What would you suggest for a dark eggplant ink? I have thought of the following. Any experience with them or others I should consider?

Noodlers Nightshade
Caran d' ache Storm
Herbin Poussiere de Lune

What about a nice rich burgandy? How is Visconti burgandy. I need an excuse to get that cool bottle. I was not very impressed with PR Burgancy Mist. It seems to turn a muddy brownish red.

Thanks.

Matt C.

The J. Herbin PdL is not very pigmented, so while it's a beautiful color, I wouldn't exactly call it dark or rich. I haven't tried the others, but I love eggplant...I'm hoping that the new Noodler's Purple Wumpum will do it for me.

I also did not like PR Burgundy Mist, but the Noodler's Swishmix Burgundy is beautiful. I'm not sure how the regular Noodler's Burgundy is though.

One of the anticipated Colfer's ink colors might be worth considering. Not on the market yet but should be by the end of the year.

Noodler's Burgundy is a little heavy on the brown--it's like an old, red brick color--not what I'd call "burgundy" at all. It's not a bad color--I don't mean to be knocking it--I just would not call it "burgundy".

Is the Swishmix Burgundy really burgundy?

CowDad

DeAtramentis Aubergine is great but hard to find. You could try Peter Laywine in Canada (scribble @ laywines.com). He stocks a few DeAtramentis inks.

I have seen and written with Nightshade in a few pens, but I don't actually own it. Compared with the scans above of Poussiere de Lune and Aubergine, Nightshade is much less purple and more like a very, very dark wine color. It's not really a black-purple like eggplant skin is in real life. I do like it, though.

See this thread on a mixture I concocted, called "Umbergine", consisting of 3 parts Diamine Umber, 2 parts Noodler's Saguaro Wine, and 1 part Noodler's Iraqi Indigo.

It's a deep aubergine that I like better than De Atramentis Aubergine. I am waiting for a sample of Poussiere de Lune to come in so I can compare it with that ink, but my guess is that Umbergine is darker and more saturated.

Here's the link to some writing samples:

Umbergine thread

In my experience, the De Atramentis Aubergine feathers too much. It is a real dark eggplant which I like, but I found it surprisingly to be a strain to read.

J. Herbin Poussière de Lune is a lovely colour, while not too saturated - except you let it dry some weeks in your pen to darken it to an eggplant.

CdA Storm is darker than PdL, so it may be a good compromise.

Swishmix Burgundy is a dark red/bordeaux colour, very similar, but a tiny bit darker than MB Bordeaux.

Noodler's Nightshade is too brown to be a burgundy or an eggplant. It is quite dark. The written line has uneven borders.

I love my Visconti Burgundy ink!
I liked it so much that I posted a pathetic little writing sample halfway down this page


Please note: the colour was not adjusted in any way using any software (my husband just snapped a quick photo); the ink looks even better in person

R&K Alt Bordeaux is a rich wine/burgundy with great shading. Just a tiny bit "dusty" in a very nice way.

Here's a little sampler of some of the inks being discussed, plus Rohrer & Klingner 'Scabiosa' which is an interesting one.

(The colours in this scan look a touch faded and smidge too brown, but still a useful reference I hope.)

Thanks for the nice suggestions.

Maja, that Visconti looks nice. And then of course there is that bottle.

Phthalo, thanks for the samples. I like the look of the Alt-Bordeaux.

Thanks also sonia_simone. I must say that that is about the cutest little kid ever!

Matt C.

Well, I only have the plastic travel bottle, Matt (that was all the store had), but I did buy some Visconti cartridges just so I could get that cute little bakelite-style container

Take the eggplant slices....soak in the salt water to get the bitter out.

After that, soak in the Burgandy, until eggplant is nice and wine flavored.

Saute, add some tomato sauce and parmesan cheese.

and voila!

Eggplant and Burgandy

Thanks Matt! I have to admit, I'm pretty partial to him.

Confession: when I saw the part of the thread title that said "I like them dark and rich", I have to admit, I wasn't thinking about food

Nope, it's "red brick" as well (an apt description, BTW).

Caran d' ache Storm is not very dark or rich. Nightshade has much more character.

But how do you fill the pen?

I believe I have found an exquisite ink! I wandered into a Shapiro store in the local mall and was delighted to find four mini bottles of old Sheaffer ink—blue, gray, lavender, and burgundy. The burgundy is very nice, not terribly dark, but it has a dusky hue to it and shades wonderfully.

Of course the bad part is that this beautiful ink is no longer made. So, of the current production inks, what is the closest to old Sheaffer burgundy? I've got to find something like this, because this tiny bottle will not last long.

Matt C.