I picked up a bottle of Diamine Sepia on Saturday. I was looking forward to seeing the color but I'm pretty displeased with the way it's coming out on the page. The first few lines are a nice, reasonably dark hue. As I write, the color gets lighter and lighter. At the top of one page, the color looks like sort of like PR Copper Burst. By the time I've gotten a third of the way down the page, the color has turned to a light peach.
If I leave the pen alone for the day I get another line or three, but soon enough it's right back to writing with weak kool-aid.
What the um... heck?
Full Version: Disappearing ink
It's not flowing well in your pen, compounded probably by either drying in the nib between uses OR the displacement of other ink off the feed and nib.
Skrip Blue-black does this to me in my Parker 61 (and some other pens). Starts off nice and dark, but fades somewhat as I go along down the page. It's flowing reasonably well, as I'm getting some shading, but the ink flow does not appear to keep up with the demand. Also true in some other pens. The vintage stuff is better than the slovenian.
I would suggest a TINY amount of detergent in a converter (or a small amount of ink if you use a self-filler for it) and see if that helps with the flow. If not, you'll have to find a wet writing pen to use it in, or adjust a pen to write wetter.
This is assuming the pen itself is perfectly clean. May benefit from a trip to the sonicating bath just to make sure -- different inks react differently to the residue of the previous fills! Simple flushing is unlikely to remove all the ink on the feed channels and back of the nib, or inside the collector of a Parker.
Peter
Skrip Blue-black does this to me in my Parker 61 (and some other pens). Starts off nice and dark, but fades somewhat as I go along down the page. It's flowing reasonably well, as I'm getting some shading, but the ink flow does not appear to keep up with the demand. Also true in some other pens. The vintage stuff is better than the slovenian.
I would suggest a TINY amount of detergent in a converter (or a small amount of ink if you use a self-filler for it) and see if that helps with the flow. If not, you'll have to find a wet writing pen to use it in, or adjust a pen to write wetter.
This is assuming the pen itself is perfectly clean. May benefit from a trip to the sonicating bath just to make sure -- different inks react differently to the residue of the previous fills! Simple flushing is unlikely to remove all the ink on the feed channels and back of the nib, or inside the collector of a Parker.
Peter
QUOTE (Splicer @ Sep 1 2008, 08:24 AM) 
I picked up a bottle of Diamine Sepia on Saturday. I was looking forward to seeing the color but I'm pretty displeased with the way it's coming out on the page. The first few lines are a nice, reasonably dark hue. As I write, the color gets lighter and lighter. At the top of one page, the color looks like sort of like PR Copper Burst. By the time I've gotten a third of the way down the page, the color has turned to a light peach.
If I leave the pen alone for the day I get another line or three, but soon enough it's right back to writing with weak kool-aid.
What the um... heck?
If I leave the pen alone for the day I get another line or three, but soon enough it's right back to writing with weak kool-aid.
What the um... heck?
Think it's the pen not the ink, probably a starved feed. Does the same pen do this with other inks or as you're thinking maybe a really saturated ink has hidden this issue. You could try rinsing the pen/feed/converter out with a mild soap or ammonia solution.
Another thought is try the ink in a different pen and see the results- if it shows the same then maybe doctoring the ink rather than the pen.
hope this spurs discussion,
Kurt
D. Sepia is a fairly light ink. I have had it in a very wet writer and liked it but it's definitely not a saturated ink that will give high contrast. Probably would like nice in a good flex nib.
I think we go through phases although in this case I think it's a combination of a light ink and less-than stellar nib/feed. Sometimes I want a highly saturated ink, sometimes I want something with lovely shading and subtlety. Sometimes, smack dab in the middle. From the Diamine browns I prefer the Siennas as they are not too dark to be cloggy browns but not too light to make them hard to read or fade out.
I think we go through phases although in this case I think it's a combination of a light ink and less-than stellar nib/feed. Sometimes I want a highly saturated ink, sometimes I want something with lovely shading and subtlety. Sometimes, smack dab in the middle. From the Diamine browns I prefer the Siennas as they are not too dark to be cloggy browns but not too light to make them hard to read or fade out.
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