Kenshin
azkid

I will be needing addresses from two of you, so check your private message inbox for my incoming address request.

[calamus]

YAYYYY!!! Thank you Scooby921!

[DrPenfection]

Thank you so much for your generosity, Scooby921! Perhaps next time. But I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!

[azkid]

Can't wait!

Thanks for doing this, Scooby!

[Scooby921]

Ok, I have addresses for all. I will try to get samples into shipping envelopes this evening so I can stop by the post office tomorrow. Hopefully everyone has ink by the end of the week.

[Chrissy]

I've received my ink sample, and have written a quick note with it. More to come......

40262

[suzy01]

Thank you Scooby, perhaps next time :) Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with, pretty purple

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Empty_of_Clouds]

https://i.imgur.com/3t0WmyG.jpg

Really like this colour! :clap2:

[Pterodactylus]

Ok, first attempt to write with MI#18 is failed.

Iˋve inked up a Waterman 52 with MI#18 (which has a wonderful flex nib) and admitting that this 52 has also normally a very very generous flow, it is unusable (even on Clairefontaine paper) with MI#18 as it lays down seas of ink and even complete ink blobs.

So I share Chrissy’s observation that this is a really really wet ink.

I have to select another pen with a nib which can handle this wet ink.

[Pterodactylus]

Just to mention it, beside the massive feathering and bleed through to the back side it bled through a second sheet, a blob of the 52 on the Clairefontaine 90g/m2 bled through 4 additional pages, even on the 4th page there is clear show though.

Ok, now Iˋve loaded it in a Pelikan 100N with a EF nib.
With the EF nib it is usable, but still quite wet.
There is still some feathering and show though and even bled through with the EF nib.

There is neither sheen nor shading, in my eyes it is a flat single tone ink.

For me this is not a well behaving ink like MI#16 and MI#17.

When looking at the behavior and color immediately a ink come into my mind which looks and behave exactly like MI#18 ...... Sheaffer Skrip Purple......

I will take a picture of my EF nib writing tomorrow with daylight.

And of course I will keep testing but I can already say after this short test that I do not like MI#18.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Interesting. My sample is written using a medium cursive italic (Jowo from FPNibs.com), and the puddle under the rain drops was done using a paintbrush. I will check when I get home but I don't recall noticing any bleedthrough, and the ink flowed wonderfully from this nib.

[azkid]

Very interesting indeed. I am now very curious to try this in my sahara-dry Parker 45...

[Chrissy]

Although I found this ink wet, I didn't exhibit particularly poor show through or bleed through on my small Mnemosyne notebook.

Here is a picture of the reverse of the image in my post #34

40301

[Scooby921]

I'm working on my writing and eval and haven't noticed any poor behavior. I'm using it in a Nakaya with a broad cursive italic, and I'm using it on what is possibly my worst paper (Apica). No issues thus far. I do agree that it's wet, but not to the point of leaking and blobbing. I wonder how much of it may be due to feed material and ink lubricity. A very smooth feed with a low friction ink would flow a lot easier.

[Wuddus]

From late last night...

40305

40306

[Wuddus]

Apologies for poor colour rendering. I did try tweaking it, but it shifted the colour too much, so just posted it as the camera captured it.

[Pterodactylus]

Ok, here is my sample from last evening.

The line definition is not razor sharp, I see even with the EF nib some feathering.
It´s not much, but enough to make the line definition a little fuzzy if you look close.
If you are interested in a detailed picture I can try to make a macro shot to show the little feathering.
This should not happen on Clairefontaine.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1754/41950932894_f4f28984a5_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26V4uNs)
Quote 028 (https://flic.kr/p/26V4uNs) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Mystery Ink #18 provided by Scooby921)

What also should not happen is show and even bleed through on 90g/m2 Clairefontaine


https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1727/41950932474_d8fc86f765_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26V4uFd)Mystery Ink #18 show and bleed through (https://flic.kr/p/26V4uFd) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr


.... so as said I´m not impressed from MI#18 at all.

[calamus]

Ah ha! It arrived at work today. Here it is moments after coming out of its padded mailer — 3 ml of inky goodness. Can't wait to get it home and try it out!

https://i.imgur.com/lpkGxKI.jpg

[azkid]

Mine arrived today as well!

