Shading Vs Legibility

[psychdude]

[WayTooManyHobbies]

I understand your conundrum. Finer nibs definitely help my legibility, but they do lack something in displaying the character of the ink.

 

I've found that Diamine Asa Blue shows a reasonable degree of color variation from most fine nibs. Might be worth a shot for you.

 

EDIT: Here's a poor pic from my cell phone - this is from a Sheaffer Clipper with a fine Triumph nib.

Edited December 6, 2012 by WayTooManyHobbies

[Jadie]

Are you only looking for inks in the blue range? Because I have Noodler's Apache Sunset, which shades like crazy even with an XF nib. It's just...orangey-yellow-red.

[MadAmos]

I have found that my handwriting is much more legible when I use an italic nib. For many years I gave up on broad nibs, in fact I figured they were only good for an occasional showy signature. I now regularly use a 1mm italic that was ground by Mike Matsuyama and my writing is more legible than ever.

 

I believe that the large variation in the horizontal - Vertical strokes is the key. If I use a similar bold or even a medium round nib my handwriting becomes a mushy mess. YMMV.

[psychdude]

Thanks, all!

 

WTMH - I have never tried Asa blue - always looked too light for me, but your pic seems darker than others I've seen. I like it! Thanks!

 

Jadie - Yeah, I'm a blue, blue-black, dark turquoise kinda guy...The craziest thing I have that I like is Diamine Racing Green, and that is a pretty subdued ink. I don't like really bright inks...just not my thing. Thanks, though!

 

Amos - I used italic nibs for a long time, but the spaces between my letters are too tight - it is still messy (although I'll admit it's a nice looking mess!). I've tried to change my handwriting over time, and have been only mildly successful. My handwriting was completely illegible no matter what 7 years ago...now, I can at least tolerate it...

[AD356]

Pysychdude, I am a big fan of blue inks as well. I think Sheaffer Skrip Peacock blue is a great lighter ink. While it is pretty light, in a small nib it might come though a bit darker, and can shade nicely.

 

Also I am very found of Privet Reserve's Electric Blue. It is dark but it has red in the ink that comes through when you look at it at different angles. So even you don't get shading, you do get some nice effects from the red.

 

Good luck

 

PS - The Sheaffer Skrip Peacock is an older ink that is not made any more, In a review of the Peacock they suggest Waterman South Sea Blue, might want to try that.

Edited December 6, 2012 by AD356

[The Good Captain]

I am impressed with Diamine Misty Blue, along with Presidential Blue. However, there's only the Misty in my upload files at the moment.

And both have a reasonable water resistance too but the better one is Presidential.

I remembered these two comparisons were available and they might give you something to think about!

[Miadhawk]

You might be a fan of blue, but I'd buy Apache Sunset anyways, it's a fun ink, and everybody seems to like letters written in what appears to be a fire on the paper.

[pen_addict]

Are you only looking for inks in the blue range? Because I have Noodler's Apache Sunset, which shades like crazy even with an XF nib. It's just...orangey-yellow-red.

 

that's interesting about Apache... while it does shade beatifully in general, for me, in a really fine nib, it tends to show up as more of a light orange shade that i'm not a great fan of for general writing purposes...

 

on the other hand, i just loaded up iroshizuku kon-peki in a namiki fine nib today and so far i'm liking it; not a huge amount of shading but some difference and I like the color to start with...

 

I have to admit, the best shading i've had with a fine nib to date has to be waterman blue - black...

 

Fine nibs and shading... such a conundrum! :hmm1:

[Runnin_Ute]

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black with a fine nib does exhibit some shading properties if you can get a hold of some. (See Sandy's review)