Things I learned while browsing every post in General Inky Goodness

[AzJon]

• Sweet baby Jesus, why was I not into the hobby when the original formulation of Black Swans in Australian Roses was available?
• Same goes for the permanent IG version of Montblanc Midnight Blue
• silicone grease on the threads of an ink bottle can keep it from sealing shut and being a pain to open
• Noodler's ink formulations being hit or miss in terms of consistency used to be off the charts compared to recent times
• BSB has never not been controversial
• The "Mystery Ink" series looked like it kicked ass. Seriously.
• Everyone is both enthralled and terrified by IG and other permanent inks.
• Sheen is the great mystery of our time
• Ink brands and colors used to be very hard to find and a real treat to track down.
• Hype-waves have very humble beginnings.
• Companies that discontinue amazing colors or only offer them as limited releases, suck.

What's your favorite bit of inky knowledge?

[catbert]

Learned that I need to spend more time browsing General Inky Goodness.
Will definitely be trying silicone grease on some stubborn Iroshizuku bottles.

[urushi4u]

That noodlers fanboys are die hard, cut-throat, hype merchants.....?

[dam]

Shimmering, gold or silver speckled inks: what I thought was just a fad (seems it's not) has left me wondering what the hell is wrong with me for not being interested.

[Pterodactylus]

Shimmering, gold or silver speckled inks: what I thought was just a fad (seems it's not) has left me wondering what the hell is wrong with me for not being interested.

Look at such inks and then tell me that these inks are not appealing in any way to you.....


Show_response_868 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Waterman 12 1/2 ..... J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor)


Show_response_812 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Noodlers Ahab flex EMF ..... Diamine Shimmering Seas)


Show_response_782 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Montblanc 144 - BB ..... Diamine Blue Lightning)


Show_response_753 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Pelikan M200 Demonstrator - M italic ..... Diamine Purple Pazzazz)

[penwash]

> What's your favorite bit of inky knowledge?

Bright orange mixed with compatible black ink produces delicious autumn-y ink

[AzJon]

That noodlers fanboys are die hard, cut-throat, hype merchants.....?

That's true to an extent, but hype is what ends up driving a laaaarge amount of ink sales. J. Herbin has their 1670 inks (and now their 1798 line..ooooo...silver sparkles), Lamy has their annual EVERYONE FREAK OUT OVER A SAFARI line, Pelikan does "ink of the year". Hype drives ink. Diamine, of course, just makes everything and drops ink bombs that overwhelm competition (thinking of the shimmering line of inks).

Look at such inks and then tell me that these inks are not appealing in any way to you.....

That said, boy howdy do those images give me some dirty thoughts and feelings.

Bright orange mixed with compatible black ink produces delicious autumn-y ink

Wow! That's an awesome looking combination!

[naimitsu]

1. This hobby is probably confusing to the chromatically challenged.
2. Most red inks suck at shading.
3. Saturated blues tend to produce the best sheen... and that more often than not, that sheen is a deep red.
4. Color, shading, and sheen are highly dependent on pen/nib, paper, and how heavy/light the hand.
5. There exists inks out there that look radioactive (Re: de Atramentis Mahatma Gandhi)
6. Ink properties outside of color can diminish the attractiveness of an ink.

[SIR]

Bright orange mixed with compatible black ink produces delicious autumn-y ink

Wow! That's an awesome looking combination!

Yes... but what are the proportions?!

[dam]

Shimmering, gold or silver speckled inks: what I thought was just a fad (seems it's not) has left me wondering what the hell is wrong with me for not being interested.

Look at such inks and then tell me that these inks are not appealing in any way to you.....


Show_response_868 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Waterman 12 1/2 ..... J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor)


Show_response_812 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Noodlers Ahab flex EMF ..... Diamine Shimmering Seas)


Show_response_782 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Montblanc 144 - BB ..... Diamine Blue Lightning)


Show_response_753 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Pelikan M200 Demonstrator - M italic ..... Diamine Purple Pazzazz)

Nice to look at, sure. But no interest in purchasing or using, personally. My use of fountain pens is mostly work related, and I don't use super flexible nibs, so no, not my thing. So to answer your question (if it was a question), they don't appeal to me. Surely it is possible to disagree, even on matters of such grave importance.

[FredRydr]

What's your favorite bit of inky knowledge?

It's all just colored water?


(Just a joke, Chrissy!)

[BayesianPrior]

If I find a crate of Parker Penman Sapphire I'll be able to retire early.

[penwash]

Bright orange mixed with compatible black ink produces delicious autumn-y ink

Wow! That's an awesome looking combination!

Yes... but what are the proportions?!

An almost full sample vial (4ml) of orange and about .5 ml of black to produce the one I posted above.

You may like a darker brown or a lighter orange-ish brown. In the end, the proportion is up to you.

[Amanda]

Shimmering, gold or silver speckled inks: what I thought was just a fad (seems it's not) has left me wondering what the hell is wrong with me for not being interested.

Look at such inks and then tell me that these inks are not appealing in any way to you.....


Show_response_868 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Waterman 12 1/2 ..... J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor)


Show_response_812 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Noodlers Ahab flex EMF ..... Diamine Shimmering Seas)


Show_response_782 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Montblanc 144 - BB ..... Diamine Blue Lightning)


Show_response_753 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Pelikan M200 Demonstrator - M italic ..... Diamine Purple Pazzazz)

Oooo, nice pens. Shame about the inks.

[jacksterp]

Will - think I'll give your recipe a try - with Diamine Terracotta and Lamy Black...

[Sailor Kenshin]

Ooo! I have the now-unobtainium Chesterfield Fireball. Now all I have to do is bust open a Pelikan cart.

[Pterodactylus]

Show_response_1193 by Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr

(Serwex MB flex EMF ..... ESS Registrars Blue/Black)


It´s not that I don´t see the sparkling inks as not problematic.
Mainly because they are not producing a consistant writing experience when you write more than a couple of words.

First you have a load of sparkles but when you continue writing you will have after a couple of sentences almost next to nothing sparkles left on your paper.
They are for sure not good daily writing inks, they are show case inks, able to produce a "whaoooowww" effect.

Just to mention it, they will not harm your pens, the sparkles might be a little bit nasty to clean of, but that´s all (they most likely also will not clog your pen).

Pilot Parallel pens are a quite good choice for sparkling inks, they produce a more consistent writing experience than many other pens.

In the meanwhile, I have quite some of them in my collection, just as fun inks, as said, show case inks (as the can produce spectacular effects).

So, definitely they are not for everyone and not for all use cases, but they are IMHO far away from being a shame.



The ESS Registrars ink on the other side is a must have ink.
It´s a classic iron gall ink.
The line quality is razor sharp, it does not bleed or feather or behave bad in any other aspect.
You can write almost on toilet paper with this ink and still getting a great performance.
It is water proof, need not more maintenance than other inks, do not harm your pens or is in any other way problematic.
This ink is permanently used for a couple of years in this (EMF modded steel nib) Serwex and even did not harmed or effected the cheap materials of this little indian pen (also not the edges of the nib where I modded the nib).
The pen was only refilled and never cleaned within the last years!

So this ink is one of the best performing inks I know (maybe the best), it is not expensive and easy to get all over the world (and a great shading ink as well).
In my eyes a must have ink (if I only could pick one ink to keep, I would choose this one).

[penwash]

Will - think I'll give your recipe a try - with Diamine Terracotta and Lamy Black...

There you go. Maybe you can make a new thread for brown ink mixes with sample writing, I'll post my recipe there.

[Scooby921]

If I find a crate of Parker Penman Sapphire I'll be able to retire early.