Apache Sunset Shading Issues?

[maja88g]

@Intellidepth - you SOOOO did, I cannot wait to get home and add my cake decorations to ink - who needs pretty food anyways?

 

At least I wont feel bad about a 'dud' ink bottle any more - its going to be my new sparkly precious...

 

@ac12 - I'll give it a try with my Konrad see if changing the flow will draw any shading out.

[amberleadavis]

I appears to me that your pen may not be wet enough to put down the amount of ink that the ink needs to shade.

If you look at the word "quick," you can see that the q is redder than the k. So you are getting shading. More red where you have more ink and more yellow where there is less ink. The pen needs to put down enough ink to get the red, yet be dry enough to get the light color. And this is not as easy as one may think. I have a pen that will shade with Sheaffer turquoise but not shade with Cross/Pelikan blue.

 

 

This is my thought too. The pen(s) you show are writing quite dry and for me, Apache Sunset was a dry ink. I think you'd see more shading from either a wet pen, or if you added a dash of a flow enhancer to a small sample.

[maja88g]

@amberleadavis - the sample you see with the shading on quick is already a modified version. It has an addition of Diamine Hope Pink added into it as suggested by Intellidepth. I didn't find this ink dry at all, flowed well from every pen I tried - even the flex and 6.0mm, it didn't glide across the page like an eel series ink did though.

 

@amberleadavis, @ac12 - I am busy trying to change the feed flow but so far no luck with the original Apache Sunset formula. In my humble opinion though, some good shading should have happened by now - specially with the dip pen. Why would it bring out the shading in the modified formula but stay flat with the original. It is a pretty huge ink variation from a very thin line of ink to a very fat wet line of ink. Also with a dip pen the colour tends to change from darker to lighter as you start using all the ink - thereby changing the flow. With the original formula, no colour variation occurred - even though I got some with the modified formula. Maybe I am just misunderstanding some flow principals? Or perhaps its just the paper that's available here? Most of the paper doesn't seem to be 'coated' with anything, even if it has a high gsm count.

 

@Intellidepth - I just added some maroon mica and it looks amazing! So sparkly and a much better colour, who knew making your own J.Herbin LE inks could be so easy and cheap. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G

Edited April 9, 2015 by maja88g

[amberleadavis]

Maja, I love the sparkles.

 

Back to your most recent comments. You are describing two different principles.

 

The feeling of the ink gliding across the page - I call that glide, Saskia Madding calls that lubrication - that's different from the flow of the ink out of the pen. A dry ink can still glide across the page and the wet ink can flow out of the pen well, but not slide across the page.

 

AS was never meant to work on a dip pen and it may or may not work for you on dip pen to show shading. AS was designed for a fountain pen. I found it worked best to show shading on a pen that flows a little on the wet side and with a paper that is not really absorbent.

 

Finally, if you love it with the mica, then, keep using it that way, because it is very cool.

[Intellidepth]

I just added some maroon mica and it looks amazing! So sparkly...

I'm now totally OT: Love it! I like your writing even better though, it's really lovely. Any chance you could post up in another thread your alphabet at some stage? I think there's an alphabet thread somewhere. I'd like to study it (I'm trying to learn flexi cursive, currently a mash of Spencerian with copperplate weighting). Just make sure any glitter/mica product you put in your pen doesn't have cornflour in it

[maja88g]

@amberleadavis - thanks for the explanation, I understand the lubrication part of it - but am still confused as how a dry ink an still flow across a page. I'm sure i'm missing some vital knowledge here, need to search some threads on this topic. I always thought a dry ink was one that made the feeling of your nib more prominent on the page or required the feed to be flooded now an again. IE: Noodlers Polar Green has that 'dry' feeling for me. (well what I thought meant dry)

 

I'm still going to play around with my Konrad and Jinhao to try and pull the colour variation out. I'm sure there is a way to doing by combining flow, modifying the mix or perhaps trying to find a coated paper that accepts FP ink to allow slower evaporation... (SemiGloss/Matte photography paper maybe??)

 

@Intellidepth - I tried a peal dust powder as well but that kinda thickened my ink, so I think that one may have had corn starch? It did give the ink a slight gloss though which was interesting. But I most probably wouldn't put that mix in in a FP. The maroon mica didn't seem to effect the ink noticeably with regards to the viscosity. yet...

 

Thanks Don't really have an alphabet that I practice from - just my normal writing using pressure down and no pressure up ie: grade 1 cursive. But i'd be happy to write out the alphabet in my writing if that's what you meant? If you where referring to an online resource I use for practice then I don't have any particular one I practice from - just take some inspiration from the amazing typography on instagram.

