Having Trouble Finding The Exact Ink Color I Am Seeking.

[MHBru]

It's happened several times and I know I am not the only one.. I look at tons of reviews and color samples from vendors and can't get any two to look the same. It occurred to me that if ink reviews / vendor catalogs included a pantone number that would help avoid these difficulties. It makes perfect sense to me and wonder why it isn't part of the regular reviews and vendor catalogs.

[Michael R.]

Maybe because pantone is "one" color but ink shows several different dimensions depending on shading, ink flow, sheen...

Not so easy to just put one and only color to any ink.

 

Also not everybody has access to a current pantone catalog.

 

Cheers

 

MIchael

[MCN]

Not to mention that there is an infinity of colors not represented in the PMS set.

[A Smug Dill]

It makes perfect sense to me and wonder why it isn't part of the regular reviews and vendor catalogs.

 

Please feel free to include the information when you produce ink reviews, and/or your product catalogue if you get into the business of selling inks. That'd be good, thanks.

 

p.s. You don't have to wait until you successfully find an ink that matches the colour you want exactly, before you produce ink reviews, either. If you tried four dozen different inks in your quest, reviewing those (complete with Pantone numbers) could still benefit others who are looking for inks that match what they want, even if you didn't quite get what you want. Your suggestion was all about how best to serve the community of hobbyists, and not what others could or should do to help you specifically to get your desired outcome, right?

Edited April 25, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[senzen]

It has happened to me, and it would be useful to have some sort of standard; meant as a something we could contribute, not a criticism of what's been made available which has been very helpful. Unfortunately since all displays look different, even with a standard inks won't look the same.

 

Kon Peki was the one that took the longest, although the solution was actually simply to look at the colour shown on the box; still it's lucky I discovered it can look radically different depending on the pen, and that I like all three (!) shades. Équinoxe 6 is another fiendishly difficult colour shifter.

[A Smug Dill]

There are very few inks I have encountered — and I have tried well over 150 — that only produce uniform colours irrespective of being used in a 'dry' or 'wet' pen; and that's even before we take into account the colour of the paper on which the ink is laid. Attempting to reduce the colour range of an ink to a single number is folly.

 

Then there's a issue of trying to match a colour being sought by using a Pantone number. Just because there are a couple of thousand inks out there, it doesn't mean there is an exact match for the colour being sought; and then, even if (some) reviews include a Pantone number for each ink, I don't think it can be expected that (i) two independent reviewers of an ink will actually agree what its Pantone number is, or (ii) there is a sufficiently good database that will allow someone to enter a Pantone number and get matches, when the Pantone number could be written any-which-where in the text of a review and not entered into metadata.

Edited April 26, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[namrehsnoom]

Another complication is that some inks are real chameleons, changing colour depending on the lightsource (daylight or artificial light - i.e. colour temperature of the light) - Noodler’s Rome Burning is an example.

[inkstainedruth]

Even on the same paper, inks can look different depending on the nib width.

It's a lovely idea in theory, but in practice it's probably near impossible. I used to work in a fabric store, and I had one customer who literally had EVERY bolt of "navy" fabric on the cutting table, demanding to know why they weren't the "same" color. And would NOT listen to the explanation: different dye lots, different fibers reflecting light differently, different manufacturers....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mulrich]

Another complication is that some inks are real chameleons, changing colour depending on the lightsource (daylight or artificial light - i.e. colour temperature of the light) - Noodler’s Rome Burning is an example.

 

These are some of my favorite types of inks.

 

Maybe they could include a unique pantone number for each paper/pen/nib/wetness/light/shading/sheening combination. I wonder which ink would end up with the most values and which would have the least?

[A Smug Dill]

Maybe they could include a unique pantone number for each paper/pen/nib/wetness/light/shading/sheening combination.

But who are 'they' to whom you referred above? If we're going to indulge in sheer fantasy, I think 'our' efforts as a society and/or species is better spent developing teleportation and weather control.

