Inky T O D - Color Swatches - Brown - Please Post Your Pictures And Tell Us Your Thoughts

[PithyProlix]

42 minutes ago, pgcauk said:

Thanks Julie, I am in a similar place, I look at nahmesroom's marvelous review of Ochiguriiro and it's Stone Road that leaps out as the one for me... yet the Ochiguriiro is intriguing enough to order a sample at least. With Oster I was sure that first Khakhi then Bronze would be "the one", but when neither was I became, well, twice shy I guess. However my recent purchase (seduction by!) Taccia's Umemurasaki has taken me back to Herbin's Terre De Feu, and the Ochiguriiro sample, which is quite special, took me straight back to Melon Tea, both of which are inks with something interesting going on in the background, but I never knew how to get at it!

Scans of Umemurasaki are impossible, but here's an early morning phone photo:

Terre De Feu has a lovely Coral hidden under a rather dull Brown. Looking at this made me think "ember'!

Umemurasaki really does look Brown in most lights (for some reason scans as fuschia!), but with wonderful juicy pinks ready to spill out with water. Quite plummy!

Ochiguriiro is a lovely Apricot neutralized by Green, whereas Melon Tea is the opposite, a Greenish Brown enlivened by Apricot.

All of these I would consider best suited to sketching rather than correspondence, whereas Stone Road and Sumiyoshi are great writing inks with lovely shading yet consistency of tone. R&K Sepia is probably both!

I had one other Melon Tea sketch yonks ago that has always intrigued me, I'll post it below once I access the archives.

 

I'm going gaga over Parker Penman Mocha right now, just received yesterday. A bit like R&K Sepia but more brown than grey. 

 

Melon Tea is high on my want list. I never warmed to Bronze. 

 

There are too many great browns and taupes - I don't think I could ever say any is 'the one' for me. Stone Road, R&K Sepia, Cacao du Brasil, Brun Ors, 390 Guilin, 269 45th POTUS (yes, you read correctly), 401 Afternoon, and now Mocha. Put a gun to my head and I suppose I would pick Stone Road, though. No need to pick - just enjoy! 

[pgcauk]

Penman Mocha does look lovely, of all the browns on that wonderful site with the Alpine Village sketches in every ink ever, that one stood out to me, but, as with Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift or MB Racing Green, not enough to start combing through antiques and auction sites.
Pithy, I don't disagree with you at all, the idea of "one" was a naive early stage for sure. I am most happy with a range of inks in the same color range to play with, especially with browns, greens and violets.

Here's that yonks ago Melon Tea sketch from the archives:

 

[PithyProlix]

1 hour ago, pgcauk said:

Penman Mocha does look lovely, of all the browns on that wonderful site with the Alpine Village sketches in every ink ever, that one stood out to me, but, as with Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift or MB Racing Green, not enough to start combing through antiques and auction sites.
Pithy, I don't disagree with you at all, the idea of "one" was a naive early stage for sure. I am most happy with a range of inks in the same color range to play with, especially with browns, greens and violets.

Here's that yonks ago Melon Tea sketch from the archives:

 

 

Very nice! Looks like watermelon in that tea. Thanks! (Are those conch shells?)

[pgcauk]

7 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

(Are those conch shells?)

I live near the Ocean, which provides my Parakeets with a great adventure playground!

Umm, and I like Brown ink!

[essayfaire]

Showing off how tsukushi looks in my Narwhal Fude (thank you, Mark Bacas!) at various angles:

[Detman101]

On 6/18/2021 at 5:14 PM, pgcauk said:

Not sure which thread it was, but detman101 is obviously quite keen on PenBBS #390, so I threw in a sample "to qualify for free postage" when placing my order for a full bottle of just restocked Kobe #40. Golly, Detman101 is not wrong!

 

PenBB@ #390 Guilin is one of those color changers. At first it seemed quite close to Sailor Manyo Shirakashi, a "milder" version of Rikyu Cha (both of which which I have a full bottles of already!) as it writes green and then "matures" to a gentle brown . . . . but where Shirakashi stops at the edge of Hunter Green/Brown, Guilin continues to mature until it is almost pinkish brown when dry! All of these are not just paper dependent, but show different aspects under different lighting. My Kobe #40, which I initially considered "greenish", appears quite violet alongside.
 

Greens and Browns are a subtle world!

Beautiful beautiful beautiful... I LOOOOOOVE my Guilin!!! 😍

[Detman101]

On 6/18/2021 at 7:46 PM, mizgeorge said:

My biggest problem seems to be finding them in the first place - without knowing what 'series' a given ink comes from, it seems almost impossible to search for it without using incredibly random and generic terms.

 

But I managed it and found 437 (and perhaps another couple in the same range) and they're on their way. 

My source is Vanness. They usually have a rotating selection of the Penbbs Inks....thankfully.

https://vanness1938.com/collections/vendors?q=Pen BBS

[Detman101]

On 5/1/2021 at 3:44 PM, pgcauk said:

Adding samples of Kobe #3, #40 and L'Artisan Pastellier Brun Ours to the Taupes and Cool Browns. Oh my, I think I might have found my true-love, but the whole range is pretty beguiling?

 

Notes:

The R&K has become my default. I have yet to find a problem, it's affordable and it's right on the balance between grey and brown, without leaning to any particular hue that I can see.

Cacao Du Bresil is a less saturated and more grey with (to these eyes) an appealing violet cast.

Yama Guri I need to play with some more. Properties are excellent. Here (on Midori) I can see the greenish brown I was looking for, but look, in the wash is magenta! Need to play with this one some more! Could do with a head to head with Oster's Melon Tea?

