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Ink For Correspondence?


DiegoCarranza

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My inks for correspondence depend on the reader. For not-so-young pen friends I try to use dark or very saturated and vibrant colors, which stand out in contrast to the (white or light cream) paper. For "young grasshoppers" I don't discriminate between dark or very contrasting inks.

But I've never used Diamine Kelly Green, which is a very light green. Time to try the patience of my correspondents?

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For a personal letter to a friend or relative, use any color you want. If it's an iffy color or shade (you'll know it when you see it), tell your correspondent up front why you're using that ink and move on. If your rationale is easily explained and you explain it, go forth and write like hell. If you don't have a good explanation; or you might have one somewhere, but after having written the one you thought of, your explanation doesn't sound as good as you'd hoped it would, choose an ink that isn't smear-happy in a medium blue, dark blue, blue-black, or black.

 

 

 

(If you were writing to me, "I really love this ink" would be sufficient, no matter what color it was. I suspect that would be true of anyone getting a handwritten letter, assuming the ink had enough contrast to make it easy to read.)

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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As old Ben Disraeli said, "Never complain, never explain."

 

​Maybe he was an addled loon by the time he said that, but in Parliament he did nothing but explain, except when he was complaining. Then and now, politicians wouldn't get elected the first time without complaining and wouldn't get reelected without explaining. Hard to believe, too, that he wrote all those nonfiction works without using the opportunities to justify (i.e., explain) in advance any or all his political and foreign policy beliefs he hoped to implement.

 

​I'm sure his words drew sniggers and comments clucked behind a sniff when he wrote or said them. But explaining is what separates us from the animals. That and antiquing.

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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Humans are animals, of course, and probably the only kind that dilly on the internet. Proud creatures, us.

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Humans are animals, of course, and probably the only kind that dilly on the internet. Proud creatures, us.

 

​Good thing it hasn't been subject to popular vote. The dogs might stand by us. A smaller number of housecats. The other mammals might give us a sympathy vote. The overwhelming majority of "animals" would disown us.

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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​Good thing it hasn't been subject to popular vote. The dogs might stand by us. A smaller number of housecats. The other mammals might give us a sympathy vote. The overwhelming majority of "animals" would disown us.

Since we have been orchestrating a sixth great extinction, I wouldnt count on much sympathy. They'd kill us if they had more collective understanding.

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I think most people here are misguided in their advice of simply using whatever ink or ink color you feel like using. There's very much more to consider than what color to choose, because you're not corresponding with yourself. Correspondence involves you and the reader, so there should be some consideration for the other person. After all, you're writing to communicate with them, and you would want them to be amenable to what you're saying, rather than distracted or put off (or worst of all, insulted) by your ink choice. There are also times that your ink choice actually does matter, depending on the recipient and purpose of the letter.

 

So the ink I use to write to a Fortune 500 CEO seeking a donation for the non-profit where I volunteer will be decidedly different from the ink I use to write to my bestie who now lives five states over from me, and both of those will be different from what I send to my mother or to a professor.

 

For my bestie, the sky is the limit for color, although I try to make the choice at least medium in color saturation, because our eyes aren't getting any younger. Beyond that, she delights in getting any crazy color I can throw at her--Apache Sunset! Ooji Cherry! Diamine Pumpkin! De Atramentis Mahatma Gandhi! Pilot Iro Ku-Jaku! R&K Solferino! I can get away with this ink lunacy because we're still as silly about things like fun ink colors as we were when we first met, oh so long ago. That's why she's my bestie.

 

For my elderly mother, I don't have to be completely uptight, but because she's my mom, I don't feel comfortable being as free with her as I am with my best friend. That means muted colors like J Herbin Pousserie de Lune, Kobe Bordeaux, Maruzen Renga, Monteverde Jade Noir, or Diamine Chocolate Brown are perfect for correspondence with her. They're colors that convey respect and seriousness as befits my mother, while allowing me some individuality at the same time. For the holidays, though, she's like a kid, so she loves all my shimmer inks. Doesn't matter the shade. If they sparkle, she's delighted, although Emerald of Chivor is a perpetual favorite. She fell in love with it at first sight, so I usually have plenty of that in any holiday correspondence.

 

For most academic, business or other "let's be a little more serious" correspondence, I find that most of the blues, blacks and blue-blacks work perfectly for all occasions. You can push the envelope into the more muted colors like those I use with my mom in some environments. It depends, though. I've had situations or people with preferences that made it clear that it would have been completely unprofessional to use any colors other than blue or black. And I've had recipients, namely professors, who didn't care if I wrote in ketchup, as long as they could read what I'd written. You have to play any variations in this category on an individual basis.

