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I have a handlful of Vintage and new Pens. Parker Vacumatic, Parker Duofolds, Skyline Everysharps, Pelikan 400nn. Pelikan M200's, M400, Sailor 1911, Various TWSBI's. Inks: Only "wetter" inks. Aurora, Diamine, Waterman, Iroshizuku. Mostly blues. I have read that pens should be flushed or cleaned regularly to extend the life of the feed and nib and prevent ink drying out and build up. I have been using the above pens regularly, every 1-2 weeks or much more, for some time. Should I be emptying the ink and cleaning out the pens every so often? How often? Or, is it not necessary as long as the pens are inked and used regularly? Thanks for your help. jim

Lovely, well-behaved ink from Kerala, India. https://krishnainks.com/ Apologies for the chicken (blood) scratch 😞

I am thinking about using lubricating ink on a 14k M nib 1911s model and Diamine inks is in my budget. What's your opinion? What about the shimmering inks Diamine offers?

Hello Inky Friends! It has been quite awhile since I shared my comparisons of pink and purple inks here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/274481-pink-purple-ink-comparisons/ I have updated the list with a few new inks (mostly samples, but a few are bottles as well.) Again I will say that this is not an absolute accurate depiction of every ink. Rather it is intended as more of a guide as to where certain inks fall next to each other when compared with similar ink colors. All samples were written with a glass dip pen on Clairefontaine paper. I hope that this is useful and helpful! Pink Inks Pink & Purple Inks Purple Inks Dark Purple Inks

The brown ink from shipping made the sample label unreadable, I thought, but I have finally determined that the ink inside is MB Honore du Balzac. The se BJ page is in an Endless Notebook, the ink writes slightly wetter there (better and thicker paper). @amberleadavisplease move this to the right thread if I have it wrong. Thanks. @TheMustard, have I id'd correctly?

If you had to choose 5 diamine inks to represent the brand what would you choose? Im currently looking to buy a twsbi eco with some diamine inks and alt goldgrun and am having a hard time deciding. This should help! The inks I have chosen so far are: Autumn Oak Oxblood Maybe sherwood green One of the turquoise colors

Wow...it's been a whole season plus since I've posted any reviews. Best to get back at it then!

Hi, I' waiting for a about 100 years old pen in the irish mail. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/338365-just-bought-my-first-eyedropper-yesterday/?do=findComment&comment=4087865 Now I'm wondering what inks would match the time and style of the old Swan eyedropper. What inks were available around 1915 to 1925 in England (or the continental Europe)? Colors? Blue, blue-black and black only? Iron gall sure. Maybe some of you have old ink bottles or catalogues at hand. A second question is about finding modern inks with vintage look and behavior. Greetings and thank you for all ideas Jens

a few days ago I was lounging over at the Ink forum and some of our fellow memebers express their concern that they can no longer get their needed permanent black , the fabled Platinum Carbon Black. And I though to myself, hey others made permanent ink also and having some time on hand I dedicate some time to investigate how one of the old formula work out, namely the Hero 234 CArbon Black. The test is not anything scientific and only trying to mimic how the ink deal with real life accidents; and here's the result : * Test no.1 is to mimic artist use of ink , Canson 180g Watercolor paper was used, text was put onto the paper, and let sit for 10 min, then smeared with waterbrush, excessive water blotted with facial tissue * Tesat 02 is to mimic having water spilled when doing normal daily writing, Kokuyo Gambal notebook paper, procedure same as test 01 * Test 03 is to mimic accidental water damage when dealing with document well finished, text was put onto paper, and let dry overnight, then is immersed and left in water for 30 minutes, paper used is engineer's stenograph paper ( very fine smooth surface, very light grade ) * Tesat 04 is to mimic water damage in storage, same paper and procedure as test 03, again let dry overnight, then smear with water brush then let it go under running water for 30 min. I say the result speak for itself. It Also show the one character that this old formula had, its slow drying property, as depicted in Test 01 and 02. As side note, Hero had actually 4 different kind of carbon ink, the 84, 214, 234, and 440; and also a non carbon permanent black, the 254. The 234 as picked simply because its the only vintage ink between the lot and having some interesting property. Its more formulated like a calligrapher's ink than fountain pen ink in that it had very high carbon content and that it do use ( plant based ) resin. In fact on its packaging its proclaiming suitable for calligraphy ( by that the made mean small text Chinese brush and pen calligraphy ). ITs known to clog pens if one do not use the pen inked up frequent enough. I've used this ink since way back as a school kid and what more can one ask for a bottle of 55ml which only cost say 3.00 to 4.00 US

