I won't do much writing with either red or black (I'm too much in love with green, dark brown, rose and turquoise), but occasionally I'd like to do a bit of mixing. I need a red and a black that play well with others and that aren't especially wet or lubricating.

Would one of the very dark blacks be good, or might I be better off with something slightly greyer?

What's a good neutral red (one that doesn't tend toward the orange or the pink) that's likely to coexist happily with inks from most major manufacturers?

Cindy

This doesn't quite answer your question, but have you seen limner's charts using Noodler inks? They're here, and modified later down the thread:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...c=40629&hl=

His four base colours aren't inks I would use by themselves (especially not the yellow or the "red" - which is really magenta), but they mix marvelously well with each other and I really like some of the colours I've mixed using his recipes and experimenting on my own (they don't just look good but perform well). If you don't like Noodler's ink, you can always try others' - Diamine has equivalent colours, for instance - but in my experience the results aren't as quite as good, sometimes looking watery and/or dirty (whether that's because I didn't select quite the right colours or because more saturated ink mixes better I'm not sure).

As for which black to use, I doubt the precise shade matters much because you will be using it in tiny quantities. What matters more is whether it mixes well, and that depends on what you're mixing it with. (Because Visconti include a bottle of black ink with several of their lines of pens, I've used that - it's mixed well with every brand I've added it to: Waterman, Sheaffer, Diamine & Noodlers.)

Simon

I'd recommend a very dark black, which can be used very sparingly and avoid diluting the overall mix. The problem is that minuscule amounts are a bit tricky to manage. Even a drop of strong black ink can alter the shading drastically.

I've used Noodler's Black to create blue-black and red-black. The red in my case was Noodler's Fox Red. This particular mix turned out unsatisfactory; although it looked pleasingly "bloody" rich at first, over several months it's lost some saturation, turning towards brownish burgundy. I suspect it's the unusual chemistry of Fox Red (it smells and behaves quite distinctly unlike "normal" inks.)

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind; it looks like something I'd love experiment with for hours on end (how boring I must appear to the outside world!). I do have some Noodler's inks which I love, but right now I'm searching for colors that have a good chance of behaving well when mixed with all of the inks I already have (including Herbin, Diamine, Private Reserve, Caran d'Ache, etc). Perhaps I'm just making this too complicated; perhaps almost any ink would do just fine.



That's excellent news, and just the sort of information I'm seeking. I'll put Visconti on my list.

Cindy

My first choice of black ink for mixing with anything is always Noodler's Black. That's because whatever I mix it with will gain a bit more permanence and waterproofness.