I’m looking for comments, suggestions for my next ink purchase. Of the inks I currently have Zhivago is my greatest disappointment. I know many love it, but it just looks Black to me. Don’t see much green cast from my pens. I don’t know if Air Corp will give me what I want or be too much like Zhivago. I’m buying the Yellow to mix with Zhivago as someone mentioned it was interesting.

Current Inks
Noodlers Black
Noodlers Polar Blue
Noodlers Lexington Grey
Noodlers Navy
Noodlers Blue Black
Noodlers Red Black
Noodlers Zhivago
Noodlers Marine Green
Sheaffer Red
Sheaffer Purple
Sheaffer Turquoise

Thinking about purchasing for use straight or mixing
Noodlers Glacier Blue
Noodlers Yellow (mixing)
Noodlers Air Corp Blue Black
Noodlers Grizzly
Noodlers Gruene Cactus
Noodlers Shahs Rose
Pvt Res DC Super Show Blue

Also want a “safe” ink for my Parker 51. While I like near or Bulletproof type inks, I don’t want to mess with the Parker. I would like a Blue or Blue-ish Black. Suggestion?

Are some of the inks too close to what I have to be worth the money?
Other suggestions?

My pens are mostly inexpensive Heros. They are all nice writers, a couple med nibs, the bulk mid-fine, fine.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It’s raining here in the Great Northwest.
SallyLyn

I use Noodler's Aircorp Blue-Black and, as others have said, it looks much closer to a Green-Black and Blue. It is a really nice color. As for the others, I haven't used them.

I doubt that any of that ink would be a problem in your "51", although I am far from an expert (paging Dr. Mullane, Dr. Mullane....). At least I hope it won't be a problem as I will be using Aircorp Blue-Black when my "51" gets back from surgery.

Cheers,
John

Hero's tend to be quite wet (I've found) so that could be why you're seeing Zhivago as near-black. I feel the same way about Sequoia, but can see the green-tones when I mix it with Lexington Grey. I suggest getting some lighter-tone inks that will be good for mixing/lightening your already-dark inks. I have Glacier Blue and think it's a good base for mixing other blues. Some of the other eternals are the same way (Eternal Brown is very "tintable" since it's a light medium brown.)

You might try tinting Zhivago with Green Marine.

I've also been enjoying mixing my own near-blacks. I'd rather buy lighter colors and darken them on demand, because you can't really do the reverse (lighten them) so easily.

Instead of Shah's Rose, which is, well, rose, why not trying Sawaro Wine? It is fantastic, quite different from everything you have and a really personal ink.

Alejandro

you can try any ink in your "51" -- I have one that is cranky with Noodlers, but that one had a badly bent nib that I'm not quite finished with yet. The other's write very nicely, one is much too wet, actually.

Aircorp is definitely NOT black, nor does it look like Zhivago. I has a distinctly blue/green black color, even in a Hero you won't mistake it for black.

Hero's give little or no shading, so a pen that does will make Zhivago look much greener, you have to spread out the ink some.

I'm planning on Walnut, Marine Green, and something blue next month when the budget allows -- I got greedy and bought a Triumph TD gold filled Sheaffer this month.

Peter

If you want something in the pink range, try Levenger Pinkly which is beautiful, true pink, and kind of neon.

For green, I love Caran d'Ache Amazon green.

Can you dilute the Zhivago with water, say 10 parts or less ink to 1 part water, to bring out the green tones? This works, up to a point, with El Lawrence.

I think Noodler's Squeteague is a very nice dark green; I always have it in at least one of my pens. It also might make a nice ink for mixing purposes, though I haven't tried that yet since I like it as is from the bottle.

I know it's not what you asked, but have you considered joining the ink exchange? It's saved me lots of money on inks and mostly satisfied my lust for more.

My 1948 Vacuumatic P51 gets a steady diet of Waterman's Florida Blue. I had a problem with the only other ink I've tried in it: the beautiful Noodler's Turquoise. (It spit out like a colicky baby. Seriously, I laid it down horizontally over night (capped) and in the morning the cap was full of ink.) So now, it gets the FPN cure all: Waterman's Florida Blue, which seems to agree with its delicate sommelier-like palate.

Thanks for all the input. I'm still working on my ink list, you made me look at some other colors. That's good and not so.

OK I need to find the info on how to do quotes from others replies... Until then I'll do a cut and paste.
" Instead of Shah's Rose, which is, well, rose, why not trying Sawaro Wine"
My looking at Sawaro Wine shows it is pretty purple, I thought My Sheaffer purple is close, well, purple. What is your opinion?

I will try adding a bit of water to Zhivago. Once in awhile I add water to my pens as they run out of ink and the resulting color is quite interesting.

Reading this and another thread, I think I can safely put Waterman's in my "51". I may try Richard's Burple.... Great, more ink to buy.

I'll look into the ink exchange. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a packrat, so it's hard to give up things, but have gotten better over the years.
SallyLyn

Good news: the ink exchange is only for samples of your inks. You buy the little 5ml sample vials from DILLO. Last time I checked they were ten cents each.

Since I am an ink-o-holic, I bought Greg Clark's Ink Sampler as well. The 2006 is unfortunately the final edition. I'm not sure it's saved me money though. I'd been on the fence about buying some Levenger's inks. After I saw the swatches, I put in an order for the classic six-pack. They arrived yesterday!

For quotes, just hit the quote button above the text box, paste in your text, then hit the quote button again.