Inky T O D - Oh, The Places You'll Go, Or, Waypoints On The Inky Journey

[Arkanabar]

We can call the first one "Let me catch that bandwagon!" The second is a truism of pen performance, as much as part of the inky journey.

 

The most scathing review probably is still Sandy1's review of Lamy Green.

[senzen]

I certainly started with "There's colours??"and followed with a few of the stages. It would have been a lot less convoluted if there had been a way of knowing which pen produced the colour I thought I wanted, or at least the one shown on the label. After half a bottle of Kon Peki at least I can finally appreciate it, in my old m600. Which predictably triggered the "I'm running out!" panic button .

Edited July 15, 2019 by SenZen

[inkstainedruth]

We can call the first one "Let me catch that bandwagon!" The second is a truism of pen performance, as much as part of the inky journey.

 

The most scathing review probably is still Sandy1's review of Lamy Green.

 

YIKES! I would not have thought it *remotely* possible that there could possibly be an ink on the planet that made the color of vintage Quink Green look desirable in comparison....

Kudos to Sandy1 for falling on her sword on our collective behalf....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pgcauk]

I have a curious relationship with "Collect The Set!" (trusting Arkanabar to come up with a better descriptive!):

 

I find an ink that I really like, and suddenly I can't resist more inks in that color range!

At face-value this is preposterous, but it is also a really good way of exploring nuance.

 

The rational compromise, of course (aren't these things harder to come to than you'd think?) is having identified a center of gravity, order a whole cluster of samples in that zone from a range of manufacturers in order to identify which will be your replacement ink when the initial bottle runs low. See that's reason and restraint all in one sentence - quite a high bar!

 

In the past, foolish child, I would trust that the better reviewed inks or master manufacturers would assuredly provide the holy grail.

 

n.b. I think other people have a similar thing with manufacturers, which does make some sense, but I'm one of those birds that likes turning over all the leaves!

[Arkanabar]

You're describing "I'm in love with !" That's the one where you have to have all the blues, reds, greens, or whatever else goes in place of for you right now.

[Ceilidh]

Arkanabar, I have been through all that and more. However many years before FPN, however many years after, and I'm still trying to figger it all out.

 

 

Yep - what she said.

 

Excellent post!

[azbobcat]

For ME?!? A fountain pen was an everyday tool of existence. Indeed everyone used a fountain pen (when we progressed from turning in our homework from pencil to pen). I had /have a lover affair with the Parker 45 "Arrow". Everyone used either Black, Blue. or Blue-Black, including me. Then came the fatal day that the store ran out of all Blue, Blue-Black, and Black ink, and all they had was Quink Green. I hated the Green and proceeded to mix half the bottle of green ink with a combine half bottle Quink Blue, and produced this rather COOL Teal to Turquoise colored ink, which became my "Signature Ink". 50 years later when I bought a new Fountain Pen -- a Waterman "Laurent" -- I went looking for some Quink -- no longer made -- but came across a company called Private Reserve, and they had an ink called "Blue Suede" -- My Signature Ink color. They also produced another ink called "Naples Blue". Since then I added a few other "specialty" colors: two reds, "Arabian Rose" (Private Reserve), "Tanzanite" (Private Reserve), "Spearmint" (Private Reserve), "Purple Reign", (Monteverde), and just recently "Teal" (Monteverde 2019 DC Supershow). For me "Blue Suede", "Naples Blue", and if it turns out as well as it seems it will, Monteverde's "Teal" are likely to be my GoTo inks, followed by "Arabian Rose".

 

One other Waypoint on my "Inky Journey": I've gone from having a SINGLE fountain pen -- that Parker 45 "Arrow" long since lost to history, and Waterman Laurent which I bought NEW in 1998, and which I still have -- to a collection of 16 Fountain Pens -- most of which are Waterman's including a Waterman Expert -- plus 4 Parker 45's, 2 Parker 45 "Arrows" (one of which has a 14Ct. Gold nib!), 2 Conkin Duragraphs (one of which has a 1.1mm stub, and which has become my favorite pen!), and an Edison Nouveau Premiere "Trunk Bay" which at $160+ is by far the most I have ever spent on a Fountain Pen, but I use to hang out at Trunk Bay, St John for many, many years.