I loaded a bit into my Parker 45 to get started in my Clairefontaine Triomphe notebook. Here is what I found so far:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180608/4bb93113546680ab999c39f1dba5f6f8.jpg

The color is leans very slightly more red in real life than in the pic but it is close.

To echo a few of the written points-- with this absurdly dry pen the ink did not feather at all, took 5 seconds or less to dry, and had no show through whatsoever.

It happens I obtained samples for a few other purple inks recently. Some of the others cling to the walls of the vial far more than this ink. I don't know what that means for ink flow but it was something I noticed.

I plan to try this in wetter pens.

As for the color... I like it! Very pleasant to the eye. Too light for business but seems quite readable so I would be happy to receive a letter in this color.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

just linking back to the reports of bleed and/or show through. Here is my original purple rain quote, and the other picture is the reverse side. Bearing in mind that the raindrops and puddles were made using a paintbrush and are thus considerably wetter than a pen would be. The paper is Rhodia from a #13 grid pad at 80gsm. The results speak for themselves.

https://i.imgur.com/3t0WmyGm.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/zuOYJFVm.jpg

[calamus]

First of all, I was extremely impressed by the tape that sealed the vial. Amazing tenacity — I've never encountered anything like it. What kind of tape did you use, Mr. Scooby?

The purple is very intense. I took a photograph that didn’t do it justice, so I tried a scan, which shows it off a little better. I think the ink is slightly redder, just barely. More of a violet, but not by much.

https://i.imgur.com/7nciljG.jpg

I was surprised to see a little shading in the scan; I hadn’t noticed it at first on the page. But yep — it’s there.

As others have mentioned, this ink is very wet. It also seems very highly saturated, and possibly pigmented, making me suspect it might be a Noodler’s purple — one of about four that look very similar to this — or maybe Private Reserve Purple Mojo, something like that. Those are wild guesses based on photos I’ve seen as opposed to the real things themselves; I tend to be a bit over-cautious and generally avoid putting pigmented inks in my fountain pens, as pretty as they (the pigment-based inks) are. I’ve used them in my dip pens, which I’ve not touched in a decade or more, but I plan to dust them off and try some of this stuff with them.

For the writing sample I’m posting, I used a 20-year-old Platignum calligraphy fountain pen with a medium italic (about 1 or 1.1 mm) nib. The ink flowed beautifully; couldn’t ask for a more well-behaved ink in that regard. There wasn’t any bleed-through, but there was some show-through even though I was using 81 gsm Bienfang sketch paper, something I’d never experienced with any other ink on that paper (mostly Diamine and Waterman inks — safety first, you know.) I think the show-through was the result of how highly saturated the ink is, and the wetness. It seems to have soaked into the paper more than other inks I’ve used, but without any feathering. It did feather on cheap paper, however.

https://i.imgur.com/h702RFz.jpg

[Pterodactylus]

Ok, I took some macro shots to illustrate what I meant before.

This is a macro shot of my writing example above on Clairefontaine 90g/m2 paper.
On high quality paper I expect a razor sharp line definition, but MI#18 can´t deliver that because it is so wet.
It spreads apart due to it's wetness, feathers and is soaked into the paper which causes show and bleed through.
Which results in a fussy not sharp line definition (maybe I´m too picky, but such things immediately hit my eyes when I take a closer look on a ink).

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1721/28815790728_e896e40ebf_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsE5)Mystery Ink #18 Detail - Clairefontaine (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsE5) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Mystery Ink #18)



Next I try to show a comparison between MI#18 and MI#17 (aka Kaweko Sunrise Orange which was a very well behaving ink in my eyes).
The writing was done on cheaper paper to make the differences visible.
Both pens are vintage Pelikan EF pens from the same time period and absolutely comparable in size and behaviour.
You can see that MI#18 runs much wider, it bleeds and feathers, the line definition is really fuzzy.
Ink spread under the surface of the paper with MI#18 (and caused massive bleed and show through).
MI#17 shows a sharp line definition also on this cheap (not so FP friendly paper), there is minor ink spread under the paper surface on some spots but nothing like with MI#18.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1743/28815791048_9f3d1a4120_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsKA)MI#18 vs MI#17 cheaper paper (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsKA) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Mystery Ink #18, Pelikan Ibis 130 - EF..... Kaweco Sunrise Orange MI#17)


My verdict remains, for me this is not a well behaving ink.

