Which Inks Do You Not Wish To Acquire?

[lapis]

I've heard (and yes, aimed at myself) that question ("Which inks do you not wish to acquire?"). Of course, if everybody always said it was really, really dry, I'd shun it right off the bat. Basically, I dislike a few colors themselves, like anything pinky brown. But also some companies... thusly, no more inks from Abraxas. Also, to repeat, nothing from Hieronymus because IMO that price shown -- which does not yet include shipping and taxes -- is repulsive.

[Mew]

Brands

Hieronmyous (received a sample, not impressed with it.)

Noodlers (I love BSB, but if I cannot use their inks in my expensive pens, not worth it for me)

Diamine (inconsistent, and glitter ones are ugh)

Private reserve (Problematic only)

Montblanc (too dry, corn poppy red refused to flow in one of my nibs)

Caran d'ache (too expensive for what they offer and I have better options at less price)

J. Herbin (feels like water, no saturation whatsoever and 1670 is horrible)

 

colours

Pink/Magenta

Turquoise

Black

Orange

Yellow

Sienna (once in a while is okay)

 

Need to think about others. I can't stand using blue inks for too long though.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Mew

[migo984]

Interesting & thought-provoking topic, Mike.

 

I have a few. Top of my list is definitely any ink with glitter/sparkle added. I have a visceral, sceptical & practical dislike of them.

 

Like yourself, I won't buy inks with a reputation for being very dry. I also avoid inks where there is evidence of poor quality control i.e. inconsistency between batches, unexplainable variance in performance or degradation after purchase. This includes a few Noodler's inks, like 54th Mass & Burgundy

[Joane]

I am happy with Montblanc, J. Herbin and Waterman blue-black. Therefore the "not wish to acquire" would be all the rest.

[Pickwick]

I am happy with Montblanc, J. Herbin and Waterman blue-black. Therefore the "not wish to acquire" would be all the rest.

 

I'm the same and have now decided to use Rohrer and Klingner Salix ink for all of my correspondence.

[CAG_1787]

Brands

Hieronmyous (received a sample, not impressed with it.)

Noodlers (I love BSB, but if I cannot use their inks in my expensive pens, not worth it for me)

Diamine (inconsistent, and glitter ones are ugh)

Private reserve (Problematic only)

Montblanc (too dry, corn poppy red refused to flow in one of my nibs)

Caran d'ache (too expensive for what they offer and I have better options at less price)

J. Herbin (feels like water, no saturation whatsoever and 1670 is horrible)

 

Yikes. I feel like that's 98% of the inks out there...

 

The only one conclusive out for me is Private Reserve. I have some older editions that I like, but the recent stuff has been highly problematic.

[Ergative]

Oddly, I feel as if Private Reserve's reputation has changed my mind about buying them--which is funny, because I have a bottle of their Sherwood Green and their DC Electric Blue, and I love them both. It's as if peer pressure is overpowering personal experience.

[Mew]

 

Yikes. I feel like that's 98% of the inks out there...

 

 

Hehe..

 

I use sailor mostly, but once in a while I do use Iroshizuku. Last time I used Iroshizuku was about 1.5 years ago, the colours are a bit boring. Pilot standard range blue-black is nice.

R&K is very decent, de atrementis too. I used to use Waterman, Parker or Pilot in school, and they were decent. Not great, but strictly decent.

Lamy dark lilac is okay, but don't like the rest of their inks.

Whatever I have tried from Kwzi is nice.

 

Need to try some Robert Oster to see how they are.

[Cyber6]

 

Yikes. I feel like that's 98% of the inks out there...

 

He purposely left out all the Japanese, Australian and Polish inks.... which is great cause those three are my favorites... :wub: :wub:

 

 

C.

[Ada]

My list is pretty short -- I have no interest in acquiring any of the Noodlers inks, or glitter inks, or any more Waterman inks. And given how many bottles of ink I already have, I shouldn't be buying any more inks at all.

[jonesberg]

I'm not going to get any friends saying this, but...

 

I tried 3 sailors (Souten, Oku Yama, Yama Dori) and I do not really wish to explore this brand any further.

The colors are (very!) lovely, but they feel too wet for my use case and it's quite hard to get them over here.

Plus today, I had some trouble with Oku Yama in my VP. No idea why, but the pen had it's first skips.