 

So where am I in many "Inky Journey". Haven't a clue -- I'm having to much fun taking time to smell the roses, and taking in the marvelous vistas before me!!!

[NeverTapOut]

I love the EVAR.

I feel like I am in a movie from the 1980's...I think it was "Valley Girl"

[DrDebG]

As I have read the most recent posts, particularly those about "What you see AIN'T what you get", I have to laugh at myself. When I look at the prices of samples then look at the price of the bottle, I am always doing a sort of "cost benefit analysis" to determine is it more cost effective to buy the sample or just buy the bottle. Generally, if the ink is from a manufacturer that I have never tried, I will almost always buy a sample. But, if it is from a manufacturer I know and trust, I will most likely spring for the whole bottle even though I haven't tried it. I've done that with most of my Montblanc, DeAtramentis, Rohrer & Klingner and Pilot Iroshizuku inks. But when it comes to Sailor, Diamine, and most others, I will always opt for the sample.

[WalterC]

...

 

The most scathing review probably is still Sandy1's review of Lamy Green.

Arkanabar, thank you for that link to Sandy1's review of Lamy Green!! That is now my favorite review, but not my favorite ink.

[inkstainedruth]

As I have read the most recent posts, particularly those about "What you see AIN'T what you get", I have to laugh at myself. When I look at the prices of samples then look at the price of the bottle, I am always doing a sort of "cost benefit analysis" to determine is it more cost effective to buy the sample or just buy the bottle. Generally, if the ink is from a manufacturer that I have never tried, I will almost always buy a sample. But, if it is from a manufacturer I know and trust, I will most likely spring for the whole bottle even though I haven't tried it. I've done that with most of my Montblanc, DeAtramentis, Rohrer & Klingner and Pilot Iroshizuku inks. But when it comes to Sailor, Diamine, and most others, I will always opt for the sample.

 

I go back and forth on that. Sometimes, if I'm not sure I'm going to like a color, I will sample first. But then there other times when it's like when Herbin released their 1670 Stormy Grey a few years ago. I saw a written exemplar at someone's table at DCSS that year. So when the ink became readily available, I just KNEW there was no point in sampling it first.

I do go through spells where I'm trying to match something (like the time a few years ago when I was trying to match the color and sheen of what was clearly a gel pen ink), so I end up buying a bunch of samples (and then am REALLY happy I didn't buy full bottles). But I have also done the per oz. cost analysis (in particular when I had tried samples of Diamine Havasu Turquoise and Edelstein Topaz -- which, honestly, look identical on the page; and I did buy a small bottle of the Diamine but still slightly prefer the behavior overall of the Edelstein ink...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[tadas]

Today I realized that there is a subset of "Quest for the Perfect (color)", which is "What is the best ink substitute this (unavailable) one?"

 

I absolutely love the green-verging-on-black ink that Franklin-Christoph produced as the show ink for the 2016 Philly Pen Show. The bottle I bought leaked a bit, but I used it.I lost the bottle when i moved last July.

 

Folks have suggested Franklin-Christoph Midnight Emerald or Monteverde Jade Noir.

[radellaf]

This looks like a fun topic. Been staying away from here, and just occasionally glancing at FB groups, in an effort to save money. It has sorta worked, but this month has been very inky anyway.

 

> You mean there's COLORS???!?!?!??

I sorta started here with Sheaffer's (10 colors?) cartridges and don't think I ever left this stage. Peacock blue, a gray, and a burgundy were added to the line about when I started (late 80s?). I was in love with what happened when I ran out of green (the cartridge, not draining the feed) and then popped in the peacock, or vice versa. The French teacher reading what I wrote (high school) wasn't thrilled, and FPs weren't ideal, and I had a love affair with UniBall Micro when it came out, but I never gave up the FP. It was a clear Sheaffer cartridge (flat top) model so you could look at the ink slosh back and forth. So that's another thing: ink that looks cool sloshing. The best ones are too light to write with, but dark oranges and lighter reds work. The pen leaked in the cap at the slightest jolt like dropping it on the desk, and the ink spread too much on the loose-leaf paper, but I always figured "one day I'll get a real pen and it won't do that". Mostly I got better paper and quit jolting my pen.

