Dilution - Private Reserve American Blue

[Sandy1]

WELCOME

 

These samples document my results from diluting Private Reserve American Blue with water. These simple samples are viewed in the basic terms of the Ink Review performance profile, without addressing use, aesthetics and so on, you know - the interesting stuff.

 

WRITTEN LINES

 

These replace the ubiquitous but flaky swatches, which cannot reliably depict ink density, (light - dark), etc., etc., etc.

 

To juxtapose the four dilution samples, two sets are shown.

 

Paper: HPJ1124

 

Figure 1.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Dilution%20-%20Private%20Reserve%20American%20Blue/dcb3dfe2.jpg

 

Row 1. 100% (stock)

Row 2. 80%

Row 3. 66%

Row 4. 40%

 

Figure 2.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Dilution%20-%20Private%20Reserve%20American%20Blue/bf7d62b8.jpg

 

Row 1. 66%

Row 2. 100%

Row 3. 40%

Row 4. 80%

 

WRITTEN SAMPLES

 

Figure 3.

HPJ1124

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Dilution%20-%20Private%20Reserve%20American%20Blue/d50a2dee.jpg

 

Figure 4.

Rhodia

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Dilution%20-%20Private%20Reserve%20American%20Blue/54c64d8e.jpg

 

OTHER STUFF

 

I decided to group the Smear/Dry Time tests with the Wet Tests for each dilution, rather than sorting by test type.

 

Increment for S/DT mark-making is five seconds, right to left, in a countdown mode.

 

Figure 5.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Dilution%20-%20Private%20Reserve%20American%20Blue/56e01553.jpg

Left Side

: HPJ1124

Right Side

: Rhodia

 

OBSERVATIONS

 

Physical Performance & Characteristics:

 

Flow Rate:

• OK for all dilutions.

Nib Dry-out:

• OK for all dilutions.
• Diminishes as dilution increases.

Start-up:

• OK for all dilutions.

Lubrication:

• OK for all dilutions.
• Diminishes as dilution increases.

Bleed Through:

• Not observed.

Show Through:

• Not observed.

Feathering / Woolly Line:

• Not observed.

Smear/Dry Time:

• On the Rhodia, there was no clear trend/relationship between dilution and S/DT/. (?)
• On the HPJ1124, there was no clear trend/relationship between dilution and S/DT/. (?)
• Results on both papers run contrary to widely-held opinion / common wisdom / rule of I'm all-thumbs that dilution will shorten S/DT.

Water Resistance:

• -1- on the S4 Scale:
  • "Some inky artifacts remain as evidence of activity, but no words legible.
  • Recycle."

Clean Up:

• Reasonable, but slower than most, likely due to high saturation.

 

Personal Observations:

 

• Other than degradation of the writing experience, the performance profile of PRAB seems little changed by dilution. That said, I believe that diluting PRAB to levels of concentration lower than 40% should be cautiously considered - in part due to glimmers of rather bad looking uneven ink density that some misguided practitioners may consider to be 'shading'. Phooey! Dilution cannot invoke good shading in PRAB.
• Private Reserve American Blue is amongst inks which aspire to emulate the discontinued Parker Penman Sappire. As I have the ongoing pleasure of using PPS, I can understand the widespread acceptance of PRAB as a 'reasonable facsimile' of PPS. I think that use of dilution to tune the appearance of PRAB to more closely replicate PPS is possible. However, that really is a side show.

[OoO]-[OoO]-[OoO]

 

• As always, YMMV considerably, not only from materials, etc. that the practitioner chooses, but also inconsistencies of the stuff in the bottle.
• Please take note: Ink does not require labeling to indicate (changes in) formulation, ingredients, etc. The accuracy of this and other Reviews, samples, etc. is dependent upon consistency and reliability of associated products.

[oOo]-[OoO]-[oOo]

 

MATERIEL

 

Pen:

• Rosetta Magellan + g-p steel Schmidt B nib.
• This supersedes the previously favoured Pelikan M200 with a g-p BB nib from richardpens. While I like that rig, I think it is not as well suited to this sort of thing

Paper:

• HPJ1124 - A 24lb. Laser Copy paper.
• Rhodia - A fairly common upper tier paper that is FP friendly.

