Great Idea From My Local Fountain Pen, Ink, & Stationary Store

[PithyProlix]

By 'my local fountain pen, ink, & stationary store' I mean the only one that I know about in Thailand: The PIPS Café. Which is actually still about 900 km away from me. :/

Anyhow, along with the paper that I ordered from them - my first - they sent this - real writing samples of 16 different inks on Tomoe River paper. All of them are interesting, attractive colors. Pretty cool! I've actually been thinking about buying one of them ... and now I want another one or two (or three or four ) of these.

(Sorry my photo isn't so great.)

Edited October 19, 2020 by PithyProlix

[lapis]

That is a truly great and generous way to advertise! Above all, a really well-varied collection of good, different, world-wide manufacturers!! Good way to cover the 900 km!!!

[inkstainedruth]

That's excellent marketing on their part -- they show actual writing examples as well as just swabs.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Eclipse157]

What a nice touch!

[RJS]

That's excellent marketing on their part -- they show actual writing examples as well as just swabs.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Actually I think those are scribbles (I don't know if there's a technical name) rather than swabs. I infinitely prefer scribbles because they demonstrate what the colour looks like out of a pen, while swabs are misleading unless someone wants to paint with the ink. Drives me nuts when swabs are compared and the ink names next to the swan aren't even written in the ink! Haha

[PithyProlix]

Actually I think those are scribbles (I don't know if there's a technical name) rather than swabs. I infinitely prefer scribbles because they demonstrate what the colour looks like out of a pen, while swabs are misleading unless someone wants to paint with the ink. Drives me nuts when swabs are compared and the ink names next to the swan aren't even written in the ink! Haha

 

Yep - that's right - they are scribbles. While they can be nice to look at I don't think swabs are all that helpful. Unless you intend to pool the ink onto your paper, I guess. My preference is to see the ink with a fine nib, a stub nib - best if it is written in italic, and a broad calligraphy nib.

 

I don't have any experience with sheening inks - well, more accurately, until yesterday I haven't had any paper that would bring out the sheen. It is interesting to me that the sheen flows across contiguous lines of the scribble much as you would expect to see with a swab. In my picture above take a look at Diamine Majestic Blue and Vinta Teal, for instance. I am guessing the ink is going down thick with the sheening part of the ink pooling up on top of the rest of the ink. Then the sheening part of the ink flows across the rest of the ink. Does that seem right?

Edited October 20, 2020 by PithyProlix

[Bill P]

Actually I think those are scribbles (I don't know if there's a technical name) rather than swabs. I infinitely prefer scribbles because they demonstrate what the colour looks like out of a pen, while swabs are misleading unless someone wants to paint with the ink. Drives me nuts when swabs are compared and the ink names next to the swan aren't even written in the ink! Haha

Totally agree with the above. I have never seen the value of a swab....I don't swab when I write with a Pen, and I only use Fountain Pen ink in a Fountain Pen or a Rollerball....so why a Swab? Plus in my experience a swab can be very misleading , and not at all representative of how an ink will look coming out of a Pen onto paper.

[A Smug Dill]

I am guessing the ink is going down thick with the sheening part of the ink pooling up on top of the rest of the ink. Then the sheening part of the ink flows across the rest of the ink. Does that seem right?

 

It's just ink that dried unabsorbed into the paper fibres (or whatever is the substrate) and remained strictly on the surface, and reflects incident light in such a way to show a different colour from the ink's base colour. You don't have to have a thick layer of ink for that to happen. Some types of coating on paper can prevent or retard ink absorption; 'waterproof' stone paper isn't absorbent; and you can even see sheen from dried ink on the rims and thread on glass ink bottles.

Edited October 20, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[PithyProlix]

It's just ink that dried unabsorbed into the paper fibres (or whatever is the substrate) and remained strictly on the surface, and reflects incident light in such a way to show a different colour from the ink's base colour. You don't have to have a thick layer of ink for that to happen. Some types of coating on paper can prevent or retard ink absorption; 'waterproof' stone paper isn't absorbent; and you can even see sheen from dried ink on the rims and thread on glass ink bottles.

