Mystery Ink No. 4

[reprieve]

Yes, thank you so much! I'm definitely going to order a sample of Black-green. I love subdued, murky greens, so Black-green looks like it may be right up my alley. I'll probably toss in a sample Black-blue for kicks. I've already got a bottle of Black-brown on its way.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Did any of you compare the color of this to J. Herbin Lie de The? That is the ink that I settled on to use in a particular pen, but it is so dryish, and the pen tends to dry up a bit itself, that I had to make a batch with a little FotoFlow in it to lubricate it up. Maybe MI4 would be a good one to try in this pen, being that I was looking for a very deep, dark brown.

Doing it now:




When I guessed WRONG, I did not do a comparison or even a look-see. The guess was from vague memory. Does it seem as though CM and LdT are more similar to one another than to MI 4?

Looks like I'll be buying a bottle of MI 4. Love this color!

[Laura N]

Has anyone tried any of the other De Atramentis Black Edition inks? Particularly black-blue or black-green? I'm wondering if they behave similarly to Black-brown (MI4).

I've tried the Black-Green in my 1.5mm Pilot Parallel. It seems to write more wet than some of the other inks I've put through the pen.
Here's a writing sample of that ink on Moleskine:

Sorry the picture is a bit dark. I took the picture with the iPad camera....

I can't say whether or not it behaves similar to the Black-brown as I have not tried it. The ink did look significantly more faded with a fine nib as opposed to the wider one of the Parallel. If I remember correctly, it writes more wet than the various Noodler's I've put through it, but drier than Diamine Autumn Oak.
The ink color is ok. It looks rather blah in warm/yellowish light and better in bright/white light. I'm not a big fan of the color, but then again, I tend to like the more vibrant greens like Faber Castell Moss Green.

Hope this helped!

That looks nice, to me. Do you have MB Jonathan Swift to compare it to? Or MI2?

[Laura N]

Does it seem as though CM and LdT are more similar to one another than to MI 4?

Yes! That's brilliant. Thanks for doing this! And the Chesterfield is just rebranded Diamine, right? I wonder which Diamine? Maybe it would be wetter than Lie de Thé for Jon.

[naimitsu]

That looks nice, to me. Do you have MB Jonathan Swift to compare it to? Or MI2?

No I do not, but I do have most of the 2ml sample that I can send you. Just PM me your address and I'll put it in the mail for you.

[Laura N]

Naimitsu kindly sent me her sample of De Atramentis Black Green, and I swabbed it to compare to a number of similar greens.

DSC_0897.jpg

It's now in my Lamy 2000 with a fine nib. Naimitsu's excellent writing sample gives a better sense of the color, but here it is in another pen. I'm kind of a little in love with this ink.

DSC_0897-2.jpg

[Sailor Kenshin]

That paper is INTERESTING.

[Laura N]

That paper is INTERESTING.

Clairefontaine French ruled. It's really good for practicing your handwriting. It may be less useful for my normal writing, but I have a couple of notebooks still, so I use them as my ink notebooks.

[naimitsu]

That paper is INTERESTING.

It looks like French Rule to me... not many manufactures offer it like that.

[klpeabody]

Laura, thanks so much for the comparison, and thank you to naimitsu for providing the sample to make it happen.

I somehow feel the need to collect ALL the greens. This is not helping. =)

[Laura N]

I somehow feel the need to collect ALL the greens. This is not helping. =)

I feel I have. This one's really nice. A wet ink, though, again. I think I used it to write your "this is MI5" enclosure note, so you can see it for real.

De Atramentis is turning out to be very nice brand of ink.

[klpeabody]

De Atramentis is turning out to be very nice brand of ink.

Isn't it though?? Looking forward to your letter.

[Laura N]

De Atramentis is turning out to be very nice brand of ink.

Isn't it though?? Looking forward to your letter.

Actually, more of a note. It just says "Here is Mi5. And look at De Atramentis Black Green." Feeling a little bad about that now.

[naimitsu]

Laura, thanks so much for the comparison, and thank you to naimitsu for providing the sample to make it happen.

I have a constantly growing bag of sample remnants as I try out different ink brands and colors... not to mention if our first meeting was any indication, she who has the vial rack ends up with the ink vials no one wanted to try from the grab pile!
I'm tempted to donate the lot to Laura et al for a MI where no 2 samples are the same!
Or pretend I'm a mad scientist and begin mixing remnants :-)

[klpeabody]

De Atramentis is turning out to be very nice brand of ink.

Isn't it though?? Looking forward to your letter.

Actually, more of a note. It just says "Here is Mi5. And look at De Atramentis Black Green." Feeling a little bad about that now.

No worries. =)

[reprieve]

I'm thinking that MI4 will be a perfect match for the new Pelikan Café Crème...