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View Full Version : Still looking for the perfect purple.



Kaputnik
December 30th, 2013, 06:54 AM
EDIT

Darn. I thought this was in "general inky goodness". Apparently I sleeply clicked the wrong forum. I'll put it there, will a mod delete it from here at his or her convenience? Sorry for the confusion.

I generally have some sort of purple in one of my pens. I long ago found the perfect shade, Waterman Tender Purple. It's dark, but still unmistakably purple, very rich looking. It doesn't cause any sort of problems in any pen where I tried it. But it has a fatal flaw in my view; it isn't water resistant at all. Accidents happen, and an ink that won't hold up to even a very minor one just doesn't cut it for me. So I've looked for alternatives.

O course, there are Noodler's bulletproof inks.


La Reine Mauve is a very nice color, which I'd like to like, but it's more trouble than it's worth. It has caused clogging problems with a number of pens that I tried it in, and I get worse nib creep with it than any other ink that I've tried. And it's expensive, one of the ones that's sold in a 1 oz. bottle for more than the 3 oz bottles go for.
Kung Te Cheng has caused some clogging problems, but there are some pens I could use it in. The somewhat bluish purple isn't quite what I'm looking for, though.
Violet Vote has been problem free, and I do use it. It's a bit lighter than I like, though, and has a sort of faded look.



Rohrer and Klinger Scabiosa is a bit "dry", and the color is very light, almost lavender. The water resistance is a bit odd, too. The purple will wash out entirely, leaving a legible black residue.

Private Reserve Ebony Purple is a good ink that I use from time to time. It runs a bit around the edges if it gets wet, but remains legible. It's very dark, though. I can't really see the purple most of the time, it just looks sort of "off black".

De Atramentis Aubergine is about as water resistant as the Ebony Purple, and it's a nice color, fairly close to what I want. Not quite "it", though.

Diluting a difficult ink doesn't appeal to me, by the way. My attitude is that I'm buying an ink, not an ink kit.

What do others around here like for water resistant purples?

Pterodactylus
December 30th, 2013, 08:32 AM
http://imageshack.us/a/img849/7182/v36a.jpg

(Pelikan 100N - EF ..... Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa)

Giordana
December 30th, 2013, 10:43 AM
I really like Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses. It's a dark purple compared to some of the inks you mentioned, I think, but it shades wonderfully and it's partially bulletproof...better than none!

MJ Vesuvius
December 30th, 2013, 11:40 AM
I really like Noodler's Baystate Concord Grape. It's super saturated but doesn't clog, and survived a long dunk in a bucket of water (spontaneous test courtesy of Chuck Swisher, whose great shop has unfortunately closed).

I know it has "Baystate" in the name, but it isn't as bratty as its brother Blue...

-- MJ

mhosea
December 30th, 2013, 12:58 PM
Noodler's North African Violets leans more blue than Waterman Purple, but it is water resistant. Drawbacks include being quite difficult to clean out thoroughly and being unmixable with even some Noodler's Inks you'd think you could mix it with, including Noodler's Midway Blue, Noodler's Blue, and also Namiki Blue. It's not a great combination, being hard to clean and also reacting with other inks, but it's certainly a beautiful and vibrant color, and not cloggy, either, IME.

GardenWeasel
December 31st, 2013, 03:28 PM
I am probably misspelling it...but Purpillusion is really a nice purple. Saw it at a pen show last summer...

Tracy Lee
December 31st, 2013, 05:53 PM
I doubt it is super water resistant, but about the only purple I find tolerable is P.W. Akkerman Voorhout Violet. Especially in a stub. It is very like eggplant.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 4

Uncle Bud
January 4th, 2014, 12:15 PM
I really like Diamine Grape, it's a dark saturated purple, really nice in juicy (no pun intended) nibs. I just love it.

Jeph
January 4th, 2014, 04:34 PM
I really like Diamine Grape, it's a dark saturated purple, really nice in juicy (no pun intended) nibs. I just love it.

