Need Help On Picking Out Ink!

[Arkanabar]

Amber, you and Sandy1 are easily the top two resources for sussing out what inks I can reasonably expect to like.

 

Period.

 

I mean, I refer to you two more often than my copy of Clark's Ink Sampler.

 

To say you've done wonderful things to help people through their ink journeys is to understate the matter.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Agree...100% except I seldom go to Clark any more. He is still worth a good look.

[amberleadavis]

Amber, you and Sandy1 are easily the top two resources for sussing out what inks I can reasonably expect to like.

 

Period.

 

I mean, I refer to you two more often than my copy of Clark's Ink Sampler.

 

To say you've done wonderful things to help people through their ink journeys is to understate the matter.

 

 

Agree...100% except I seldom go to Clark any more. He is still worth a good look.

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH, THAT IS AN AMAZING COMPLIMENT.

[amberleadavis]

Sailor's Doyou may not be a colour you like, but it is well own to clean out any stain on the inside of pens if you fill it up for a while. If you swish your pen around so the Doyou can touch all the cracks and crevices of the pen, I'm sure that you don't need to make a whole fill, if you don't fancy writing with it. And as to the maintenance of certain ink, I don't hink you should be afraid of any ink that grabs your fancy in that regard. As long as it was manufactured in the last decade, any ink you put in your pen should be easy to clean out as long as you fill your pen once a month or so.

 

A lot of the people here are quite… uhm…particular, about pen hygiene, but you really don't need to clean a pen that often, especially if you always use the same ink in it.

 

I say, don't worry. Give what you are curious about a try, and see where that goes. You will be surprised at where the road takes you.

 

 

Sailor Do You will be the next test ink on Operation Exterminate BSB Stains.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/303281-operation-exterminate-bsb-stains/

[Bo Bo Olson]

Amber the pictures didn't show.

Wisdom can be cheaply achieved by listening to the screams of anguish coming up out of that dusty corridor down to ink hell of BSB use.

A chorus

 

A coven.... of very careful folks filling their BSB only pen out side because blue grass reminds folks of Kentucky. The blue camo chino's were once 'tan' ... those is not modern art tattoos .. just a bit carelessness.

 

A skinny midget that looks like a bald Peter Lorie got his ring back from a coven of BSB witches...stained blue.

[Lamyrada]

I had never seen so many words about blue inks or just inks, nor someone so thorough as my partner in life on decision making. I use Noodler's Blue Eel on a SF nib for Pilots, installed on a Metropolitan. This blue is so cool, so vibrant and "blue" that I leave it for special ocassions and not just to waste on the crazy nothings I write. I don't use it on any nib above SF just not to waste it because I find the color to be very pretty. I have Kon Peki and really hate it. well, hate is a strong word, let's say "dislike" . It is too wet, no matter where I put it and I don't like that. I don't see why I should pay more for that blue when there are so many blues out there that compete in beauty and stability for much less. I have other blues, some of which I am eager to get out of my way, but not this Noodler's Blue.

I have also noticed that my TWSBIs which are the inexpensive ECOs and the minis all carry dry nibs. That must be a function of how tight are the tines against each other, so I think that is a thing with the TWSBI pens. I may be wrong, but i have noticed that in all my 5 TWSBIs ink runs drier than in other nibs. If that holds tur for your 580 I think you may be surprised on how much easier your life will be with a 1) TWSBI pen and a 2) Noolder's ink . I have narrowed my inks to Noodler's and Diamine with a few special colors I like from Irushizuku and Chesterfield. I use the Chesterfileds to doodle since they are cheaper and some of them are drier and .... Oh, but you have to experiement with different inks later and different papers to be able to know what others are talking about. It will also be an enjoyable activity to play with different inks. I wouldn't spend on an expensive ink if you are going to use it for notes at school everyday, but I would do try to get an ink that resists water, just in case you spill water on your notes. I suppose they are very important for you and you want to keep them for some time at least.

