A Pen For Testing Ink Colours

[Karmachanic]

For the longest time I was happy using Diamine Teal in my various fountain pens. I was of the opinion that there are only three ink colours; blue, green and black. Of course those inks give rise to approximately 7,652 variations. Give or take. But I was happy with my Teal.

 

When I discovered FPN a month or so ago I spent my time researching and learning about various pens, papers and notebooks, as well as the vagaries and mysteries of nibs. Then one fateful day I wondered into the ink section of the forum. Oh my!

 

Now I must to add orange/yellow for letter writing on ivory paper. And discover which two I will use, for the foreseeable future. Also explore more blue/greens of course. Thank goodness for samples.

 

But which pen/pens should I use? I searched the forum without much success. So I searched the broader 'net, and came across a dormant site Pencopia. Mr Hall wrote a very informative article about the various pens to test inks. He was very much in favour of the very hard to find, no longer manufactured Morriset Dip Pen. A dip pen with a screw in nib/feed. The advantage being that one can load the feed, write at least an A5 page with the nib of your choice, draw, and doodle. Rinse and repeat.

 

Back to the 'net, where I searched for "dip pen, feed". I found a 2013 Matt Armstrong review of an Ebonite Ranga Dip Pen with feed which takes #5 nibs. $18. Ordered!

 

So now I can test an ink colour, wash the nib/feed, drink an infusion or two of puerh tea while the feed dries, then test another colour. And so on.

 

For me this is the ideal solution. I'll have a reasonable facsimile of a fountain pen, using various nibs that I already have. This will allow me to quickly test several inks in reasonable time. Once I've narrowed it down to two or three, I can then load a fountain pen and live with it until the end of the sample.

 

And stay away from from those dark, saturated, red reviews!

 

The goal? Six sturdy, quality pens. That includes a X750 Jinhao with a self ground cursive italic Jinhao nib. One XF for notetaking. Two for nib grinding, #5 and #6. Three remaining with different nibs. No more than four inks. Two blue green. Two red/yellow/orange. Simplify. Maybe by next year four pens. The year after, two with two inks. I'll stop there.

 

Remember when the majority of people had A fountain pen and A bottle of ink?

Edited March 31, 2018 by kd3

[senzen]

 

Remember when the majority of people had A fountain pen and A bottle of ink?

 

No, but I remember when people had zero fountain pens and zero bottles of inks, and used ballpoint pens to carve into paper, until they gave up pens altogether and lost their minds with phones and computers, with attention spans going from the 5 minutes of the TV era to about 25 seconds. We're all turning into goldfishes.

 

Your solution is more efficient than mine, which has meant rotating inks, cursing when it doesn't work out, and trying again. There are inks that look fine coming out of specific pens, but don't look right with that pen e.g. Ambition in pearwood for some reason looks nice with Équinoxe 6, but not with poor, otherwise stunning Ajisai. Kon Peki would seem to demand a higher end pen, but comes out more like itself in a Lamy Vista - which unfortunately evaporates quickly... And so on.

[MrsHobie]

I use Lamy Vista for testing. They are cheap, with different nib sizes, and most of all, you can check if it's perfectly washed

[Karmachanic]

Thanks for that! L'Artisan has some lovely colours. Particularly the Callifolios. And yes, I understand the pen/ink/paper variable frustration.

 

 

Équinoxe 6,

[ErrantSmudge]

I bought a batch of about a dozen Jinhao 599s (the Lamy Safari knockoffs) for around $15 on Amazon. I'm sure eBay has them as well.

 

The quality is hit-or-miss, with problems like converters making a proper seal, flow issues and scratchy nibs. But they do work great for testing inks, since I can fill each one up, do my tests, then rinse them out all en masse afterwards.

 

They are also good for testing risky inks that could damage pens, like the inks Amberlea gives me.

Edited April 1, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[migo984]

Similar to your solution, to test inks I use a “Serendipity” hybrid pen, from James Finniss at Pensive Pens, in Australia, a dip pen that has a large feed & takes modern #6 nibs.

Dip, write up to a side of A4 (depending on ink & nib) rinse, repeat. Very easy to swap in any #6 nib.

[chromantic]

​I've been using my Waterman JIF school pens for a lot of my testing as they're fairly easy to flush; however, the snap-caps don't seal very tightly so the ink can dry in the feed even overnight on most inks. A friend recently sent me a Jinhao 992 F that I'm going to start using instead, I think. The F is smooth, if broader that the Fs on the JIFs, and it seems a moderately wet writer, with the added bonus of having a screw-on cap which should help with the drying problem. It's also pretty easy to flush.

 

I did buy a vintage Sheaffer dip pen with the screw-in nib/feed like you describe, thinking it would be ideal for testing but I've never tried it.

