Is There A Need For Black Or Grey Inks?

[Pen Nut]

No I am not saying that at all. If you like black inks great. I guess what i am asking is there a specific reason i would need one? I am kinda on the fence about buying a black ink.

 

Ah I see........ the colours ( not colors ) that are available are literally endless. Try what takes your fancy and have fun messing around with them. Visconti blue and Herbin Poussiere De Lume (purple) are getting a bashing from me at the mo. Montblanc 'Mystery' Black is in another pen. Mystery Black makes me smile as it really is a black ink, there the mystery stops

[Jerome Tarshis]

First, I don't need to write with a fountain pen. Lots of people don't, and I believe they are as happy as I am. I choose to write with a fountain pen, and I choose to write on what is mostly cheap paper made in recent years.

 

On paper like that, the blue inks I formerly used will tend to fade rapidly. To avoid that kind of fading, I have switched to black ink for much of my writing. (I also have some MB British Racing Green.) The inks I now use do not fade rapidly on the paper I use, although I wouldn't assert that they do not fade at all.

 

This is an important difference for me, so I'm happy with black inks. The other thing is that I am not trying to be expressive by choosing an ink color. I am trying to be expressive by my choice of words. Others differ on that point.

 

But I'd like to know that the ink will look the same on the page some years from now. And, again, as between the blues I am most likely to write with (Waterman's washable blue, whatever merchandising name it carries this year, Quink blue, Skrip blue, Pelikan royal blue, and the blacks), I expect the blacks to go on looking the same.

 

If I could easily buy Bril royal blue where I live, that might be a different story. Bril blue pleased me a lot when I used it, and didn't seem to fade rapidly. That's only a memory now. Even in their native South India, Bril FP inks are challenged by the increasing use of ballpoints and rollerballs.

[Vlad72]

I used to dislike black, but it's a quick and easy choice for practical use, many cheap blacks are permanent and ok.

 

I like the look of Lamy black - that'll do for me as a reason

+1 on Lamy: quite permanent, good behaviour, cool looks.

[load81]

I've always felt that life was too short to write with black ink or ugly pens!

 

When im writing with black ink i always wonder why i even use a fountain pen.

I do see some aesthetical value in the black and white contrast but i really do not get grey ink nor blue-black.

[The Good Captain]

I rarely use black ink but do have a few - just in case. Blue-Black will always be my favourite though and I've mixed a few of my own as well.

[RudyR]

There is no need or use for black other than for signing death warrants, for use in hate mail, filling in pink slips and filing government documents. I hate black ink.

[Runnin_Ute]

For a long time Blue Black was my color. Used it for years. After using Levenger Cobalt Blue and Raven Black. I switched to Pelikan 4001 Blue Black - it is still my favorite blue black, but not my only blue black. I also have Diamine's and 54th Massachusetts from Noddler's. Yes I have a bottle of black (Noodler's bulletproof black). But I love my other colors as well. Apache Sunset, Levenger Pomegranate, Waterman Florida/Serenity Blue, Diamine Steel Blue, Classic Red and Sherwood Green.

 

Yes most are to the darker end of the spectrum, but so what? Some are just fun.

[I.M.]

I think it doesn't hurt to have a bottle of black in the ink collection. For over a year, when I first started getting into fountain pens and inks, I wasn't interested in black ink at all. Then one day I suddenly got a hankering to use black, so I bought a bottle. It hadn't seen much use until recently when my brown Pilot Prera arrived, and also last week when my Custom 74 arrived. Now I can't get enough of using black in those pens. The thought of using a coloured ink in them just seems wrong.

 

I also have several bottles of various greys, which I really like using. I suspect it might have something to do with the fact that before discovering fountain pens I mainly used mechanical pencils whenever I could.

[lynxcat]

black is the versatile, goes-with-everything color choice. it may not look exciting or pretty, but you never have to worry that it's inappropriate. if you for some odd reason had to use only a single one color of ink, black's the one that would never look strange.

 

black ink is what i use most often and use the most of, but it's certainly not the only color i use, nor would i wish it to be the only option available.

[Vlad72]

When im writing with black ink i always wonder why i even use a fountain pen.

Because a fountain pen is smoother and more comfortable?

[kernando]

Voting, if your county has you fill in the bubbles. But that's if you use a fountain pen. For almost everybody, there is no need to use any color of fountain pen ink, assuming one writes. But I like grey, and black, and colors.

[Bigeddie]

When I worked for a UK government agency we filed any handwritten letters in green ink behind the radiator or in the round file without reading them. This was mainly because of green ink's proverbial association with cranks and MI6.

 

Sounds about right for the seat polishers employed these days.

 

Wykeite, you seem to be implying that the willful negligence of the former public sector employee quoted above is representative of all such workers 'these days'. It isn't. It has been my experience while inspecting care homes for a local authority that good people work bloody hard to protect the vulnerable public from private sector contractors, who time and again have demonstrated their intention to provide as little care for them as is financially sensible - the minimum. I have never worked with such selfless and hard working people as in the public sector.

[playtime]

refreshing to hear and thank you for sharing your well-weighed words:)

 

 

 

Wykeite, you seem to be implying that the willful negligence of the former public sector employee quoted above is representative of all such workers 'these days'. It isn't. It has been my experience while inspecting care homes for a local authority that good people work bloody hard to protect the vulnerable public from private sector contractors, who time and again have demonstrated their intention to provide as little care for them as is financially sensible - the minimum. I have never worked with such selfless and hard working people as in the public sector.

[tinta]

My preference for wide edged nibs & inks that shade became the death knell for using black (in fact blacker than black) ink.

At one time Aurora black was my gold standard black, but now dark shades of brow/sepia, green, purple or the blue/blacks (mostly ferrogallic) have become my dark inks.

I only keep a few Sailor Kiwa-Guro cartridges for specific tasks & one lonely bottle of Montegrappa (a black that shades).

[Tanzanite]

I only use black ink for drawing. I dislike it intensely for writing. Tries it from time to time but it always ends with me tossing a half dried cartridge in the bin or emptying a half full converter in the sink.

[napalm]

I only use black ink for drawing. I dislike it intensely for writing. Tries it from time to time but it always ends with me tossing a half dried cartridge in the bin or emptying a half full converter in the sink.

 

Exactly my feelings.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

I've only very rarely found a need for writing with Black or Grey inks, to the extent that I do not have a Black FP ink. My exploration of Grey ink is minimal, with Noodler's Lexington, MB's underwhelming Einstein and the Pilot fuyu-syogun & kiri-same being the extent of my curiosity.

 

I have some Black sumi-e ink stick and India ink and non-FP iron-gall ink for things other than writing; and a 0.03mm Copic pigment multiliner does come in handy from time to time when teeny tiny mark making is required.

 

Blue-Black is my choice of writing ink when on duty, both at the office and in the field, and no one has suggested that I work in another hue nor dared return a document because of the ink's hue.

 

Black ink for billets doux seems quite impossible, yet Black used for haiku written with a brush or a Shakespearean sonnet written with a quill just might catch my eye.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited July 21, 2014 by Sandy1

[lapis]

Any grey in any case for any writings from and/or to any friends who have lost a relative due to their passing away.

 

[napalm]

Black ink for billets doux seems quite impossible,

 

Goths. You forgot goths...

[Sandy1]

 

Goths. You forgot goths...

 

OhOh...

 

I sincerely apologise to Goths for my faux pas.

 

It seems my expectation is for billets doux to come in haematite hues.

 

At risk of derailing this thread, now might be a good time for me to learn more about the use of Black for billets doux: ♥ not ♥

 

Bye,

S1