Jump to content

The ‘Right’ Way To Do Ink Reviews To Serve One's Curiosity And Interests?


A Smug Dill

Recommended Posts

He does a British voice for this randy professor lobster, which I find very funny.

 

Yes he is really funny, I like his pen reviews too. Sandy1 adds a bit of wit as well which adds nicely to her thorough ink analysis. Humor can be a great addition to an ink review, no doubt. :thumbup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 200
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • A Smug Dill

    63

  • Tom Kellie

    24

  • TSherbs

    19

  • DrDebG

    10

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

To be honest, I don't recall seeing too many examples of such a tool being used to produce graduated and/or multi-pass colour swatches; most of what I've seen of such looks like they were produced with q-tips or the like, and the stripes on ink with neat edges are usually single-pass.

 

 

SBRE Brown, Matt from the pen habit, and David from figboot, as well as mike mattison ( think his name is) all do it. I just didn't think to mention it because it's not something I find relevant in an ink review. I never see an ink used in a multi-pass regard outside of art, where there is usually washing (rendering the Q tip more valuable) so, personally, I don't find it useful.

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never see an ink used in a multi-pass regard outside of art,

Firstly, multi-pass of ink at a given spot does occur in writing, even in English – when writing lowercase 'f' and 't', and I don't know about you, but it happens when I write uppercase 'A' and 'H', etc. – but especially in Asian langauges (Chinese hanzi, Japanese kana and kanji, and so on).

 

Secondly, my goal is to show some semblance of a scale of how the particular ink will look at different levels of 'wetness'. I don't care about anyone's particular EDC pen (or any other pen) or how the ink will appear in writing coming out of it, but I do care about showing the range of colours (hue, saturation and intensity) an ink can display on the page, and leave it to the interested prospective user to find the right pen/nib and paper combination to elicit the desired colour(s) within that range from the ink.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your first point is kind of moot. a crossed t, f, are not really good examples, a nib backfilling is not the same as multiple passes (I've done plenty of art with inks myself, layering dry inks is not going to give the same result as wet on wet. wet on wet painting vs wet on dry yield very different results)

 

That said, your second point is actually pretty insightful. I don't agree that it'll be as accurate as a writing sample or heavy wet application vs dry, but I do think it's not a bad way to show saturation at multiple levels of nib wetness. that's a good point I hadn't considered.

 

I have a question, how many damn languages do you speak? :lol:

Edited by Honeybadgers

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a question, how many damn languages do you speak?

Just two: English and (the Cantonese dialect of) Chinese.

 

I can 'write' Japanese kana (which is analogous to the alphabet in English), as in I know what each character looks likes and the stroke order for putting it on paper, and how to pronounce it, but I cannot read a piece of text in Japanese per se; I may rely on understanding Japanese kanji (literally, 'Chinese characters') using my knowledge of written Chinese to get the general gist of signs and short notices, but sometimes I get things wrong.

 

So, essentially I can copy a piece of Japanese writing if it is shown to me, but chances are I won't fully understand what it means.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@pjford, what has that got to do with (amateur/'casual') users doing ink reviews? Or is that your suggestion for achieving, maintaining and/or improving efficiency in producing user reviews of individual inks?

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I find relevant about Mr. Ford’s inclusion of the nib demos is the way it shows different shades of the same ink depending on nib type.

Reviews and articles on Fountain Pen Network

 

CHINA, JAPAN, AND INDIA

Hua Hong Blue Belter | Penbbs 456 | Stationery | ASA Nauka in Dartmoor and Ebonite | ASA Azaadi | ASA Bheeshma | ASA Halwa | Ranga Model 8 and 8b | Ranga Emperor

ITALY AND THE UK

FILCAO Roxi | FILCAO Atlantica | Italix Churchman's Prescriptor

USA, INK, AND EXPERIMENTS

Bexley Prometheus | Route 54 Motor Oil | Black Swan in Icelandic Minty Bathwater | Robert Oster Aqua | Diamine Emerald Green | Mr. Pen Radiant Blue | Three Oysters Giwa | Flex Nib Modifications | Rollstoppers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Bobje,

 

Shading is less of a function of the (physically measurable) nib width, or the angle at which the tip is cut, or whether the corners of the nib are sharp or rounded, than it is that of the 'wetness' of a nib.

 

As far as I'm concerned, as a reviewer and a fountain pen user, it is far more meaningful to show a range of different nibs that lay down similar line widths, and whether the colour and shading appear differently for them. It shows the potential of the ink – nay, more than that; it demonstrates what has been actually achieved by at least one user (i.e. the reviewer), not just the theoretical potential, and not just under the manufacturer's particular set of controlled conditions in its laboratory.

