I must confess that I have something for brown ink. I've been searching for that perfect shade of brown. I realize that there are light browns, medium browns, and dark browns, so there are probably several perfect browns.

I have the following:

Noodlers Walnut
Noodlers Beaver
PR Chocolat
PR Copper Burst (I don't own it, but have tried it)
Waterman Havana
Levenger Cocoa
Sheaffer Brown (the old stuff)
Herbin Praline Braune (not labled as Herbin, but definitely in an Herbin bottle)
Pelikan Brilliant Brown
Sailor Red-Brown
Omas Sepia (I haven't actually tried it, but I will be getting a bottle for Christmas)

Do I have enough or is there a brown ink out there that I must still try? Such as some of the Herbin brown shades, or Visconti Sepia, some of the Diamine shades, Sailor Brown? Does this ever end?

I do like darker browns better than lighter, though I have recently been attracted to Diamine Sepia. I also don't need to have inks with very similar colors, such as Levenger Cocoa and PR Chocolat, which are pretty close.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Matt C.

Man, you must order the FPN ink! Check the Marketplace, it's a pinned topic. Wim posted an amazing series of reviews of it in the Ink Reviews forum.

There were three bottles left yesterday, so do not delay!

I can't wait for mine to arrive, I am just sitting here pining.

P.S., if you have any interest in lighter browns, Noodler's Golden Brown is really exceptional. Dark enough to be very readable.

SS,
i see you raving and raving about golden brown!

it was one of my first inks. i wanted to love it -- it is really a lovely color when it does what it's supposed to do. But it separates often (and in both directions, so I'd say it rather oscillates -- from dark to light and light to dark)... And also, the yellow component (making it golden) is extremeley water-sensitive. the slightest dampness and your words will glow golden!!

It has some waterproofability when it is darker, but the ink is too variable. I am going to try mixing it with other colors, though, because i was surprised by your Golden Greener mix!

to address matt's concern -- i'm mostly interested in Brown inks. One of the other first inks I got was Beaver, and I still love it, though it's not waterproof. For that, I've gone toward Walnut as an everyday writer. It looks SO lovely when it's written with a wet medium.. (I used to hate mediums and wet writers, until I used this ink with my Duke Mini Torpedo...)

I have Eternal Brown, and I honestly can't stand its powdery-ness. But it's light plain tan shade is perfect for tinting with other inks, which I want to start doing. (Kind of the way I feel about Lexington Grey, which is incredibly tint-able)

I don't like Kiowa Pecan because it has the same problems that I mention above with Golden Brown (in terms of variation/separation).

I would check out that Seminole Sepia, but I am incredibly eager for that Galileo ink!

I used to mix Beaver and Habanero for an "unsulphured apricot" rust color ink, which was my favorite for a few months, but there is very little waterproof-ability with these inks, and your writing will be demolished should you drip some tea from your moustache (or other fatal wetness).

Get a bulletproof brown! I just hope that the Galileo ink isn't powdery. This is why I like Walnut so much. It's a bold dark round color. It's not soft and whispery, like all the other eternals I've seen.

Ah, the FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown is not powdery.

And I just heard that the first complete batch of 144 came out even better than the sample.... Better shading... I can't wait for it...

Warm regards, Wim

Melnicki, that is so interesting, I haven't had anything like that experience with GB. When you say it separates, you mean something like the dye particles actually coming out of solution? Most peculiar! Mine is quite reliable (it does sometimes start a tiny bit dark, but I'm fairly sure I've still got a faint whisker of Diamine Umber in the feed of that pen). It's pretty much always the color that I know and love. I only use it in one pen, feeling that the two are ideally matched.

Do experiment with some mixes with it, though, if you don't like it--it mixes very nicely. I've made three or four greens with it and liked all of them. (Golden Greener is still the best, to my eye.)

(by the way, your sig always makes me a bit homesick--I moved here from Berkeley in 99.)

I got some Walnut in a trade (and spilled about half of it on my desk, alas) and I like that very much.

Wim, you're making me crazy with all this tantalizing.

Melnicki—Walnut is also one of my favorites. It is a deep, rich brown. and like you said, especially in wetter writing pens. IMO, it will be hard to beat walnut for a dark brown. I'm anxious to compare it with Omas Sepia. Based on The Noble Savage's review, it looks really dark and nice. I'm also anxious to see how Neil, (of Inkquest fame), likes it. He also seems to like brown inks.

The Galileo looks nice, but $22 for a bottle of ink?

Matt C.

My Eternal Brown is darker that, and sickly looking.

