May I repost the below, which I prepared some time ago to illustrate ink differences:
Ink differences in a wet pen by
Ptero Pterodactylus, auf Flickr
May I give an example which huge difference the ink can make.
Currently I´ve tinkering arround with an FPR Himalaya.
This pen was an extremly wet pen per default (which is a good thing for a pen with a (somehow) flexible nib.
I´ve EMF modded the nib and the big amount of extra flex made this pen a real gusher (even I´ve heat set the feed).
It now lays down seas of ink (and it do not have railroading problems even without modifying the feed, which is normally necessary if you add more flex to a nib).
The picture illustrates the differences the ink can make.
All writing is done with the same pen, an FPR Himalaya with an EMF modded FPR flex nb.
Paper is good quality Clairefontaine.
Above Sheaffer Skrip Purple:
Massive bleeding and feathering.
Middle:
Back side of the paper, massive show through and bleed through.
Bottom:
Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black, no feathering, no bleeding, no show through no bleed through, and believe me, you see nothing on the other side of the paper (otherwise I would have made a picture)
The edges of the ink are sharp and clearly defined, simply a top notch result.
Yes a dry ink can reduce the flow of the ink and normally also this will make a huge difference.
But in this case even this make no real difference other attributes of the ink show up here as well clearly.
Also with the Pelikan ink the pen lays down seas of ink, it is still a gusher, but the result is a completely different.
Here the overall quality of an ink shows up clearly.
Many inks work well on "normal" conditions (more or less), but these conditions are normally no challange for the quality of a ink.
The difference will show up when you lay down seas of ink, will it bleed, feather, show and bleed through the paper?
These conditions separates the top notch inks from the common average inks (every newby ink designer can throw on the market) and will make an incredible difference.
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