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Five Orange Inks


fpupulin

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This is not a review, nor anything that resembles it. These are only personal impressions, the result of the comparison between a series of orange inks that I have collected over the years. The excuse to put them (roughly) in comparison came from a Christmas gift from my daughters, who made me find a bottle of Hiroshizuku yu-yake under the tree, a beautiful gift and a wonderful surprise.

Here is the comparison:

 

 

fpn_1516585619__five_5_orange_inks_fp.jp

Of the five orange inks, the two Montblanc are the most saturated, with a margin of advantage for the beautiful Mahatma Gandhi, who is also the lightest of the group. It is an ink that almost does not present any shading, not even with a wide pen like the one used in the script (italic 1.9 mm), but with an excellent flow. It is lively, very cheerful, closer to a "clementine" (Citrus x clementina) color than a true orange. When I open the bottle cap, along the glass lip of the bottle I can see a certain deposit of a bright orange powder. I'm not sure what it is, but it makes me think of a pigment in suspension in the ink. For this reason, I never leave any pen loaded with this ink. I use it, then I wash the pen and put it back. The bottle is the classic 50ml Montblanc and it is now really hard to find, if not at an unreasonable price (on eBay, bottles have been sold for over 120 dollars, ie 2.4 $/ml).
Following is the Lamy Special Edition 2015 Copper Orange, launched a couple of years ago together with the beautiful Al-Star pen in aluminum of the same color. As the name well says, it is an ink closer to copper than orange, a sober, rather "dark" color, with beautiful shading even with a nib of average generosity (like the Italic 1.1 of the Lamy Al-Star Copper Orange, which I used in the sample). It has a good flow, but it is not excessively liquid. I had the Lamy Copper Orange loaded with this ink for almost a year, without any problem of deposits. Of the whole group, it is the only ink that was available only in cartridges of the type T10, 1.2 ml. The box of 5 is worth around 7.00 dollars (1.4 $/ml).
Kaweco Sunrise Orange. It is a dark "orange", a few steps from an orangish hazelnut. It is an extremely matte ink, of an opacity that in a certain way resembles that of a tempera, almost without any shading. Of consistency slightly denser than that of the other inks tested, it behaves very well with nibs with abundant flow, a little less with the drier ones. Kaweco offers it in a very traditional 30 mm bottle, at about 12.00 dollars (0.4 $/ml).
The "Chanel" of inks, Iroshizuku yu-yake ("sunset"). It is an ink with a medium-high flow, with excellent contrast on the paper and extraordinary shading, warm but not excessively saturated (a feature that I prefer in every type of ink) and sufficiently "dark" to be easily read on a page of text. Among other things, it will be my new ink for proofreading of our scientific journal. Pilot proposes it in a beautiful, sober, essential and practically perfect 50 ml bottle (it even has a small conical recess on the bottom of the bottle to insert the tip of the nib so that it does not slip while loading). On Ebay, it costs from 30.00 to 40.00 dollars, depending on the seller (0.6-0.8 $/ml).
Montblanc Ink of Joy. As well as Mahatma Gandhi, Ink of Joy is also a vivid and clear orange (just a darker shade), with medium flow and good shading, also visible with a medium nib, and very saturated. It is, for my taste, a little light to be used for normal writing, and I usually reserve it for short notes or greeting cards, where it makes an excellent figure. It leaves a dense, intense orange powder on the edge of the bottle when I remove the cap, and I suppose it is a pigment originally suspended in the ink. Ink of Joy therefore enters my pens exclusively to the need. What I do not use it, I empty it again in the bottle and wash the pen. Fortunately, I was in Italy when this ink came out and I bought it in a Montblanc boutique for 18.00 dollars (0.6 $/ml). The last time I saw it, it was on eBay where a “lucky” buyer bought a used bottle for only 125 dollars (about 4,1 $/ml)!

That's all. I'll go back to my pens and inks ...
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You have a very nice group of inks in my favorite color to complement a most handsome pen. I have several other oranges but none I like better than the Montblancs you have used. I find it a much more difficult color to achieve than I had imagined; I have kissed more frogs in pursuit of this ink than any other color!

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Yummy

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nice comparison! My favorite is the Lamy Orange!

PAKMAN

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I find Iroshizuki prices are usually lower on Amazon, starting around $20.

