What Has Been Your Least Favorite Ink So Far?

[gyasko]

I don't like black ink, so really any black qualifies as a.least favorite. Gray ink has all the disadvantages of black with none of the advantages, so i never use that either.

 

In colors i do use, i don't like Waterman Blue Black at all. The greenish tones bug me.

[hu-327]

I've been using Lamy Charged Green to mix with other colors, so at least it's decent for that purpose. Very dry, as Lamy inks tend to run in my own experience, but adding a teensy bit of Kodak Photo-flo improved it a ton.

Edited April 8, 2019 by hu-327

[Honeybadgers]

What have you mixed charged green with, and what kind of colors have you made? I can't even imagine what to mix it with.

[bemon]

I don't like black ink, so really any black qualifies as a.least favorite. Gray ink has all the disadvantages of black with none of the advantages, so i never use that either.

 

In colors i do use, i don't like Waterman Blue Black at all. The greenish tones bug me.

Agreed. Black ink is super boring. I have one bottle of Aurora Black because I feel I should have a black ink tucked away just in case, but I've dipped into it twice in the last 4 years. I also dislike blue inks with green tones in them.

 

As for a single ink I've disliked the most, that's hard to say. I've disliked a lot of different inks for a lot of different reasons, but very seldom do I ink up a pen with a sample and say "eww" right off the bat.

 

Aesthetically, I guess Noodlers Rome Burning is up there. To me, this is like the "beige Corolla" of inks. I also thought it was super dry which I don't like. Characteristically, Aurora Blue-Black. This was a disappointment, because I really like the colour. I tried two different samples and they were both dry starters. This one sticks out in my mind because it bothers me that Aurora could produce such an excellent colour, but then fail to release a finished product. Finally, Noodlers Blue Upon the Plains of Abraham. I was never enamored with the colour, but wanted to own a Canadian exclusive. Thing is, no matter what pen I put this ink in, it's watery composition was such that it would feather to the extreme on my preferred notebooks. The opposite of Aurora Blue Black.

 

I've recentlly culled my ink collection from 67 bottles down to 10 core inks that are solid performers and personal favorites because of some combination of colour and/or handling characteristics.

[Antenociticus]

Noodler's Empire Red

[bemon]

At least it’s just the converter, right?a

Diamine Cerise. The converter inside one of my 3776s has been permanently colored pink, but the ink itself, once on paper, is neither water-resistant nor lightfast.

[inkstainedruth]

Noodler's Empire Red

 

Yeah, that one is pretty underwhelming, isn't it? De Atramentis Document Red is even worse.

I'm not sure how either gets classified as "red" though -- I would call both of them "salmon pink"....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[kestrel]

Unquestionably the deservedly discontinued Noodler's Highland Heather. It clogged every pen I tried with it. Dilution, Photo-flo, colorful metaphor laced language, threats all failed to make it usable. Afraid to add it to my septic tank I poured it out on a distant part of my yard and it killed the grass. Chilled Jello would have been more usable. And smelled better.

 

My one bottle of Concord Bream was so pale it was unusable but that may have been an anomalous bottle.

 

My bottle of Private Reserve Black Cherry changed to the same color as the solid material my cats leave in the litter box within a year.

[kl005]

Not much in an ink connoisseur here; I tend to stick with blues. Out of all the inks I've bought, I only didn't like Waterman Mysterious Blue (aka. Blue-black). It wrote fine and behaved well, just that I didn't like the colour. Not bashing the ink, it's definitely a personal preference thing here.

[loganrah]

Definitely Noodler's Burma Road Brown. I wrote one test sentence and then flushed that right out... To be fair I could perhaps see a use if one was drawing and wanted to match some particular natural colours, but I can't see any writing situation in which anyone would want that colour.

[hu-327]

What have you mixed charged green with, and what kind of colors have you made? I can't even imagine what to mix it with.

I mixed it with a messy sample vial that already had OS Alanine and RO Blue Moon mixed inside and made some pretty dry-writing green that was a lighter shade than normal green. Unfortunately most of the sheen (pretty limited in Alanine to begin with) and sparkle from the OS and RO disappeared or became significantly harder to view without a bright light source at an odd angle. Also accidentally mixed with Iroshizuku Yama-Budo (forgot to flush out my Lamy LX, oops) to make a sandy-orange-brown. I don't really know how to describe it. I suppose you could make some better colors with something specific in mind but I only did so because I was bored and couldn't imagine any alternative results turning out worse but I'm satisfied with the result.

[NeverTapOut]

Hi.