By college I had rows of boxes of ink in ALL the colors. As in, the seven or eight Watermans, jars of the Sheaffers (incl Kings Gold), Pelikan, and some others like Omas and I think Herbin's complete line of 12? 16? Noodler's wasn't out for another 4 or 5 years, Diamine I guess had over 50 but was more or less unknown, and when PR launched I got I think all of them and used them despite all the silt in Hot Pink Bubblegum.

You can't really do that now. Get all the colors. Not that it isn't tempting. I'm creeping up on diamine, 5 or 10 30mL bottles at a time plus maybe 20 80mL. I am NOT going to go nuts on Robert Oster. Too expensive and too many. Iroshizuku, once it went down in price, my 4 bottles became most of them.

 

> Blackest Black EVAR!!

Only pursued this as a part of the above. I mean, I had Aurora very early on, and Perle Noir, so it wasn't like I was really hoping for an ink any closer to being as black as midnight on a moonless night.

What do I use? Well I have HoD inked in the Preppy it came with and it's fine. It's not coal dust black, but good enough. I had Quink for a long time. Extra black as it was in a pen that would evaporate ink over a couple of months, and I twice topped up the converter with more ink instead of distilled water. Perle I had inked, but I like to leave ink for a year or more, and the "new" Herbins have gotten SitP too often. The B has no S, still, so I might ink that up when I'm writing a lot and plan to use it.

Really, though, and I know there's a lot of people who disagree, but for a fountain pen I think black ink is a bit of a cop-out. It's just not interesting. Grey is more so, but if it's at all neutral, then to me it's just watered down black. I hate inadequate blacks and (Pelikan) wimpy reds. The only Iroshizuku I never plan to buy is the black, though it's about on par with the really light colors like rice ear or the near invisible blues or purples that might be fun to doodle with but would be frustrating to read.

I had a topic about do you feel guilty writing a letter in black ink. I pretty much do, if it's the whole thing. I haven't done my job if a letter doesn't have some color of ink from the 50+ pens I have inked, at least 40 of which would write without having to do anything.

 

> Brightest Colors EVAR!!

 

Yeah, yeah, started here (and was very frustrated in the 80s) and never left it. Montegrappa Fuschia the newest discovery. BSB, of course, but it really fades to normal brightness fast when exposed to light. R&K Solferino is another favorite. Saguaro or Cactus Fruit. Earliest eye-searer was a Herbin, maybe Rouge Cyclamen?

 

> My writing shall be preserved for EVAR!!

 

Don't think I was ever really into this one. I have enough inks that qualify including at least a dozen Noodlers that are more whatever-proof than is good for them. Used KtC for a good while (love that smell). All the Platinum Classic IGs but Khaki. Pilot's Blue-Black, and Black are pretty permanent.

I'm a bit disappointed by inks that run away from the page when it gets too humid but I have always used them anyway. Except for envelope addressing, I don't worry about it. My writing will be thrown away or lost long before the ink fades unless someone leaves it all out under the sun, or office fluorescents for months on end. Paper is very much not for EVAR. Nor is digital, but I bet, if we still have the internet, you'll be able to dig up stuff I wrote on it long after the paper is gone. Unless I write that novel I keep meaning to, partly as a way to use some of the gallons of ink and dozens of reams of paper hanging around here. Even then, there's published books I can't find anywhere so that's no guarantee.

 

Oh, and if you want your writing to last forever for posterity, vs writing documents that you don't want forged? USE A PENCIL. Graphite is not going anywhere on its own, and if somebody maliciously wants to get rid of my writing they can just get rid of the sheet it's written on vs trying to erase pages of my notebook and say "HA! I did it! Nobody shall read what he writ!"

 

First was told that in a field biology class I took at a museum over a summer, as a... probably 10-12 year old. If you might be dropping your notebook in the swamp, then write in pencil. I also learned how many places a tick can find to settle upon one's person, and decided that I might prefer electrical engineering to biology. Tho I still kinda wonder if I should have done chem E and tried to work on ink chemistry. More likely inkjet than FP, but still (and yeah I do sometimes use printer ink in my pens, but it tends to feather more than I like. Darn resistant to clogs, tho.)

 

> I'm in love with !