 

For my most important business correspondence, I keep a bottle of Aurora black. It's a hardcore black that has little if any shading or color variation to it. And it looks C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E. It's scary corporate. Go look at my reply to Visvamitra's review of that ink for how scary I find it. But that it's so relentlessly corporate and button-down makes it exceedingly effective in numerous hyper-serious business applications. That Fortune 500 CEO? I got the donation we'd been trying to get for several months, because he not only appreciated the thoughtfulness of receiving a handwritten letter, but also because I hadn't insulted him by using a cutesie ink color. The no-nonsense black color conveyed my respect and the seriousness of my purpose in writing to him. Little things like that matter in that rarefied environment.

 

This isn't a slam against individuality. Like I said, I love to express myself as much as anyone else. But at the same time, I don't discount the bigger picture of how the needs or expectations of my recipient matter, too. Anything I can do to communicate with them more effectively only makes the correspondence better, and if that means reining in my ink choices a little or a lot to facilitate that communication, then it's a small price to pay.

Edited by Aquaria
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I differ and agree both, I suppose the recipient had more to do with what you want to use .. we all know some people can be a bit more sensitive ( which ever way ) than others ... and then there's the legibility of the text in concern .. its easy to forge that while we love some of our inks, those inks might not come out that great for the one who had to read the text though ... there's also concern of longevity ( if needed ) and how the piece of material would be delivered ( non waterproof ink in some case can be ruined before the letter get into the receipient's hand )

 

Any ink that can safely, effectively, and non intrusively communicate, that's what I would look for, and if the said ink can better convey the content and express myself the better; but those are secondary. technically I would want them to be able to handle abuse in the delivery and then some, and if the text can be made to last that much better

 

I guess you can guess that pretty much limit the choice, and yes that's what it is ...

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hola amigo

veo que tu también eres de Mexico, recuerda que aquí los colores oficiales son azul y negro, en los bancos no te reconocen ningún otro, y por lo que aprendimos en la escuela, escribir con tinta roja es de mala educación, para las cartas puedes usar colores como azules, cafés, verdes y purpuras, cualquier otro es muy mal visto en Mexico.

si gustas podemos cruzar correspondencia entre nosotros, yo estoy en un grupo español dono hacemos una cara al mes entre los miembros y es muy reconfortante el recibir misivas de la madre patria, ademas que se hacen muchas y nuevas amistades, ya que se siguen enviando cartas a parte de el que te toca cada mes a los anteriores que ya te enviaron y a los que tu enviaste.

 

quedo a tus ordenes

Saludos desde Mexico, "el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz entre los hombres"

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Aquaria i agree with you 100%

Saludos desde Mexico, "el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz entre los hombres"

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I've considered an alternative. A happy worker might be a productive worker; but anger/annoyance/resentment/indignation make excellent fuel for a writer, even a letter-writer. Use an ink that's readable that you can't stand and see what happens. It might be the best letter you ever wrote.

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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I think most people here are misguided in their advice of simply using whatever ink or ink color you feel like using. There's very much more to consider than what color to choose, because you're not corresponding with yourself. Correspondence involves you and the reader, so there should be some consideration for the other person. After all, you're writing to communicate with them, and you would want them to be amenable to what you're saying, rather than distracted or put off (or worst of all, insulted) by your ink choice. There are also times that your ink choice actually does matter, depending on the recipient and purpose of the letter.

 

So the ink I use to write to a Fortune 500 CEO seeking a donation for the non-profit where I volunteer will be decidedly different from the ink I use to write to my bestie who now lives five states over from me, and both of those will be different from what I send to my mother or to a professor.

 

For my bestie, the sky is the limit for color, although I try to make the choice at least medium in color saturation, because our eyes aren't getting any younger. Beyond that, she delights in getting any crazy color I can throw at her--Apache Sunset! Ooji Cherry! Diamine Pumpkin! De Atramentis Mahatma Gandhi! Pilot Iro Ku-Jaku! R&K Solferino! I can get away with this ink lunacy because we're still as silly about things like fun ink colors as we were when we first met, oh so long ago. That's why she's my bestie.

 

For my elderly mother, I don't have to be completely uptight, but because she's my mom, I don't feel comfortable being as free with her as I am with my best friend. That means muted colors like J Herbin Pousserie de Lune, Kobe Bordeaux, Maruzen Renga, Monteverde Jade Noir, or Diamine Chocolate Brown are perfect for correspondence with her. They're colors that convey respect and seriousness as befits my mother, while allowing me some individuality at the same time. For the holidays, though, she's like a kid, so she loves all my shimmer inks. Doesn't matter the shade. If they sparkle, she's delighted, although Emerald of Chivor is a perpetual favorite. She fell in love with it at first sight, so I usually have plenty of that in any holiday correspondence.

 

For most academic, business or other "let's be a little more serious" correspondence, I find that most of the blues, blacks and blue-blacks work perfectly for all occasions. You can push the envelope into the more muted colors like those I use with my mom in some environments. It depends, though. I've had situations or people with preferences that made it clear that it would have been completely unprofessional to use any colors other than blue or black. And I've had recipients, namely professors, who didn't care if I wrote in ketchup, as long as they could read what I'd written. You have to play any variations in this category on an individual basis.