I'm playing around with inks, and I'm trying to figure out why Iroshizuku and Sailor are always priced the highest in most retailers I see. Does anyone know why? Guerlain's lipsticks have powdered rubies in them (I kid you not), so I can see why the're 30, 40 euros a pop. Do Iroshizuku and Sailor have similar properties? Or maybe a millennium warranty? I just can't think of any reason why. I really want to try them out, but the price tags are scaring me off! Windsor & Newton's paints are fairly pricey, but the colour-fastness shows that it's priced quite aptly. Do those aforementioned inks have similar traits?

I have bought dozens of Diamine ink bottles - I find that less than 3 pounds per 30ml bottle is a steal for such a quality ink. Bought a number of 150th Anniversary inks, too. One thing I found about them is, they seem to come too saturated/concentrated, almost black. They look different from the swabs, either the (horrible) pictures of the Diamine site or the (great) pictures of Goulet. I have also bought samples and bottles from Goulet as well, but these ones seemed to have the right dillution - the color was more or less the expected. Save for the brighter colors, I add around 10% water in every Diamine bottle, and then the color gets "there". Has anyone experienced something like that?

HI, I'm new to the network having a revived interest in fountain pens over lockdown, resurrecting some old pens and adding a few (too many!) new ones... lots of fun!! I have some pretty dry inks and some F and EF nibs, and after research I'm wondering if getting some White Lightning Ink Additive might help the pens write a bit wetter. However, I cant seem to find a UK retailer that stocks the product and paying almost $40 for shipping seems a bit OTT... Does anyone know of a retailer that stocks it in the UK or Europe? Thanks, Joe

After a long absence, I have returned to using my fountain pen ink again. Breaking out my drawer full of fountain pen ink cartridges, I began using my favorite color, Waterman South Seas Blue. But when I went to purchase more of it, I can't find it. Did they discontinue it (God forbid) or simply rename it? Thanks, inky friends, in advance.

Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Company Twilight Background: Birmingham Pen Company (BPC) started as the brainchild of two brothers – Nick and Josh. Initially, Nick and Josh worked with third party ink producers in England and Germany to produce their inks. BPC started making their own inks over a year ago. While some changes have been made, their new formulations include “Crisp” inks designed for everyday use on all papers, “Swift” inks that are a bit wetter, starts up quickly and works well on premium papers, “Rich” inks which have high sheen and saturation, “Everlasting” inks that have high water resistance, “Twinkle” inks with shimmer and “Wishy-Washy” inks that are designed for performance but a washable from fabrics and surfaces. The glass bottles with tight-fitting plastic lids bottles are very nice and functional. My largest pen fits nicely into the bottle for a full fill. BPC offers three sizes: 30ml, 60ml and 120ml for all inks except the Twinkle inks which are only available in 60ml. The 120ml bottles have an eye-dropper lid instead of the regular lid. Review in Brief: Saturation: moderate saturation Sheen: some nice green sheen Shading: medium shading from fine to wider nibs Haloing: low Lubrication: medium lubrication Wetness: moderately wet Water Resistance: Moderately water resistant Feathering: minimal feathering on lower quality papers Bleedthrough: minimal only on lower quality papers and with high ink application Showthrough: medium showthrough on 52gsm TR paper, minimal on Rhodia and Apica Price: reasonable for 30mls, very good for 60ml and exceptional for 120ml which is the best value. While some inks retained the same name (or an abbreviated version), they may be slightly different. Ana at the Well Appointed Desk discussed this very well in her January 2021 blog (https://www.wellappointeddesk.com/2021/01/ink-brand-overview-the-new-birmingham-pen-company-inks/) The older version of this ink, known as Allegheny River Twilight, was review by craptacular in 2018. You will note that there is a difference between the older version and the new “Swift” formula. Pens: a Pilot Vanishing Point with a fine nib, and a Conklin Duragraph with a 1.1 stub nib. Papers shown: Rhodia, Tomoe River, Cosmo Air Light; Not shown: Apica CD Premium, Advantage 24 lb copy paper; Cambridge Premium Notebook paper. Rhodia Dot Grid Paper The ink is nicely saturated with some green sheen when pooled. The ink flows wonderfully in both pens. The Pilot VP has a very dry nib and is very particular about the ink it uses. This pen glides effortlessly with this ink. The Conklin Duragraph, on the other hand, is a very wet pen. The Twilight ink is almost too wet to use in this pen. The ink does dry fairly quickly on all papers tested but is slower on Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light (20-25 seconds). he ink is surprisingly quite water resistant although it is not known as an “Everlasting” formulation. Feathering and bleeding are not seen on Rhodia, Tomoe River, Cosmo Air Light. There is some feathering on the 24 lb. copy paper, and minimal feathering on the Apica CD and premium notebook paper, and the three papers showed small amounts bleedthrough in heavy applications of the ink. Because this is a fairly saturated ink, there is showthrough on Tomoe River, Rhodia and Apica as well as the copy and notebook papers, especially with the 1.1 stub nib. Tomoe River Ivory Paper Tomoe River Ivory Paper Cosmo Air LIght Paper Apica CD Premium Notebook Paper The chromatography was simply done with a coffee filter. It shows how the ink color breaks down in to a complex variety of yellow, blue and red. Here are some color comparisons. Overall this is a very nice ink that behaves very well. I highly recommend giving this ink a try. Disclaimer: I purchased this ink directly from Birmingham Pen Company. Any photos, opinions and thoughts regarding the ink are my own and are not sponsored by Birmingham Pen Company and do not necessarily reflect their opinions.