But your results already posted are very interesting for me, as every individual has an own perspective. :)


I´m looking foreward to see many new posts :)

[Pterodactylus]

Ok sketching time.

I´ve tried to capture the moment just before the wetness of the mystery ink #18 hits you with full power.

I call this picture "Ink Tsunami"

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1750/42642498942_959785dc3f_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/27YaXi1)
Ink Tsunami (https://flic.kr/p/27YaXi1) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Mystery Ink #18 provided by Scooby921)


I do not like the ink as writing ink, but as sketching ink the picture is again different.
MI #18 plays well with water, I really like the color and here it does not matter if it shades in a FP or not.
When applying several layers of ink even a little bit of sheen shows up.


Btw. I´ve troubles to capture the real color of the ink.
All my (and many of your pictures) seem to be too pale and too blue, in reality the mystery ink #18 is a really vivid saturated bright purple.

[azkid]

Love the sketch!!

I notice others are getting a much darker version of this ink due to wetter writing pens. How this 45 puts out so little ink yet still writes with perfect reliability is sorcery.

Anyway, looking closer, a few letters have dark spots where more ink came out. I was wrong about shading too. Here's a detail shot. In it you can also see the total absence of feathering. Again because of the dry writer. How fascinating!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180609/3fa4cd47993e1fafdd12b5e26779867b.jpg

[calamus]

Ok, I took some macro shots to illustrate what I meant before.

This is a macro shot of my writing example above on Clairefontaine 90g/m2 paper.
On high quality paper I expect a razor sharp line definition, but MI#18 can´t deliver that because it is so wet.
It spreads apart due to it's wetness, feathers and is soaked into the paper which causes show and bleed through.
Which results in a fussy not sharp line definition (maybe I´m too picky, but such things immediately hit my eyes when I take a closer look on a ink). ... [SNIP] ...

Very interesting. I'll have to take a look at my writing sample through a loupe when I get home. My 70+ year-old eyes aren't as sharp as they used to be.

[calamus]

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1743/28815791048_9f3d1a4120_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsKA)MI#18 vs MI#17 cheaper paper (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsKA) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Mystery Ink #18, Pelikan Ibis 130 - EF..... Kaweco Sunrise Orange MI#17)

I continue to be knocked out by your calligraphy. Is that EF nib in your Pelikan Ibis a flex nib? Also, have you ever done any Copperplate? I would very much enjoy seeing some if you have.

[calamus]

https://i.imgur.com/3t0WmyG.jpg


I really enjoy looking at your hand, too. Very nice!

[Pterodactylus]

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1743/28815791048_9f3d1a4120_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsKA)MI#18 vs MI#17 cheaper paper (https://flic.kr/p/KUmsKA) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Mystery Ink #18, Pelikan Ibis 130 - EF..... Kaweco Sunrise Orange MI#17)

I continue to be knocked out by your calligraphy. Is that EF nib in your Pelikan Ibis a flex nib? Also, have you ever done any Copperplate? I would very much enjoy seeing some if you have.

Thanks for your kind words. :)

Both Pelikan nibs are semi-flex.
I never encountered a 50s Pelikan full flex nib, all I ever used and own are (very nice) semi flex nibs.
There are certain degrees of semi flex nibs (some a bit more, some a bit less) so they are not all the same.

I‘m sorry, I never did Copperplate, and to call my scribbling Calligraphy is too much honor.

In fact I hated writing with my hand almost 35 years as I am a left handed person which was forced to write with the right hand as child (I still write with the wrong right hand)
Something which I consider a cruel physical and mental assault against children.
My writing was hardly readable for others and many times also for myself, I hated handwriting deeply (but always liked and owned some FP‘s, back in school mainly because of the colored inks)

Some years ago I had the idea to buy a special pen to sign the working contract for a new company.

On my online research to choose a Pen I found FPN and found also awesome done handwriting samples.