I know you will enjoy your new pen and future inks. Happy writing!

Edited January 27, 2016 by Lamyrada

[amberleadavis]

Amber the pictures didn't show.

Wisdom can be cheaply achieved by listening to the screams of anguish coming up out of that dusty corridor down to ink hell of BSB use.

A chorus

 

A coven.... of very careful folks filling their BSB only pen out side because blue grass reminds folks of Kentucky. The blue camo chino's were once 'tan' ... those is not modern art tattoos .. just a bit carelessness.

 

A skinny midget that looks like a bald Peter Lorie got his ring back from a coven of BSB witches...stained blue.

 

Give them time to load, the images are rather large and you can click on them to get them HUGE.

[Bo Bo Olson]

They did show the second time....and these pictures are worth a thousand words....if one wants a transparent blue Twsbi, they made them.

Or one could have a demonstrator, just for BSB....soon to be a ink window blue demonstrator.

 

Sigh, seeing mistakes one made in the past is easy to do. One should have given him his very own Twsbi and all your remaining BSB....then there would have been no anger at a man being a klutz with your precious. It would have been his problem alone.

 

Being a man, I didn't listen (It is a scientifically proven fact men don't truly listen and see nothing that is not moving.) ....even went shopping for windows....that we did not need, they were too big. Buying her golf clubs so we could do something together was a never forgotten mistake. I'm reminded of it often.

Since then I am astounded often by the good taste I have developed, in my wife's seventeen birthday presents I buy her throughout the year. They are always....exactly what she wants....and I don't have to worry about my lack of good taste.

A win-win situation.

She does have a fountain pen...and she wanted it, a sliver plated Diplomat, with the gold plated stirrup and horse jumping in the cap jewel....there is one like it for tennis players.....my wife uses her fountain pen, even less than the golf clubs....so it stays in my collection.

 

By the way there is a famous pawn shop in Las Vegas, that might have fountain pens. It is often on German TV.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[amberleadavis]

They did show the second time....and these pictures are worth a thousand words....if one wants a transparent blue Twsbi, they made them.

Or one could have a demonstrator, just for BSB....soon to be a ink window blue demonstrator.

 

Sigh, seeing mistakes one made in the past is easy to do. One should have given him his very own Twsbi and all your remaining BSB....then there would have been no anger at a man being a klutz with your precious. It would have been his problem alone.

 

Being a man, I didn't listen (It is a scientifically proven fact men don't truly listen and see nothing that is not moving.) ....even went shopping for windows....that we did not need, they were too big. Buying her golf clubs so we could do something together was a never forgotten mistake. I'm reminded of it often.

Since then I am astounded often by the good taste I have developed, in my wife's seventeen birthday presents I buy her throughout the year. They are always....exactly what she wants....and I don't have to worry about my lack of good taste.

A win-win situation.

She does have a fountain pen...and she wanted it, a sliver plated Diplomat, with the gold plated stirrup and horse jumping in the cap jewel....there is one like it for tennis players.....my wife uses her fountain pen, even less than the golf clubs....so it stays in my collection.

 

By the way there is a famous pawn shop in Las Vegas, that might have fountain pens. It is often on German TV.

 

They are down the street from me and usually have line.

 

I'm not panicked about the pen, I'm enjoying the adventure. Ultimately, I buy these pens to use.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Me too.

 

With 60 pens I have enough....and I have stopped looking....except at live auctions, where I can test them. Often cheaper than Ebay.

 

I bought a Pfortzheim made 14 K full overlay with a matching MP. I'd guess early '50's. So am broke for a year....good price 360 euro. ... I really had the feeling I needed a 'real' gold pen....finally.

 

When one buys few pens....better pens can be bought. Next year in the summer, I'll have recovered from breaking my 150 max...out side the Woolf my wife bought for 1/3 off on sale for me. Same problem...took a year to buy a pen or a bottle of ink.

