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Thread: Ink anxieties

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    Default Ink anxieties

    How to find a set of inks that look wonderful together? That complement each other AND make each pen sing? That let you express different moods? I've only got 6 (now 7) pens inked and have been finding this hard enough...
    What do you with 10? 15?
    Or is this madness?
    See below for an example of failure--a gradient of blues with green and brown stragglers...


    image1.jpg

    image0 (2).jpg
    Will
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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    It's always trial and error to make a pen sing with a particular ink but in the event you have 10 or 15 pens that you know like one particular ink then I don't need those inks to necessarily look wonderful together on a single page of writing if that's what you mean. I like an ink to more or less match a pen and when I have several pens inked I write letters using several inks. The inks next to each other just need to look slightly different enough for myself and the recipient to see they are different.

    It may only be your scan but you could achieve more "gradient" to your blue inks as they all look fairly similarly blue-black although the Sailor Manyo looks a bit lighter. If you want your inks to "pop" off the page then look at loads of ink swabs or reviews to get more variation in your blues.

    Your turquoise is nice but now spring is here how about a brighter blue/royal blue such as Scribe Indigo and a more cerulean blue like P.E Topaz or Diamine Meditteranean Blue and maybe a light greenish teal like Birmingham Pens Cooked Spinach, a pinkish red, an orangey red, a darker red, a light or coppery brown, a richer brown, a lavender purple and an emerald green.

    If I lived in the US I would be taking a long look around the Birmingham Pens web-site.
    Last edited by Chrissy; March 27th, 2022 at 10:18 AM.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    It's always trial and error to make a pen sing with a particular ink but in the event you have 10 or 15 pens that you know like one particular ink then I don't need those inks to necessarily look wonderful together on a single page of writing if that's what you mean. I like an ink to more or less match a pen and when I have several pens inked I write letters using several inks. The inks next to each other just need to look slightly different enough for myself and the recipient to see they are different.

    It may only be your scan but you could achieve more "gradient" to your blue inks as they all look fairly similarly blue-black although the Sailor Mayo looks a bit lighter. If you want your inks to "pop" off the page then look at loads of ink swabs or reviews to get more variation in your blues.

    Your turquoise is nice but now spring is here how about a brighter blue/royal blue such as Scribe Indigo and a more cerulean blue like P.E Topaz or Diamine Meditteranean Blue and maybe a light greenish teal like Birmingham Pens Cooked Spinach, a pinkish red, an orangey red, a darker red, a light or coppery brown, a richer brown, a lavender purple and an emerald green.

    If I lived in the US I would be taking a long look around the Birmingham Pens web-site.
    See what happens when you get Chrissy involved in an ink-hue conversation?

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Presently I have 20 pens inked - most with varying shades of blue and turquoise, but some reds and purples and greens.

    One of the "silly" things I do after I clean all my currently inked pens (about every 2-4 weeks depending on ink usage) is that after I have selected a palette of inks that will work really well with the pens that I am going to ink, I will swatch them together, using cotton swabs, in a running snake like pattern to see how well the colors work together. If I think one or two inks look out of place, I will substitute the new inks to see how they will look. After I am satisfied, I will then load each pen with the ink I have designated for that pen.

    This is about as artistic as I get.

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    If I lived in the US I would be taking a long look around the Birmingham Pens web-site.
    Hi Chrissy,

    I live in the US and I have at least half a dozen Birmingham Pens inks. Most of them are absolutely wonderful; one or two were a little disappointing, BUT... the real kicker with them is that if you find an ink they carry that you really like, you'd better order several more while they still have them in stock, because it seems that once they run out of a color, instead of making up more of it, they fill the hole in their lineup with a new color. That means there's always something new and exciting to see when you go to visit them, but if you want to reorder a favorite, you may be disappointed.

