Mystery Ink #18

[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

MI#18-2.jpg

[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...

IMG_20180608_082132_800_600.jpg

IMG_20180608_082154_800_600.jpg

[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.


Quote 028 by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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


Mystery Ink #18 show and bleed through by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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!

[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:



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.

[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.



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.

[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).

Mystery Ink #18 Detail - Clairefontaine by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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.

MI#18 vs MI#17 cheaper paper by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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"


Ink Tsunami by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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!

[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]

MI#18 vs MI#17 cheaper paper by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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]

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

[Pterodactylus]

MI#18 vs MI#17 cheaper paper by Ptero Pterodactylus, 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.



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:





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).



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



Here are samples on some other paper.







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.



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.



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?



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.