Pen And Ink Filling Rules - How Do You Choose Ink / Pen Combinations?

[amberleadavis]

So, Frank C came over the other day for an ink consultation. He has a new Pelikan pen. The rules in the first post were his. He has modified them slightly.

 

He did agree that the Kobe inks could happily live in the Pelikan pen.

[musicman123]

The way I do it is simple.

 

Brand new inks get a test filling in my sacrificial pen, Nemosine Singularity Demonstrator. I check for clogs, staining, wetness, and feathering issues. Normally, this is just a half-fill so I don't waste too much ink if it destroys the pen. It's easy to clean so I don't worry too much.

 

If the ink passes that test, it gets to go in my other ones. Whenever I need to fill, I think to myself, what color group is missing from my rotation. If I'm missing a green, I pull a green ink. If I need a blue, I pull one. I consult my review sheets to figure out what hue jumps out at me first.

[Frank C]

So, Frank C came over the other day for an ink consultation. He has a new Pelikan pen. The rules in the first post were his. He has modified them slightly.

 

He did agree that the Kobe inks could happily live in the Pelikan pen.

 

Please note: I did not modify any rules. Amberlea did not state them correctly in the first place!

 

While it would possible for ink from another Axis power to be used in a German pen, that would be unnecessary in the example above because Pelikan has so many inks of their own.

 

It does not surprise me when someone misunderstands my rules for filling fountain pens; they are like the US Tax Code, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the Rule Against Perpetuities combined with some hints of Talmud, Canon, and Shari'a Law thrown in for good measure.

[amberleadavis]

And don't forget, Diamine inks don't fit within the rules?

[Frank C]

And don't forget, Diamine inks don't fit within the rules?

 

Diamine is difficult because they make over 100 nice inks and no pens. I have a few UK-made pens, Parker and modern Onoto. Parker makes some good ink themselves, so that is what goes into the Parker pens. I only have one Onoto, so that gets Diamine Denim. So I have 99+ Diamine inks available. Other Allied Powers from WWII who make fountain pens are the US, France, India and China. (People often forget the last two!) I don't have any Indian or Chinese pens at this point, so that leaves the US and France. Alas, I don't have 99 of their pens, so Diamine gets an asterisk, Diamine*.

 

*Diamine inks can be used in any other countries' pens when all the Allied Powers' pens are full of ink.

 

While fountain pen collecting and use suits a person with some obsessive-compulsive tendencies, those same tendencies can make fountain pen collecting and use difficult—and fun!

 

(Edited to add a few missing words.)

Edited April 11, 2015 by Frank C

[stevesurf]

Sometimes rules can lead to dogged indecision

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zCpNYrtDCA0/VBkUGJo4pxI/AAAAAAAADJs/f-4Uz02p2HQ/s1600/image%2B7.jpg

 

 

I fill my favourite pen at the time with my favourite ink at the time. I think that works pretty well.

 

So well said, needed a "bump"

 

Life is complicated. No point to add more. Simple rule : ink of your choice in pen of your choice. If a mismatch which is providential, try another.

 

Another great one

 

The demonstrators don't get inks that are known to stain.

 

Yes!

 

 

For me it is more of a "what kind of mood am I in as far as pen or color/brand goes. There really is no rhyme or reason to it.

I like this

 

The only rules I have are match color family with each other. Red inks go in red pens, blue ink in blue pens. Not even trying to get the colors close. However, if I don't have an available pen for a given color (i.e. I don't own a brown pen but do have some brown ink samples) then the ink goes in whatever I feel like putting it in.

This also works very well and still gives some nice freedoms!

Edited April 11, 2015 by stevesurf

[-Greg-]

In my case, I am cannot match ink with body colour, as my pens are clear demonstrators or standard black - no exceptions to this date.

 

I have just one rule: Never use any ink in any pen worth more than $20, unless it is checked to be safe. Platinum preppy and few old soviet pens usually take punishment from strange inks (inks available in Georgia are limited and usually - not tested).