I would agree the Diamine Grape is probably very close to the color that he wants, but Diamine inks are not waterproof by any stretch of the definition.
This post made me remember that I have a bottle of grape that I had not tried yet. I like the trial run so I am going to try it for a week and see what I think.
I thought that about Damson also, but it frequently dried to a faded looking purple even though it looked perfect wet.

Scrawler
January 5th, 2014, 05:55 AM
Purples and violets cover a very broad range from the dark of Poussiere de Lune and Akkerman Vourhout Violet to the delicate shades Violet Pensee. Right in the middle a shade more red (or less blue if you like) than North African Violets is Gamma Violet by Radguda. It is the perfect colour for me, and is with me at all times. While very common and inexpensive in some places, it is sadly almost unobtainable in the western world. I am hoping that by getting interest in that ink, it might cause more to become available, so that I do not have to scramble when my limited supply runs out.

Scrawler
January 5th, 2014, 05:57 AM
I doubt it is super water resistant, but about the only purple I find tolerable is P.W. Akkerman Voorhout Violet. Especially in a stub. It is very like eggplant.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 4

In a wet stub, I can convince some people that it is a shade of black, and get away with using it to sign some documents.

Uncle Bud
January 5th, 2014, 08:09 AM
I really like Diamine Grape, it's a dark saturated purple, really nice in juicy (no pun intended) nibs. I just love it.

I would agree the Diamine Grape is probably very close to the color that he wants, but Diamine inks are not waterproof by any stretch of the definition.
This post made me remember that I have a bottle of grape that I had not tried yet. I like the trial run so I am going to try it for a week and see what I think.
I thought that about Damson also, but it frequently dried to a faded looking purple even though it looked perfect wet.

Yeah, Damson is nice wet, but I agree it does look very faded when dry. I hope you like the trial of Grape, it's awesome.

raging.dragon
January 5th, 2014, 05:58 PM
I've never used either, but I've read that both Baystate Concord Grape and North African Violet tend to stain, and thus should be used with caution. Also these inks can react badly when mixed with other inks, so your pen must be thoroughly flushed when switching to or from another ink.

Jeph
January 6th, 2014, 02:24 AM
I threw this together using a Goulet #6 EF steel nib in a dip pen holder on a Rhodia dot pad.
I let it dry for 30 minutes then did 2 passes with a wet q-tip.

It is strange, as that is the best that Damson has ever looked for me. It usually looks like the top of the vertical lines to the right where I ran the nib dry. Maybe I was not using the correct pen but I still like the Grape better.

Actually I really like my own blend used at the top, 4 parts Eclipse to 1 part Majestic Purple. That does tend blue so I might try 4 parts Grape to 1 part Majestic Purple next.


8494

Uncle Bud
January 11th, 2014, 02:37 PM
I threw this together using a Goulet #6 EF steel nib in a dip pen holder on a Rhodia dot pad.
I let it dry for 30 minutes then did 2 passes with a wet q-tip.

It is strange, as that is the best that Damson has ever looked for me. It usually looks like the top of the vertical lines to the right where I ran the nib dry. Maybe I was not using the correct pen but I still like the Grape better.

Actually I really like my own blend used at the top, 4 parts Eclipse to 1 part Majestic Purple. That does tend blue so I might try 4 parts Grape to 1 part Majestic Purple next.


8494

I take it the trial of grape went well for you. I'm glad you like it. Cheers, Bud.

Frank
January 11th, 2014, 03:58 PM
+1 on Ebony Purple

..I also like Nightshade! (Noodler's)

Frank

raging.dragon
January 12th, 2014, 02:23 PM
My favourite is Private Reserve DC Super Violet but it doesn't offer any water resistance whatsoever.

Toffer
January 15th, 2014, 04:20 PM
Diamine majestic purple, but no waterproofing!