 

Always and often. Hated, hated, hated brown ink. Stared at that bottle of Sheaffer Brown like "why do I wanna write the color of … dirt?" Last year? Both the Iroshizukus, at least half a dozen Noodler's, filled out most of the Diamine browns. And orange, shortly thereafter, same deal.

 

> Quest for the perfect .

 

Not really, I don't think. Had a yen for a match to Berol rollerball green that Ku-Jaku comes pretty close to, or any number of Robert Oster blue-greens. But, no, more often I get nutty about collecting variations around a color "I'm in love with" than looking for one to settle down with.

I do kinda think Diamine Sherwood Green is a perfect green, though. Pilot or Noodler's for blue. Sheaffer red, or maybe Diamine Oxblood (or is that burgundy?) or Red Dragon. Fuyu Gaki perhaps for orange, or PR Orange Crush if I could ever figure out what it's supposed to be - bright or burnt orange? Just Diamine plain Orange is good too. Or, a mix of R&K Helianthus and Fernambuk somewhere around 1:1, or 2:1 favoring the red. Purple I have no idea. Cross? Solferino? Turquoise: Kon Peki (not too light). Brown? OMG, don't ask, but I might just stick with the old Waterman Havana Brown (I am _not_ calling it Absolute or whatever the silly new names are, but especially for Havana.) Burgundy? Ugh, I love and hate this color, especially the middle of the road like Diamine Syrah. Oxblood is great, though. Or some mix-my-own with Sheaffer red and some other blue or purple added. Waterman brown + sheaffer red, alas, changes color within months back to pretty much brown. I know there's a great dark reddish purple but can't think of one.

 

>Oooooh, shady!

 

No, no, no, no, and... no. Yeah, I'll get it with orange and green a lot, but it always bugged me with that first Sheaffer cartridge pen and it still is more likely to bug me than seem pretty. Defect, not feature.

 

>Oooooh, sheeny!

 

That generally means I left the pen too long and the full converter is now down to 20% or less. Happened with Penman Sapphire, of course, with only a few days evaporation in my first Sonnet (worst sealing pen EVAR, short of maybe the Noodlers Nib Creeper even if you _do_ seal the hole). Now I have a bunch of sheeny Diamine bottles just waiting to be tried. Maybe they'll work. IDK if it's the weather here or what, but even on Rhodia and Tomoe I hardly ever get sheening. That I prefer nibs around a Pilot F (or M, at worst), and like a 4 out of 10 for flow, probably doesn't help. Also not a fan of smearing after a day's drying time.

 

> Oooooh, subtle!

 

Sure, sure... collect enough ink, go through enough "I'm in love with", get tired of enough "wow, that's really PURPLE", and it comes to this. Now, Poussiere de Lune was probably my first subtle, so dusky purple is my first subtle love. Now, it's probably Sailor Rikyu Chai. Tho I am seriously not happy about their new greedy ink pricing. Then again, I have a 50mL bottle, so I am probably set for life unless I really go wild with it (like writing that novel). The last bottle I got anywhere near the bottom of was an old Osmiroid Blue I used with a steel crow's quill nib in high school to write history essays. I _did_ finish a Bic Clic ballpoint in high school, too. Essays for that same teacher, different class. Lowest bottle now is Noodler's Yellow and Waterman Florida Blue, mostly from mixing in vials that are still about as full as when I mixed them. That blue really doesn't hold up in some mixes.

Anyway, it's really rare to find a truly subtle ink. Sailor Sei-Boku maybe, in that it's blue or teal depending on paper. Never really mixed a subtle one. Dunno that dusky purple really counts, but I do like it. Brown is probably the most promising color to become subtle. REALLY tough to make a greenish brown that's not disgusting, though, so Rikyu is something special.

 

> I just want it to work!

 

Nah. I mean, I do, but I have plenty from all the other accumulation that if I'm not in the mood for "interesting", I can just use any Iroshizuku. If the paper isn't (bleep), most of the non-waterproof Noodler's (possibly 80/20 with water). R&K is pretty much universally good. Pilot, have huge bottles of the Black, Red, and Blue-Black, and if a pen/paper won't work with those, well then, there's something seriously wrong with it.