 

I bought 2 different Robert Oster Inks. I like the ink characteristics. My problem with the inks were they looked nothing like the color swatches or descriptions. The only reason I can figure is that they are handmade.

 

The first ink was Purple Rock...This should be a Purple Gray. What I received was a gray ink...no purple undertones at all.

 

The second Ink was Purple Jazz...This should be a Purple Violet...What I received was a blue ink...almost a light blue...again no real purple at all.

 

The inks did not match the color sample on top of the bottle. Maybe someone put the wrong labels on the bottles...I don't know. Live and learn.

 

Regards,

 

David

[displacermoose]

Hi.

 

I bought 2 different Robert Oster Inks. I like the ink characteristics. My problem with the inks were they looked nothing like the color swatches or descriptions. The only reason I can figure is that they are handmade.

 

The first ink was Purple Rock...This should be a Purple Gray. What I received was a gray ink...no purple undertones at all.

 

The second Ink was Purple Jazz...This should be a Purple Violet...What I received was a blue ink...almost a light blue...again no real purple at all.

 

The inks did not match the color sample on top of the bottle. Maybe someone put the wrong labels on the bottles...I don't know. Live and learn.

 

Regards,

 

David

That's been my experience with Robert Oster as well. The plus side is that when I've gotten samples and then moved to bottles they have matched. This happens with many brands, but seems particularly marked with RO.

 

BTW, if you're after a purple grey you might want to try purple soul. I've been working my way through a sample and have found it quite lovely, although more blurple grey than purple. It does this thing where it goes on the paper purple and then morphs as it dries in a way that is both soothing and fascinating. It's in the running for Sailor Chushu replacement.

[NeverTapOut]

That's been my experience with Robert Oster as well. The plus side is that when I've gotten samples and then moved to bottles they have matched. This happens with many brands, but seems particularly marked with RO.

 

BTW, if you're after a purple grey you might want to try purple soul. I've been working my way through a sample and have found it quite lovely, although more blurple grey than purple. It does this thing where it goes on the paper purple and then morphs as it dries in a way that is both soothing and fascinating. It's in the running for Sailor Chushu replacement.

 

Funny you should say that...Sailor Chu Shu is one of my favorite inks.

Regards,

David

[ENewton]

That's been my experience with Robert Oster as well. The plus side is that when I've gotten samples and then moved to bottles they have matched. This happens with many brands, but seems particularly marked with RO.

 

BTW, if you're after a purple grey you might want to try purple soul. I've been working my way through a sample and have found it quite lovely, although more blurple grey than purple. It does this thing where it goes on the paper purple and then morphs as it dries in a way that is both soothing and fascinating. It's in the running for Sailor Chushu replacement.

 

 

I was tempted by Purple Soul but then read a review (of Purple Jazz, which is apparently the same ink) revealing that it's one of the Oster purples that lean toward green:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/325449-robert-oster-purple-jazz-a-horse-of-a-different-color/

[kulnet]

My least favorite ink that I have used thus far would have to be Montblanc Miles Davis. It was way too light to the point where I could barely read it.

[vojtahlad]

Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. It feathers and bleeds like crazy, the color is much lighter than I expected from the reviews and generally unattractive.

[Bo Bo Olson]

"""Afraid to add it to my septic tank I poured it out on a distant part of my yard and it killed the grass. """

:lticaptd:Now that must be the worlds worse ink..........

""Unquestionably the deservedly discontinued Noodler's Highland Heather. It clogged every pen I tried with it. Dilution, Photo-flo, colorful metaphor laced language, threats all failed to make it usable.""

 

Well Noodlers has gotten cheap over here in Germany down from E22 to E 19 and now down to @ E14.....There are two Noodler inks from a long time ago, I'd want..........but really don't have the time to go through the now 600 inks to see which are good shaders. I do have two, Apache Sunset & Golden Brown...shades well but takes a full page of writing on another sheet of paper to dry enough to write on the back.

[Guardy]

Pelikan 4001 brilliant red. It's not lightfast, it feathers, it bleeds, it never properly cleans out of a pen again, I have a sneaking suspicion that at least the older recipes ate through pistons, and it also looks really danged ugly.

 

I'm also not a fan of 4001 royal blue, but that's probably just because I used it for far too long and got fed up with it. Oh, and its complete lack of permanence is a bit of a pain as well.

 

Diamine Oxblood has the loveliest color I've ever seen, but it tends to crystallize in the pens and it's just too fussy. Same goes for Standardgraph Burgundy.

 

Seems like red inks are a bit of a dicey matter in general.

[City74]

This might be a surprise but Noodlers Bernanke Black is a bottle I wouldn’t buy again. It just felt grainy compared to others I have tried