    Now, to be perfectly fair, that was the pattern when they were having their formulæ made up in Germany, but now that they're making their inks in-house (and they've been doing that for -- two or three years? -- not sure exactly), it may be a different story. I recently went through an extended period of using only DeAtramentis document inks to avoid obliteration when spills occur, but now that I'm back to living dangerously, I will no doubt be paying more attention to them (Birmingham) again.
    Last edited by calamus; April 19th, 2022 at 06:49 PM.
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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by DrPenfection View Post
    Presently I have 20 pens inked - most with varying shades of blue and turquoise, but some reds and purples and greens.

    One of the "silly" things I do after I clean all my currently inked pens (about every 2-4 weeks depending on ink usage) is that after I have selected a palette of inks that will work really well with the pens that I am going to ink, I will swatch them together, using cotton swabs, in a running snake like pattern to see how well the colors work together. If I think one or two inks look out of place, I will substitute the new inks to see how they will look. After I am satisfied, I will then load each pen with the ink I have designated for that pen.

    This is about as artistic as I get.

    Twenty pens at once, yikes! I used to do that, but I could never find the time to clean all twenty at once on a regular basis, and ended up with a pen or two here and there that didn't get attended to in time. Usually some Rapido-Eze and an ultrasonic would do the trick, but for vintage pens, I actually lost a Sheaffer snorkel (I still get teary-eyed when I think about it), and had to re-sac a couple of lever-fillers. I now try to keep it down to about half a dozen or so inked at any one time.
    Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by calamus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    If I lived in the US I would be taking a long look around the Birmingham Pens web-site.
    Hi Chrissy,

    I live in the US and I have at least half a dozen Birmingham Pens inks. Most of them are absolutely wonderful; one or two were a little disappointing, BUT... the real kicker with them is that if you find an ink they carry that you really like, you'd better order several more while they still have them in stock, because it seems that once they run out of a color, instead of making up more of it, they fill the hole in their lineup with a new color. That means there's always something new and exciting to see when you go to visit them, but if you want to reorder a favorite, you may be disappointed.

    Now, to be perfectly fair, that was the pattern when they were having their formulæ made up in Germany, but now that they're making their inks in-house (and they've been doing that for -- two or three years? -- not sure exactly), it may be a different story. I recently went through an extended period of using only DeAtramentis document inks to avoid obliteration when spills occur, but now that I'm back to living dangerously, I will no doubt be paying more attention to them (Birmingham) again.
    I was aware that used to be the case with Birmingham Pens but recently they seem to have been making more inks in unusual and different colours. From small samples I've tried these seem to perform very well in the pens I've tried them in.

    However despite the fact that they used to mail to the UK when we were within the EU they don't mail here now and they seem to be getting overly complicated and sensationalist information from their legal advisors about this as they have talked about some of this to me. As it currently stands they can't seem to take the time to have a proper look at what action they need to take in order to send items here. Basically they have to fill in a form and add 20% tax onto all orders they get below $209 then send that additional amount to the UK taxman. Until they can sort this out I can't buy from them so I have accepted that their inks are on my unobtanium list. If I am able to visit the US I might buy some while I'm there but otherwise I'll do without.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I was aware that used to be the case with Birmingham Pens but recently they seem to have been making more inks in unusual and different colours. From small samples I've tried these seem to perform very well in the pens I've tried them in.

    However despite the fact that they used to mail to the UK when we were within the EU they don't mail here now and they seem to be getting overly complicated and sensationalist information from their legal advisors about this as they have talked about some of this to me. As it currently stands they can't seem to take the time to have a proper look at what action they need to take in order to send items here. Basically they have to fill in a form and add 20% tax onto all orders they get below $209 then send that additional amount to the UK taxman. Until they can sort this out I can't buy from them so I have accepted that their inks are on my unobtanium list. If I am able to visit the US I might buy some while I'm there but otherwise I'll do without.
    They could actually make it even easier on themselves if they just set up an etsy shop for UK sales (and elsewhere with similar rules, eg Australia), who would handle the whole thing for them. I would happily pay a small premium, certainly equivalent to the cost of listing fees etc, and I know this has worked well for many sellers in other fields.