 

Other "rules" I have are general maintenance rules everybody has with inks containing iron gall, or known for staining or other type of issues.

 

I usually keep two pens inked up all the time. One always gets blue ink (due to legal requirements) - at this moment I use Cross Blue. The other gets something for personal use - at this moment Iroshizuku Yama-budo

Edited April 12, 2015 by -Greg-

[Frank C]

In my case, I am cannot match ink with body colour, as my pens are clear demonstrators or standard black - no exceptions to this date.

 

I have just one rule: Never use any ink in any pen worth more than $20, unless it is checked to be safe. Platinum preppy and few old soviet pens usually take punishment from strange inks (inks available in Georgia are limited and usually - not tested).

 

Other "rules" I have are general maintenance rules everybody has with inks containing iron gall, or known for staining or other type of issues.

 

I usually keep two pens inked up all the time. One always gets blue ink (due to legal requirements) - at this moment I use Cross Blue. The other gets something for personal use - at this moment Iroshizuku Yama-budo

 

I also tend to use Platinum Preppies for any questionable ink. They are pretty much disposable and I have had to dispose of a few. I wouldn't want to dispose of a Pelikan M1000, though.

[dcwaites]

Nigh on 5 years ago I posted an answer to this.

Now, I would like to modify my answer a bit.

 

I put an ink into a pen, and see how it looks on the paper I want to use that pen on.

If it looks good, it stays.

It if doesn't, I try a different ink.

Loop around till you find an ink that looks and behaves how you want.

 

Many of my pens are now getting Monteverde Horizon Blue.

[amberleadavis]

I think I will update my answer too.

[Anne-Sophie]

 

As perfect as a match I can find between pen and ink.

 

Thank you to all for the pictures of all the beautiful inks, it has helped a lot to attain those matches and get as much enjoyment as possible from my fountain pens/inks pairs.

 

[Karmachanic]

Up until this morning I had five pens, four of which have always been filled with Diamine Teal - three cursive italic/stub, one titanium nibs. The fifth is always filled with black and always with an XF cursive italic. Simple.

 

Then this afternoon I was given a Noodlers Jade Ebonite Konrad. I got radical and filled it with Diamine Delamare green from a sample I received a month ago. This madness has to stop!

Edited April 9, 2018 by kd3

[KKay]

1. No staining inks in my demonstrator pens.

2. I like to match an ink with a pen by color, but it isn't a rule.

3. If an ink does bad in a certain pen, I never put that ink in that particular pen again.

4. I have a journal that I write every pen down on 2 pages. Under that pen's name, I start to write with THAT PEN, in the new color. Then it goes on the list, under the pen name. That way I can see how the ink compares to other inks, with that exact pen. I see spread, whether too wet or dry. I also see sheen and shading, and to what degree in that journal. If I refill that pen with the same ink as in the journal, I never write it again in that journal, or it would take up too much space for the designated 2 pages.

5. If an ink performed badly with a certain pen, I make note of that in another journal.

6. I keep on average one XF-F nib pen with a orange-red, or just red. (as an attention grabber)

7. I choose an ink for the pen by scanning my ink list. I try to find an ink I haven't written with before, so I can add to the list.

8. I look at the ink list to choose the color, so every ink gets used. If I am not putting an ink in the rotation, then it needs a new home.

9. With ink samples, I choose a narrow nib pen, and a much wetter pen. (unless I hate the ink in the first pen) I test that sample in one pen at a time, usually.

Edited April 9, 2018 by KKay

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

I don't have many rules, I'm still trying out different ink and nib combination. I have a few guidelines:

 

Don't fall victim to the matching pen and ink color trend.

 

Always rewrite the Currently Inked list everytime there's a change in the combinations.

 

Don't pair any Pelikan 4001 ink with a dry nib.

[Arkanabar]

I am a little surprised to find that I have not replied to this previously.

