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So as many of you know, I dabble in restoring pens from the 1930s and 40s. Recently I acquired a few celluloid Wearevers from the 1930s and, one by one, took each apart, right down to the nib before installing new sacs and actually writing with them. I had one pen, however, where I got lazy and decided not to knock out the nib. Instead I cleaned the section and nib in the ultrasonic with some Dawn and ammonia until there was no sign of ink and then flushed it with clear water using a bulb. When I put the pen back together it wrote quite well. Recently I loaded it with some vintage Quink with Solv-X. When the pen ran out, I flushed it with clear water so that I could put it away. As I flushed the pen, little pieces of partially dissolved dried ink started coming out. The only place that could come from would be within the feed and nib because the sac is brand new. What the ultrasonic cleaner, Dawn detergent, and ammonia didn't get Quink with Solv-X did...apparently. Has anyone else had a similar situation? Are there current inks that actually clean like this? Cliff

So, my last Truphae box had a bottle of Noodler's Borealis Black in it. Borealis Black is not really my kind of ink; it feathers a lot on the papers I mainly write on (i.e., bad paper), and it's so heavily saturated that it smears in perpetuity if I write in my 7 Seas Crossfield (Tomoe River paper) with it. I'm pretty satisfied with the selection of daily inks I have (mainly IG inks and Platinum Carbon Black), though, so I felt like it was safe to try improving it. What have I got to lose? I've been reading some old threads about ink dilution, so I got out an old empty LAMY ink bottle and put 20ml of the NBB in there along with 20ml of filtered water. I didn't have any distilled water to hand, so to make up for it I added 1ml of 4% Phenol solution. I finished it off with 1ml of 7th Generation "Powered by Plants" "Clementine Zest & Lemongrass Scent" dish soap. This is a kind of interesting soap (if that's a word that can be applied to dish soap) that contains, among other normal soapy things, glycerin! I figured that would handle the surfactant requirements. But, it also contains some essential oils and acetic acid. So, to be on the safe side, I tried it out with a glass dip pen before loading it into a Jinhao 992 (a nice low-risk pen) I had laying around. Although I was afraid I'd put in too much soap (it got kind of sudsy when I shook the bottle to mix everything up), it seems to have actually worked! It goes down slickety-smooth, dries in 15-20 seconds, and is only marginally more grey out of the Jinhao when compared with stock NBB. With the dip pen it was a bold dark black, just like NBB. It feathers much less, and it doesn't smear at all, even on Tomoe River paper. (Hooray!) Once it's dry, it seems pretty well indistinguishable from Parker Quink, but it feels nicer to write with.

This has probably been asked before a gazillion times, but I cannot find a definite answer on FPN or elsewhere. I've got two bottles of Parker Quink ink, one black and one blue black. I think both bottles are the same, the labels have different designs and the boxes are different, too. I don't know whether this is because one is washable and the other permanent, or because of a change in the design. Are these inks washable or permanent? I've read that if they are washable the box would say so, but I'm not completely sure it's like that. Thanks!

Just as a quick breather from the ink testing I have been looking at medieval wood block prints and cobbled together a mermaid. The Quink and bleach technique really does give that hand carved feel to the illustration. What do you think? For more articles please visit: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com

I think I've been using Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue for 99% of the time I write with fountain pens. It's cheap here, easily available for a long time and I like it. But I'm in the mood recently for some black ink as well. I've seen that Noodler's Heart of Darksness and Bulletproof are highly praised here as being the blackest of them all, but I can't find it locally and ordering it would cost me five times more than my regular Pelikan ink. I don't think it's simply worth it, with that money I can buy a new pen (or save for a really nice one). However, at a shop near me, I've found Pelikan 4001 black and Parker Quink black. How are these two compare to each other, in term of darkest black, watery feeling and so on? I could buy them both, but I'm afraid that that I would have too much black ink lying around(1), since I use it quite rarely anyway. So what are your thoughts regarding these two models? Parker is a bit more expensive, but not much. They also have Lamy and Faber-Castell cartridges with black ink, if they are worth it, I can buy a bunch and use them (after extracting the ink with a syringe, if it's worth the trouble, meaning if they are blacker). (1) Also, since I'm a n00b, how long can you keep a bottle of ink before it spoils? It's probably years, but I remember seeing some thick deposits on some no-name ink that I've forgot about in a closet for like 10 years or so. Was it because it was a cheap one, or it's normal for old inks to develop deposits on the bottom of the bottle?

So much from so little! Quink black freeform blend onto 300gsm Saunders watercolour paper with bleach and ink illustration and lettering. Using lyrics by Depeche Mode this is a wonderfully self indulgent journey into the dark side. Seven pieces in total for the seven angels in the book of Revelation. I know that I posted 3 of these some time ago, but sometimes a reminder of the versatility of Quink is no bad thing – so here is the full line up. The breakdown with water into blacks, greys, blues and ochres is just fabulous. Add the bleach – with the golds and neons – and it really is special. Having got to know hundreds more inks on my journey of discovery – it’s still one my real favourites! Click here to view the magnificent seven: https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/the-seven-angels-quink-and-bleach/

Hi guys, I bought a few bottles of Parker Quink from an indian seller at ebay. He claims that the product is genuine, but I'm not so sure. The package box is poorly printed, the holografic seal is a "printed version" instead of glued on the box, something I've never seen before. Some of the bottles are bend, somewhat deformed and the ink is very watered. The seller says that the ink is produced localy under Parker license by LUXOR INC. Does anyone knows this company or ever used this ink? Is this original product or just a fake? Thanks. Cheers

Hello poeple, I have been a passionate user of ink pens since past 10 years. Even now, after I have graduated I still use ink pen for all my writing needs. In my childhood there was never a complain of ink clogging problems since we only had availability of 1 - 2 brands of ink and the pens we used to be in a normal price range. Off late after I brought a Mont Blanc Midnight blue (Blue - Black) which is a permanent ink, which is not mentioned on the box, I had started using it and it clogged my sheaffer prelude badly, which I have now given for repairing but my Parker 45 survived it. After this incident I have stopped using that ink. Now I have started using Waterman Blue Black and Parker Quink Blue Black ink. I am planning to purchase a purple or a black colour ink for my Parker Premier Black / Monochrome edition. This time I want to be perfectly safe and the ink brands which are available in my region are: 1. Waterman 2. Parker 3. Pelikan Edelstein 4. Mont Blanc PS: Quink Blue Black does not mention to be a permanent ink, but is it really one? I found quite a lot of people saying it to be a permanent ink but it doesn’t feel though. I have read reviews but I would like to know personal experience of people using it. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Pranav B