Graf Von Faber-Castell Ink Line - Impressions?

[Intensity]

I'm curious about a few colors in the GvFC line, but have not decided if I want to "pull the trigger" yet, so to speak. Seems like they are well-respected inks, but I can't tell if it's more because of the general impression of a high-end product due to the heavy-duty glass designer bottle, or if the inks themselves stand out in some way.

 

(I must admit, it bothers me that they label their inks as "indelible", but the water resistance part of that is not near-100% like a true permanent ink would have. Almost all of their inks wash off significantly, but do leave something behind. People then give recommendations of GvFC inks for those who want permanence, and it's misleading. Other than trying to avoid having a document tampered with, I imagine vast majority of people who want high water resistance just want it for low susceptibility of their writing to, say, picking up a written page and smearing the writing if one's hands are not perfectly dry, or an accidental flooding of an area where a journal is kept, or any number of sub-optimal long-term storage conditions that involve water or dampness.

 

 

indelible:

(of ink or a pen) making marks that cannot be removed.

synonyms: ineradicable, inerasable, ineffaceable, unexpungeable, indestructible, permanent, lasting, persisting, enduring, stubborn, ingrained, unfading, imperishable; More

)

 

That said, I can forgive some semantics, if the product is good otherwise, and I'm curious about the inks themselves.

 

For those here who use the GvFC inks--what do you like about them that makes them stand out? Or else, if not stand out, what do you like about their behavior? Would you get them again if you found other brands' inks in similar enough colors?

 

[farazqamar]

I have a few and they are very well behaved and high quality inks that I have put in my pen of the year pens without any issues ever.

[lapis]

Very well-behaved, halfways to fully interesting new colours.

But the “best” thing about them is their bottles —especially the caps — and their boxes. The best around IMO.

Sure you have to pay for 75 ml but the price per ml is still okay.

[MHBru]

I have just one of their inks and it is a great ink... well behaved and a nice rich color... GvFC Hazlenut is the only brown ink i own and actually the only brown I've ever wanted.

[DrDebG]

I have tried most of the line, and have several bottles. They are generally well behaved, with some shading. The only one I did not care for was the Violet Blue. It seemed to smear even after it was dry.

[Intensity]

The ones I'm interested are Olive Green, Moss Green, and possibly Violet Blue. I like Goulet's photographs of violet with blue edging on wet splashes and writing, but I'm afraid I'd need the wettest of pens to achieve that look. Mixed on Olive Green--in some reviews it's beautifully saturated, in Vis' review it's pale and bland. I've seen quite a few reviews where people say GvFC inks are dry.

[Antenociticus]

I really like them, and bought a couple of new colours to try only this afternoon.

 

They flow really well, write a crisp, saturated line with the F and EF nibs I've been using, and seem to work particularly well with Faber-Castell nibs. They have enough water-resistance to elevate them above similar colours in my estimation, and are apparently also lightfast, though this I have not been able to test.

 

I started with the Olive Green, which I found neither pale nor bland, and then scored some Cobalt Blue, which I liked so much one pen or another has been inked with it ever since. Today I bought Burned Orange and Gulf Blue.

 

Haven't tried the latter yet, but I love the Burned Orange, which I'll try using as a mark-up/marginalia colour for a while. Given the lamentable dearth of decent durable reds and oranges, its water resistance, though imperfect, makes it a real contender for my purposes.

[NeverTapOut]

I have tried most of the line, and have several bottles. They are generally well behaved, with some shading. The only one I did not care for was the Violet Blue. It seemed to smear even after it was dry.

 

I did not have a problem with violet blue smearing...my dried fast. I found it to light for making copies or scans.The ink faded as well. This is going to sound bad so please don't take it the wrong way...I found it to be a feminine color...not saying I need manly colors...It was not a color I would use in a meeting (there I dug myself out of that one). Bottles are nice.

Edited April 11, 2019 by JesusNeverTappedOut

[Intensity]

I really like them, and bought a couple of new colours to try only this afternoon.

 

They flow really well, write a crisp, saturated line with the F and EF nibs I've been using, and seem to work particularly well with Faber-Castell nibs. They have enough water-resistance to elevate them above similar colours in my estimation, and are apparently also lightfast, though this I have not been able to test.

 

I started with the Olive Green, which I found neither pale nor bland, and then scored some Cobalt Blue, which I liked so much one pen or another has been inked with it ever since. Today I bought Burned Orange and Gulf Blue.

 

Haven't tried the latter yet, but I love the Burned Orange, which I'll try using as a mark-up/marginalia colour for a while. Given the lamentable dearth of decent durable reds and oranges, its water resistance, though imperfect, makes it a real contender for my purposes.

 

Sounds promising about Olive Green. Are the F and EF nibs you're using it with usually writing wet with other inks? Like say vintage fountain pen level of wet vs something like a Lamy Safari (usually pretty dry).

[NeverTapOut]

The ones I'm interested are Olive Green, Moss Green, and possibly Violet Blue. I like Goulet's photographs of violet with blue edging on wet splashes and writing, but I'm afraid I'd need the wettest of pens to achieve that look. Mixed on Olive Green--in some reviews it's beautifully saturated, in Vis' review it's pale and bland. I've seen quite a few reviews where people say GvFC inks are dry.

That's the problem. Most swatches are saturated with ink. Violet Blue is very saturated on Goulet's website. The ink is very light and fades. You would need the wettest of pens to achieve the look you desire. I looked at the line as a whole and found mixed reviews. I think Vis has good reviews...I might not agree with his opinion however he is usually right about the ink characteristics.

