The Blue Blues! Help Please :)

[bigkahuna]

Question: Do Iron Gall inks turn black eventually ? From what I read they are supposed to, but other people seem to say that they don't really. So, if they all turn black whatl's the point of getting different colours ?

 

I'm hoping they retain some of their colour but just darken - that's the only thing that makes sense to me otherwise it's just different colours temporarily for marketing purposes ? I don't know. Any info on this ?

 

I only have a couple of IG inks; they share many traits, but in some ways behave quite differently. Both inks seem to darken over the course of minutes, hours and days. I have not yet compared months-old writing samples to determine if they darken appreciably more.

 

R&K Salix feels "dry" and seems to work best in my "wetter" pens. It goes down blue and darkens to a medium-dark blue-grey. I've tested writing samples for water resistance by soaking them in water... the blue dye component lifts off leaving a medium-gray line.

 

KWZI Iron Gall Blue Black is significantly "wetter" and goes down a very dark blue. When it cures, it is extremely dark... on some papers (the cheaper more absorbent ones), it is still somewhat distinguishable from true black... while on other papers (Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Maruman Mnemosyne, Kakuyo) it is appears nearly black to me. In water-resistance testing, it is similar to Salix but darker overall... the blue dye lifts off, leaving a very dark gray imprint (noticeably darker than Salix).

 

Neither is as black as Sailor Kiwa Guro nanopigment ink. If I need black ink, that's the one I will use until I find something I like better.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Big_Kahuna

[Simulacrum]

Well thank you everyone who helped me out with this. I finally did get some ink a few weeks ago -took me long enough lol. I used some Christmas $$ and am going to also get a new pen and maybe some more inks as well. I'm leaning towards getting a bottle of Noodler's Black Swan in English Rose Garden (think that's right). And some green - Maybe Noodler's Sequoia, or Zhivago-it's very dark but it seems that when diluted it may look pretty similar to Sequoia - so a two for one ? ). I also may not get any of those and get some De Atramentis Document inks and mix my own.

 

Without further adieu:

 

Sei Boku! was the result of this- I bought a bottle - and I love it. I'll post some pics with some sample writings with my pens on different papers and stuff (after I figure out what my new pen is going to be so I can include it. - but that's another post which I've already been getting some help with) I think I'll be splurging on this new pen, I'm leaning towards a Sailor Profit with a Zooom nib! .

 

Thanks everyone.