Recently got by post Indian "Camlin" Royal Blue ink 60ml. It came in a box, carefully packed. I liked the cap on a bottle - it opens easily and at the same time not a drop spilled during the transportation. The quality of ink is also nice. It's a bit more liquid than "Parker", but writes great on average quality paper (not too porous). This ink doesn't colorise the pen's grip section too fast (like for ex. USSR "Raduga") and doesn't dry if left for more than a couple of days inside the pen without writing, which are additional pluses. The smell of this ink is very light and quite pleasant. Would I buy it again? Yes, and I'd like to try other colors. Here are the pictures of the bottle and writing. At the moment this ink is one of my favourites.

Hello everybody Today I would like to start a conversation about EDC systems and which pens you carry everyday. I'll start: I have two pen pouches, one with 3 slots and one with 4 slots. Both of them are in brown leather. In the pouch with 3 slots (which has my last name engraved in the leather) I have the pens which have the 3 'basic colours'/most frequent used colours of ink: - Red: For the red ink I use Pelikan Edelstein Ruby, in my Parker Sonnet in red lacquer. Fine nib. Lovely pen but rigid nib, in the future I'd like to upgrade this pen to a burgundy sailor pro gear. - Green: The Diamine Sherwood Green is my favourite green ink. I use it in my Pelikan m400. Great pen but sometime I would upgrade it to an m600. - Blue: for the blue ink, I prefer dark blue. Montblancs blueblack or Pelikans 4001 blueblack is my ink to go. I use the Montblanc 146 with it. Great pen and great size! In the pouch with 4 slots I am planning to go with this pens: (note: some of the pens mentioned are yet to buy, but these are the pens I consider getting) - Brown ink: for this ink (which is the Pelikan 4001 brown, but I am planning to buy any of the other brown/sepia inks) I use my Visconti Opera Elements with a 23k pd dreamtouch nib. Awesome pen with buttery smooth nib. - Black ink: I'm not sure which pen I am getting for the black ink. Any suggestions? - A mechanical pencil. I am buying a Pelikan pencil in the lovely brown/green tortoiseshell colours. It should arrive next week, can't wait! - A demonstrator (not yet which one yet) with a highlighter ink. Not yet which ink I'll choose. As you can see, I still have to search for some pens/inks, but this (often endless) search for a pen that suits me perfectly is one of the great things in the hobby! Which pens / pouches do you have? Ruben PS: sorry for the bad English, I'm not a native English speaker

