Gray Green Inks For Vintage Celluloid Pens

[sombrueil]

I ordered a bottle of Southside Park Fern Moss from Birmingham Pens (and a bottle of Fred Rogers Cardigan Red, could not resist the color or the name). So many inks to try! The world is aswirl.

[pgcauk]

That's a beautiful collection Michael R!

From my personal quest for "Stone Greens":

+1 on Cement Grey, Dark Reseda & Fern Moss + throw in Kobe #45 Hachibuse Silhouette.

My #1 would still be Organics Studio Walt Whitman for dip pen, but I can't trust it in a fountain 😕.

Once I'm off my phone and on the 'pooter I'll post a few smears.

Sigh -Jonathan Swift- sigh! I wish I'd picked this up (alongside Daniel Defoe) whilst readily available.

[pgcauk]

Here's three froggies:

Edited January 21, 2019 by pgcauk

[sombrueil]

Here's three froggies:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1546368295__three_stone_green_frogs.jpg

 

I like both of them.

[mannschott]

Have you considered J Herbin Vert Empire?

[sombrueil]

Yes, I think I even had a bottle of Vert Empire once. As I remember it is more green than gray. I wasn't so much into the murk then as I am now.

Question about Diamine Racing Green -- I vaguely remember there were issues with it when it first came out, staining and SITB, have those gone away?

[pgcauk]

Here's a bit more nit-pickery from me! I couldn't call the scans accurate but I think they give some sense of relative value?

[pgcauk]

[pgcauk]

The Kobe remains a mystery, enter the Big Duke with the Fude nib:

Edited January 21, 2019 by pgcauk

[pgcauk]

One last set of smears: "Sea Glass and Bottle Greens":

Dark Reseda, Jean Jaques Rousseau, Hachibuse Silhouette, Fern Moss and (Dirty Cyan) Rachel Carson Silent Spring.
I'm starting to think they work better in complement than individually (my excuse for failing to get my "currently inked" total towards a reasonable number!)

Edited January 21, 2019 by pgcauk

[sansenri]

R&K Verdigris looks grey-green to me, and especially you can't go wrong with it even in a celluloid pen, R&K inks are considered to be among the safest.

 

(btw, pgcauk you have some lovely greens there!)

[sombrueil]

Wow. Very helpful.

[DrScholl]

Hello

I own both cement grey which is of of my favorite greys, a grey with green tones, and reseda green, a green with greyish hues. I find both inks extremely well behaved, with a perfect flow like most De Atramentis, and nice shading...

And know I have to try Fern Moss because of this topic , still trying to decide with other samples to order to make worthwhile the murdering 20$ shipping to Europe...

 

Here a small test I posted on the french forum www.stylo-plume.org (Charles Dickens = cement grey, Dunkelresedagrün = reseda green) :

 

http://lezardblues.free.fr/stylos/Autres_couleurs/3_verts3.jpg

Edited January 26, 2019 by DrScholl

[pgcauk]

Very nice DrScholl! Particularly helpful to distinguish the newbie Vert de Gris from good old Vert Empire (the original "hidden" green?).

I have been playing with my "beloved but unusable" Walt Whitman again - it really is my favorite hue.

When a recent nib order included an unasked for eyedropper pen as a bonus item, after my first "I don't need another pen!" reaction I decided I may as well give it a go with inks filed away as unusable. Willow Green was as cloggy as ever but Walt Whitman, which I had filtered and added Smirnoff to but was too nervous to put in a fountain pen, is still writing nicely after two days - cross fingers emoji!!

I remember why I love Walt Whitman so: it has elements of green, blue, grey and brown, giving a lovely stormy soft ambiguity without resolving warm or cool. By contrast:

Fern Moss is softer and cool, grey green blue without the brown.

Jean Jaques is olive earth.

Dark Reseda is bottle green, although surprisingly grey.

Hachibuse Silhouette is actually quite close but dark and stern.

If I could get Walt to be a trustworthy companion I could theoretically survive with just one green 😶, otherwise I like to keep at least one "stone green" (resolves grey) and one "earth green" (resolving brown).

In the "earth green" category I would also rate Stipula Calamo Verde Muschiato, which has more yellow, and Rikyu Cha, which doesn't fit any system!

It's a subtle territory, but none of these I count as equivalent.

Edited January 26, 2019 by pgcauk

[pgcauk]

Evidence to support the above:

- one more and I'll stop now I promise!

btw Dr Scholl - I would be happy to send you a sample of Fern Moss (I bought a reserve bottle!) if you private message me your address - scans are particularly deceptive on this one!

[sombrueil]

My Southside Park Fern Moss came, was inked up, and turned out to be very satisfying. Thank you all!

I do think that it isn't any color of ferns or moss that I've observed. A "stone green" as was said. It reminds me of the jadeite you can pick up on some Big Sur beaches. In my fine nibs it reads very gray, yet subtly green too. A fine ink.

[VivaTerlingua]

My Southside Park Fern Moss came, was inked up, and turned out to be very satisfying. Thank you all!

 

I do think that it isn't any color of ferns or moss that I've observed. A "stone green" as was said. It reminds me of the jadeite you can pick up on some Big Sur beaches. In my fine nibs it reads very gray, yet subtly green too. A fine ink.

 

Definitely one of my favorites from the Birmingham line, I think it will behave nicely with your vintage pens too. Good choice!

[DrScholl]

pgcauk you can keep going these are beautiful !

 

While I am conscious that sombrueil is happy with his Park Fern Moss, I found another green sample I had not tried yet, so I might as well finish the comparison.

It's De Atramentis Magische Geister, a green not unlike R&K Alt-Goldgrün but with more greyish hints. Here it is among the other suspects, with a drawing...

And thanks for the offer I'll PM you soon

 

http://lezardblues.free.fr/stylos/Autres_couleurs/DA_magische2.jpg

[pgcauk]

Very pleased that Sombrueil is content with their Fern Moss - I was nervous on that one as the scans give it a prettiness that is not present in the flesh - fundamentally a cool grey, only green by comparison?

I have been on that beach and picked up that jadite! (I only found out afterwards you're meant to leave it be!)

Dr. Scholl it looks like Magische Geister is yet another label option for the ink I have as both Marone and Jean Jaques Rousseau, and which I called "olive earth" above. This has become my favorite writing ink, not for any spectacular qualities but rather for it's quiet ambiguity. It's either wonderfully subtle or "dirty rinse water" - I choose the former!

I wouldn't attempt to purchase this from any supplier without checking that is the greenish-earth version, as the same labels are now used for what used to be reddish "sepia brown".

There's no one can match De Atramentis for labelling confusion! (Some lovely inks though!)

Edited February 9, 2019 by pgcauk

[pgcauk]

So I circled back around to Kobe #49 (I have been dithering over Robert Oster's Moss for years!), and was rather pleased with how grey that one is too!

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/344026-kobe-45-and-49-two-stone-greens/