 

I tried Kaweco Sunrise and liked the dark, 'dirty'-looking color that your sample shows but after several lines, the dirty color would give way to a somewhat lighter, more ordinary-looking color. I just assumed the dirty shade was the result of evaporation of the ink in the feed and the lighter the actual color from the fresh ink in the cartridge. I'll have to try it again.

It's hard work to tell which is Old Harry when everybody's got boots on.

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What a lovely demonstration of orange inks. Your writing is very elegant and I can only aspire to write so well.

 

I have quite a few orange inks & prefer the more muted shades. I really love Lamy Copper Orange, which was available in bottles as well as cartridges, in some markets.

 

Of my selection my current favourite orange is Monteverde Fire Opal - but I’m fickle and I’ll surely change my mind..... :-)

Verba volant, scripta manent

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I love your writing! And the colours look so great together.

 

About the powder you mentioned, rest assured that it’s not pigment, but just dried dye. It is soluble in water. It seems to be a behaviour common to orange and yellow inks. I wouldn’t worry too much about them harming the pen.

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I love your writing! And the colours look so great together.

 

About the powder you mentioned, rest assured that it’s not pigment, but just dried dye. It is soluble in water. It seems to be a behaviour common to orange and yellow inks. I wouldn’t worry too much about them harming the pen.

 

OP I love your writing too, and am also a great fan of orange inks. :wub:

 

Lgsoltek is spot on about the fact that orange and yellow inks seem to get dried dye powder on their bottle threads all of the time. For this reason I always open them over a piece of plastic film, and just tip the dye powder back into the bottle. :)

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I keep coming back to this post because the calligraphy is so pretty. I hate orange. Haaaaaaaate. But you’ve got at least two good shaders here and such nice writing, even out of nibs I’d expect to hate.

 

I feel like Yu-yake is feathering too much for my taste, tho I had to look closely to determine that because it feathered so artistically.

 

If you ever feel like putting Copper Orange or Sunrise Orange in a really fat italic I’d love to see it.

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If you ever feel like putting Copper Orange or Sunrise Orange in a really fat italic I’d love to see it.

 

 

I will, Torrilin, I will....

 

As to the Yu-yake, I will also show it another time. The feathering that you noted was due to the excess of ink on the nib, which I dip too much...

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If you ever feel like putting Copper Orange or Sunrise Orange in a really fat italic I’d love to see it.

 

 

So, Torrilin, here is going half of the test that I promised. I couldn't make for you the test of the Kaweko Sunrise Orange with a larger nib, as I gifted the ink to a nephew (who happens to like calligraphy...) a few days ago. I will buy another bottle in the next days, so I will complete the test (and the promise).

 

Meanwhile, I substituted the Kaweco with the Hiroshizuku Yu-yake, so you have two inks to compare.

 

 

fpn_1517162387__copper_orange_vs_yu-yake

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And, by the way, FPRebel, Barkingpig, amberleadavis, PAKMAN, migo984, Lgsoltek, FinScherlis, and namrehsnoom: thank you all for the kind words!

 

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Et voila, Torrilin, the Lamy, Kaweco, and Hiroshizuku altogether, all tested with 1.9 italic nibs (Lamy and Kaweco). Fortunately the shop of Kaweco, not far from my house, was open today. It is an orange fiesta...

 

 

fpn_1517185228__three_orange_inks_fp.jpg

Edited by fpupulin
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Mmmmmm, glorious shading. Yum. I definitely will need to come up with a suitable fat nib for using up my sunrise orange. I’ve got it in a fine nib right now and unlike any other orange I’ve tried I don’t hate it. But the fine is definitely not doing it justice.

 

It also seems to have acceptable dry time for my lefty self. So maybe you’ll wind up selling me on a bottle of it once the cartridges are gone. It’s always a joyous thing when I find reasons to like a color!

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Fantastic comparison! Well done! And thank you!

 

I have both Copper-Orange and Yu-Yake and I love them both for different reasons. I recently made the mistake of buying J. Herbin's Orange Indien and was so disappointed at how pale it is.

 

I too use my orange, yellow and lighter greens (i.e. Pilot Iro Chiku-rin) inks for mark-ups and highlighting. But I want a color that is still dark enough to write with. I have surprised myself with how much I like orange inks, because I generally don't care for the color orange.

"Today will be gone in less than 24 hours. When it is gone, it is gone. Be wise, but enjoy! - anonymous today

 

 

 

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