Have you ever had that thought, that a certain ink just seems wrong in a particular pen. One of the first Diamine inks I ever bought was Grey and I always used it in my Parker 61s, it just really seemed to suit those pens. That bottle of Diamine is long since gone and so is my much missed P61. Then there was the post about the small ink bottles you can get direct from Diamine, so one of the inks I ordered was Grey and that's where my problem started. Which pen should I fill with Diamine Grey? I finally decided on one of my Parker 51s thinking hooded nib, not too different to a 61. Alas, it just doesn't seem the same. My 61 had this wonderful stub nib that gave the nicest line variation and character to my writing. The P51 just isn't the same, so I'm still left with the question of which pen deserves to be inked with Diamine Grey. I miss my P61
There's only two other pens that I always use with the same ink, My CS Duro just looks right with PR Shoreline Gold whilst my aerometric P51 was always my work pen inked with Noodler's Zhivago. Somehow it just seems wrong to have those pens with any other inks.

First off, I do understand what you mean in saying that certain pens and inks seem to be pair well. I have been using J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie in my Delta Soiree and only that ink seems to go with that pen.

A personal response to your dilemma is simply to ask, "Why not replace the Parker 61?" If I missed a pen that much, I would be very actively on the hunt for a replacement. If need be, I would have a nib meister custom grind a nib that suited me. Even though it might not be exactly the same, I would try to come close.

I'm having an ink/pen discrepancy problem right now (if only all my problems were this serious!). I brought my Burgundy Sentinel Deluxe Jr. into my "carry with" rotation today and at the same time realized that I haven't used my Noodler's Cayenne in a while. It's one of my favorite inks. The combination just isn't right. When the pen is empty I haven't decided if I'm going to switch the pen or the ink.

On the other hand, my Parker Teal Demi '51' that I accidentally filled with the wrong blue was cleaned and now has the old Sheaffer Peacock Blue that it craves.

The most wrong ink I can think of is Lamy red in a 149

Replacing the 61 would not neccesarily give you the pen you are missing. Or the writing characteristics you have appreciated. Especially if the old pen had a stub nib. I have various P51s and vintage Pelikan 400s. The 51s are very different but much closer to each other than the Pelikans. If I would loose my favourite vintage 400 broad nib I may never find another one like this - at least I have not found anything close to this nib so far.

Back to the original topic: there are pen (better: nib) - ink combinations that are nearly perfect. The above mentioned broad nib is perfect with Pelikan blueblack, an ink that is notorious for looking grey with nearly every nib. But this nib writes a true blueblack line. And an oblique medium nib of another Pelikan 400 works perfect with Visconti blue. Parker 51s work best with 1:1 Quink blue and blueblack or Diamine blue or blueblack ink. I was running various other inks through my 51s but I always come back to Quink or Diamine.

Wrong ink/pen combinations. Well a dignified hard rubber Churchill (or old CS Duro of that material) should not be used with lime green ink.

Similarly a Peacock Dinkie is going to object to black ink.

I must say I do my best to match pens with ink colours. My latest little user, a 'rescued' CS479M, which has a lovely orangey mottled pattern, is working wonderfully with Herbin Indian Orange.

My CS45 in shiny BHR suits a nice deep brown, a cold blue ink would not work.

Could play this game for a long time!


Greg

It's easier for me to think of "good" combinations than "bad"...I have a Honey White Parker 100 that just seems to go really well with Waterman Habana brown, for example. I keep red (one of an assortment of reds) in a green Namiki VP--the red and green really clash, but the retractability makes it a good pen for editing or correcting writing, so to have it full of red works for me.

Baystate Blue looks shocking coming out of just about anything--I have some in an orange (forget the name of that color--Coral?) Waterman Carene right now, and the bright blue and dayglo orange really make an impression.

I've just suffered my first "bad" combo. I got a Parker 51 with a 0.6mm stub from Richard Binder. I had Aurora Black in it first, and was happy with the way it performed. Then I got bored with black and grabbed the nearest bottle of ink in my office, which turned out to be Pelikan Royal Blue.

The pen just did not get along with that ink at all. The nib was suddenly stingy and scratchy - there was no sweet spot to speak of. I was really astonished. In fact I suspected that someone had used it in my absence and had done something horrible to the nib. I switched paper, and on Clairefontaine it was barely tolerable. I flushed out the Pelikian Royal Blue when I got home and put in PR Supershow Blue instead. Mysteriously, the pen is back to glidingly smooth.

I never realized how much the ink variable can change the whole writing experience before. Lesson learned!

I am really fussy that way. The ink color has to match (or at least harmonize with) the pen barrel color. I have a red Recife eyedropper pen and no other color would be thinkable in it---a black pen is obviously suited to black, although it can go with a gray or blue or green if they're darker, but not a red.

I can use yellow pens (I have a couple of Pelikanos in that color) with yellow, orange or brown, though.

My Waterman Carene is in tomato-red, and browns seem to work well in that along with reds and oranges.

I have only one gold-toned pen---a Sheaffer Legacy---and I use browns in it. With silvertones, it seems anything fits.

At home, I use either my Bexley BX701 Cappuccino or my Bexley mahogany America the Beautiful to write with Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown. I can't bring myself to put any other color of ink in these pens. It has to do with both ink and pen, to some extent, as the ink works perfectly on my creme colored journal papers, and the Bexleys are just so wonderful to write with.

I tried to put the Galileo in other pens that I could use at work (my Bexleys will not travel to work), but every pen I put it in just didn't seem right. It would not do in a green VP or even in my honey bee Taccia Staccato. I finally broke down and bought a pen just to hold the Galileo for use at work - a VP in the mustard, deep yellow color. I don't care for yellow pens, usually, but this seemed the "right" solution. Plus, my VP collection wanted to grow. This particular VP is slightly larger in girth than all my other VP's and it came with a fine "alloy" nib. The diameter difference of the barrel is noticable both in appearance and when writing with it, so it won't be my all time favorite VP, but it's still ok. The nib, though, had to go. Galileo would not flow from this nib at all, and Galileo usually flows rather freely from any other nib, it seems. So, Richard Binder to the rescue, and I have an 18k .7 cursive italic nib unit in the pen now, and it works like a charm. For the purposes I use brown ink, the combination is perfect.