 

I have three silver overlay pens from Pfortzheim....is a guess but they are very similar except for the guillochierted patterns are different. There is no markings, just the clips and hallmarks on them are the 'same'.

 

For the last century or two, Pfortzheim is the home of the jewelry making in Germany. A wonderful museum, it is shocking how modern stuff that is 3,000, 1,000 or even only 200 years old can be.

 

I've been on Ink Rationing for quite a while...too. I really got to use the 50 inks I have. That is why I don't go to Inky thoughts much...or I'm back to 17 pens inked,and my list of inks needed tripled.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[amberleadavis]

I've been on Ink Rationing for quite a while...too. I really got to use the 50 inks I have. That is why I don't go to Inky thoughts much...or I'm back to 17 pens inked,and my list of inks needed tripled.

 

 

Well, BoBo, that is a compliment.

I decided I could have hundreds of inks and some nice for me pens, or a few inks and a WOW pen. I chose lots of inks.

[Sinuhe]

Why not Iroshizuki Ku Jaku?

 

;-)

 

Teal is sometimes best.

[Arkanabar]

Being a man, I didn't listen (It is a scientifically proven fact men don't truly listen and see nothing that is not moving.)

Citations! I need citations! Oh, you have no idea how much I need citations!

[Sandy1]

Citations! I need citations! Oh, you have no idea how much I need citations!

 

 

Hi,

 

In common with most other species, humans notice objects in motion to a greater extent than static objects. Even in a bustling environment where many people & things are in motion, all it takes is a person to raise their arm then wave their hand (an anomalous action) to attract attention. Indeed, even Royalty garner the greatest applause when waving. That concept is carried forward to other things from animated billboards to aircraft cockpit instrumentation.

 

As for citations, this wee article may be of interest, thought it seems gender neutral, so it may not support the notion that "men ... see nothing that is not moving" : http://vision.arc.nasa.gov/publications/ModelHumanVisualMotion.pdf

 

From personal experience I found that actions such as hula dancing and fire walking are more likely to elicit attention of the human male than sitting under a tree. And that audible expression of kaia will draw their attention, whether in a clean room or during a pillow fight. Then again, I do agree with the ancient saying 'A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.'

 

​To relate this to inks: there are those who adore the inks that have sheen and/or sparkle which shimmy under the light, and the high Chroma inks, such as Batstate Blue. Personally, I prefer the undulating ripple of the shading inks.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited January 29, 2016 by Sandy1

[Bo Bo Olson]

I read a book some five or so years ago, about men never listening or asking directions and women not being able to read a map. Basically about hard wiring.

 

There was a book came out in 1964, 'The Naked Ape' bu Desmond Morris. Why women are shaped like they are. Not just going into heat once a month, to keep men hanging around to bring up Jr.

The ear lobe is there to be nibbled on...and a few other things. He was a zoologist who had a stroke of genius. He would look at man as an animal he'd never seen before. He became very famous for that book and the many afterwards. I recommend them all. I being in Germany only have half...or 8-10.

 

In the first book mentioned here, men slip into a hierarchical hunting situation as soon as the mammoth is spotted. Women group think until a consensus was reached....not that the consensus was right but it was reached.

Putting two and two together I got 5 1/2. Very scientifically.

 

Why is a human woman built different than the other apes....she has attachments that wiggle very, very nicely.

Men see that....they don't see stationary items, like the plants almost ready for next day harvest as they charge off to get the mammoth....nor the mammoth 'crud' they track into the fresh swept cave....and have no idea why the woman is so upset. You know like blind to dust and cobwebs.

 

If it don't move we men don't see it. We are hardwired to hunt, there for see. Women are hardwired to gather (having better color sense) and have an eye in back of her head watching kids. Two different priorities. Some are born with the false hard wiring, causing social problems in some societies.

 

So he drops the mammoth leg on the clean swept floor and storms out of the cave to the neon signed cave around the corner to have some beer and complain to the bartender.