 

eta: left out a word and a comma

Edited April 1, 2018 by chromantic

[minddance]

Diamine Teal has good flow properties that make some of my dry Japanese pens write. Good that you like it

 

I would say test the inks in the pens that you would write with, if you are testing inks for yourself. If you are testing for others to see, choose pens that are popular/common/accessible for easy reference.

 

Inks look very different with a dip/vintage flex pen from a normal writing pen. A normal writing pen would never write quite as wet and would not offer that kind of saturation. The disparity can be immense: a normal-dry pen might render a light-mid ink illegible or lifeless, but in a dip pen, the same ink might be rich and even sheens.

 

For accuracy and to prevent disappointment (and awkward surprises to yourself and others), test with pens that you write with. Or test with a variety of pens, just to make sure you know the nature of the beast, to see its full potential/possibilities and see what is out of reach.

 

Dip pens might not tell you much about flow properties or shading potential of the ink.

 

P.S. I find Sandy1's reviews truthful, comprehensive, helpful and enjoyable to read. As long as ink formulas remain the same, his/her reviews are reference.

Edited April 1, 2018 by minddance

[The Good Captain]

I use Lamy Vista for testing. They are cheap, with different nib sizes, and most of all, you can check if it's perfectly washed

I use Vistas as well, for the same reasons. Also, a cheap plastic bulb pipette is very useful to put a bit of ink on the nib - enough for a short writing sample and not much gets into the feed or converter, if any. Particularly handy when trying to get ink out of sample phials or small-necked bottles, like Diamine 30ml.

[Karmachanic]

Errant Smudge: I bought a batch of about a dozen Jinhao 599s

Chromatic:I've using my Waterman JIF school pens

 

Precisely one of the things I'm trying to avoid. More pens!

 

migo984: The Serendipity did not show up in my search. It looks substantial - at three times the price! Mind you it looks twice as substantial. Thank you for letting us know about it though as others may prefer it. Ranga also has a larger version in both ebonite and acrylic. I opted for the smaller pen as it is not something I will use frequently, and it gets the job done.

 

minddance: I would say test the inks in the pens that you would write with.

 

I understand this to be the case and will do so after I have a rough generic image of an ink, and wish to explore it further ,as mentioned in my original post. And yes, I also find Sandy1's reviews helpful as they are reasonably white balanced, which, sadly, many reviewers completely miss. Also my testing is for my own purposes. No vintage pens currenty, nor on the horizon.

Edited April 1, 2018 by kd3

[sciumbasci]

Huh, why not Dollar 717i?

[Runnin_Ute]

I have several pens I use. Parker 45's. Have them in multiple nib sizes (from A to wider than M) and they can be taken apart completely to clean. I also have a Lamy Al Star and Jinhao 599. Both have stub nibs. A Noodler's Konrad. Again, can be completely torn down to clean if necessary. B nib.

 

So that is like 8-10 pens. I rarely have all of them inked at the same time, though and not always to be testing ink,but because I enjoy using them. (I normally have about 10 inked anyway)

[ErrantSmudge]

Precisely one of the things I'm trying to avoid. More pens!

 

 

And this is a problem because?

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[Karmachanic]

And this is a problem because?

 

 

Because minimalism. An uncluttered life.

 

Right now I have seven, soon to be four. That four to include two quality pens with screw-in nibs that, hopefully, will last as long as me. Maybe two, three nibs for each of those two pens. I have one such pen now.

 

I'll keep the Wing Sung 698 XF for quick note taking during meetings/seminars and the Kaigelu 316 (pearl/black with a Bock housing). The second quality pen to be purchased in a few months. Simplified!

[displacermoose]

I've been thinking about this for a while because I've never articulated how I go about testing inks, even to myself. I am surprisingly systematic. Whenever I get a new bottle or sample I swab it on to an index card to get an idea of the basic color. I use Life brand cards. They're okay, but far from great. If I have the time or inclination and I'm on the fence about the color I'll use a Charlie as a dip pen to jot a few words on several different papers to get a basic sense for how it looks and behaves. I put the cards for the most promising inks at the top of my stack in case I need a reminder about which ones excite me (generally I don't ).

 

I try to limit my inked pens to a black(ish) and blue for work and four, no more than five, for my personal writing, so I don't fill a pen unless I have an open slot and the color in question isn't too similar to whatever else I have inked. I like a mix of old favorites and new experiences so I rarely try more than two new inks at the same time. I usually force myself to give a full converter test unless there are flow problems (my biggest peeve) that make writing unpleasant. I've run across several colors that grew on me the more I wrote with them, so I give them all a good, solid run.

