after looking at the scans of Caran D'ache carribean and saffron and the wonderful way they shade I have been wondering which inks shade most/best?
b

Waterman Havana Brown has some nice shading with a medium nib.

Off the top of my head, these come to mind:
Waterman South Seas Blue
Lamy Turquoise
Swishers/Noodlers Apricot Orange
Noodlers Apache Sunset
Visconti Brown
Noodlers Ottoman Azure

I find Pilot blue-black to shade well from a flex nib.

Diamine Registrar's shades considerably more than any other ink I've tried.

Diamine Sepia.

In one of my Flexy pens I can get a weak thin gray line to a dark gray/black with Noodler's Lexington Gray.

Stipula Deep Blue and Diamine Prussian Blue both shade very nicely for me. Best,
David

David: What's that Stipula Deep Blue like? I've heard about it from time to time, but have never seen it. Is it a light or dark blue? Does it have similarities to any more commonly available ink? You've got me curious....

The best inks for shading are ones that are not fast-drying (so that the ink has time to pool and dry in different shades) and not heavily saturated (so that there exists a possibility for difference). Also, the pen must be not too dry (everything's a light shade) and not too wet (everything's a dark shade). Also, the paper must not be low quality; the paper being feathery and absorbent causes the same problems as the ink being quick-dry.

I have found that the Swishmix line of inks does not shade well because they are fast-drying. However, some paper can turn even the best-shading inks into non-shading ones, and vice versa.

Many Thanks for all the advice
I am uncertain what to get first but now have many choices.
Barry

Noodler's Golden Brown is the ink that I notice the most shading with. It also looks the most variable in different pens/nibs, probably for similar reasons. It can go from a golden yellow to a dark brown. wow.

davidmigl wrote:

"The best inks for shading are ones that are not fast-drying (so that the ink has time to pool and dry in different shades) and not heavily saturated (so that there exists a possibility for difference). ..."

I agree. That is why I have had some very good luck with J. Herbin inks. I have gotten good shading from Vert Olive, which happens to be myfavorite green ink. Recently I had a great experience with Ambre de Birmanie and a B nib. The shading was a subtle mix of yellow-gold-brown and looked great.

I am getting wonderful shading from Diamine Mediterranean Blue, even from a Lamy 2000 ef nib!

PR Avocado can shade from dark green to almost black. Lamy Turquoise shades nicely as well.

Andy

Most Diamine inks have nice shading in my pens (mine are medium-to-wet writers) and of course, Noodler's Apache Sunset. I haven't used a lot of Noodler's inks so can't comment on the other colors much.

Many J. Herbin inks shade nicely.

Very saturated inks (most PR inks) generally don't shade as well *however* I would say Apache Sunset is a saturated ink.

Among my favorites for shading:

Diamine Umber
Diamine Prussian Blue
Lamy Blue-black
Diamine Sepia (must be a flexy or very wet writer)
Diamine Mediterranean Blue

I actually get some interesting shading from Noodler's Purple Martin in my Namiki VP Medium nib.

That's usually the way of it - as many choices as there are members. So I might as well add Noodler's Red-Black to the list.

My Lamy Vista (with XF nib) came with one Lamy Blue -cartridge. It seems to have much shading.

I love the combo of a Binder cursive italic in a Burgundy Pel 200 with Diamine Monaco Red. Awesome shading IMHO!

I am not so quick testing ink as buying them but I have found Mont Blanc Bordeaux with a nice shading line with broad and stub.

Do experiment adding some water to your ink to increase the shading characteristic of the inks you already own.
It is amazing how adding a little water will alter the behaviour of some inks.

Interesting idea
any thoughts as to how much to start with? 50:50?
b

Rohrer & Klingner permanent blue with an old nib - use it with old Pelikan 400 or 400 NN, medium nibs

My pre-1920 Parker Jack Knife Safety can produce very nice shading with Namiki Blue.

That said, you need to be careful what pen you fill with this ink as it will stain. I have a Waterman converter that has a blue tint to it from the Namiki Blue, but in a pen with a sac and no ink view, such as the button fill Parker it is no problem.