In Praise Of Boring Inks.

[Karmachanic]

Seitz-Kreuznach Navy Blue

Octopus Schwarz

[chromantic]

I always imagined blue-black would be boring but then I tried a couple.

[WLSpec]

I do love Waterman Serenity Blue.

[Jared]

I think we're all attracted to reliable, low-maintenance inks. While I love the look of some of my exotic colors and inks, I don't use them enough to place in my rotation due to their inability to perform well in my piston-filled Pelikans (another reliable workhorse). My exotic inks are like a classic vintage car that sits in the garage, and which I drive on rare occasion, but would never get rid of.

 

Waterman & Pilot have been my regular go-to inks lately.

 

I'd rather have a boring ink in a cool bottle, like Akkerman.

[gyasko]

Im most concerned with legibility. There are colors that work for a line or two but not for a whole page, and some really shouty colors are best restricted to editing and correcting. I use a lot of iron gall blue blacks because i like the way they look on the page; theyre easy on the eyes. However, they do require a little more in the maintenance department.

[Bill_D]

I agree with the OP's appreciation of so-called boring inks, and his thought that there should be a different word than boring. In my mind, I categorize inks as pages inks, paragraph inks, and sentence inks. I have scores of journals in which I have written with dozens of different inks. There are some inks that I love for extensive editing or margin notes, like Iroshizuku yama-budo. But when you fill page after page with yama-budo, it becomes difficult to read. Yama-budo holds up well for a paragraph or so before it becomes too much, so I consider it a paragraph ink. Some of the more vibrant reds or purples are great for minor edits or a sentence or two, which I consider sentence inks. Then there are inks that, in small quantities appear boring, but stretched our over several journal pages have a pleasing and easy-to-read look. In that category, I put Lamy blue, Iroshizuku tsuyu-kusa, Pilot blue and blue-black, and Waterman blue or blue-black. Those inks may not pop from the page from the first mark, but they look great when used in quantity. In my experience, the best pages inks tend to be those thought of as boring.

[XYZZY]

I agree with the OP's appreciation of so-called boring inks, and his thought that there should be a different word than boring. In my mind, I categorize inks as pages inks, paragraph inks, and sentence inks. I have scores of journals in which I have written with dozens of different inks. There are some inks that I love for extensive editing or margin notes, like Iroshizuku yama-budo. But when you fill page after page with yama-budo, it becomes difficult to read. Yama-budo holds up well for a paragraph or so before it becomes too much, so I consider it a paragraph ink. Some of the more vibrant reds or purples are great for minor edits or a sentence or two, which I consider sentence inks. Then there are inks that, in small quantities appear boring, but stretched our over several journal pages have a pleasing and easy-to-read look. In that category, I put Lamy blue, Iroshizuku tsuyu-kusa, Pilot blue and blue-black, and Waterman blue or blue-black. Those inks may not pop from the page from the first mark, but they look great when used in quantity. In my experience, the best pages inks tend to be those thought of as boring.

 

I like how you think about that. I think this is a good mental model to help categorize some of my own inky feelings. For example, Yama-budo is the bestest, but I definitely wouldn't want to read pages of it.

[Eclipse157]

... Iroshizuku tsuyu-kusa,...

 

 

THE most underrated of the Iroshizukus, a masterpiece of beauty in the ordinary. I love it to pieces.

[Bill_D]

 

THE most underrated of the Iroshizukus, a masterpiece of beauty in the ordinary. I love it to pieces.

You are preaching to the choir. I love that ink as well and I can't fathom why it does not get discussed more often.

[Phormula]

Fantastic thread!

 

My boring ink is the European ink by definition. Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue.

The ink that can be bought in the 6-cartridge box in any stationery store all over Europe and in most cases also in the 1fl oz. inkwell.

This is the ink that primary students that still are asked to write with a fountain pen use.

Second one is the Lamy blue, for those who use Lamy pens.

 

These inks are so ubiquitous that they go unnoticed and so problem free that if I have a pen that has problems with Royal Blue, 99.99% the problem lies in the pen.

Andl, like any good workhorses, they have been imitated by supermarket private label brands, stationery brands, ... all of them sell their own royal blue, which is a slightly variation of the Pelikan one.

Last but not least, it can be cancelled with the eradicator, leaving my notes tidy.

 

We use so much of this ink at the office that I reverted to the 1 Liter bottle, found online for 20 Euro.

[TSherbs]

 

We use so much of this ink at the office that I reverted to the 1 Liter bottle, found online for 20 Euro.

Wow. That's a volume discount!

[Manalto]

Inks are like shoes, first and foremost, a utilitarian conveyance. Whether quiet and understated or bold and brash, they must be of decent quality to function well. They're never boring; when the occasion allows for pizazz, restraint is always in good taste.

[hbdk]

I know a lot of people here find blue, black and blueblack inks to be boring. If so, I have a LOT of boring inks

[MBDostoevsky]

Pelikan Brilliant Red

Pelikan Brilliant Green

Pelikan Royal Blue

 

I haven't tried their Blue-Black or Black ... but I have a similar feeling about them!

[bayindirh]

Pelikan Brilliant Red

Pelikan Brilliant Green

Pelikan Royal Blue

 

I haven't tried their Blue-Black or Black ... but I have a similar feeling about them!

What's your feeling? Do you like them?

[dhanks]

P

 

What's your feeling? Do you like them?

 

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black and Blue-Black inks are my favorite inks. I've used them for decades and have never had a problem with them. And the Blue-Black looks really nice coming from a wet and juicy Pelikan nib.

 

Rumpole

[MBDostoevsky]

I do love Waterman Serenity Blue.

 

This ink is awesome... i just love using it... but i have stopped using it till I find a new bottle...

[MBDostoevsky]

What's your feeling? Do you like them?

 

No... I don't like the Brilliant Green, Brilliant Red or Royal blue... very low on saturation and after dry down they become dull...

 

The Turquoise is a lovely color... a must try...

[basterma]

I don't normally fawn over inks. My criteria is to use whatever I can find in stores around me. I also prefer that I can use an ink eradicator to make corrections. Consequently, my inks are ones not discussed too much. Hero's blue 233 and their Dux sub-brand blue-black are the main ones for me at the moment. Sheaffer blue as well as Parker Blue. I also like Schneider and Maped blue cartridges. I bought some Paper Mate pens recently, and they came with blue-black cartridges that were quite nice as well. I am not a big fan of the Hero cartridge inks as they are slick and write really well, but the shading is not there for me.

[Bookman]

I do love Waterman Serenity Blue.

 

It's my favorite ink by any measure.