Birmingham's Root Beer is closest to Grey.

Kobe #3 is dark and rich and yummy. Not so much Grey here but a (chocolatey?) Violet Brown? All three of the Japanese inks have a luxurious flow (while both of the Frenchies are much thinner).

Kobe #40 looks like what I was hoping to find with Yama Guri, a Brown leaning Green (not a Green leaning Brown, I have plenty of those already!). Not so far from the trusty R&K? Both the Kobe inks look at least water resistant.

Brun Ours is closest to its countryman Cacao Du Bresil, but the latter tends violet while this, which might be (gasp!) less saturated still, has a pinkish cast?

Very much first impressions on the last three, but first impressions are very good indeed!

Edit: Midori paper. Pens are a Broad Bandzug and an Index Finger, with a smear from the back of the nib, a water test and a paint-brush scrawl for each. n.b. Dip pens will usually put down a lot more ink than most fountain pens, so check out the R&K Sepia for a fountain pen contrast (with a wet nib!). The paint brush is usually paler than what you'd get from an fp.

Thank you for this. I believe "Kobe #40 Sumiyoshi Brown" is what I've been needing. A Greyish-Brown with a green lean.
I bought "Cacao Du Bresil" expecting a Greyish-Brown but not with a purple lean...that was disappointing considering it's been billed everywhere as leaning more towards the brown spectrum.

I still like "Cacao Du Bresil" for when I want a greyish-purple though...but I need a Greyish-brown.

[essayfaire]

I may have showed this earlier in the thread, but Oster Motor Oil is brownish grey, though much heavier saturated than Melon Tea.  It's a dark brown/grey almost a brown/black and VERY smooth.  I use mostly Tomoe River but also sugarcane paper and Bank Paper.

[amberleadavis]

[Detman101]

On 10/20/2021 at 9:25 PM, pgcauk said:

Gots my 373! And the answer is . . . . . All of them!
 

Notes:

Sumiyoshi = coolest (Greenest?)

323 = pinkish yellow? (first impression!)

Cacao = Warm violet. Mmmmm, warm violet cacao!

R&K = most "neutral"?

Yama Guri = a complex bugger? Greenish violet?I thought this would be "the one" (it cost enough!) but in a pen I have never really got on with it. Maybe I'm too simple for its mysteries?
I would have added PenBBS Guilin, which goes down green and dries to pink, but I ran out of space!
Oh, and Birmingham Root Beer = Greyest!
Sailor Doyou = Darkest & Greyest!

Ooooohhh yes! I'll be picking up a bottle of "Kobe - Sumiyoshi Brown" this week! I'd bought a sample from Vanness last year when I primarily used my SODF nib and found it too heavily laid and dark. My PenRealm Ob. flex-stub runs much MUCH drier...I think this ink will suit my needs perfectly now. I need to find that sample vial tonight...lol.
Thank you!

[amberleadavis]

Today I spent a few hours updating this thread and replacing the missing pictures. I hope you enjoy.  As I looked back trough, I found one of my favorite comparisons.

 

[dragondazd]

3 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Today I spent a few hours updating this thread and replacing the missing pictures. I hope you enjoy.  As I looked back trough, I found one of my favorite comparisons.

 

💚

[PithyProlix]

2 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Today I spent a few hours updating this thread and replacing the missing pictures. I hope you enjoy.  As I looked back trough, I found one of my favorite comparisons.

 

 

I love this! Thanks for sharing. I have a little Midori notebook that I want to start adding swatches to (I've relented about the uselessness of swatches) and have been trying to think of a creative way to consistently present them and trees, with their foliage as the actual swatch (green or not), is one I have been considering. I thought maybe 'very hungry caterpillars' would be the way I'd go but I want to do something more original, or at least not a copy of someone else's original idea.

 

Bungobox Nostalgia and Kingdom Note Verdigris Agaric are particularly attractive to me.

 

I have a vintage bottle of Omas Sepia and it is much more red than the one in your image. I heard that they had changed formulation. Do you know about when you got your bottle (or sample?)?

[essayfaire]

15 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Today I spent a few hours updating this thread and replacing the missing pictures. I hope you enjoy.  As I looked back trough, I found one of my favorite comparisons.

 

I had never seen this.  Makes me smile! And you know how I feel about browns...

[amberleadavis]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:43 PM, PithyProlix said:

 

 

 

I have a vintage bottle of Omas Sepia and it is much more red than the one in your image. I heard that they had changed formulation. Do you know about when you got your bottle (or sample?)?

 

I think @migo984 did that particular tree.  I have looped her in, so perhaps she can tell us.

[amberleadavis]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:43 PM, dragondazd said:

💚

 

23 hours ago, essayfaire said:

I had never seen this.  Makes me smile! And you know how I feel about browns...

 

 

Glad that it is appreciated. That image is one of my very favorite CRVs because you can see so many inks compared and it is just darn pretty.

[Detman101]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:37 PM, amberleadavis said:

Today I spent a few hours updating this thread and replacing the missing pictures. I hope you enjoy.  As I looked back trough, I found one of my favorite comparisons.

 

Now THAT is friggin AWE-SOME! 
What a nice collaboration! 😀

[Misfit]

On 6/19/2022 at 9:25 AM, PithyProlix said:

'm going gaga over Parker Penman Mocha right now, just received yesterday. A bit like R&K Sepia but more brown than grey. 

Where did you buy the Parker Penman Mocha, please?

[PithyProlix]

5 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Where did you buy the Parker Penman Mocha, please?

 

From a friend, locally. He doesn't have any more. But check your messages in a few minutes.