Having been a bartender for eight years....well, that's as scientific as you are going to get.

 

That article Sandy don't differentiate enough between the sexes....a difference I believe is there. The knick-knacks a woman collects are often different than those of a man....outside of fountain pens of course. My wife collects mocca cups, I beer mugs....that sometimes are in movement....used.

 

I worked in Ikea for 20 years...and women were on the whole absolutely blind to someone pulling a pallet of goods. Movement. And they keep standing there until ordered to watch out and move. As a man I was always very puzzled by that, until I read that first book. Movement is not a priority for many women.

Sometimes a pallet has to be taken out of the overhead rack with a fork lift....and some women did not even see a huge fork lift!!!! Men never had that problem.

 

Men, on the whole were not shocked by someone coming up on them with a full pallet, they saw the movement and get out of the way. I see the same behavior, in I am looking for it, in discount stores.

Of course that is not 100% but it is very much more than expected...with out that hard wiring book, I'd never have had a chance at understanding some of the differences.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[Arkanabar]

That book wouldn't have been Deborah Blum's Sex on the Brain, would it?

[Bo Bo Olson]

No, The book I am referring too, seems to be hiding behind the first row of books in that section of my library that has to do with writing. yep, 'Why men don't listen and woman can't read maps' by Allan & Barbara Pease.

 

The most important book I have read is 'The Games People Play' by Dr. Eric Berne...came out in 1964....and I didn't lay hands on it until in the '80's.

1st third is getting the jargon down...then after understanding the jargon, it gets into the games, some are superficial, like Klutz, who always puts his glass down so it spills to...in a 'kick' is as good a stroke as some folks can get or to the 5th level of divorce which is murder or suicide.

There are light social 1-2 level games, Kick Me and so on.

A number of three level games...that can be of interest for years, and played across the board.

Then there are the games that get out of hand in the 4th&5th levels....they need a shrink or a judge.

 

Games are inherited and universal; and unless swimming or running for one's life, played any time two people speak the same language, games will be played.

One has if one has read the book a chance not to play a game one don't like, or pick the role in the game that appeals to you. You do not have to take the role others wish to assign.

Being the Bartender in 'alcoholic', is better than wife, or next to last friend.

 

One of the reasons for divorce is the two players don't play enough of the same games or the same important games. One serves a tennis volley and the other swings a golf club at it....not the same game indeed.

 

That is why one checks out the family so hard...in the games are inherited....Do they play the games you play?....Are you allowed to pick your role or will it be assigned to you? Wrong games, = go back to the hunt, it's less harmful and cheaper.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[crescent2]

I will thumbs-up everything in BlINK's post on page 1.

 

I love Kon-Peki. It's a teal-ish blue, quite stunning. I'm now looking for a deep, jewel true blue to use in my new blue Platinum Century. So I'm enjoying hearing the suggestions, too.

 

I have a clear TWSBI 580 (1.1 stub), and I've not had any problem so far with staining, or any other problems with this pen. I don't do a huge amount of writing, so inks stay in my pens awhile. I've used Kon-Peki, Diamine Damson, Amazing Amethyst, and the shimmer inks Night Sky and Magical Forest (for my Christmas cards) in it with no problems. I've never even disassembled it. I flush it well with cool water between ink changes. I also have some Goulet pen flush but can't recall if I've even used it in this pen yet. Both the Kon-Peki and Magical Forest were the prettiest to view inside the pen. Amazing Amethyst truly is an amazing color when written, but looks almost black in the pen. This TWSBI is one of my favorite pens and the best stub of the three stubs I own.

 

Overall, I find myself buying more Diamine ink than any other single brand. Many of their colors are available very reasonably in 30 ml plastic bottles. But i love my Kon-Peki too.

 

Edit: Goulet Pens, and perhaps other sites, offer ink samples which are a great way to sample inks. And just by looking at the ink in the little vial, you can pretty well tell how it will look inside the clear demonstrator. Some of the deeper blues and purples look black in the pen.

