Do You Buy/use Inks That You Don't Actually Like ?

[Patrick L]

.... Do you buy/use inks that you don't actually like ? Do you give a chance to inks that, for whatever reason(S) you don't like (like for example ink color , ink properties, ink smell, ink bottle shape ) but nevertheless buy and/or use them ?

 

As far as I am concerned, ink purchase costs money. I buy inks when I like the color that I see on my monitor or when I read reviews. I have many inks but not so many pens and will rarely , if ever, use an ink that I actually don't like. I will use an ink that I don't like once and that's it. Buy maybe that you see things differently than me, or that you mix inks , or that you are a good nature person who see beauty everywhere

All the best

Patrick

[Pickwick]

The answer for me. is yes, I have bought inks which in the end I've never really liked. It wasn't until my Sister who lives in London UK sent me some booklets about Stephens ink factory she visited. The company had ceased making ink many years ago, and the building turned into a museum. Browsing through these booklets I found a Blue/Black ink bottle with the illustrated color made by Stephens.

 

I write a lot of letters, trying out the different colors I had accumulated but didn't really like any of them. Ending up with mixing them around until they were almost black! I used pen and ink before the advent of the Ballpoint pen, and used Blue/Black along with my family. Taking up a fountain pen 6 years ago I did get caught up with the seemingly endless colors available.

 

Well, the booklets my Sister sent got me thinking, so I searched for Blue/Black ink and found a color which Rohrer & Klingner Salix was a very close match to the Stephens illustration. So, I've now come back full circle and decided to use Salix permanently for all my letter writing. Nostalgia? Very probably.

 

The problem with looking at ink colors on a monitor appear quite different when one comes to actually use them. One of the reasons being paper quality and not one fountain pen is alike in ink flow which in turn tends to produce different shades, and can prove to be disappointing.

Edited November 24, 2016 by Pickwick

[migo984]

 

The problem with looking at ink colors on a monitor appear quite different when one comes to actually use them. One of the reasons being paper quality and not one fountain pen is alike in ink flow which in turn tends to produce different shades, and can prove to be disappointing.

Absolutely right. I've seen too many reviews where the ink looks very different to my experience of it, for all the reasons you said plus more. Reviews based on samples seem to be the least accurate. Mislabelling, contamination, evaporation; I'm not sure why. I can't recall a time I bought an ink based on a review, although I do appreciate the time people take making reviews, & that many rely on them to make their choices.

 

As to the original question; I too have many inks. They are relatively cheap compared to most pens & a fun, cost effective way to change your writing experience. Making a mistake isn't going to leave you radically out of pocket. And I'm on a fixed income, so that's important to me. And if I never use an ink I'll mix with it, or give it away.

 

I have a few that I don't care for much, at this particular time. But I know from my experience of my changing tastes that I may well grow to like/love them. For example, greys & red-browns. Never really keen before, now a fan. But then, I'm a fickle ink lover :-)

[tamiya]

I don't set out to make a conscious effort to buy inks I don't like

 

But if I happen to be in any particular store whilst travelling or in a foreign neighbourhood, I might want to pickup a souvenir... and if they've got nothing I need, I have been known get adventurous...

 

Which leads to a sizeable pile of "WTH did I buy that for" acquisitions

[lapis]

A. As said above, yes, more out of curiosity. I think my screens are okay (har, har) but I sometimes still find a colour better or unfortunately worse on paper, so I buy it. Of course only for a colour I love. Pinks save me money here.

B. OTOH I buy all ink I can discover and then also get which are LEs just for the purpose of collecting them. One (1) bottle each. But they have to be decently obtainable for me. E.g. all MBs, yes; all sailors, no. That'd even include a Pink.

[Davros]

I will sample pretty much anything, though I give precedence to things I strongly suspect I'll like. Not everything is sample-able, and I've ended up with bottles that I didn't like - usually on the basis of reviews, but sometimes not.

 

If I end up with a bottle I don't adore, it's usually due to:

- Changing / seasonal tastes. I really loved Red Dragon, but for now, I'm just not interested in red. This is usually temporary, and I'll cycle back around.

 

- The bottle isn't like the sample. Organics Studio's Artistotle-the-sample was a different ink than Aristotle-the-bottle. The bottle is fine, but the sample was amaazing.

 

- Purchasing a bottle because there's no samples. I buy a lot of samples when they're available, but a lot of the inks I'm buying these days don't have samples available. I think I have or have tried nearly all the inks from the big brands.