I have a rule about carrying a Hero 616 filled with dilute Borealis Black at work (I've recently decided to increase the dilution from 1:1 to 2:3). I use the same dilute ink to fill my Parallels.

I once had a plan to have pens that would match the colors of the inks I was going to fill them with (mostly), e.g. blue in my blue stripe M400, black in my Dad's black aero "51", etc. That plan died from neglect a long time ago.

A few years ago, as I was formulating the Six Essential Inks, I told my wife I wanted a bottle of Iro Yama-Guri for Christmas, which I had thought would become The Essential Brown, and I provided her an Amazon link. (It didn't, by the way; after buying a bottle of Noodler's Brown, I tried a sample of Diamine Chocolate, which is the only brown I intend to buy going forward). But that link was to all of Iro's colors, and it somehow defaulted to Ku-Jaku, which she bought. I tried it a couple of times, and sidelined it for not being one of the Six Essential Colors.

Last Christmas, she went to Origami Ink and chose an aqua Pelikan M205 for me. I was stunned, both by its beauty and the extravagance (her entire family chipped in). And looking at it for a few days, trying to decide how to fill it, I was eventually struck by the realization: "This pen looks like Ku-Jaku (which I dilute 4:1). That's how I shall fill it!" And so I did, and it has worked splendidly, so thus shall it be filled for as long as I am able. I use it for all my billets-doux.

For years, I've been putting Noodler's Red-Black into my blue marble Pelikan M200. I had only two or three (working) pens at the time, and the combination works and (aside from color) it's a great ink in that pen. So my goal now is to find for each of my inks a pen that Just Works Great. To this end, I am now logging my ink/pen combinations, and occasionally reviewing them.

This is very time consuming for several reasons. First, I don't write much, and when I do, it's often journaling with the 1.5mm Parallel (trying to teach myself to widen my loops). Second, some of my pens (e.g. CM nib Prera) are so darned versatile and they make almost any ink behave itself. And third, some of my inks (e.g. Diamine Sherwood) likewise just behave themselves, no matter the pen.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Arkanabar

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Second, some of my pens (e.g. CM nib Prera) are so darned versatile and they make almost any ink behave itself. And third, some of my inks (e.g. Diamine Sherwood) likewise just behave themselves, no matter the pen.

To anybody new reading this, when you find this type of pen and this type of ink, you better treat them like the gold that they are.

[minddance]

For now, it is dark, flowy and/or saturated inks for EF and F nibs for work and legibility. (Diamine Midnight, Sherwood, Green-Black, Chocolate Brown, Oxblood, RK Dok Brown, Herbin Grenat, Poussiere, Eclat, Bleu Nuit, Lie de The, Waterman Purple)

 

Shadey inks for medium and broader - for good fun. Lamy stubs to take any ink including Scabiosa and Alt Goldgruen.

Edited August 6, 2018 by minddance

[JulieParadise]

It's a constant flow and things change ... since I own a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with a lovely FA nib I hardly need to chose the pen anymore to the point where I only have one other inked beside it (a Pilot Décimo for convenient note taking). This 912 is one of the gold pens RoyalBlueNotebooks is writing about above.

 

So, the only variable left is the ink. Since I am very bad at decision making (up to the point that I rather buy what food is on sale in the supermarket than choosing one thing out of huuuuuuge aisles) I use an excel file: All my inks and samples are noted there with their properties, source, (number of) pens they were in already. I still have some inks I purchased and some more as samples I never used so I set the rule for myself to test these first.

 

In alphabetical order.

 

No scratching my head and guessing.

[SchaumburgSwan]

My guidelines:

 

Very old pens (pre 1920) and wet writers get preferred iron gall inks.

No iron gall inks in pens I can't / don't want to completely disassamble.

No iron gall inks in pens with steel nibs.

Apart from that anything goes.

 

 

Have fun

Jens

[amberleadavis]

It's been almost 9 years. I don't think I use those pens any more.

 

I still match the barrels whenever possible.  Here was ORANGE.