 

I am the least like: someone who finds a black that works (MAYbe a blue or blue-black too) and just sticks with it. Still, my best FP convert was a Cross Solo F (Namiki nib I think, awesome pen, bit boring but bulletproof) and Aurora Black. He was a BP/RB guy, but also very anti-waste, so loved the idea of only throwing out (recycling) one glass bottle every year or so. Dunno if he's still using that pen and ink. Boring combo, but I respected it. As a convert. If you're making a hobby of pens, then c'mon (yeah, I know, you _can_ make a hobby of just the pens and ignore ink &/or paper).

 

If I had to add an Inky Waystation, now that there's many mfg with over 30 colors out there, it's pure acquisitiveness or "ooh, pretty!". Diamine has got me every time there's a new release, even if I have a half dozen sheeny new ones and a rack of Guitars I haven't even swabbed most of. There's a sale on R.O.? Gimme. Colorverse has a Whole New Line and they're not $30 each? Please, 5 bottles, no questions asked.

 

Biggest frustration that I had to let go of: Ink is not a precision color-matched product. FP ink. Printer's ink I guess you can buy guaranteed to match a Pantone number or something. But ink? No. You can not have a sample library that's canonical. Even Iroshizuku, I have at least 4 colors that my 2012 samples don't match my 2018 bottles. Doesn't match the computer screen? (yeah, of course, what does...) Doesn't even match itself. Not reliably, anyway. If you love a color, stock it up. It might be made the same way for decades, or it might not. Then again, does it matter? I usually get bored of a color halfway through a converter (remember, dry F nibs) and add some yellow, or blue, or a different teal than the teal I'm using, or whatever. Lot of ink isn't the same color on different (perfectly white) paper, for that matter. No idea why _that_ is. Dyes changing from paper pH? I think I gave up on this both from the samples, and from a bout of trying to print photos at home and color calibrate a monitor with a Canon i960 inkjet. It was fun for a while to play with the tech, but ultimately just soured me on the whole enterprise. Now I generally just send the pics out to Walgreen's and pick them up later. If I ever print anything at all any more.

 

Fun. It's gotta be fun. If it's not fun, I pick up a UniBall micro or an Inkjoy ballpoint until I get bored and FPs are fun again.

[A Smug Dill]

When I look at the prices of samples then look at the price of the bottle,

I do too, but I regard "price" as what the ink manufacturer has put as the RRP¹ or MSRP² for its domestic market, and not what it could cost me out-of-pocket to acquire a bottle of the ink given shipping charges, limited availability, overheads imposed by local retailers and regional distributors, etc.

 

I want to know how the manufacturer (as opposed to its authorised regional distributor and/or agents in Australia) intended to position its product.

 

I am always doing a sort of "cost benefit analysis" to determine is it more cost effective to buy the sample or just buy the bottle. Generally, if the ink is from a manufacturer that I have never tried, I will almost always buy a sample.

Not that I'm actually one to acquire ink samples through retail or private exchange, but if I were of a mind to do so, brands like Montblanc (of which I had two bottles, and have since given away the one I bought; the other was a gift), De Atramentis (five retail bottles in my drawer), Colorverse (four retail colours on order), Leonardo Officina Italiana, Organic Studio, Troublemakers, etc. would be the brands that I "don't trust" enough to buy a whole bottle if samples were readily accessible to me. Sailor pigment and Shikiori, Pilot Iroshizuku (of which I already have all 24 regular colours, just not any of the limited editions) and Platinum pigment and Classic inks have my trust, while Diamine, KWZ Ink and Rohrer & Klingner win on the low-cost-per-ml factor and sufficiently good past experience on the whole.

 

... But when it comes to Sailor, Diamine, and most others, I will always opt for the sample.

Noodler's is the one that I'm really iffy about. It's more than cheap enough on a per millilitre basis to buy in 3oz bottles, but while some of its inks are good, many have seriously disappointed me, so the trust just isn't there — not in the sense that Nathan would intend to rip anyone off, but just that I might end up with bottles I have to pour down the drain (then clean the plumbing with bleach) because nobody else wants the remainder of the ink in those bottles either.

[Kalessin]

Wow, I can't believe I didn't see or didn't respond to this thread earlier!

 

 

...and away we go!