Edited April 11, 2019 by JesusNeverTappedOut

[Mulrich]

I bought a bottle of Moss Green a few months back and really like it. That and MB Irish Green are the only two greens I really use. I also bought Garnet Red cartridges but haven't had a chance to use them yet.

[Antenociticus]

 

Sounds promising about Olive Green. Are the F and EF nibs you're using it with usually writing wet with other inks? Like say vintage fountain pen level of wet vs something like a Lamy Safari (usually pretty dry).

 

The Olive Green I've used only in a Muji pen with an F nib. A reasonably wet writer but no gusher. I just picked it up now, having not used it for a couple of months. The cartridge is nearly empty. It started writing after a small bit of shaking, and writes very dark in its evaporated state.

 

The Cobalt Blue I've used with both a Faber-Castell F and a PenBBS F. The PenBBS is the drier of the two. The ink looks better in the more saturated line generated by my Ondoro.

[Enkida]

I feel they're nice inks that come in very pretty bottles and are terribly overpriced. In terms of formulation, I generally like Sailor inks better, but well, I like wet inks. Of the ones I own, I like India Red the most. Olive Green is also very nice, but in my Waterman Reflectis, it dries out and creates hard starts if you literally do not use the pen for more than 24 hours. By comparison, Pelikan 4001 inks don't cause that problem with the same pen. (That may just mean they're more saturated that something like the Pelikan 4001 inks, though, which could be a net positive).

[siddr90]

I tried the cobalt blue ink when I recently purchased a Faber-Castell pen. Loved it and bought 6 new colours in to use more of that lineup, as the cartridges are relatively inexpensive.

Using the hazelnut brown now, it has lovely shading properties and might be the first brown I like.

And now I've inked my Conid with cobalt blue too!

[dumaresq]

I'm curious about a few colors in the GvFC line, but have not decided if I want to "pull the trigger" yet, so to speak.

 

Did you emphasise "colors" because you're not interested in grey? Cos Stone Grey is a great grey!

 

Very good lubrication, some water resistance (but, like you point out, not indelible).

 

Zero feathering in my experience, though I generally do stick to fountain pen-friendly papers. In fact, it makes one of the "tightest" lines, absolutely crisp.

 

Looks best in an edged-nib pen (stubs and italics), which shows off its beautiful subtle shading.

 

Haven't tried any other GvFC inks so I can't say if these properties are shared by the rest of the line.

 

But I have tried many grey inks, and Stone Grey is my favourite -- along with Montblanc Oyster Grey, which is equally expensive!

[Intensity]

I have a gray ink I love -- Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun. Used to have Papier Plume Oyster Grey too, but traded it away, as I already had a bit of an experimental mix from them that looks in-between Oyster Grey and Bayou Nightfall (so basically a gray with a tinge of blue-green). I don't use gray often enough to warrant having more than those two bottles

 

With that said, you've intrigued me about the no feathering bit. Is that a property you find superior in your GvFC ink compared to other gray inks you've used so far?

[senzen]

I really like them, and bought a couple of new colours to try only this afternoon.

 

They flow really well, write a crisp, saturated line with the F and EF nibs I've been using, and seem to work particularly well with Faber-Castell nibs. They have enough water-resistance to elevate them above similar colours in my estimation, and are apparently also lightfast, though this I have not been able to test.

 

I started with the Olive Green, which I found neither pale nor bland, and then scored some Cobalt Blue, which I liked so much one pen or another has been inked with it ever since. Today I bought Burned Orange and Gulf Blue.

 

Haven't tried the latter yet, but I love the Burned Orange, which I'll try using as a mark-up/marginalia colour for a while. Given the lamentable dearth of decent durable reds and oranges, its water resistance, though imperfect, makes it a real contender for my purposes.

 

I'd really appreciate some photos of Gulf Blue, there's a good Visvamitra review but not much more info; I may already have something close, Kon Peki (!) unexpectedly comes out as a baby blue in an EF Studio.

[dumaresq]

I have a gray ink I love -- Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun. Used to have Papier Plume Oyster Grey too, but traded it away, as I already had a bit of an experimental mix from them that looks in-between Oyster Grey and Bayou Nightfall (so basically a gray with a tinge of blue-green). I don't use gray often enough to warrant having more than those two bottles

 

With that said, you've intrigued me about the no feathering bit. Is that a property you find superior in your GvFC ink compared to other gray inks you've used so far?

 

I'm afraid I can't really say for sure, because the papers I use tend to be quite resistant to feathering.

 

But if we talk about line "spread", where the line thickens just a little on the paper, I've definitely found Stone Grey to be superior! Even on good papers, the difference is noticeable. Off the top of my head, Iroshizuku Kiri-same, Diamine Grey, JH Gris Nuage, Lexington Grey, Montblanc Oyster Grey, all spread ever so slightly. The result, depending on mood, looks either soft-edged, or flabby. Stone Grey, on the other hand, is dead crisp.

[Intensity]

Thank you, that's a property I appreciate as well. I've noticed that quite a few inks I have don't feather on good paper but do give a kind of shaky-edge look. I thought it was due to irregularities on paper surface, dimples of sort, and the ink settling around them. Is this what you mean by line spread?

[dumaresq]

Maybe "bloat" is a better word for what I was trying to describe! Basically just a slight thickening of the line as it gets absorbed by the paper, but not necessarily with a shaky edge, I think.

 

I notice it especially when I use a stub or italic nib. With Stone Grey I might get a 0.8mm line width, but with another ink the written line might end up 0.85mm. And the cross-stroke that is 0.2mm with Stone Grey might come out 0.225mm with other inks. (Not measured, just impression!) Most importantly for me, this means the fine details of the letters (the turns, the tails, the "waists") come out sharper and more defined.

 

.... as if chiselled in stone, one might say