Finally I bought myself a Pelikan M600 to sign it.

I also thought if I do not make an last attempt to improve my handwriting I would probably would never do it again.
So I started practicing stealing elements from samples I liked and included it in my writing.
Finally I started posting my scribbling on FPN and to my surprise people seem to like it, i hardly could believe this.

Another key event of that time was that my wife came into my office, looked at some of my practicing sheets and asked me who had written this, and she could not believe that I wrote it myself as she knew well how ugly my writing was.

These events triggered and motivated me to continue practicing and I started to post on FPN regularly.

About 4 years ago I started also to do little scribbles on FPN because also others posted drawings and it was nice to reply also with a drawing, so I started also drawing after not drawing even a stick man over 30 years.

And today I enjoy both, writing and drawing :)


But staying on topic your italic is also very good, I also would like to see more from you.


I always liked the idea of handwritten responses in a FP forum, it’s a perfect opportunity to practice and use our pens more frequently (I work in IT and I have no real need to write something with my hand on the job).
Unfortunately most people only type posts instead of write them (at least every now and then) even this is a pen forum....

[Wuddus]

Sorry I've not got more piccies or comments up yet folks, life just got a little distracting. I hope to have something more up in the next few days.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I am by no means a Poiple Ink lover, but some of them do appeal to me. This ink is one of them (the other, not suprisingly, is also a MI, but an earlier one, with 'Aubergine' in its name.)

The chroma shows no complexity, and I don't see shading or sheen, but it DOES go down with a reddish tint that vanishes almost on contact, leaving a sort of periwinkle tone very similar to those Rhodia dots.

http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/1315/2863/5532/Mystery_Ink_18-640p.jpg

Thanks once again, Scooby. :)

[azkid]

I've inked up my new-to-me Lamy Safari Petrol with Medium nib and the results are getting closer to what others posted:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/6b34216c83019d7a4f260ce05bbbe2a9.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/ba848983784816a49128204b7632614b.jpg

Still not seeing any feathering on the Clairefontaine Triomphe notebook. Drying times were much longer, around 20 seconds for normal pressure, upwards of 40 if I pressed slightly to deliver more ink (last line).

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/85f81b7b5c517390d9d7324078ba79a3.jpg

While previously I had none, this pen resulted in a hint of show through:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/1fec0922a45d8f00ee9f8e8c6895844b.jpg

Here are samples on some other paper.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/951798cb2d02ee677d2280e63ef97320.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/ee9247096a307e92871479dbcb6c980d.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/2efbbfbb2f779effa4942378f7acec40.jpg

Apica show through was less than Clairefontaine. Copy paper had the worst show through as one might expect.

I don't see any significant feathering on the copy paper. The texture is apparent with the uneven edges though.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/2070b79844b2eefde02ff4d35fdf366a.jpg

By the way, great story, ptero. Funny thing, when my wife saw my practice sheets she asked me if I was going to break her door down with an axe and say "Here's Johnny" ... Anyway your drawings and writings continue to inspire me. :)

[azkid]

I also tried the ink in my Jinhao X450 (M or B, I am not sure) but alas it is not as wet a writer as I expected. It didn't have any issues with bleeding, feathering, or show through.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/d8685ed9b8c56ea246b7f059efe7d984.jpg

I think that this ink doesn't do much to lubricate the nib/paper interface. The Jinhao glides effortlessly with Iroshizuku Take-sumi but it felt like I was dragging it across the page with this ink and not for lack of flow.

I forgot to mention the ink is unscented. The 3-pass sample didn't darken much. I am not sure what that means-- very high saturation?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180610/779f499c35f8cd9b132e3dffabc6b2ba.jpg

Of the pens I tried, I truly enjoyed using the ink in my Lamy. I like the color quite a bit. Soothing is how I would describe it, too. I wouldn't have considered this shade of purple before.

I have a feeling it is best for medium to dry writers. Being so picky about the pens it uses, I cannot consider it in my search for a go-to purple, unfortunately.

Having only found reviews for a dozen of the many purple inks available, my best (somewhat wild) guess is that this is Sheaffer Purple. The color is similar to J. Herbin Violet Penseé.