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    I've tried my best to talk to them about it several times but they seem to be completely locked onto the fact that they could end up in an international legal incident costing thousands of $$$ if they didn't get it exactly right. And they don't have time to work out how to get it exactly right.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    That’s insane!

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by calamus View Post
    That’s insane!
    I know. Good job there are plenty of other inks around.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I've tried my best to talk to them about it several times but they seem to be completely locked onto the fact that they could end up in an international legal incident costing thousands of $$$ if they didn't get it exactly right. And they don't have time to work out how to get it exactly right.
    Incidentally, you can order your inks to a US address of friend and they can ship it to you. As they have free shipping in US. All you have to pay is the shipping from US to UK. If they had free shipping to Canada, I would've gladly done it for you...

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    90309401-9F02-4773-BFAF-55721A856938.jpgChrissy, I had only a vague awareness of Birmingham inks before your post, and I found their model and ink types quite compelling, enough to order a bottle of chrysanthemum…which after a week and a half seemingly has yet to be shipped.
    This lineup is somewhat of an improvement, but I like the idea of swatching them next to each other before inking…
    Will
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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Will those look nice together, as does your very neat handwriting.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    783F9586-1366-4729-A720-B12E5A826B55.jpg

    Chrysanthemum is a fascinating ink and behaves very well! Thanks for the recc!
    Will
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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by fountainpenkid View Post
    783F9586-1366-4729-A720-B12E5A826B55.jpg

    Chrysanthemum is a fascinating ink and behaves very well! Thanks for the recc!
    Chrysan Themum is a fascinating ink. It is, to my feeling, a bit on the dry side which makes it great for my really wet pens. One of the things I love about it is the faint blue-green cast behind the purplish-pink. Do a chroma on it. I also find it to be a multi-shader on Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light paper. Pennsylvania Fieldstone is similar although a bit less pink.

    Others that I find to be very pleasant are Hydrangea (again a bit on the dry side), Victorian Plum and Provence Lavender (both of which are moderately wet for "Crisp" inks. Jade Inferno is perhaps my favorite of all the BPC inks.

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    I've recently filled a pen from my sample vial of Cooked Spinach and already have a pen inked with 5 Cent Fuschia. Both nice inks.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I've recently filled a pen from my sample vial of Cooked Spinach and already have a pen inked with 5 Cent Fuschia. Both nice inks.
    Cooked spinach looks like it might be too close in tone to Diamine soft mint to justify, but I've come to realize much of the allure of different inks is in their behavior. The Chrysanthemum, for instance, goes on the paper looking a dirty brown-green but dries to this lovely muted pink-purple, and shades delightfully in the process.
    Will
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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by fountainpenkid View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I've recently filled a pen from my sample vial of Cooked Spinach and already have a pen inked with 5 Cent Fuschia. Both nice inks.
    Cooked spinach looks like it might be too close in tone to Diamine soft mint to justify, but I've come to realize much of the allure of different inks is in their behavior. The Chrysanthemum, for instance, goes on the paper looking a dirty brown-green but dries to this lovely muted pink-purple, and shades delightfully in the process.
    If you like the way Chrysan Themum acts, then you might like Pennsylvania Fieldstone.

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    Default Re: Ink anxieties

    Quote Originally Posted by fountainpenkid View Post
    Ink anxieties
    I've had an ink anxiety for a few days now. I bought a 30ml bottle of Diamine Red Dragon late last year that I use sparingly for special notes and Postcrossing card ID numbers. When the maroon Pelikan M250 I dedicate to red ink finally needed a refill, I turned to my ink box. The Red Dragon bottle is just...gone! I stared at my ink box just in case my eyes weren't distinguishing the little bottle from all the rest...but it's not there! And a search has turned up nada. Oh, the anxiety!

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