 

 

You mean there's COLORS???!?!?!?? I have about fifty ink colors, but most of them are variations on blue, turquoise brown (especially red-brown), green. I have a few blacks, a few reds, and an orange or two. Manufacturers include Montblanc (including a few limited edition inks), Pelikan (4001 and Edelstein), Parker (Quink and Penman), Sheaffer Skrip (vintage and Slovenian), Diamine, Monteverde, J.Herbin, and Lamy. I don’t compulsively buy ALL THE COLORS EVAR! Some were freebies from attending the Boston pen show over the years.

 

Blackest Black EVAR!! For his forty years as a professor before he retired in 2011, my dad wrote exclusively in black ink with his only fountain pen, a 149 my mother bought for him in the 1960s when he received his PhD. He used Montblanc, Pelikan 4001, Parker Quink, or Sheaffer Skrip in the top-well bottle, just buying whatever was easiest to buy, and reaching for the bottle closest to him on his desk.

 

My first ink was using the bottles of black on dad’s desk, and I later bought MB black, Pelikan 4001 or Quink Black, though I used mostly Quink Blue-Black, MB Royal Blue or Quink Washable Blue until the 1990s, when I started buying more Pelikan 4001 colors, and then Parker Penman came out and I had to try it. I haven’t been using much black at all for the last fifteen years, but (here's the Blackest Black EVAR part) I just impulse-bought (see "Pen Shop Guilt" below) a bottle of J.Herbin Perle Noir because I’ve suddenly been wanting a black ink, and reviews say it’s quite dark and quick-drying, and the latter is important for this lefty.

 

Brightest Colors EVAR!! I don’t buy much in the way of eye-searing colors. I do like a nice strong, clear orange, and Montblanc Lucky Orange has the right shade, but it creeped up and crudded on my nib.

 

My writing shall be preserved for EVAR!! Not really worried about this. Things I wrote forty years ago with regular ink and have kept out of the light are still quite legible, even washable blues!

 

I'm in love with ! I’m in love with genuine Parker Penman Sapphire, and have bought enough to supply me at the rate that I use it for the next twenty years or so (five bottles). I also really like turquoise, and have stocked up on my favorite, vintage Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue.

 

Quest for the perfect . I already found the perfect colors for me, Sheaffer Peacock Blue and Parker Penman Sapphire. Shame that they’re so expensive in the vintage ink marketplace (I used to be able to buy Peacock Blue for $15/btl on fleaBay, but now people are asking $30+).

 

Oooooh, shady! I prefer B, BB and BBB nibs, and shading kinda goes with the territory. Namiki Blue and Waterman Florida Blue (or whatever they call it now) do great shading with nibs this wide.

 

Oooooh, sheeny! Sheening doesn’t really matter to me. Glittering inks really don't matter to me.

 

Oooooh, subtle! I mostly prefer mainstream colors, so they’re already pretty subtle. I don’t like gray ink or gray shades at all.

 

I just want it to work! Fussy inks (Noodlers, mostly) get banished to the storage box in the basement for eventual giveaway.

 

What You See Ain't What You Get: I haven’t had this issue.

 

Danger, Will Robinson! I’m really boring in my ink choices. Never experienced ink danger.

Oooooh, dat bottle! I love Sheaffer Skrip top-well bottles, the Namiki bottles with their little plastic inserts, and the Parker Penman bottles with their little plastic inserts. The most beautiful ink bottles ever made were the Carter Ink “cathedral” bottles.

The Blending Disease: I’ve never blended inks.

I'mma use up this ink if it kills me! Nope, I don’t get bitten by this bug. I have lots of half-used inks at home.

 

My ink must match my pen! On the other hand, I have been bitten by this bug. On most days, I carry a Pelikan M400 brown tortoise with Waterman Brown or Diamine Ancient copper in it, a Pelikan 620 Berlin with green ink in it (currently Penman Emerald), and a Pelikan 600 in Transparent Blue with Penman Sapphire or Namiki Blue in it. Since I need a new contrast color for my note-taking at work, I’m shopping for a red pen to be dedicated red ink. I do have pens that get non-matching colors, there’s Peacock Blue in my MB 149 and Edelstein Aquamarine in my Pelikan M910 Toledo.

 

EXTRA CATEGORIES!!

 

Collect the Whole Set! I only have this for Parker Penman inks, where I have all five colors, but don't really use the brown, black, or red.