Maybe I got a so-so batch or it was old, but since I had such high hopes with this brand, I can't help but feel disheartened.

 

Maybe it's just a coping mechanism to avoid getting torn each time they release a new impossible to get limited edition / pen shop exclusive.

 

Otherwise, Private Reserve doesn't appeal to me, because of their recent quality issues.

[Beauport]

As a relative novice in the world of pens and inks I want to ask about Private Reserve. I bought a bottle of the DC Supershow Blue 2 months ago and it has performed well in all 3 pens and frankly I like how it writes. I noted above a number of folks may have had issues with Private Reserve and I'm wondering what these may have been? Was I fortunate in getting a good one? I'm not buying more inks than I currently own until I know them all reasonably well, but from my single experience with the PR Supershow Blue I might consider them unless there's more I should know. Thanks.

[migo984]

He purposely left out all the Japanese, Australian and Polish inks.... which is great cause those three are my favorites... :wub: :wub:

 

 

C.

Snap! Me too :-) :-)

[gylyf]

I don't ever see myself buying a glitter ink, a Noodlers ink, a PR ink, or a Caran d'Ache ink. Anything else is fair game, at least to sample. Color-wise, no oranges, yellows, pinks, teals, turquoises, blacks, grays, bright greens, or fuscias.

 

But, if I'm honest, I could use Pilot Blue and Blue Black, Sailor, and KWZ for the rest of my life and be completely satisfied, even though I'd miss a few other inks (MB Tolstoy, Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue, a couple of Diamines).

[Goudy]

As a relative novice in the world of pens and inks I want to ask about Private Reserve. I bought a bottle of the DC Supershow Blue 2 months ago and it has performed well in all 3 pens and frankly I like how it writes. I noted above a number of folks may have had issues with Private Reserve and I'm wondering what these may have been? Was I fortunate in getting a good one? I'm not buying more inks than I currently own until I know them all reasonably well, but from my single experience with the PR Supershow Blue I might consider them unless there's more I should know. Thanks.

 

PR Sepia leaves a residue (even in the bottle) which has been accused of clogging feeds. I have a bottle but haven't tried it in a fountain pen. I treat it as calligraphic ink and use it with dip pens. It has phenomenal shading properties.

 

All the other Private Reserve inks I've tried have been superb. It's probably my favourite brand at the moment. Most of them are not waterproof but that's not a requirement for me, and their water soluble properties can be useful if you're feeling artistic: https://citizensketcher.com/2013/11/12/water-soluble-sketching-with-private-reserve-inks/

[DrSoaryn]

I'll never get more than a small sample of Private Reserve inks. There's just too many stories of gunk growing inside the bottle making the ink completely unusable. It's probably not as bad as my selection bias makes it out to be, but I still don't think it's worth it.

[chromantic]

No interest in shimmer ink and (with a few exceptions) dislike most of the inks with gold sheen that I've tried so I'll avoid those, too.

 

No interest in Noodler's or PR - the colors that interest me are, naturally, ones with reputations for being problematic - and little interest in the 'big' names - MB, Edelstein, Cd'A - along with many of the smaller names; nothing against them, per se, but I can only buy so much ink. That's not to say I wouldn't buy one of them if it piques my interest.

 

Levenger: many lovely colors but, after my experience with Claret, I'll pass.

J. Herbin: I know, heresy. Of the five I bought, Cacao du Bresil is the only one I'll buy again. Maybe one of the other 25 is a gem comparable to Cacao but I guess I'll never find out.

[jmccarty3]

Pink.

Glitter.

[lgsoltek]

The majority of J. Herbin inks.

[FountainPenCowgirl]

Oddly, I feel as if Private Reserve's reputation has changed my mind about buying them--which is funny, because I have a bottle of their Sherwood Green and their DC Electric Blue, and I love them both. It's as if peer pressure is overpowering personal experience.

Those are my two PR favorites. DC Electric Blue is in two pens, neither of which is necessarily used daily, and always work when called upon. Sherwood Green, so far, has been in cartridge form, same thing.

 

But some of the others, especially the "Ebony" series? Yeesh. A lot of clogged work. Yeah. I know I can dilute. But why, when there are so many other lovely options?

 

I'm backing off of the Diamine "shimmer" inks as I can't keep them flowing, even with daily use. Real pain. Love the colors I have, just too much work and aggravation.