Black: Solid V. Shading

[Russ]

Does anyone have an idea why Americans seem to prefer solid, blackety-black without shading, and Europeans seem to prefer shading?

 

I am American, and began with preference for dark, solid black . . . but now I'm beginning to appreciate the shading of black.

 

Any ideas regarding preference?

 

Someone will say: "To each his own." I understand. But I don't understand why whole classes of people lean one way or the other.

[inkstainedruth]

I dunno. I never was much for black inks to begin with. I have the (unopened) bottle of Quink Black that came with my Parker Urban -- used the cartridges, mostly just to use them for the purposes of refilling them with something else. I suppose that at some point I'll use it because I've paid for it, but mostly I find black ink to be uninteresting (especially when there are so many neat *colors* out there...).

I *did* get a sample of De Atramentis Black Roses but haven't tried it yet. I got it partly for the novelty of a scented ink, but also because of the review that someone did a while back. The scans made it look interesting -- shading, but not watery, and not grey. The best way I can describe it (which might not make a whole lot of sense to you, but it does to me somehow) is that I wanted to try it because it was "light" black....

The arguments back and forth about the "blackest" black are interesting on some meta-level (it helps to learn more about different properties of ink in general). But in the great scheme of things I keep reading them going "It's not blue/purple/pink/brown (or even a green I might possibly consider trying). Why should I care how solid and dark a black it is?"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jasonditz]

I'm fascinated by the other colors but I've never had much use for grey either.

[Russ]

I just bought a bottle of Quink Black and was surprised at its shading. Almost a blue-black. I've used Pel Black, Aurora Black, Noodler's Polar Black, and Perle Noire . . . somehow Quink Black appeals even though it's not at all waterfast. The shading is nice.

[Yoda4561]

Because when blacks shade, we call them gray And I really do like gray inks. One of my favorite blacks is one of those kinda shading ones though. Noodler's Dark Matter, it's dark enough that I can still call it black, but there is some subtle shading.

[brunico]

I like subtle shading in darker colours (Zhivago) and broader shading in brighter colours (otherwise they end up looking like felt-tips). But with black I prefer no shading at all. I think it's to do with books, typography and associations with solidity, where the shape of a letter is the thing, without distraction.

[Ad_Astra]

Personally, I want darker black inks because I always used cheap ballpoints in school, and they worked ok. But their 'black' ink sure as heck wasn't very black, so now that I have an opportunity, I use it!

 

It's sorta like how inkjet printer-generated graphs from cheaper printers are ok, when they're all you're used to. Once you use a top-notch color laser with nice paper though, you'll find it pretty tough to go back.

[..lol..]

I use only black hole inks.

[Russ]

Interesting responses. No one, however, chimed in about Euro preferences.

[JonSzanto]

I'm completely wary of the small sample size of your anecdotal evidence to begin with. Or are you talking American ink manufacturers?

[DoctorZhivago]

Does anyone have an idea why Americans seem to prefer solid, blackety-black without shading, and Europeans seem to prefer shading?

 

I am American, and began with preference for dark, solid black . . . but now I'm beginning to appreciate the shading of black.

 

Any ideas regarding preference?

 

Someone will say: "To each his own." I understand. But I don't understand why whole classes of people lean one way or the other.

Well, for black ink, I think it should be totally black hole black, but for black ink, I prefer shading. Gray is good too.

[The Good Captain]

Interesting responses. No one, however, chimed in about Euro preferences.

You're just going to have patience;I'm working on something.

[Russ]

I'm completely wary of the small sample size of your anecdotal evidence to begin with. Or are you talking American ink manufacturers?

 

Be very wary. My observation is purely personal and I hope to hear of others' anectodal evidence drawn from extremely small and notoriously unreliable samples. :roflmho:

[Russ]

Interesting responses. No one, however, chimed in about Euro preferences.

You're just going to have patience;I'm working on something.

 

Now I'm piqued!

[mrt77]

I'm an American and I love solid black black ink. These days I do not use black that often, but when I do I don't want anything that looks diluted.

 

I prefer blue inks and the variance of colors in different pens is something nice. But when I write with a black ink and it looks different in other pens it annoys me. Like something is wrong.

 

I have a couple of grey inks (Lexington Grey and Gris Nuage), so when I want grey, I go grey. I don't my black inks to show any grey at all.

[JonSzanto]

Be very wary. My observation is purely personal and I hope to hear of others' anectodal evidence drawn from extremely small and notoriously unreliable samples. :roflmho:

Then here is my miniscule observation: I look at black the way I look at its twin, transparency. I want nothing to adulterate the essential qualities, and as I wouldn't want a hint of *anything* to contaminate a truly transparent object, neither would I want anything that reduced the inherent blackness of an ink to intrude. Black is black.

 

If you want to sell me gray (or grey) or blue or whatever that shades to black, fine. But black is black.

[htom]

In some ways, I feel that there are more blacks than any other color. I think, though, that this is just because of the problems of trying to match blacks so that they appear the same in theatre lighting (and television and photography and sunlight and ... well, everywhere.)

 

Part of the desire for a "solid" black is that changes can be suspected of being attempts at alteration.

 

Another problem is the desire for the black (usually a signature) to look the same on all papers, and preferably with different pens. This isn't going to happen, but that doesn't mean people don't want it.

 

Andrew Kelsall's Beginners Guide to Using Black; he's only talking about printing, which is a much more controlled process than writing.

 

People want what they want.

[The Good Captain]

Does anyone have an idea why Americans seem to prefer solid, blackety-black without shading, and Europeans seem to prefer shading?

 

I am American, and began with preference for dark, solid black . . . but now I'm beginning to appreciate the shading of black.

 

Any ideas regarding preference?

 

Someone will say: "To each his own." I understand. But I don't understand why whole classes of people lean one way or the other.

 

 

Interesting responses. No one, however, chimed in about Euro preferences.

I rarely use any black ink but if I do choose to, it's usually Pelikan or Waterman/Parker. Not for any solid or shady reasons either. I also choose not to learn any particular style of handwriting, script, calligraphy or whatever, because the shape etc of the words that flow from my pens, in the colours that I choose make me the individual that I am.

Personally I can't see the point in a load of people all wanting to have writing that looks the same as other's in the same colour ink.

But that's just me. Illegible and proud of it!

 

 

[vacation]

Shading looks to me like an imperfection in the line. Newer technology pens have mostly fixed this problem.

 

Why is shading good but feathering bad?

 

I would like to find blue inks that do not shade also. My goal with a fountain pen is to produce a line with zero pressure that is more vivid, constistent in width (fine) and brightness than is possible with other pens.

 

Any advice on inks to achieve this goal?

[codster]

I love shading in my colored inks. When I wanted a black ink though, I wanted the blackest ink possible. The intensity of a solid black makes for nice contrast with white paper. Solid black inks are a little easier to read, too.

 

Like others have said, black with shading = gray to me, and if I want a gray, I want something lighter than a shading black.