 

There is no point for me to close/narrow the gap between which equipment and materials I use for an ink review, and with/on what a (or every) faceless prospective reader of the review may have in mind to use the ink. It's up to the reader to extrapolate based on the data and information presented, without any assurance that the guesswork will be correct or accurate. It has been suggested to me that the review methodology ought to be clearly spelt out for the reader, and I think that is useful, so that a reader could attempt to replicate the results using the same methodology – including type of equipment, material, and technique used – if he/she desires to obtain the same results out of the ink as has been demonstrated in the review. Whether the individual reader wants to use the same type of nib, or paper, or handwriting style as the reviewer for his/her own use cases is irrelevant to the purpose and production of an ink review.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has been suggested to me that the review methodology ought to be clearly spelt out for the reader, and I think that is useful, so that a reader could attempt to replicate the results using the same methodology – including type of equipment, material, and technique used – if he/she desires to obtain the same results out of the ink as has been demonstrated in the review. Whether the individual reader wants to use the same type of nib, or paper, or handwriting style as the reviewer for his/her own use cases is irrelevant to the purpose and production of an ink review.

 

I'm not interested in reading your methodology for the purpose of reproducing your review. However, a writeup of the methodology is very interesting to me for a different reason: I can consider which aspects of your review are directly relevant to me, which might need some "translation" before being relevant to me, and which aspects might be even remotely predictive for me. I originally wrote "not useful", but that's not correct: I can find an ink review "useful" for entertainment or aesthetic value, even if it's not remotely predictive of what I might see.

 

Also, you're putting a fair amount of thought into this (both your own ideas, and feedback from others), and a summary of methodology is basically a distillation of all the conversations that led up to that point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds good, Dill. Looking forward to reading your reviews.

Reviews and articles on Fountain Pen Network

 

CHINA, JAPAN, AND INDIA

Hua Hong Blue Belter | Penbbs 456 | Stationery | ASA Nauka in Dartmoor and Ebonite | ASA Azaadi | ASA Bheeshma | ASA Halwa | Ranga Model 8 and 8b | Ranga Emperor

ITALY AND THE UK

FILCAO Roxi | FILCAO Atlantica | Italix Churchman's Prescriptor

USA, INK, AND EXPERIMENTS

Bexley Prometheus | Route 54 Motor Oil | Black Swan in Icelandic Minty Bathwater | Robert Oster Aqua | Diamine Emerald Green | Mr. Pen Radiant Blue | Three Oysters Giwa | Flex Nib Modifications | Rollstoppers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds good, Dill. Looking forward to reading your reviews.

Thanks. I have posted a few 'incomplete' ones so far, because I haven't quite worked out what a 'full' review in my book ought to and can viably include, and the methodology for producing all of it.

 

Right now my writing hand is a bit handicapped and I cannot write more than four lines at a time without exacerbating the injury. It's most frustrating!

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

please show us the review already.

As I said above, I've already done a few 'incomplete'/'quickie' ink reviews last month and posted them on FPN. I can't do any this month because of tendonitis in my writing hand, and I'll be away from home for a few weeks from the end of this month.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

This is a really interesting thread. Great questions.

 

I've been reading a lot of ink reviews these last few months. I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to share their experiences with the inks.

 

Some of the things I like to see

 

  • how the ink performs on different papers (including cheap stuff)
  • what the reviewer's experience is after having written with the ink for a week or so.
  • Follow up data, especially for inks that are supposed to change over time.
  • what things the reviewer felt were relevant to a good ink.
  • what situation they use the ink for
  • how the ink responds to a highlighter

I also really appreciate the waterproof testing. Something to add to that would be waterproof testing within a few minutes of writing, and another waterproof test when the writing is at least 24 hours old.

 

 

petrichor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of the things I like to see

Thank you for your ideas about what you'd like to see in ink reviews, which I assume match your interests as an ink reviewer, and therefore what you would work into your ink review methodology to cover prospectively. :)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I plan to do ink reviews soon - that's why I'm reading so many.

 

One of the things I wonder about is colour accuracy. When I take a photo of something for size, I put a rule near it for scale. Is there some sort of tool like this to help calibrate colour accuracy?

petrichor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

One of the things I wonder about is colour accuracy. When I take a photo of something for size, I put a rule near it for scale. Is there some sort of tool like this to help calibrate colour accuracy?

 

Then may I suggest you calibrate your monitor in addition to adding an 11 step gray scale to the review

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

This is a really interesting thread. Great questions.

 

I've been reading a lot of ink reviews these last few months. I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to share their experiences with the inks.

 

Some of the things I like to see

 

  • how the ink performs on different papers (including cheap stuff)
  • what the reviewer's experience is after having written with the ink for a week or so.
  • Follow up data, especially for inks that are supposed to change over time.
  • what things the reviewer felt were relevant to a good ink.
  • what situation they use the ink for
  • how the ink responds to a highlighter

I also really appreciate the waterproof testing. Something to add to that would be waterproof testing within a few minutes of writing, and another waterproof test when the writing is at least 24 hours old.

 

~ the-smell-of-dust-after-rain:

 

Thank you for your comments above. They're helpful to me.

I'd never considered the effect of a highlighter, as I've never used one on anything written in ink.

Waterproof testing baffles me, which reflect how little I know. I've never been in any situation where water affected ink on paper.

Your comments about follow-up data, and the experience with an ink after one week make excellent sense to me.

After reading through this thread one takeaway idea is that of using a Medium nib in a review. I'd neglected to consider how that might be helpful to others.

I hope that you did finally post an ink review. If so, I've somehow overlooked it.

Tom K.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...