 

For my most important business correspondence, I keep a bottle of Aurora black. It's a hardcore black that has little if any shading or color variation to it. And it looks C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E. It's scary corporate. Go look at my reply to Visvamitra's review of that ink for how scary I find it. But that it's so relentlessly corporate and button-down makes it exceedingly effective in numerous hyper-serious business applications. That Fortune 500 CEO? I got the donation we'd been trying to get for several months, because he not only appreciated the thoughtfulness of receiving a handwritten letter, but also because I hadn't insulted him by using a cutesie ink color. The no-nonsense black color conveyed my respect and the seriousness of my purpose in writing to him. Little things like that matter in that rarefied environment.

 

This isn't a slam against individuality. Like I said, I love to express myself as much as anyone else. But at the same time, I don't discount the bigger picture of how the needs or expectations of my recipient matter, too. Anything I can do to communicate with them more effectively only makes the correspondence better, and if that means reining in my ink choices a little or a lot to facilitate that communication, then it's a small price to pay.

 

fpn_1532975853__img_4524.jpg

 

fpn_1532975876__img_4525.jpg

 

fpn_1532975895__img_4526.jpg

"We are one."

 

– G'Kar, The Declaration of Principles

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IMHO, a guy should probably go with a blue, but not as dark and formal as Regency. Try Parker Penman Sapphire--it shows her you're willing to spend the big bucks on her--or one of its wannabes, like Monteverde Horizon Blue, Bungubox First Love Sapphire, or Diamine Blue Velvet.

 

A lady should use a purple or red ink. This demonstrates that she loves her guy enough to risk staining that pristine, heretofore uninked Vacumatic that she's been waiting for the right occasion to use. :P :wub: :lol:

 

:lticaptd:

Personally, I would use whatever the heck I felt like using on any particular day as long as it's (1) legible; (2) somewhat water resistant -- for addressing the envelope; and (3) didn't smudge on Tomoe River paper....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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(2) somewhat water resistant -- for addressing the envelope;

That's right, I forgot to say that I use iron gall ink for addressing the envelope. I've used non-water resistant inks a couple of times before but I was so nervous because of the sudden storms in my area that I covered the address with tape, but that's so unsightly so I stopped and resorted to using iron gall inks exclusively.

fpn_1502425191__letter-mini.png

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​Maybe he was an addled loon...

 

Come for the discussion, stay for the pedantry.

Edited by Manalto

James

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Come for the discussion, stay for the pedantry.

 

Chelsea Handler? Or Carrot Top?

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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If it is a card, I'll use something without feathering. If it is an envelope, I use Noodler's KTC. If it is just a quick letter, I will use whatever is on hand. If it is something a bit special, I'll use Noodler's Galileo Manuscript. If it is a very special letter, I will use some of my old antique ink, and I'll notate it in small letters on the back. For example: "written with Waterman's Tropic Green ink circa 1930's." They may never notice, but I've had people say they've saved my letter because I went out of my way to use such old ink. Just a nice touch.

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That's right, I forgot to say that I use iron gall ink for addressing the envelope. I've used non-water resistant inks a couple of times before but I was so nervous because of the sudden storms in my area that I covered the address with tape, but that's so unsightly so I stopped and resorted to using iron gall inks exclusively.

 

Or you could use whatever color you like to address the envelope then give it a blast or two of clear matte gloss spray paint, like I do. I use it front and back and it protects the ink and the contents from all that can go wrong with mailing letters.

 

As an ex-postal worker, I saw it all for what can happen to mail going through the system.

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fpn_1532975853__img_4524.jpg

fpn_1532975876__img_4525.jpg

 

 

 

Let me put it this way regarding being put off by an ink:

 

I know plenty of people who would find Diamine Hope Pink waaaaaaaayyyyyy too distracting or difficult to read for an entire letter, even if they liked the color. If they didn't like it, they could very well be exceedingly annoyed at its use. If I used it in a letter for nearly any man, rather than my best female friend, I can imagine that he would be put off by it, maybe even insulted.

 

And then there are people who have complex reasons for hating certain colors. My uncle couldn't stand to see certain shades of orange for several years after he received second- and third-degree burns from a fire on the ship where he served, because the orange triggered his memory of the fire that burned him. My grandparents even had to keep their gas heaters at the "blue flame" level, so that he wouldn't freak out on them. So sending him a letter written in an ink in that shade range of orange would not have had him receptive to what the letter had to say.

 

I've also known combat soldiers who had an aversion to anything resembling the color of blood for similar reasons, and military people who forever hate olive green because they saw way too much of it when they were in the service. I'm one of these. I'd like to think I'm rational enough to read what someone has to say even if they use olive green ink...But I know that the entire time I read such a letter, I'll be thinking, "I really hate this color," rather than paying closer attention to what the letter says.

 

So those are only a few occasions I can think of where recipients would definitely not be amenable to certain ink colors.

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