I bought my first bottle of Omas Sepia today. It is very similar to Walnut, perhaps a tick lighter; good flow. Haven't tested water resistance yet (Walnut's is excellent).

I have a fondness for brown inks too. And I don't have enough!

J.Herbin Coffee Brown
Swishmix/Noodler's Seminole Sepia WP
Noodler's Walnut is my favorite.

And I'm waiting for good ol' Batch 144!

Like KRZ I'm really fond of J. Herbin's Café des Îles (coffee brown). I used Osmiroid's brown and Manuscript Sepia before that which was/is similar.

Also looking forward to FPN GMB 144.

William

KRZ,
Seminole Sepia: worth it? How is it different from the other Noodler's Browns? (Which I admit I have almost all of!!) And then there's the Grizzly (another Swisher exclusive)... I haven't found many writing samples of them...

Hmm... regarding the "separation" of the Golden Brown -- that's just a phrase I've seen tossed around here, I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly. I assume that it may be some physical separation of the ink particles, but I haven't actually noticed any grits or solids or precipitates... But what does happen is that sometimes it starts off like a yellow ink and after about two full sentences switches to the real color, and sometimes it's the reverse -- it starts off dark brown, darker than Walnut, and then finally goes back to the proper color after about one full sentence. I can't figure out why it does this, nor if there's some order as to why one happens vs the other.

By the way, I consider the *real* Golden Brown color to be like that of a teddy-bear. Of course, teddy-bears come in all colors, but many of them have that soft, dark tan type of brown with glints of gold as the soft plastic fibers (!!!) gleam in the light. And of course, this probably affects our fondness for the color, because -- well, everyone loves teddy-bears... (I actually had an Ewok for my primary teddy-bear growing up. I was born in 1980, and was 3 when I received a stuffed Wicket the Ewok from Return of the Jedi for Hanukkah. It's one of my earliest memories!)

SS: I love Berkeley so much. I'll hate to leave when I finish my Ph.D. But then again, moving to new places is one of the most exciting parts of life, I think.

I love brown inks! I'm still waiting for my bottle of the mythical Omas Sepia to arrive, so I can't comment on the colour yet, but I absolutely agree with you that Walnut is hard to beat. Herbin Lie de Thé is another of my favourites -- you can get some lovely shading with a broad nib.

Neil

I don't own a single brown ink! I'm hoping to change that soon. I'm leaning towards Diamine Dark Brown at the moment.

I've seen ink swatches and scribbles of so many different browns in person, and my friend has a handful of yet more browns, and I'm still having a hard time narrowing it down. There are so many nuances and shades available with brown (orange-brown, red-brown, golden-brown, gray-brown, plum-brown, blackish-brown, tan-brown, just plain brown). Blue ink is not nearly such a challenge for me because there aren't many blues that I wouldn't like. In contrast, I'm finding that there are a number of browns that I actively dislike, so I'm trying to be careful in selecting.

Seeing Wimg's recent review of "26 browns and 1 orange" was really helpful to me, too!

I really like J. Herbin's brown inks: I don't think I've found one yet I actively dislike, something I can't say about some other manufacturers.

In particular, the Cafe des Iles really appeals to me, as does the Lie de The.


James P.

Ah, we'll have you changing your name to Browniris before long, don't worry...

You might be right. I agree that there seem to be so many "perfect" browns to explore.

Brown ink on ivory paper is definitely one of my favorite combinations. So, I've gone totally OCD on Brown inks. I like the darker shades and am really enjoying my MB Seasons Greetings, even though the scent escapes me unless I practically submerge my nose in the bottle. (Will allergy seasons never end? )

One ink I haven't tried is the Swishmix Sepia. I noticed that Krz mentioned it. Any thoughts?

Of course, the Galileo may fulfill all my brown ink needs, but just in case...

So how is the Visconti Sepia? How does it compare with some of the other browns out there, like Noodlers Walnut and PR Chocolat, etc.? Is it a dark or medium brown?

Matt C.

Matt

It's not as dark as the Walnut or the Chocolat; I'd probably call it a medium brown. It offers some very nice shading, though, and it flows well. Have you see the really useful 'Col-o-rama' function on The Writing Desk website? Here's the link to all of their browns:

http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/in...ll&colour=brown

Neil

My scanner is on the fritz. Swishmix/Seminole Sepia is a nice shade, kind of a reddish golden brown? And not very dark, a nice soft brown.

Not what I would call a Sepia. It is waterproof and feathers a bit on cheap paper. It's also a fast dry ink. I don't use a lot of it but will buy a new bottle when this runs out.