Thanks Scooby for the opportunity! I learn so much from trying a new ink and it pays to try colors outside one's comfort zone. This makes the second color I was surprised to enjoy.

[Wuddus]

This DAMN camera!!!!

Unfortunately, it keeps "correcting" the purple to blue, and it's proving exceptionally difficult to shift it back again.

40370

Pen and brush were used (pen shown). This is the first "artwork" I've done in decades, and the first time ever using ink. A special guest appearance by MI#17 too. I'm pleased with how the rose turned out, but it's a shame the dragon looks like a baboon in a mask, sniffing a candle.

Or should I have said it's a shame the baboon in a mask sniffing a candle, looks like a dragon? :D

But anyway, back to the ink.... the paper is a 150gsm sketch book, and most of the time it was very well behaved. There were moments however, when suddenly it would feather like crazy, and I'd have to do some creative correction work. However, that might be a paper trait, rather than the ink.

No bleed through, even painting the ink on neat (undiluted) with a brush. There does seem to be some waterproof properties to this ink, as I was unable to "pull" colour with a damp brush, and washing over areas with a diluted ink seemed to repel from the ink already dried on the page.

The colour match in this photo (or as this photo is displayed on my phone) is fairly representative of the colour on the page.

40372

The dragon pretending to be a baboon in disguise was the bigger challenge for the camera, but these two pics are as close as I can get to nudging the colour back to what I see on the page.

40373

40374

If I can capture a better picture later, I'll upload that too.

[suzy01]

These are great. I'm enjoying following along :) Wuddus you might like to try snapseed app, you can use the white balance Eyedropper tool on you white page to turn it back to white which will correct your ink colour hopefully.

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[Wuddus]

These are great. I'm enjoying following along :) Wuddus you might like to try snapseed app, you can use the white balance Eyedropper tool on you white page to turn it back to white which will correct your ink colour hopefully.

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Thanks Suzy. That app's not available for my phone, unfortunately. I ought to probably try it on the laptop using Gimp, but it's a long time since I used that program, so I'll probably have to relearn the basics with it again.

[suzy01]

These are great. I'm enjoying following along :) Wuddus you might like to try snapseed app, you can use the white balance Eyedropper tool on you white page to turn it back to white which will correct your ink colour hopefully.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

Thanks Suzy. That app's not available for my phone, unfortunately. I ought to probably try it on the laptop using Gimp, but it's a long time since I used that program, so I'll probably have to relearn the basics with it again.Oh dear. Its on Android and iPhone. I couldn't live without it personally [emoji23]

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[Kulprit]

Received my first MI on Friday and immediately took it out for a spin. I just happened to have three pens that I'd recently cleaned--Lamy Safari with 1.5mm italic; Nemosine Singularity with a 0.6mm italic; and a Noodler's Nib Creaper that I use just for ink tests--so all three were inked up ( I didn't have anything in a traditional F, M, or B that wasn't already inked with something else). Paper is 80gsm Rhodia.

I couldn't get a decent scan so I went with two photos using two different light sources, hoping one of them would capture things accurately.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180611/0ce7db6b656a99bc7e20826f7a77959c.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180611/e02b0a498c36f2913d952d5311d32a9f.jpg

There was very little shading with either stub nib, but I was surprised to see shading with the Nib Creaper even when not flexed. Multiple passes were darker than a single pass, but not necessarily any darker than each other.

There was a little show-through on the Rhodia but the only bleeding appeared on heavier scribbles and on the third-pass sample. There was no perceptible feathering.

This ink went down fairly light and dry with the 1.5mm Lamy, but much darker and wetter with the Nib Creaper and 0.6mm Nemosine. Though the humidity isn't pleasant right now in Virginia, it's far less than we'll see before summer's end. With that in mind, I was surprised at how slowly this ink dried. Even after 1-minute there was perceptible smudging when writing with the Nib Creaper, which would not rank amongst my wettest pens. It perhaps even more surprising because the ink didn't "look wet" when I tried the smear/smudge tests.

Dry times aside, this is a perfectly fine, well-behaved ink. Not one that I'd buy, as purple isn't a color I'm particularly fond of, but there's nothing offensive about the way it performs (which is more than I can say for some inks). I'll post more pics as I continue using it.