 

Pen Shop Guilt: I love visiting my local pen shops, Bromfield Pen in Boston and the pen counter at Bob Slate Stationer in Cambridge, MA. I love wandering around looking at all the pens. I love helping them stay in business. What better way to do so in a nominally affordable manner than to pick up a bottle of ink (and maybe some paper, or a little notebook, or a few birthday and anniversary cards, and ooo look pen cases and...).

 

Orphaned and Discontinued inks: I have a soft spot that many others seem to have for older MB ink bottles and colors and/or vintage Sheaffer Skrip and/or vintage Parker Quink and Penman. But I also have some real abandonware: Marlen Blue (it's grayish) and Brown, Rotring Green, first-ownership Private Reserve (2003 DC Supershow Blue!) and Noodler's freebies from the Boston Pen show. I've been eyeing Omas inks recently, but the prices are painful!

[Arkanabar]

Wow, I can't believe I didn't see or didn't respond to this thread earlier!

<snip>

EXTRA CATEGORIES!!

 

Collect the Whole Set! I only have this for Parker Penman inks, where I have all five colors, but don't really use the brown, black, or red.

 

Pen Shop Guilt: I love visiting my local pen shops, Bromfield Pen in Boston and the pen counter at Bob Slate Stationer in Cambridge, MA. I love wandering around looking at all the pens. I love helping them stay in business. What better way to do so in a nominally affordable manner than to pick up a bottle of ink (and maybe some paper, or a little notebook, or a few birthday and anniversary cards, and ooo look pen cases and...).

 

Orphaned and Discontinued inks: I have a soft spot that many others seem to have for older MB ink bottles and colors and/or vintage Sheaffer Skrip and/or vintage Parker Quink and Penman. But I also have some real abandonware: Marlen Blue (it's grayish) and Brown, Rotring Green, first-ownership Private Reserve (2003 DC Supershow Blue!) and Noodler's freebies from the Boston Pen show. I've been eyeing Omas inks recently, but the prices are painful!

Where have you been hiding out on this site? I've had a link to this thread in my signature for a few years at least. (Admittedly, I am generally only on the Inky Thoughts, Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop, and PIF forums.)

 

And thanks for the new categories, they are all very nice.

[Kalessin]

Where have you been hiding out on this site? I've had a link to this thread in my signature for a few years at least. (Admittedly, I am generally only on the Inky Thoughts, Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop, and PIF forums.)

 

And thanks for the new categories, they are all very nice.

 

I'm mostly in the Montblanc Forum (which I moderate), Chatter (which I help moderate) and Pelikan forums. I also have a toddler at home whose demands on my free time are...extensive.

[ENewton]

For me, one category has been the best fit since I started using fountain pens: I am in love with purple. For decades, I wrote only with Pelikan 4001 Violet, which I was able to buy at a local shop. Since discovering, a few years ago, the large range of other purple inks available, I have increased my collection to fourteen bottles of purple ink, which I rotate by season, using warm, dusty shades in autumn, bluer ones in winter, floral ones in spring, and those not falling into any of those categories in summer.

 

Secondarily, there is the matter of finding the right ink for a specific pen. When I bought my Pelikan 140 from Rick Propas, he advised me not to use purple ink in it, and my one bottle of non-purple ink, Rohrer & Klingner Sepia, was too dry for the pen. A few months ago I bought Sailor Kobe Taisanji Yellow, which I'd read was wet, and it does seem wet enough to lubricate the nib but not saturated enough to produce a legible line. Now I am vacillating between trying more inks that are not purple, giving up and using purple ink in the pen, and getting the nib adjusted.

[Arkanabar]

Well, rats.  I used square brackets to indicate a variable {color}, and the new software has hidden them all.

[TSherbs]

I've been through all these phases, but now I am at the "I'll see what inks my pen pals use in their letters." So many outfits are now making new inks in so many colors, that the information is overwhelming. I've stopped paying attention to all of it cuz my brain just can't handle it. I also don't trust my phone or laptop to convey to me what it looks like on a user's paper. So I just wait and see what inks of interest my few pen pals use. Real ink on real paper in my hands. I'll buy something of it really interests me, like one bottle every six months. I've got enough ink (30 bottles)!