 

Sophisticated and reliable information services that give the desired product-related answers and/or market intelligence to retail consumers is nice to have, but hardly a worthwhile 'advancement' to work towards, when pretty much all they could offer are some savings — for individuals among common folk like me — in time, dollars and emotional energy, that are most likely not then invested by them on some other meaningful endeavour to benefit either industry or civilisation.

 

Helping consumers pinpoint make only perfectly informed purchases and minimise 'wasted' money and effort does not sound like something that would make the industry more profitable at large. Sure, if one commercial operator offers the information service while others don't, then it'll have an advantage and probably take market share from the others and cannibalise their profits; but that doesn't really help commercial enterprises to more of the consumer base's wealth that is available for discretionary spending when encouraged.

[jmccarty3]

Even on the same paper, inks can look different depending on the nib width.

It's a lovely idea in theory, but in practice it's probably near impossible. I used to work in a fabric store, and I had one customer who literally had EVERY bolt of "navy" fabric on the cutting table, demanding to know why they weren't the "same" color. And would NOT listen to the explanation: different dye lots, different fibers reflecting light differently, different manufacturers....

 

I see you've met one of my patients.

[Karmachanic]

Unobtainium. My favourite colour!

[amberleadavis]

IF you want to see difference in action, check out the PPS comparison. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/293633-the-super-duper-co-razy-parker-penman-sapphire-comparison-psp/

 

I was also looking for the comparison ZWACK and I did with the same ink, pen and paper. The ink looks totally different when he wrote. Found it.

 

http://www.sheismylawyer.com/2016_2_Ink/08-August/2016-08-10-Ink_13.jpg

[A Smug Dill]

I was also looking for the comparison ZWACK and I did with the same ink, pen and paper. The ink looks totally different when he wrote.

[Mech-for-i]

There is only exactly 1 type of ink that give consistent colour whether write dry or wet，broad or fine and its Carbon ink and the reason is pretty self explanatory I would say.

 

Its just physical property and nature of ink to exhibit differenr hue saturation and alike whe laid down different on differenr media

[Lloyd]

If the color you're looking for can be represented by a pantone number, why not post a request with that code in it?

[A Smug Dill]

If the color you're looking for can be represented by a pantone number, why not post a request with that code in it?

 

I can just see what will happen in that case: someone helpfully suggests an ink that he/she identifies as matching that Pantone colour from having written with it first-hand, and then the O.P. — or someone else — will report that he/she gets a different colour out of his/her bottle or sample, and thus claim to have been misled into spending money acquiring the ink; or, worse still, complain that he/she cannot find corroborating evidence (through other reviews and/or images online) to support it, and thus the person suggesting the ink must be either mistaken or lying.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Different nib width, flex...pressure, if the nib is wet or dry and what paper.

 

Look at any Sandy1 ink review she uses 4-5 different normal pens, 4 or so papers....and it is astounding that it is actually the very same ink.

 

Change pens, change papers.....who knows change humidly and your ink will look different.

 

 

Then what lighting are you using, sunlight, neon, halogen, LED or antique filament?

I've found sunlight gives truest value of color.

[amberleadavis]

 

 

WOW that's a great comparison. What made the difference?

[A Smug Dill]

What made the difference?

 

Deliberate variation in my writing speed and pressure on the flex nib. I normally try to write with a light hand (and generally slowly, when testing inks and/or paper), which results in no flexing of the steel nib on the FPR Himalaya and it writes just like a Fine nib, as in the three lines at the top.

 

(A 'shading' ink, which Diamine Autumn Oak is, will still exhibit shading with such writing, as you can see above. Similarly, a 'sheening' ink will exhibit sheen, even on narrow lines. Thus, to me, the best way to show off the capabilities of an ink is to put down narrow and relatively dry lines, as opposed to piling it on the page then spreading it with a Stub nib.)

 

The second three lines were written with deliberate flexing of the nib, and slowly at that; it is the polar opposite of how I normally write, without going to nib-breaking extreme abuse. The final lot of lines in the writing sample is the medium between those two, and probably how I write when I need to jot something down quickly, which is why I prefer firm nibs so that the line widths won't grow too fat.

Edited May 18, 2019 by A Smug Dill