I'm Not A Big Fan Of Shading. There, I Said It.

[Witsius]

I know people really seem to like ink that exhibits shading. But I'm not one of those people. I tend to find shading distracting and generally annoying. I don't mind a little shading, but I'd rather it was something that wasn't a noticable feature of an ink. When I write with blue ink, I want the line to be a pretty solid blue, the same with black, etc. I don't mind sheen, but heavy shading is a real turn off. When I'm considering an ink, lack of shading is actually something I look for.

 

Now, I know inks that shade have their place, and some poeple really love them, and that's fine. I'm not saying inks that shade are bad. In fact, sometimes when I see handwriting samples here on the forum, and someone has really lovely handwriting and has used a heavy shading ink, it can look really impressive. But I don't like shading for my own purposes.

 

Some of my favorite inks, because they don't shade at all or very noticeably, are:

Iroshizuku Asa Gao and Shin Kai, Aruroa Black, Sailor Jentle Black, Waterman Serenity Blue, Pilot Blue Black (very minor shading), Akkerman Shocking Blue (nice sheen though), Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, Diamine Red Dragon, and Diamine Midnight. In fact, I think I've just listed my entire ink inventory.

 

Is there anyone else who prefers inks that don't shade? What are some of your favorite non-shading inks?

[erpe]

Is there anyone else who prefers inks that don't shade?

 

Yes, ballpoint users

 

Failed fun aside, shading is not only the ink, it also depends on the nib, the feed (flow) and the used paper. These factors have an impact on the drying time. Slow drying often means less shading in the end.

[da vinci]

I am with Witsius

 

I like as consistent a colour as I can get.

[ac12]

For business work, MONO-tone, no shading.

I just want a nice medium or dark ink line.

I do not want a blob of ink at the end of everything that I write that takes a LONG time to dry.

 

As was mentioned, to GET shading, requires a balance of all 4 variables (pen, ink, paper, and writer).

Since I am not interested in shading, I do not go looking for it.

 

If I want fancy, I will pull out my dip pen with a flex nib.

[frankb3]

Is there anyone else who prefers inks that don't shade? What are some of your favorite non-shading inks?

 

I didn't used to like shading, but I'm warming up to it. It's another characteristic that sets fountain pen writing apart from modern pens (maybe I'm becoming a snob?).

 

Noodler's Baystate Blue is a non-shading ink.

[Arkanabar]

I've seen people who are really into shading (and sheen), but neither is (currently) among my ink obsessions. (See the thread "Waypoints on the Inky Journey" linked in my signature.) I tell people all the time "de gustibus non est disputandem," which means that in matters of taste, you can't have an argument, but only opinions. In short, just because your opinions don't get a whole lot of concurrence around here doesn't make them wrong.

[WhosYerBob]

I can't stand sheen or (shudder) glitter, but just about any ink will shade with a stub or italic nib, which is what I favor. That said, I do favor a dark line that has lots of contrast, making it more legible and easy to read -- but even with the darkest of the iron gall inks, I get lots of shading.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Exploratorius

[inkotheque]

I tend to write quite fast and I think that shading needs less speed. I've no specific reason for preferring no-shading or shading but if I look back to the last 100 pages I've written I can see there's not so much shading in it so... ...no I'm not going to say it

Edited March 18, 2017 by inkotheque

[evyxmsj]

Did it feel good to post it in the open? :-)

 

I like shading some of the time, but I do lean towards saturated and uniform. I like shading turquoises, but not so much greens. Diamine Bilberry is fairly good, as is majestic blue.

 

Edit: because I can never spell turquoise

Edited March 18, 2017 by evyxmsj

[ethernautrix]

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

 

 

Ugh, I really don't care for shading almost all of the time. Every once in a while, if it is subtle, I might think, "oh, that's nice." But in general, I prefer dark, consistent, saturated lines - for ease of reading.

 

That said, there are contexts in which shading is gorgeous, usually for illustrative purposes (decorative script, for instance).

[Cryptos]

[Cryptos]

To be honest - one of my most endearing traits on FPN - I don't seek shading in an ink, primarily choosing for the main colour. If shading is present... I can live with it, but it's not appropriate everywhere I use a pen.

[Papermint]

It's interesting that you mention this because when I just got into inks and pens and started reading ink reviews I was a bit irritated by the "shading" everyone mentioned. I was like: "Err, so is this shading thing good or bad??!" :-D

Personally I never had really noticed any shading, simply because I didn't pay attention to it. After I constantly stumbled over this word in ink reviews I took a closer look at what I write with ink and pen and I decided for myself that shading is "good".

But I can totally understand why you find it distracting.

[chromantic]

I like a consistent line for the most part but don't mind a moderate amount of shading; it's when it goes way overboard (yeah, looking at you, Lie de The) that I get turned off.

[mhguda]

I hate shading in black ink. Other colors, it usually seems to depend on my mood, but like you, a lot of my preferred inks seem to be non-shaders. So, thanks for bringing this up - I will be a little more attentive. I do like a dark ink to be consistently dark.

[Noihvo]

[BradGad]

I don't care for shading. I like a page of even, regular lettering.

[KaB]

I even didn't know 'shading' was an ink characteristic until I started reading on this forum. I do remember the first time I saw it (with a very broad nib): I thought it was a defect of the ink or the pen . Now, it's not sth I'm looking for nor sth I try to avoid. I can't imagine me liking a black ink with shading though. (I don't write with black anyway).

[Mercian]

EoC - you hate shading, yet you bought Apache Sunset??? :-o

Does Not Compute!

What do you think of it? Do you like it?

I thought it was famous for being the most Shading-tastic of (non-iron-gall) inks.

 

I like shading (except in inks that are supposed to be black).

If anyone wishes to find inks that do not show any shading, from personal experience I recommend Noodler's Black.

 

I would also suggest that those of you who wish to suppress shading head over to the Ink Reviews board to check out the nano-carbon black inks made by Pelikan, Platinum, and Sailor.

 

For non-shading coloured inks, I would suggest the pigment-based 'document' inks from Rohrer & Klingner, De Atramentis, Sailor, and Montblanc.

IIRC, either the R&K or DA 'document' inks are not only offered in several colours, but also in a CMYK set, so that you can mix them to formulate any solid colour that you desire.

Make sure to read the reviews carefully though; some of these inks are very 'wet'.

 

Caveat lector:

If you are thinking of using pigment-based inks, you will need to be willing to clean out your pens regularly, and to make sure that you NEVER let them dry out in your pen.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Mercian

[Witsius]

I even didn't know 'shading' was an ink characteristic until I started reading on this forum. I do remember the first time I saw it (with a very broad nib): I thought it was a defect of the ink or the pen . Now, it's not sth I'm looking for nor sth I try to avoid. I can't imagine me liking a black ink with shading though. (I don't write with black anyway).

 

 

I didn't know shading was a "characteristic" either after until I got more into fountain pens. I thought shading looked blotchy, and I still do. Funny, Ron Zorn posted a link to this article a while back in response to someone who was inquring about the wisdom of adding some sort of extra ingredient to some ink. I think the idea was that this guy knew a lot about ink chemistry, and it generally wasn't a good idea to add extra chemicals to a bottle of ink out of an effort to alter its performance. But the author of the article says, "By the way, I just learned (2016) that by some writers, irregularity (blotchiness) is considered an added feature of character of writing." https://fountainpendesign.wordpress.com/ink-function-chemistry-production-quality/