 

I'm guessing this thread would be the correct one: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/121648-please-post-your-cursive-alphabet-here/

Edited April 10, 2015 by maja88g

[Intellidepth]

Yes, your particular version, even just lowers would be great, but only if you are willing. I have a friend who worked on her personal variant for years (professional), and stated she would definitely not be willing to share with her students, so understand it if you choose not to . The snippet I saw above with the glitter looked great.

 

With the Konrad, I find the best position of feed to nib for wetter release is further back than most nib setups would normally be. That is, the tip of the ebonite feed around 4mm back from the nib tip. Just received another Konrad acrylic today (custom modded by Joseph Da Luz, will write a raving review another day about it) and put the feed in my same favourite location and it worked exceptionally well.

 

The Rhodia sheets and original sample I wrote above are on their way to you. The sample is somewhat, ahhhh, annotated with extra ink mixing notes .

[maja88g]

@Intellidepth - Not a problem, i'm not at all worried about sharing my handwriting - its not nearly good enough to be considered for paid work either so no worries there.

 

Will work on it over the weekend and just make a note when I upload it? Hope it helps you out. I'm going to do it in sparkle - yes I'm obsessed. Apache Sunset Twilight Edition... (For those that get it don't be mad - it's a joke)

 

Any extra notes(or essays ;p) are completely welcome, i'm willing to try anything - what could go wrong?

[maja88g]

@Intellidepth - Here is the link as promised, its not very good but I hope it helps

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/121648-please-post-your-cursive-alphabet-here/page-4?do=findComment&comment=3333166

 

Some promising results messing with the feed of the jinhao and adding a small amount of mica - I think it may actually modify the ink colour because the sparkles no longer have the maroon colour - they more silvery. I'll post a picture soon

[Intellidepth]

Here is the link as promised...

Oh my. Thank you very much. That swathe of cactus fruit eel glitter is gorgeous too! Edited April 14, 2015 by Intellidepth

[FPRebel]

Hi All

 

I heard so much about Noodlers Apache Sunset's amazing shading properties from egg yellow to sunset red etc... But I just cant seem to get any decent shading out of this ink. I have tried a F, M, B, Flex and 6.0mm calligraphy nibs, and while the larger nibs provide some shading it's nothing special, similar to any standard ink. I have not gotten nearly the amount of shading or colour variation as most people seem to achieve on FPN with this ink. I really wanted to experience the shading and colour variation. This is really confusing me because I have not seen one review of this ink where the shading and colour variation is not praised. I have tried different grades of paper, all the way from tracing paper to 200gsm artist paper - with the same result. I'm thinking that maybe I got a bad bottle/batch? Has anyone else experienced something similar? If so, can anyone suggest a way for me to improve the colour variation and shading? I have attached a picture of what kind of shading I managed to get - maybe i'm this is how it is supposed to look? Any ideas/thoughts?

 

DSC_1744.jpg

Resurrecting this old topic to say THANK YOU!! I was searching for what could be the problem with my Apache Sunset and found this thread including a writing sample that mirrors what my ink looks like in a med italic nib!! The OP & I purchased from the same vendor, so now I even have a respectful, appropriate way to resolve the problem. (Tsuki Yo shades fantastically in the same pen, and the ink is new because it's in a plastic bottle.) I'm not a complainer, all's well that ends well.

I'm a true newbie to fountain pens and to FPN. While browsing, FPN has taught me quite a lot and answered many questions. Honestly, this is one example of many, many dozens.

Wow, I love this place ....

✌️

30 min later: Before contacting the vendor with a writing sample, I tried some of the other suggestions first. Made sure the ink had (another) good shake, and also pushed the nib gently back toward the feed. TAAA DAAA! Apache Sunset as it is meant to be! And me? I'm a happy, happy inkophile!

 

Hi All

 

I heard so much about Noodlers Apache Sunset's amazing shading properties from egg yellow to sunset red etc... But I just cant seem to get any decent shading out of this ink. I have tried a F, M, B, Flex and 6.0mm calligraphy nibs, and while the larger nibs provide some shading it's nothing special, similar to any standard ink. I have not gotten nearly the amount of shading or colour variation as most people seem to achieve on FPN with this ink. I really wanted to experience the shading and colour variation. This is really confusing me because I have not seen one review of this ink where the shading and colour variation is not praised. I have tried different grades of paper, all the way from tracing paper to 200gsm artist paper - with the same result. I'm thinking that maybe I got a bad bottle/batch? Has anyone else experienced something similar? If so, can anyone suggest a way for me to improve the colour variation and shading? I have attached a picture of what kind of shading I managed to get - maybe i'm this is how it is supposed to look? Any ideas/thoughts?

 

DSC_1744.jpg

Edited May 9, 2016 by FPRebel