Levenger Ink Recommendations?

[EHLawyer]

I have used Levenger Black and Cardinal Red, both of which are fine, and I wonder what experience you have all had with their other colors, both in their "classic" series and their "wild" set. I know for sure that I will be trying the Cobalt Blue, but would appreciate comments pro & con for the other colors. Thanks.

[Goodwhiskers]

From my experience:

 

Cobalt Blue is luscious . It performs well on Levenger paper.

On low-absorbency paper (colored paper for copiers and printers; also some tight-fiber, expensive, wood-paper stationery like Clairefontaine and Rhodia), it dry-smudges months later. It doesn't soak into correction tape at all. In school paper, low-quality writing pad paper and non-inkjet office paper, it feathers a little bit and shadows heavily, and it leaves several tiny spots per line on the next sheet.

 

Cocoa is appetizing . It doesn't dry-smudge on low-absorbency paper, and it soaks securely into correction tape.

In school paper, low-quality writing pad paper and non-inkjet office paper, it feathers a lot and shadows heavily, and it leaves many little spots on the next sheet.

 

Fireball is fun . It doesn't dry-smudge on low-absorbency paper. I don't remember how it performs on correction tape.

In school paper, low-quality writing pad paper and non-inkjet office paper, it feathers and shadows a little bit, and leaves a few tiny spots per page on the next sheet.

[sonia_simone]

Pinkly is a great ink if you like pink--a good solid color, just a teeny bit on the blue side. Dark enough to be easily legible.

 

Always Greener is one of my favorite colors, a bright warm spring green leaning to the yellow side. Again, dark enough to read, not too pastel.

[sonia_simone]

Off topic, but I've been very happy with all of L's paper products as well. I use their notepads and their gridded loose leaf paper. They also have a good "composition book" style notebook.

[Ann Finley]

I recently received 3 Levenger ink samples in a trade. I have Skies of Blue and Blue Bahama loaded in pens with very fine nibs.

 

Neither color seems to smudge on Clairefontaine with these nibs (& dries quickly.) No feathering or bleed-through.

 

Neither color feathers with these nibs on low-quality thin paper. Both shadowed on the reverse side--the Skies of Blue more heavily, but no spots came through on the sheet beneath. I suspect that with broader &/or wetter nibs there would have been feathering and bleed-through on the sheet beneath.

 

These are both beautiful colors. The Skies of Blue is darker than I thought it would be. It's a bright royal blue color.

 

HTH, Ann

Edited June 8, 2006 by Ann Finley

[ConnallMac]

I have tried numerous brown inks, but I have been happiest by far with Levenger's Cocoa. It has a dark, rich melted chocolate color to it. It lays down a wet dark line that is very consistent. Seems to flow well from nearly every pen I've put it in to. I highly recommend it!

 

 

 

J. Haney

[sonia_simone]

I think I was disappointed in Skies of Blue because I had expected a lighter color. Maybe I'll try it again.

[Larry T]

I have used Levenger inks for about a year now with good results. The Cobalt is one of my favorite inks, very dark and saturated, but a true blue, with no noticable overtones. Cocoa is an excellent dark brown, a little darker than Waterman's Havana. Amethyst is a very nice purple color. Gemstone is my favorite green ink period. The only Levenger ink that I just didn't care for was Smokey gray.

 

All of the inks have good flow properties, and the only one I have had drying problems with is Cobalt. Someone, in one of the topics about Private Reserve inks, suggested dilluting the ink with a little water to solve the drying problem. I tried three parts Cobalt to one part water and have been pleasantly surprised by the results. The mixture dries much quicker and doesn't smudge on the paper I've used it on, and the color is nearly identical to straight Cobalt to my eyes.

 

I hope this helps,

 

Larry

[Goodwhiskers]

All of the inks have good flow properties, and the only one I have had drying problems with is Cobalt. Someone, in one of the topics about Private Reserve inks, suggested dilluting the ink with a little water to solve the drying problem. I tried three parts Cobalt to one part water and have been pleasantly surprised by the results. The mixture dries much quicker and doesn't smudge on the paper I've used it on, and the color is nearly identical to straight Cobalt to my eyes.

Thanks for reporting on that experiment, Larry.

 

About Skies of Blue: In its sample in Clark's Sampler, it is indeed very similar in color to many "standard blue" (and sulfate-sulfite eradicable) inks from the major pen brands (exception: Waterman Florida Blue, Aurora Blue and J. Herbin Bleu Myosotis are darker than Levenger Skies of Blue). The big differences are that Skies of Blue does not show any trace of purple, and it does not dry to a matte/powdery un-sheen, and it is not sulfate-sulfite eradicable.

Edited June 9, 2006 by Goodwhiskers

[Larry T]

I had some time on my hands this evening, so I made a chart of the eight Levenger inks that I have:

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/ircameraman/LevInks.jpg

 

The paper is Hammermill 28# inkjet from Office Depot. I used three Esterbrook Dip-Less pens with fine nibs for the written part,(yeah, I know, I'm not Old Griz in the handwriting department) and cotton swabs for the color swatches. The Cobalt is straight, not the mixture I mentioned in a previous post.

 

This topic has made me want to get the rest of the 'wild' colors to complete the set.

 

Larry

[Sparky]

I use skie of blue from levenger and the coco brown... very pleased with both of them. I like supporting an American company, btw, like Levenger that really produces thoughtful products for writers. I don't know of other companies like Levenger, that seem to really think throught what writers would need to be effective yet also provide some style. Now if they would only produce a small understated leather pen rests.......... mmmm.

[Goodwhiskers]

Thanks, Larry ! The colors I know are very close to reality on my monitor.

[Goodwhiskers]

Water resistance of Levenger inks, in my experience:

 

Cocoa Brown is very impressive. Water spills on dried Cocoa Brown text leave highly legible (but different-colored) results, probably good enough for addressing envelopes and packages without having to put clear tape or wax over the address. Cocoa Brown is the only Levenger color I've tried that I'd recommend for such use.

 

Raven Black left enough of the original text behind after a water spill (personal experience, most of a page of two months of hand-marked student attendance records :o ) that I was able to re-trace the marks accurately (in Cocoa Brown ) after the paper dried. I wouldn't recommend it for unprotected envelope/package addressing, though.

 

Cobalt Blue, Fireball and Gemstone Green (I liked this last one, too; it behaves like Fireball during writing) can withstand little sprays or drops of water, but a big water spill (home testing only, not at work ) causes illegibility by the time the water soaks into the paper.

[Goodwhiskers]

Thanks also to Sidney, for putting a link in the index of ink samples .

[fauxbro]

I'm pretty loyal to the Cocoa brown. I have a bottle of Noodler's Walnut brown, but it takes way too long to dry and I'm constantly smudging it. The Levenger brown on the other hand dries quickly and looks great.