 

I'll also second the suggestion to stay away from Noodler's Bay State Blue, as well as few of their other inks. I don't have any of it, but it has a reputation as a difficult ink to clean.

 

As you may already know, Japanese (Pilot, etc.) nibs tend to run finer than European and American nibs. Even the inexpensive Pilot Metropolitan "M" nib is fine. I like F, M, and 1.1 stub nibs.

 

Clairefontaine is my favorite paper. I love their little notebooks, and their Triomphe tablet for my personal letters. I love "smooth."

 

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus is another one of "those" books.

Edited January 30, 2016 by crescent2

[Bo Bo Olson]

I didn't get that book, in it 'appeared' a bit simple....and I use such books as cheat sheets for my writing...or try....some.....

What game is being played, how is it structured, what are the expected results. What body language can back things up with out saying it....ie a lie, is someone touching a mustache or mouth and so on. I have a full book on lies....to bad I'm not as good as that guy on TV in real life, but my script writers were on strike.

 

 

Many of the books on understanding some of the aspects of social behavior came out after I was in my '30's or 40's so was already set in my ways.That Games People Play was a real eye opener. Some of the body language books were good too for real life.

I went through a lot of of those type of books and made a 'body language' writers notebook, though it is all the books, not just the body language ones.

 

Had I had kids, their 12th year would have been a book report a week to me and boring them with discussion of that book and the other books I forced them to read before....before I let them out the door on their 13th birthday.

 

Women have it easier than men, in their gossip carries more 'information'....often enough wrong...if the data is processed with wishes, instead of facts....or facts that are misinterpreted. The invisible brick walls are there for girls/women too.

 

The nose rules...one can not fall in love with a cold.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

I'm a bit OCD/AR with feathering or a rough line. Decent to good paper.

BEF...bare eyed feathering or rough line seen while sitting.

 

NEF...near eye feathering, seen when I bring the paper up to my eyes.

 

With a Big Honking magnifying glass...2.8X/7D/250

MagEF...feathering or a rough line seen with the honking big magnifying glass. A good ink, worth buying, worth buying a second time.

 

NoMagF.....a perfect ink, no feathering or rough line even with the Magnifying glass....buy often.

 

I don't care much for Diamine inks in they seem to feather too much for me...but then again I have not yet tried Clairefontaine Triomphe. But on all the other papers I've tired, like Akkermann I see feathering with Diamine....and that is a real shame in Akkermann has some great colors...It is made to Akkerman's spec's by Diamine.

 

I do use Clarefontaine Velot 90g and Oxford Optic 90 g spiral notebooks. for normal.

I have some 30 or so papers or samples.

I had thought heavier would mean better.

 

I had bought from Gmund samples, having asked them which were their fountain pen friendly papers..in they made art papers too. Stay away from art papers. 90?-100-110-120....in three or four different papers; 150-170 in a couple of different papers.

Some were 35 euro for 50 sheets, others 50 for fifty sheets.

So I really dithered...still dithering. In some nib and pens were great on the 150-170g papers. I thought I had the trick down. Nope, some of the lighter papers did other nibs and inks better than the heavy paper.

 

Of course there was no one ink...why else do we bow down to Murphy for?

 

There is no perfect nib, no perfect paper and no perfect ink....there is however times when a nib, paper and ink are perfect.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[corgicoupe]

I, too, have wrestled with this. My conclusion is that unless you have the skills equivalent to a wine connoisseur, the easiest solution is to visit the Goulet Web site and select a reasonably priced ink that has a color that you really like. You can make more sophisticated choices. If you want various colors to sample, get one of their sample kits. The KISS principle holds here for us beginners. If you are not cautious you will end up with more ink bottles than pens... And you will need a computer program to keep track of what ink is in which pen.

 

EDIT... Again, bitten by the spelling incorrector!!!

Edited January 31, 2016 by corgicoupe