- 30 -

Edited January 12, 2011 by Sandy1

[zhangvict]

Shading IS caused by uneven ink density. The color is uneven because some parts of the paper have more ink and some parts have less ink cause the pen puts an inconsistent amount of liquid as it writes. I think it is obvious that for dye based inks, more ink = darker color.

 

Hence the end strokes of letters tend to have more ink than the beginning strokes. The dry time is also a factor because if the ink dries very slowly, then the excess ink in the tail stroke can slowly creep up the the beginning strokes without surface tension barrier of going into a dry area.

 

The undiluted PRAB had a darker color, so the color inconsistency goes from blue to black (the black is actually blue so dark and concentrated it looks like black). The diluted PRAB will have a light color, so the inconsistency in less liquid and more liquid areas will be from light blue to blue.

 

"phooey! dilution cannot invoke good shading in PRAB"

You can scoff at the shading effects of diluted inks, but you need to explain why you think so. What kinds of observation led you to this conclusion? Without proof, the statement becomes a unfounded assumption.

[Sandy1]

✃

snip

✁

"phooey! dilution cannot invoke good shading in PRAB"

You can scoff at the shading effects of diluted inks, but you need to explain why you think so. What kinds of observation led you to this conclusion? Without proof, the statement becomes a unfounded assumption.

Oh please!

 

It is not a statement of fact. The facts are the Written Samples, yes? I entrust readers to separate opinion from fact; to evaluate inferences and conclusions as to their merit.

 

The comment you have chosen is under the heading of 'Personal Comments'. Hence it is my opinion, (not an assumption nor a conclusion), about what I find attractive. So, I find the variation in ink density of R&K Salix to be attractive shading, and that of dilute PRAB not attractive.

 

Salix:

Shading_Link_1

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_RK_Salix/INK433.jpg

Shading_Link_2

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_RK_Salix/INK435.jpg

Shading_Link_3

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/InkReview_RK_Salix/INK434.jpg

If you think that the uneven ink density of diluted PRAB is attractive shading, then I suggest you show me how that can be attractive. As you say, "Without proof, the statement becomes a unfounded assumption."

 

Or you may agree that we have a difference of opinion about the nature of attractive ink density variation.

 

Have a nice day!

S1

[zhangvict]

Oh, I understand now. The wording of your statement lead me to believe that you think that diluted PRAB does not exhibit shading at all.

 

Any ink with an uneven color distribution effect will by definition, exhibit shading and thus I was confused why you did not seem to believe that diluted PRAB exhibit shading. Now I know that the definition of shading to you is attractive uneven color.

 

My definition (and the most accepted definition I think)is that shading is any sort of uneven color distribution, regardless of personal preference. I thought it was illogical to bring subjective elements to definitions because everyone will start talking about different things regarding the same object (if I am making sense) so therefore did not think that you might have chose to define shading subjectively.

 

I did note that your comment fell under 'Personal Comments' heading, but I did not think that it necessarily implied that all the comments under that heading will be subjective opinions. I thought you were making objective statements because you used the word 'misguided' when talking about people with different observations, leading me to think that there is only 1 'true' way to look at things, which is the way that is not 'misguided'.

[sera0516]

I bought some Private Reserve American Blue today, with the specific intention of testing its dilutability.  Then I came across this post. This is an excellent post and much appreciated.

[Sandy1]

I bought some Private Reserve American Blue today, with the specific intention of testing its dilutability. Then I came across this post. This is an excellent post and much appreciated.

Hi,

 

Great minds think alike?

 

I certainly hope you enjoy it as well. It was included in the OOTT series of Reviews LINK. Dilution was also explored in this written sample four-way HERE.

 

As always, I appreciate feedback on Topics which I post. I am interested in your results, especially the more subjective aspects of diluting PRAB.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited May 8, 2011 by Sandy1