I haven’t heard many people talk about this, so I just wanted to make those who are unaware now aware. Here is just a quick thing on some price comparisons. “Retail” price was taken from online fountain pen and ink retailers: DIAMINE 30ml Cult Pens- $2.47 Retail- $7.50 PELIKAN 4001 30ml Cult Pens- $4.82 Retail- $11.75 ROHRER & KLINGNER 50ml Cult Pens- $5 Retail- $11.95 PARKER QUINK 57ml Cult Pens- $5.21 Retail- $11.02 DIAMINE 80ml Cult Pens- $6.21 Retail- $14.95 WATERMAN 50ml Cult Pens- $6.51 Retail- $12 PELIKAN 4001 62.5ml Cult Pens- $7.52 Retail- $16.50 DIAMINE 150th ANNIVERSARY 40ml Cult Pens- $8.15 Retail- $15.50 HERBIN 30ml Cult Pens- $8.40 Retail- $12.95 KAWECO 50ml Cult Pens- $8.41 Retail- $12 CROSS 62.5ml Cult Pens- $9.47 Retail- $16 LAMY CRYSTAL 30ml Cult Pens- $9.99 Retail- $16 JACQUES HERBIN 1670 50ml Cult Pens- $18.39 Retail- $29.50 JACQUES HERBIN 1798 50ml Cult Pens- $21.02 Retail- $29.50 MONTBLANC AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS BLUE 50ml Cult Pens- $33.66 Retail- $40 I just wanted to tell all of you who weren’t aware. Have a nice day, W. Major

At a local vintage store, I have found some vintage ink. Some of it was GTG right out of the bottle, most even almost full, and then there was the one which was just powder at the bottom of the bottle. I bargained with the owner and got for about 1 $, basically thinking, "well, if nothing else, it's a nice bottle". This is, BTW, a real aged bottle & box where the founder of Pelikan, Günther Wagner, is prominently displayed. At that time, perhaps the Pelikan brand was not so widely recognized? The type of ink is Königsblau, or Royal Blue, which is fine for comparison, since I already have a new Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue. Or so I thought... 💙 I add 10 ml of water to try and reconstitute the powder into ink, splosh it around a little and let it sit. No hurry, if it takes a bit, I have other inks to play with. I re-visit this bottle now & then the next week, and it seems that this is going nicely forward, except the color is not looking exactly Royal Blue, quite dark, perhaps grey? 🧐 Then disaster strikes: Our 1 YO puppy gets a hold of the bottle from my desk and uses it as a chew toy, with almost all ink ending up on the floor (or in her stomach), box is ruined, lid to bottle is simply gone - (eaten?) only survivor is the glass bottle itself, with perhaps ½ a ml lying in a corner of it. 😮 No time to waste, must make proper ink swab immediately! Luckily, I have recently gotten, also vintage, a handmade book with 300 gsm paper which I am using as my "Book of Ink" - so I at least have the proper medium for this. When applied, using a dip pen first, then a syringe to get up ink and put it to paper, I see an enormous amount of surface tension in the ink, see pic 1, and it has the color of medium to charcoal grey, depending on saturation. I see a hint of brown also, almost like coke (the fuel). Not at all what you'd expect! To honor this survivor of things life has thrown against it but the puppy with powers of Galactus, almost I rescue one side of the cardboard box and attach to the page of the ink swab, so I can remember the story of the Königsblau (King's Blue) which became Dark Grey in its old age. Pic 2. This has all been quite the learning experience with ups & downs & new things - I can't say that I'm sad with the end result, even if I didn't get to write much more than 10 words with this ink. Stay safe, Daneaxe

Hello Everybody, Just wanted to make a quick announcement for a show coming up. The official Dallas Pen Show 2020 was cancelled, but we have decided the show must go on! The show will not be quite like the normal show due to Covid. We are taking many precautions in relation to this. The show will be in the same location as normal at the Doubletree by Hilton near the galleria in Dallas. It is in the same two ballrooms. Due to Covid the number of tables are greatly reduced, and meet all CDC guidelines and social distancing procedures. Hand sanitizer will be placed all around the show in addition to face coverings being required. We will have face shields available at no charge at the door. There will also be restrictions in place as far as number of people allowed in the show, so a line could form. We want to make this show as fun as possible, but we are doing everything we can to make it a safe show for all vendors and attendees. I hope everybody is as excited for the show as we are, and we hope to see you there! The event is Friday September 25th from 12pm-7pm, and Saturday September 26th from 10am-5pm! Flyer attached with all of our exciting vendors that will be in attendance! Hotel Address 4099 Valley View Ln, Dallas, TX 75244

Accidentally found this nice store in Estes Park, CO. Coffee, Stationary, Ink and Pens. https://inkwellbrew.com/ The coffee was excellent, staff very friendly. They carried a nice selection of notebooks, journals, and assorted things, in FP friendly paper. They also had a selection of J Herbin inks and Retro pens. Have a room upstairs to sit and play board games, drink coffee, and I suppose write. I wanted to sit and write my journal there, but didn't have time. Nice, different shop.