 

- Purchasing a bottle even though there are samples. I will probably not sample Diamine's new green before getting a bottle. I like the behavior of almost all Diamine inks, I like their warm/murky green spectrum, I like the reviews I've seen: I'll grab a bottle next time I have the chance. There's always an off-chance that I'll be disappointed.

 

- Purchasing a bottle on sale. This probably accounts for a lot of my duds, honestly. When isellpens closed out their inks, I picked up a bunch of Noodler's. Most were great, but there were a few that just didn't mesh. Like a lot of people, I'm more inclined to take the plunge on a "good deal" that's also a limited time offer.

 

- Purchasing things I strongly suspect I won't like, to round out an order or to attract people who I think *will* like something. For example, I just placed an order for the 20-odd colors of Krishna ink I haven't tried, so I'll have all the current colors. Some of those I'm almost guaranteed not to like, but for the price, it's worth it. Then I'll have a cataloged sample of the ink, and I can pass the bottle on to someone who will like it - but would never order 25 bottles of ink sight unseen. And there's a good possibility I'll be wrong - the swatches from the maker are terribly inaccurate, and only a few colors have been officially reviewed.

 

- Sometimes I'll deliberately revisit groups of inks (color, behavior) to see if I like it better now. My tastes have broadened considerably since I started, and it's good to check in occasionally with the few islands of inks that I don't think I enjoy.

 

I do turn around bottles of colors I don't like on a semi-regular basis, though there'll probably be a strict purge when I move next. Almost any bottle on my shelves is there for a reason.

[inkstainedruth]

Yes, especially if it's a sample, just to use it up, if I hate the color (and make a notation not to buy more).

But I've learned from experience that sometimes it's just not in the "right" pen. I bought a sample of Noodler's Walnut when I first got started and I hated it. It was a very dry ink. What I didn't realize was that it was in a very dry pen.

A couple of years later, I pulled it out to try it in a very wet writing Pelikan M400 (I had planned to use Iroshihzuku Yama-budo, but that ink was way too wet for the pen) and it made me completely reconsider Walnut.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Pravda]

I sometimes am limited to what's available in my country. And when I'm sooooo bored of my ink collection, I try to see if i don't mind too much that 1-2 colors that I passed on earlier (from what is sold locally) just for the sake of change.

[Shaggy]

I'm a terrible anti-hoarder. It bothers me to have things I don't use, no matter how small the item. I immediately get rid of inks that aren't to my taste. I have two to list right now.

 

Probably a result of growing up with semi-hoarder parents.

[ppdiaporama]

I don't do it on purpose but I do do it every once in a while --just like I pens which I don't like.

 

In the end, I've purchased it ... it stays on the shelf and I give it a try every once in a while.

 

Sometimes, I'm pleasantly surprised ... tastes change!

[mirosc]

Yes:

- I bought a couple of Noodlers because reviews were great and I had to size up some order. They turned out to be a disappointment. Now I'm stuck with them. Luckily I could already sell some.

- Akkerman Shocking Blue. Ordered it to get the shipment full. Then stuck with it (until it finally found a way to water the garden)

- green ink. I have to use it on the job, but I don't like it.

[lapis]

Well, if your garden gets along with a shocking blue, it should like any green even better....

[Arkanabar]

Buy? No. Use? Absolutely.

I have been the recipient of FAR more inks than I have purchased. I've purchased two bottles that I still have: Noodler's Borealis Black and Diamine Sherwood. I really like Sherwood, but Borealis Black is a bit feathery, and dilution doesn't appear to much remedy that. I also buy samples, but they don't count -- less than 3 ml isn't a lot, and I'm the type to sample an ink before I'll buy it these days, in nearly every case.

I've been given (and still have) Noodler's Red-Black (a partly bulletproof workhorse, nicely legible but not too attractive IMO), MontBlanc-Simplo Black with SuperCleaner SC21 (the ink I currently use in my Dad's Parker "51"), Parker Quink with Solv-X (next in line for my Dad's "51"), Sheaffer Skrip Turquoise (bright enough for markup, which means too bright for writing), Waterman Purple (too fade-prone for my taste), Waterman Florida Blue (which I suspect is either adulterated or concentrated, and is definitely boring), and samples of Blackstone Cashmere Red 8% and 16% (the latter of which is offered in my ink exchange post), Noodler's Walnut and Iro Yama-Guri.