Thanks again to Scooby921 for allowing me to join in!


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[calamus]

Some additional observations and a few more scans —

So I did look at what I’d written through a loupe, and was unpleasantly surprised to see that under magnification the edge was not at all smooth, but really quite irregular. The paper did have a little tooth, not much but some, so I thought that with a smoother paper it might look better. So, I used some 80gsm Rhodia with the same pen and with a couple of dip pens, and magnifying the image by scanning at 1200 dpi and converting to 72, the edges looked horrible, even though they didn’t look too bad unmagnified, at least to my 71 and a half year-old eyes corrected with eyeglasses. (I passed my last driving test at age 70 without glasses, so my eyes aren’t too terribly bad, despite my overall decrepitude.) I didn’t want to go to the trouble of cleaning the Platignum pen and nib section and putting in new ink, so this isn’t really a scientific test, but I did draw and scan a flourish at the same magnification with Diamine Havasu Turquoise in a Pilot Prera with a medium nib on the Rhodia, and it came out much smoother.

Here is the word Wow in Mystery Ink #18 on Rhodia paper, highly magnified. Ragged edges (though much smoother than it looked on the other paper) and a fair bit of shading:
https://i.imgur.com/umXGpqS.jpg

Here is a flourish done with a Pilot Prera in Diamine Havasu Turquoise on the same paper at the same magnification. Way smoother:
https://i.imgur.com/Cg4THyc.jpg

Here is the same word Wow as earlier, but shown with much less magnification:
https://i.imgur.com/0HN5RYT.jpg

This is Mystery Ink #18 on the same Rhodia paper with a dip pen and a Leonardt Round 3 1/2 nib, a slightly rounded italic flex or semi-flex nib. It’s at the same higher magnification as the other magnified images. Very ragged edges, worse than from the Platignum nib, even though the Leonardt is way fun to play with. I found it particularly interesting the way the ink welled around the outer edges of the letters and was so much darker than the center. The tines of the nib did separate significantly when it flexed:
https://i.imgur.com/i8vqgOH.jpg

Here is more of the text from the Leonardt nib including the word Rhodia from the previous image, but relatively unmagnified:
https://i.imgur.com/JGu1dLb.jpg


Speedball C-4 nib and Mystery Ink #18 on Rhodia, same high magnification:
https://i.imgur.com/SNwTago.jpg

Same Speedball unmagnified or slightly magnified:
https://i.imgur.com/KAQBTqO.jpg

[calamus]

One other thing — the ink on the Rhodia, when applied with a dip pen, took ages to dry, a minute or longer, and not only did it look darker than when applied with a fountain pen, it also felt raised once it dried. I could actually feel a bump with my fingertips when I ran them across the page over the lettering.

[Scooby921]

Looks like I'm the only one delinquent on posting my ramblings and thoughts...

[Chrissy]

Looks like I'm the only one delinquent on posting my ramblings and thoughts...
Not at all. I've not written anything else and tried using my phone to take photos, like I thought I would. It's easier when I'm at home, but I will try harder to add some more thoughts. :)

[Chrissy]

Here's another little note I wrote in my little Mnemosyne notebook with this purple ink.

40394

[Wuddus]

40399

Aside from spot bleedthrough if you let your pen dwell too long, I actually prefer this ink on more absorbent paper. It's a more "solid" colour, stands off the page better, and doesn't present as many issues with dry time. I also think this ink isn't "too purple" for everyday use, though may be a little too "fun" for business use. Not a bad ink to have for disappointingly dry pens that need a little go-go juice.

[Kulprit]

This is Mystery Ink #18 on the same Rhodia paper with a dip pen and a Leonardt Round 3 1/2 nib, a slightly rounded italic flex or semi-flex nib. It’s at the same higher magnification as the other magnified images. Very ragged edges, worse than from the Platignum nib, even though the Leonardt is way fun to play with. I found it particularly interesting the way the ink welled around the outer edges of the letters and was so much darker than the center. The tines of the nib did separate significantly when it flexed:
https://i.imgur.com/i8vqgOH.jpg


That's a beautiful effect!



