Flex-Pen Ink Review: "Sailor Ink Studio - #140"

[Detman101]

[LizEF]

Thanks for another flexy review!   I'd bet @InesF could help us understand the whole "flows well but won't hold together when flexing" behavior - but he's on vacation, so we'll just have to be patient.  Your railroads make me wonder if there isn't a mini-niche for inks that only railroad, and do so well, so you could always write in nothing but railroads.

[mizgeorge]

When you said you'd got 140 as well I wondered if you might be a bit disappointed after 162!

 

I've always found it a perfectly nice colour (perhaps a bit too turquoise for me), but it's not special in the way some of the studio line are, and I've never got much in the way of shading from it, even on the most appropriate paper, so it ends up being a bit 'flat' compared to the multichromatics. 

 

The railroading thing is interesting. I wouldn't have said it was a particularly dry ink, but I think the white lightning trick may well sort that particular problem out. 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

That's a nice color.  I may try a sample of it at some point, even though I tend to prefer slightly more saturated inks.

Thanks for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

Thanks for the review. This is one number I would not even try... There are too many inks like it at a better price. But love the review and your simple structure...... 👍

[InesF]

Hi Liz! Last day before I go into the mountains ...

 

@Detman101 Higher or lesser flow can result from nib and feed geometry or from the inks surface tension.

While I can't imagine the scale of your writing example, the headline looks saturated and without railroading. As you continued writing, the railroading happened more frequently and the colour faded out a bit.

From the image I guess, your pen was either a bit overloaded at the beginning or suffered from ink starvation while forced a lot of ink flow by having flexed the nib quite often and/or by writing (too) fast.

Maybe the feed can't keep up or, if you have used handwashing soap or dishwasher soap to clean your pen, some residues on nib and feed surfaces caused the ink to not adher. This will go away after some use and that's how you can differentiate between interferring residues and ink starvation because of feed geometry.

 

You may do some experiments:

- write 3-4 lines of text in fast mode with flex; let the pen rest (closed) for some minutes, than repeat.

- write 3-4 lines of text in slow mode; than change the speed to fast mode

- look at the differences after all ink has dried.

 

Finally, have fun using your pen - your writing sample looks great!

[LizEF]

7 hours ago, InesF said:

Hi Liz! Last day before I go into the mountains ...

What!?  You're coming to see me? (I live between two mountain ranges.)  Enjoy your trip!  Thank you for taking the time to help us out with the flexy railroad mystery.

[amberleadavis]

Thanks for sharing!

[Detman101]

14 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Thanks for sharing!

Absolutely!
Thanks for swinging by!

[Detman101]

On 7/18/2021 at 4:32 AM, InesF said:

Hi Liz! Last day before I go into the mountains ...

 

@Detman101 Higher or lesser flow can result from nib and feed geometry or from the inks surface tension.

While I can't imagine the scale of your writing example, the headline looks saturated and without railroading. As you continued writing, the railroading happened more frequently and the colour faded out a bit.

From the image I guess, your pen was either a bit overloaded at the beginning or suffered from ink starvation while forced a lot of ink flow by having flexed the nib quite often and/or by writing (too) fast.

Maybe the feed can't keep up or, if you have used handwashing soap or dishwasher soap to clean your pen, some residues on nib and feed surfaces caused the ink to not adher. This will go away after some use and that's how you can differentiate between interferring residues and ink starvation because of feed geometry.

 

You may do some experiments:

- write 3-4 lines of text in fast mode with flex; let the pen rest (closed) for some minutes, than repeat.

- write 3-4 lines of text in slow mode; than change the speed to fast mode

- look at the differences after all ink has dried.

 

Finally, have fun using your pen - your writing sample looks great!

Thank you for the wise suggestions and assesment, that was very helpful!
I'm nearing the end of a full fill of "Sailor Ink Studio #162" from my other review. I suspect that this ink is just too "Dry" for my pen. When I did the review I stopped and restarted, letting the feed accumulate...saturate...and get fully ready for writing. However, that did nothing to change the inconsistent ink flow after I began. But it's okay...I know how to fix it.
As soon as this fill is finished, I'm coming back to #140 and adding a little "White lightning" to see how this ink performs. It should flow much better. I did the same with this fill of #162 and I'm loving it.
I'll post an update to this review thread once I have refilled and re-reviewed.

[Detman101]

Bleh...I do not like this ink.
Even with the "white lightning" it's no fun at all.
I'll be passing the remainder of this along to whoever claims it in the PIF forum later...

[mizgeorge]

Oh dear. remember I said I thought you might be disappointed in comparison to 162? 

 

Before you get rid of it, you might want to consider using it in some mixes. It's a good colour for lightening up something that feels a bit too dark. 

 

Scratch that. Either use it to draw with or gift it away. I'm sure you'll find someone who'd love it!

[Detman101]

4 hours ago, mizgeorge said:

Oh dear. remember I said I thought you might be disappointed in comparison to 162? 

 

Before you get rid of it, you might want to consider using it in some mixes. It's a good colour for lightening up something that feels a bit too dark. 

 

Scratch that. Either use it to draw with or gift it away. I'm sure you'll find someone who'd love it!

Yep, you surely called it correctly!
I'm resting in the soothing arms of "Penbbs - Guilin" this evening to recover from the horrid experience of this ink.
I'll doodle my pain away in beautiful browns...and send this bottle of Sailor #140 off next week.
 

 

[Detman101]

Welp..it looks like Daneaxe is the lucky winner of the bottle of ink!

Will ship out next Monday to the lucky winner.

[Uncial]

Strange about the surface tension.  I'm very fond of 141 but haven't used it in a very flexy nib.

[InesF]

On 7/18/2021 at 5:54 PM, LizEF said:

What!?  You're coming to see me? (I live between two mountain ranges.)  Enjoy your trip!  Thank you for taking the time to help us out with the flexy railroad mystery.

Haha, the 'other' mountains!  I think I was about ⅓ of Earth's circumference away ... I tried to see you, but, no, there was a tree in between. 😄

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Haha, the 'other' mountains!  I think I was about ⅓ of Earth's circumference away ... I tried to see you, but, no, there was a tree in between. 😄

Welcome back.  Is it just me, or was your vacation awfully short?