20 Grey Inks

[Ana_]

Visvamitra, i'm amazed that not liking grey ink you could have amassed enough to do such a comprehensive sample! Thank you for the great comparisons. I voted for the Castel Stone Grey as shown on white paper with square swab. It's amazing that the colors are so different with the different papers. I'm impressed with the post water steadfastness of Noodlers Lexington Grey

Ofcourse I have to say that for me, all of the greys represented here are utterly blown away by the fabulous new highly anticipated J. Herbin 1670 limited edition Stormy Grey, already released in France, to come out stateside this October 2014.

 

Ellina did a gorgous review of it here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/273379-jherbin-1670-stormy-grey-photos/

Edited September 5, 2014 by Ana_

[visvamitra]

@Ana_ - Thank you for kind words. I don't really know how it works but I find it easier to compare colors I'm not so thrilled about. I'm not really big on violets but I almost finished comparison of +/- 60 shades. On the other hand I like orange a lot and I can't finish comparison I've been doing for few months even though there's just thirty sasmples. I'm still not satisfied with the result. Alaso my scanner has issue with orange color and it shows them as to yellow or too red. Welll I guess I'll do photos. Brown is my favourite color (well, actually orange-brown) and I'm doing browns comparison for more than a year and there's no light in the tunnel - I'm still disssatisfied with it. Just to give you an idea making comparison of greys took me two - three weaks.

 

Also it's fun to make these comparison - before I didn't really liked grey inks. But after trying some of them I must say I started to like them. And I do want to have at least a bottle of grey ink Maybe it'll be J. Herbin, who knows? I have to try it.

[Ana_]

You're very welcome Visvamitra, thank you for your excellent review I look forward to your violet shades review next! You are super thorough. I can see why it is easier to be objective with colors you are not personally drawn to. I would love to know your secret to amassing large ink samples. Do you have a preferable place to go to? T

[inkstainedruth]

Also it's fun to make these comparison - before I didn't really liked grey inks. But after trying some of them I must say I started to like them. And I do want to have at least a bottle of grey ink Maybe it'll be J. Herbin, who knows? I have to try it.

Isn't that the way? For me it was blue-blacks. Then dark muted purples and burgundy-tinged red violets.

As for grey inks, I just saw a review that someone did of De Atramentis Cement Grey, and realized that I haven't tried it. Also Diamine Grey (of which I have a sample ).

I suppose next for me it will be orange inks. Naaah. I hate orange. Except for J Herbin Rouge Hematite, which is more of an orangey-red/brick red (of course, I thought I would hate *it*, and only tried a sample to see what the fuss was all about... ).

OTOH, I did always like grey, and tend to prefer grey inks over black ones in general.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/2014-Inklings/slides/2014-Ink_1428.jpg

[Art]

Really nice review and terrific information. I like gray ink but have very limited exposure to it. I'm using a sample of Gray Flannel that I recently got from Goulet Pens and I like it but would like something that flows a little more freely. It could, of course, be the pen that's at fault here.

[visvamitra]

@amberlea - thank you for this hand-written message.

 

And again thank you all for your enouraging words.

 

Be prepared. Purples and violets will appear in 2-3 weaks. And there will be plenty of them.

[amberleadavis]

Really nice review and terrific information. I like gray ink but have very limited exposure to it. I'm using a sample of Gray Flannel that I recently got from Goulet Pens and I like it but would like something that flows a little more freely. It could, of course, be the pen that's at fault here.

 

 

Nope, I had a similar issue. I added a flow enhancer and then I liked the ink.

[amberleadavis]

@amberlea - thank you for this hand-written message.

 

And again thank you all for your enouraging words.

 

Be prepared. Purples and violets will appear in 2-3 weaks. And there will be plenty of them.

 

 

I'm excited!

[Sakura FP Gallery]

This review is wonderfull ! I appreciate all the time you spend to make this. Although I do not like grey inks myself it is still interesting that even with grey inks one can have a world of a difference. I would go for the warm Stone Grey of GVFC. I like that splash.

[clazbill]

I want to like gray inks, I just haven't found one that I really like. Noodler's Lexington gray is awesome for being an ink that once written, won't go away. But I didn't really see myself buying a bottle; El Lawrence seems to fit that 'not black but dark' need in the Noodler's line.

[Art]

I just got a bottle of Diamine Graphite. Very very nice ink. Smooth and a nice smokey gray color. I like it.

[Miz Black Crow]

First off, thank you for the amaaaaazing comparison review! I'm iffy about grays, but am keeping an open mind and will use this as a to-sample list; I have a sample of Fuyu-Syogun on the way, and may splurge on a bottle if I like the way the sample looks.

 

The waterproofness (bulletproofness) of Lexington Grey doesn't actually surprise me, but the water resistance of Fuyu-Syogun does. The one-hour soak is really revealing of what you can expect to last if, say, all your items are damaged in a house flood. Puts my mind at ease.

 

I wonder what a large-ish quantity of Lexington Grey, a touch of 54th Massachusetts, and a little water would look like. Could you get a steel-gray, I wonder? I may have to try...

[penrivers]

Nice review, but Skippere is right, I miss the most easy to get, available every where, the humble Sheaffer skrip grey. Btw , starting from grey as a begining, you can mix it with blues, greens, reds, and blacks and get misterious unexpected variations in ink colors.

[mrchan]

My two favourite greys aren't in your list, the first being Sailor Kobe: Stone Grey (Very nice due to it having good shading with a darker grey, making it a lot easier to read (weakness of a lot of greys is how light it can be on paper)) and Montblanc Permanent Grey.

[Mishka5050]

6 of mine well 5....Sepia starts as grey and turns brown...interesting ink, but I should disqualify it from greys

[Tas]

6 of mine well 5....Sepia starts as grey and turns brown...interesting ink, but I should disqualify it from greys

 

Ooo, I'd pay good money to have a Diamine Grey like yours.

(My Diamine Grey below)

 

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_diamine_grey_swatch.jpg

 

Your other samples match mine though. Bizzare . . .

Edited January 10, 2015 by Tas

[Mishka5050]

Ooo, I'd pay good money to have a Diamine Grey like yours.

(My Diamine Grey below)

 

http://www.taskyprianou.com/fpn_diamine_grey_swatch.jpg

 

Your other samples match mine though. Bizzare . . .

Interesting...perhaps it has aged? This was ine if my very first inks (also one of my all time favs)

[jasonchickerson]

This is a great comparison. I love kiri-same. It is indistinguishable from a pencil and draws well, too.

 

If you had included Herbin's Cacao du Bresil, I'd have voted for that.

[httpmom]

Thanky You for this! It's just wonderful and will save myself and others caboodles of money searching for the right grey.