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[calamus]

Just as an experiment I took a screen shot of Wuddus's rose and used Photoshop to set the paper value as the white point. I wasn't sure how true the results would be, plus apparently the image had already been nudged about a bit, but it looks a little like how the ink looks to me, I think. Anyway, as I said, it was just sort of an experiment.

https://i.imgur.com/CiKbbJE.jpg

[Wuddus]

Very close. I think the ink on the page is very slightly darker, but that's because it's a sketch pad and the pages aren't a true white. Where the ink on the page lies between blue and purple seems to shift a bit according to light levels too.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Has anyone else noticed MI #18 going down red-violet, then drying to periwinkle almost immediately?

[azkid]

Has anyone else noticed MI #18 going down red-violet, then drying to periwinkle almost immediately?Yes, definitely.

[Wuddus]

Has anyone else noticed MI #18 going down red-violet, then drying to periwinkle almost immediately?Yes, definitely.

Me too.

[calamus]

It does seem to change, and periwinkle's not a bad way to describe where it ends up, but I see it mostly tending to start out much darker, almost an indigo, especially when it goes on very wetly on good paper. If there's also a reddish cast to it that disappears, it's pretty slight.

[Scooby921]

Ok, I still need to snap some photos, attempt to color adjust, and post them. If everyone is ready for it I can also reveal the mystery ink.

[Wuddus]

Ready when you are, Scooby

[azkid]

Not a bad ink to have for disappointingly dry pens that need a little go-go juice.

To that point, I might actually like a bottle of this after all, or a similarly behaving (sibling) ink in a more formal color, for my 45.

[Pterodactylus]

Not a bad ink to have for disappointingly dry pens that need a little go-go juice.

To that point, I might actually like a bottle of this after all, or a similarly behaving (sibling) ink in a more formal color, for my 45.

Did you already tried a KWZ ink?
All that I own are really wet, also the IG ones.

[Scooby921]

Ok, finally getting this posted.

Until it gets all used up I'm once again using my Apica notepad. Thoughts on this ink are pretty much on the page. At distance there isn't much for shading and the lettering looks OK, but cropped a bit and zoomed in you can see that this ink and Apica do provide the slightest hint of shading and definitely carry on with Ptero's observation of soft edges.

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40463&d=1529085105

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40464&d=1529085116

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40465&d=1529085124


I decided to compare on Rhodia and Black n' Red pads. I don't see the soft edges on either pad, but when cropped and zoomed you can start to see some sheen on the Rhodia, but it's the Black n' Red pad which brings it to the forefront. Somewhat surprising considering the relatively consistent, sheen free performance on the Apica pad. Yet it's not the first time the Black n' Red paper has brought out the sheen in an ink. Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu is a nice green ink for most, but on the Black n' Red paper it sheens so much it appears brown/gold once it dries. So I'm surprised yet not surprised to see this mystery ink do something different on this pad.

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40467&d=1529085147

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40466&d=1529085132

[Pterodactylus]

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1769/28961764508_52874c9de4_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/L8fBzo)
Fallen (https://flic.kr/p/L8fBzo) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

(Mystery Ink #18 provided by Scooby921)

[Scooby921]

Ok, time for this mystery to be revealed!


















https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40462&d=1529085095

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40461&d=1529085083

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oooooo....shiiinyyyyyy! :)

[Pterodactylus]

:jaw:

Now I’m surprised, with the given behavior I would have bet that it is a Designer ink and not a Diamine one.

Thanks again Scooby for the game, I really enjoyed testing the last 3 mystery inks :)


For me everything was included: 1 awesome (which I could not resist to order), 1 good and 1 I did not liked much.

:rockon::dance3::cheer2::fans:

[azkid]

Interesting... thanks again for the fun!

[Wuddus]

Ooh! Not familiar with that brand. Cool bottle!

I prefer this one to MI#17 as a general use ink (though that's still a fun ink to use), and didn't have any of the behavioural issues that Ptero did.