[Karmachanic]

I've been thinking about this for a while because I've never articulated how I go about testing inks, even to myself. I am surprisingly systematic. Whenever I get a new bottle or sample I swab it on to an index card to get an idea of the basic color. I use Life brand cards. They're okay, but far from great. If I have the time or inclination and I'm on the fence about the color I'll use a Charlie as a dip pen to jot a few words on several different papers to get a basic sense for how it looks and behaves. I put the cards for the most promising inks at the top of my stack in case I need a reminder about which ones excite me (generally I don't ).

 

I try to limit my inked pens to a black(ish) and blue for work and four, no more than five, for my personal writing, so I don't fill a pen unless I have an open slot and the color in question isn't too similar to whatever else I have inked. I like a mix of old favorites and new experiences so I rarely try more than two new inks at the same time. I usually force myself to give a full converter test unless there are flow problems (my biggest peeve) that make writing unpleasant. I've run across several colors that grew on me the more I wrote with them, so I give them all a good, solid run.

 

Thank you for sharing your method! Your tested method seems close to my intuitive method, Apart from swabing a card. Which is have a scribble with the dip-feed pen to determine which ink to fill a converter with, and live with it to achieve better understand its characteristics. Then purchase that ink or not.

 

I'm currently in the UK. I looked up "Life Cards". Not available here. I found Col-O-Rings, but at this point I'll be testing 10 inks in two colour ranges, for my own purpose. I'll just cut some Clairefontain to appropriate size for now and give that a try .

Edited April 3, 2018 by kd3

[Torrilin]

I like a variety of nib sizes. I would probably cry if you tried to make me pick just one. Two I can maybe do but I wouldn’t like it one bit (xf and 1.5mm maybe). Three I will be sulky about but isn’t too awful (add in a fude). Four or more I’ll be pretty content.

 

If I absolutely need to travel light, I can get by with my 2 TWSBI xf pens. Black in one, the other will be something else.

 

So my ink testing reflects this. Most inks will do ok in an xf nib. And if I’m doing minimal that’s what I have, so that’s the first test. If I’m unhappy with the ink in an xf, I probably won’t like it in anything else, because odds are the problem is lefty smear. (So far, I haven’t flushed anything for that, but I’m fairly careful with reviews before samples because there’s an awful lot of dyes that don’t like me having readable handwriting)

 

I don’t usually do swabs because they don’t reflect the actual pen line very well, even with a 1.9mm italic. They do reflect washes well, but I haven’t found that to be helpful in deciding what to ink up basically ever yet. It could happen, but I’m usually more about line in ink than masstone. And a swab won’t necessarily tell you how an ink washes in practice.

 

At about 3-4 cartridges or converters full, I’ll have a clear idea of an ink’s range and whether I find it pleasant over a full range of nibs. Mostly the answer is NOPE. Even if it’s pleasant, it’s worth thinking about whether I need a bottle or whether I can live with cartridges. Yeah bottles are cheaper by volume, but ink can go bad. I really only need bottles if I want an ink to be a regular in a piston filler.

[Karmachanic]

snip>

If I absolutely need to travel light, I can get by with my 2 TWSBI xf pens. Black in one, the other will be something else.

 

snip>

 

I don’t usually do swabs because they don’t reflect the actual pen line very well, even with a 1.9mm italic. They do reflect washes well, but I haven’t found that to be helpful in deciding what to ink up basically ever yet. It could happen, but I’m usually more about line in ink than masstone. And a swab won’t necessarily tell you how an ink washes in practice.

snip>

 

I'm very much enjoying reading the different approaches and learning as I go along.

 

One of my main two pens would be carrying blue-green. And the other? Something else

 

I understand and agree with your view on swatches. However I'll give them a try just to see, and enjoy, the full spectrum of each ink. Observing its full potential perhaps. Even though that full spectrum will not be visible in a line on a page. We'll see how long that lasts.

 

I was thinking of only one fill before deciding, but I'll try your approach of several, to achieve a fuller understanding of the ink.

 

Thank you!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Huh, why not Dollar 717i?

Indeed! If it's good enough for pen show ink testing stations, it's good enough for us. I currently have three. My other ink-testing pens include Sheaffer school pens and a batch of wet-writing pens of unknown origin that sport the UPS logo.

[JayHomeBody]

I am obsessed with ink. I started with diamine steel blue and then got some noodler's golden brown and then ordered a random sample pack from goulet. And I was HOOKED. But I also have a specific pen I use for testing ink. I have a clear jinhao 992 and it is the BEST for testing. It really is crystal clear, it's a decent size, handles well, and has a nice smooth F nib. I like to add a new ink to it and just veeeeery slowly twist the converter and watch the ink creep through the feed. It’s so fascinating.

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F282879590180

 

I found it here, and the seller was really nice, too. (No affiliation, but I've bought from them before.)

Edited April 3, 2018 by AdrielGrey