My wife, on the other hand, has patronized Origami Ink to purchase Noodler's Blue (which she gave to me, and which I really like), Widow Maker (not quite bright enough for markup, not a color I'd use for writing), Bad Black Moccasin (my penitential season ink), and VMail Midway Blue (which I do like from time to time), as well as J. Herbin 1670 Stormy Gray and Emerald of Chivor (no metallic particulates in MY pens, thankyouverymuch!).

So now I look at these inks and ask myself, what can I do with them?

Well, I haven't filled in The Essential Purple or the Essential Blue-Black, though I have candidates for both. I have things I could mix to these, one way or another. I have a decent purple mix (6:1:1 Widow Maker, "WFB", and distilled water), and I'm sure I could craft a blue-black from Midway Blue and some dilute Borealis Black.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Arkanabar

[Bo Bo Olson]

The corner bakery closed down...so I can't give the kid inks I don't like.

DA Ocher was way too light. Many Diamine/Akkerman inks feather on 'normal' good paper.

I did find a paper where Diamine inks does not feather at E35 for 50 sheets.

 

In I like shading inks....didn't really need some of the supersaturated inks I have. I tend to find supersaturated inks boring.

 

 

:eureka: Fleamarket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Now I got to find out what they now cost.....and sell for 2E cheaper ....perhaps 3 if they buy three bottles.

There are some Herbin inks I need, a DA blue one that shades....

I'm such a miser, I'd not even thought of selling open inks in the Flea market.....best weigh the bottles first so they know to the drop how much they are getting.

I'll ask only E99 for that open and at least used once MB Winter Forest. Unopened costs Buy Now E110! ..............I will weigh the bottle...I have an unopened one also...............I really don't expect to sell it at that fair price....but it will be an Eye Catcher.

A nice BB nib Calligraphy sign on some good card stock I have, in a different Green of course as an ad. That way they won't complain about the price of the other inks.

................use a calligraphy nib???????????? What a strange idea.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[chromantic]

Not intentionally, no; I buy inks that I think I will like. Using them is a more nuanced question.

 

I've learned that my initial impressions of new inks are frequently wrong. This is partly due to some inks' seeming need to 'settle in' before revealing its true nature while other times it's performance related, learning how it behaves across different papers and/or in different pens.

 

Some inks I hated at first testing (Tokiwa-matsu, Grapefruit) now rank among my favorites; others that I initially went gaga over (Lie de The, Dark Lilac, etc), I now can't stand and still others where I like the color (Twilight, Bleu Pervenche) but stopped using them over performance issues. Then, there's the ones that turn out to be merely ok, nothing special, 'meh'.

 

But I don't find any of this out if I don't use it for some amount of time.

[Tas]

Never on purpose.

 

And much, much less now by mistake than ever before. I have learnt many things here . . .

 

 

Thos unlucky ones are used up in mixes or given away to annoy or please others

[ItwasLuck]

Yes due to being forced to use crappy paper in my professional life, I have collected quite a collection of IG inks ranging from Diamine to KWZ and most recently Akkerman #10.

However most of my ink budget is spent on inks that I know I'll love such as different shades of brown and every now and then I buy a few bottles of Iroshizuku, at the price I get them (12 dollars a bottle), I expect to have all the Iroshizuku line of inks by the end of the year 😅😅. So that'll be the first complete collection of inks I'll have, honestly can't imagine how people have collected such huge collections of Iroshizuku inks at the price they sell in US retailers.

Boggles the mind really but I find myself not buying a great number of pens but rather I stick to a few expensive limited edition pens that have huge ink capacity. When I'm bored, I'll just try out some crazy inks. I find it a nice compromise for myself, in a way helps control the addiction.

I'll even put arbitrary requirements for pens that I can buy so for example the pen must have good ergonomics, minimum 2.2ml ink capacity and must be a vacuum filler or better.

Edited November 26, 2016 by ItwasLuck

[micalela1]

I have bought a few bottles of ink that I did not like. Most of these were not too expensive as the $$ went to the local pen club. But i have bought at least ine bottle because I liked the bottle. Fickle I know. 😄 What do you do with bottles of ink ones doesn't like?

[tamiya]

What do you do with bottles of ink ones doesn't like?

Tradebait.

[Runnin_Ute]

I'm sure I have at least one or two that I don't care for to much. Black is one. Although I think everyone should have at least one black.

 

The only reason I have it at all is it came with a pen (Pilot Metropolitan),notebook ( Leuchtturm ), ink combo. (Noodlers Black)

 

If I had a choice of color it would have been something else.