Thanks again Scooby.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Thanks from this corner of the world, Scooby. My experience was much like that of Wuddus. #18 has given me no performance issues, and now that I know what it is (I would never have guessed!) I think a bottle is going to be inbound. :)

[Chrissy]

Thank you Scooby, for the reveal. :) I also believe that Diamine make Akkerman inks, but I'm not sure if there is an exact Diamine match for this particular shade, and can't check on my extensive collection as I'm in Florida, and the collection is at home. Maybe Imperial Purple?

I loved playing the game though. Thank you once more. :)

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Hmm.... I have a small amount of Imperial Purple at home so I will have a comparitive squiz later.


Edit: it's later. #18 is nothing like Diamine Imperial purple in my experience.

[Kulprit]

I wouldn't have guessed that.

Here are my last two samples, trying to use up the ink in these pens. Apologies for the weird focus - portions of the page are in focus while the outer edges are not. Odd.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180618/98fd5ced573ef7824eb8b43c2b0adcb0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180618/93daeb8fc4da50e877e186aaf2182d99.jpg


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[DrPenfection]

It's safe now to say that this was one of 2 guesses. I just did an ink review on Parkpop Purpur about a month ago. I like the ink but not enough to buy a bottle of it. It does sheen very nicely though.

[Scooby921]

Thank you Scooby, for the reveal. :) I also believe that Diamine make Akkerman inks, but I'm not sure if there is an exact Diamine match for this particular shade, and can't check on my extensive collection as I'm in Florida, and the collection is at home. Maybe Imperial Purple?

I loved playing the game though. Thank you once more. :)
I've read this many times across various ink discussions and it was in the back of my mind as I was reading Ptero's comments. Most Diamine inks are pretty well behaved. That's one of the reasons I was surprised to see it feathering and providing soft edges on Clairefontaine paper. It wasn't surprised on the more absorbent Apica paper I used, but I thought Diamine would have been better on the rest.

How long are you in Florida? I thought perhaps for a week or two...a whole month?! I hope the weather has been nice and you've been able to dip your toes in the wonderful, warm Gulf waters.

[Chrissy]

I've read this many times across various ink discussions and it was in the back of my mind as I was reading Ptero's comments. Most Diamine inks are pretty well behaved. That's one of the reasons I was surprised to see it feathering and providing soft edges on Clairefontaine paper. It wasn't surprised on the more absorbent Apica paper I used, but I thought Diamine would have been better on the rest.

How long are you in Florida? I thought perhaps for a week or two...a whole month?! I hope the weather has been nice and you've been able to dip your toes in the wonderful, warm Gulf waters.
I've heard it many times, from different sources, but I don't know for sure. I think Diamine's lips are sealed. :(
Yes we're in Florida for a month. At least no hurricanes this holiday. :) We leave on the day that the hotel closes for a refit, but we'll be back home in time to watch Wimbledon on TV. :) The weather has been fabulous, and a record equalling temperature of 96 degrees Fahrenheit was reached yesterday. :redface: The last time was in 1999. I can confirm that I have dipped my toes into the wonderful, warm Gulf waters several times. ;)

[calamus]

I would never have guessed Parkpop Purper in a million years. Heck, I didn't even know those were real words in any language!

[calamus]

The weather has been fabulous, and a record equalling temperature of 96 degrees Fahrenheit was reached yesterday. :redface: The last time was in 1999. I can confirm that I have dipped my toes into the wonderful, warm Gulf waters several times. ;)

Ooooooo... ! I used to live in Clearwater, Florida. When the Gulf gets warm and balmy, it's just glorious. A completely different experience from the Atlantic coast.

[Scooby921]

An interesting discovery with MI #18 / Akkerman Parkpop Purper...

It can fade rather significantly over time. A co-worker has been keeping track of all the different inks we all put into our pens. He has multiple sheets hanging from the wall of his cubicle so we can go back and look at a color or compare to new ones. I wrote on a page with the Parkpop Purper almost as soon as we had purchased the bottle. I think this was 3 nearly 3 years ago. You can see the new scribble for new vs. faded comparison.

https://fpgeeks.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40574&d=1529582433

[Wuddus]

Wow! Startling difference.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Akkerman bottles are the coolest EVAR. :)

I still wonder about the red-violet shifting to periwinkle.

[Sammyo]

I miss putting ink on Paul's paper! :(

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