Red Belly Black - Bookbinders Snake Ink

[Fuzzy_Bear]

 

 

It does not sheen on cheap paper. You can see the color in the pen. It's a new TWSBI Eco Clear.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Fuzzy_Bear

[chromantic]

Well, it's black. A very intense black.

 

I put it in a Frontier fine, so more like a medium and fairly wet; tried it on cheap memo, Strathmore sketch and the BnR spiral. Nice flow, nice wet line though I notice it dries on the nib fairly quickly if I stop and think too long. And when I just picked up the pen to write with it after it sitting for about 7 hours, it refused to write and I had to wet the nib to get it started. There's a little dried nib creep along the split.

 

Not seeing any sheen. On the cheap memo, looked at straight on and in bright light, it's very black; in just the light of the monitor and at an oblique angle, there does seem to be a slight cast to it, especially with the Strathmore sitting beside it. I'm not sure if it's just my imagination or the higher contrast of the black against the very white Strathmore vs the dingy memo paper.

 

Not seeing any on the BnR either but, on that smooth surface, it does retain a slight shininess when it dries; the KWZI Grapefruit above it on the page exhibits this also whereas the Cacao du Bresil below it does not, that's just flat (but shady, as is the Grapefruit - no shading on the Red-belly at all).

 

I'll take it to work tonight and play with it further. Been wanting to get a nice 'black' black and this seems to fit the bill; lack of sheen isn't a deal-breaker for me. I would be more concerned with it drying out in the pen, especially where I have so many inked up and may only use any one of them every few days, as well as if there's a drying problem just over the course of a day's normal usage.

Edited May 22, 2016 by chromantic

[pepsiplease69]

@FuzzyBear. Thanks for the photos.

 

That looks like an awesome sheen! I'm going to try out on Red&Black paper as well and see how it works.

[migo984]

After using this ink for a couple of months now I agree with Chromantic (post #42 above). It's not an obvious sheen-er; you have to work hard to get sheen to show. This ink also became very sluggish, very quickly, in my pens. In my Platinum Cool (a very generously wet writer with a true medium nib) it even caused hard starts and reduced flow, if left for a day. That's *never* happened to that pen before, with any ink I've used in it (over 75 different inks).

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for the warning.

[chromantic]

Used it off and on Sat night, worked fine, tried again before bed on Sun, still fine. Sun eve (~7 hrs), initial hard start and skipping but did start on its own and was solid after 3-4 scribble lines; didn't take to work. Mon morn, wouldn't start; drop of water on nib got it going. Wed morn (2 days non-use), wouldn't start, held nib against wet paper towel for a sec or two, got ink on towel but still wouldn't write; turned on faucet and did fast swipe thru stream, that got it started, then it wrote fine.

 

Test pen is a Frontier fine so a wet enough writer but I'll be first to admit seal tightness of Frontier caps is not the greatest (and can vary quite a bit from pen to pen) and I live in the desert, too, so the air is pretty dry. Still, most of the pen/ink combos I have sitting on my desk are fine after a few days of non-use, even other Frontiers.

 

I'm trying it in a Vector now, cap seems somewhat tighter. Will see how it goes in this.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

The only time I've had a hard start is when I'm holding the poem and thinking, with the cap off. It's only been loaded in two different TWSBI's. And that was in windy conditions on my bus yesterday.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

3 days unused in my pen. No problems starting. TWSBI 580.

[chromantic]

3 days unused in my pen. No problems starting. TWSBI 580.

 

Glad to report same, 3 days and started right up. Moving to the Vector seemed to have done the trick.

 

Forgot to cap it, though, while I zipped over to Goulet's to order Dark Lilac and it dried out, prob at least 5 mins.

[ac12]

 

@FuzzyBear. Thanks for the photos.

 

That looks like an awesome sheen! I'm going to try out on Red&Black paper as well and see how it works.

 

 

Bring your pen and sample writing to the next Posse that you go to. I might have to order a bottle of this ink.

[ac12]

I hope we can get Van Ness to send us some ink samples of these inks for the SF Pen Show?

[pepsiplease69]

  

 

Bring your pen and sample writing to the next Posse that you go to. I might have to order a bottle of this ink.

Planning to come to Milbrae this Sunday. Will bring the ink bottle, a 1.5 kaweco nib creaper and my tomoe river jounal where I've been doing some regular writing.

[migo984]

I'm still having problems with this ink, even in a Platinum with slip n seal cap. It gets very sluggish, very quickly. The sheen is elusive too.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

I guess it's pen dependant. Four days this time, slightly hard start, skipped for about two seconds and have not had a problem since.