New Hongdian Inks. ~Inexpensive, but okay...

[Skip]

OK, here's 3 reviews of some new (I think?) Hongdian inks... This is my first ink review attempt and it's done with a glass dip pen with a lousy nib that I haven't gotten the hang of yet, so be charitable here please..
~But you can still see the colors on the page. The last one, the greenish-black, was a good deal wetter than the other two and as for myself I'd avoid using it with a broad nib fountain pen. My favorite of these three is the first ink, the Gray, which appeals to me as a nice light black. The Sky Blue is also nice, but I think I'd prefer it darker...
Yes, the bottles do have old-timey metal caps but there are plastic sealer pads snugged up inside these caps. For only $8 for a 60ml bottle these are quite a bargain IMO. I really like the colors of the Gray and the Greenish Black inks, and I'll have to try them in some of my EF nibbed fountain pens...Hongdian 3 bottles.jpegHongdian 3 written.jpeg

[Skip]

That Greenish-Black Hongdian is an interesting ink. When laying it down it was very wet and looked dark blue-black to me. But I turned my head away for a few seconds while it dried and when I looked back it had definitely dried to a nice green-black...
It wrote so wet tho it was actually glistening and I don't think I'd try it in a broader nib FP. However it might do well in some of my dryer thin-line writers, like maybe the Sailor Profit Jr.. I'll hafta try it there to see... I liked the Gray best tho and I could see it in any of my FP's, even perhaps in the 14K nib Pilot Granch.

[Lloyd]

Thanks! I like their use of the "-ish" modifier on their naming. Most inks should employ this approach to honest labeling; they're almost never what they claim.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[Yazeh]

Great job at showing off the colour of the inks
The naming is interesting
Ink always behaves differently with glass nibs. It is more concentrated.
When you try them with fountain pens you might be surprised.
Looking forward to your impressions with fountain pen

[junglejim]

Great review and thank-you Skip!

[Skip]

Great job at showing off the colour of the inks
The naming is interesting
Ink always behaves differently with glass nibs. It is more concentrated.
When you try them with fountain pens you might be surprised.
Looking forward to your impressions with fountain pen

A-ha! Yes, that does make sense, as except for the Gray the other two inks did get pretty thick on the glass nib! ~So now I too am also looking forward to trying these in fountain pens I choose for them...
I initially chose the glass pen route tho because it was easier to use the same pen for all 3 inks (cleaning it with water in between) than to fill up three fountain pens with inks I might not like after doing it.

The Gray seemed a much drier, thinner ink. ~Perhaps created by watering down a black maybe? ?? ~But no matter, tis still a very cool 'gray flannel suit' color that's much to my liking. And as it also wrote and dried well it has a good possibility of becoming one of my favorite new inks...

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks for the review. I like the colors, and love the concept of glass dip pens, but they drive me nuts; not a really great one among the 8 or so I've bought.

[Yazeh]

Great job at showing off the colour of the inks
The naming is interesting
Ink always behaves differently with glass nibs. It is more concentrated.
When you try them with fountain pens you might be surprised.
Looking forward to your impressions with fountain pen

A-ha! Yes, that does make sense, as except for the Gray the other two inks did get pretty thick on the glass nib! ~So now I too am also looking forward to trying these in fountain pens I choose for them...
I initially chose the glass pen route tho because it was easier to use the same pen for all 3 inks (cleaning it with water in between) than to fill up three fountain pens with inks I might not like after doing it.

The Gray seemed a much drier, thinner ink. ~Perhaps created by watering down a black maybe? ?? ~But no matter, tis still a very cool 'gray flannel suit' color that's much to my liking. And as it also wrote and dried well it has a good possibility of becoming one of my favorite new inks...

I often use glass dip pens wen I do swatching All those with a little drawing on them / or at least most of them are done with glass nibs. They're as Sailor said, very temperamental as it's difficult to control ink flow. But nothing compares with the actual writing.
My testing pens for the past few years are Lamy Safari (as they have different nib options and are easy to clean) or Kawecos. They give me a feel for the ink. If the inks act up or are beaching badly then I use/ test other pens, trying my best to redeem them. It's a process, and it took me a few years to streamline it. Enjoy the process