 

Yeah, I get that. I don't understand how the sheen clusters together over a 'scribble'. Take a look at the Vinta Teal - the sheen clusters together from line to line over a number of lines. Is it a function of variations in the paper's surface?

[A Smug Dill]

I don't understand how the sheen clusters together over a 'scribble'. Take a look at the Vinta Teal - the sheen clusters together from line to line over a number of lines.

 

 

Ink takes time to dry. If you draw two touching or intersecting lines quickly, then the yet-to-dry bit of ink from the first line will merge with the wet ink on the second line, resulting in some ink pooling that is more likely to leave some ink to dry unabsorbed along the outlines of those pools. If you 'scribble' quickly enough with the lines touching each other, then you'll create pools that span multiple indistinct lines.

[RJS]

 

Yep - that's right - they are scribbles. While they can be nice to look at I don't think swabs are all that helpful. Unless you intend to pool the ink onto your paper, I guess. My preference is to see the ink with a fine nib, a stub nib - best if it is written in italic, and a broad calligraphy nib.

I think the scribbles are indicative of the colour you'd get when writing with a wet pen, be it fine or otherwise. My preference is for written samples too, but the scribbles are pretty reliable as to colour, unlike the darned swabs. Plus if you like to see if there is a sheen, a scribble better displays the sheen than anything short of an ink blob.

[PithyProlix]

 

 

Ink takes time to dry. If you draw two touching or intersecting lines quickly, then the yet-to-dry bit of ink from the first line will merge with the wet ink on the second line, resulting in some ink pooling that is more likely to leave some ink to dry unabsorbed along the outlines of those pools. If you 'scribble' quickly enough with the lines touching each other, then you'll create pools that span multiple indistinct lines.

 

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

[Tasmith]

Great idea!

[A. Remesal]

On 10/19/2020 at 4:22 PM, PithyProlix said:

By 'my local fountain pen, ink, & stationary store' I mean the only one that I know about in Thailand: The PIPS Café. Which is actually still about 900 km away from me. :/

 

Anyhow, along with the paper that I ordered from them - my first - they sent this - real writing samples of 16 different inks on Tomoe River paper. All of them are interesting, attractive colors. Pretty cool! I've actually been thinking about buying one of them ... and now I want another one or two (or three or four ) of these.

 

(Sorry my photo isn't so great.)

 

 

Yes, they send this with every order - even if you order just a bottle of ink. I assume they are ink fanatics as we are, so that's their excuse to try and test all and every ink in their hands 😄

 

As you said 900Km... if you're living in Chiang Mai, there's a guy who sells ink, paper and some pens (Kaweco, Faber-Castell, Caran d'Ache...). A bit more expensive than The Pips Cafe, but as you can meet him in the city there is no post costs to add. Just look for The Lazy Pup in Shopee (for the catalog) and in Facebook (for contacting directly by message) 😉 I've bought from him a number of times in the last two years, he's friendly and a FP enthusiast too - once we met at a Kerry Parcel shop as he was going to send some parcels, he was writing the addresses with his Kaweco Brass Sport 😄

[PithyProlix]

7 hours ago, A. Remesal said:

As you said 900Km... if you're living in Chiang Mai, there's a guy who sells ink, paper and some pens (Kaweco, Faber-Castell, Caran d'Ache...).

 

Thanks for the info - I live out in the sticks about 3 hours north of Chiang Mai but come into the city fairly frequently.

 

I just found a Thai guy on Facebook - in BKK, I would guess - who sells used pens at good prices. Usually he puts up multiple pens per day for sale - they go fast though. I'll send you the link.

[RJS]

I visited The Pips Cafe today, and purchased two bottles of ink by Platinum. The owner truly loves his pens and inks. A very nice experience going there, and chatting with him. The prices were good too! I find it funny that I commented on this thread a few years ago, from the other side of the world, and now find myself living within walking distance of this store.

[RJS]

The owner still inserts the charming ink sample sheet with each purchase 😀

 

 

He said the Platinum Citrus Black is a current favourite of his, and I can see why, as it is one of those inks that looks more captivating in person than in photographs.

[RJS]

For the record, these were the two inks I purchased today. (The BB I already own, and it's one of my favourites, but it's back in my house in England and I missed it 😅)