EFNIR: Diamine Ancient Copper

[InesF]

Thank you @LizEF for this review and for the story.

It's a clear "me too" when it comes to the excitement about the microscopy images. First impressions for me were: Aerial view of ancient city Pompeji when Vesuvio started erupting; and: invasion of the sea urchins.   However, we had a lot of fun with these!

 

And now I have to find out if my fountain pen speaks to me .... 🧙‍♀️

[LizEF]

9 hours ago, Misfit said:

I posted photos from a few years ago. The pen has Oster ink in it now. Unfortunately I didn’t write on Tomoe paper with that pen and ink. I have a Traveler’s Notebook set up with old and new 52gsm Tomoe paper notebooks. But that came later. 

No worries.  Gives me more of an excuse to do it later.

[LizEF]

4 hours ago, SplitGillStudio said:

Whoa!  The microscope images are GORGEOUS.  (If you have the originals still, I would absolutely love to get a print of one of them!)

The images posted here are the originals.  If you make the right combination of clicks (on a computer) you get the full size image.  If the algorithm for uploading to FPN changes the image (some upload tools will reduce image quality to save space), the YouTube video description has a link to the original, unchanged.  It's probably not good enough for a decent print, though - a good (commercial) print requires a 300dpi image .... [Liz goes to check....]  Huh.  That's surprising.  At 300dpi, these images would print at 6.8 x 5.1 inches (roughly).  Maybe I should make a coffee table book...

 

If you have the resources, I give you permission to print for your own personal use.  (Not that I could stop you either way, but still.)

[LizEF]

3 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you @LizEF for this review and for the story.

You're welcome!

 

3 hours ago, InesF said:

It's a clear "me too" when it comes to the excitement about the microscopy images. First impressions for me were: Aerial view of ancient city Pompeji when Vesuvio started erupting; and: invasion of the sea urchins.   However, we had a lot of fun with these!

  Yes, good interpretations.  Perhaps Copperton is a sunken city, now protected by spiky sea urchins.  Well.  There you go.  Inspiration has struck.  Excuse me while I go write some notes.  OK, back.  Thank you for being inspiring!

 

3 hours ago, InesF said:

And now I have to find out if my fountain pen speaks to me .... 🧙‍♀️

I'll bet it speaks by writing!

[Bo Bo Olson]

A Senator '70's-80s Eenator (((???))), a third tier pen. Regular flex/Japanese soft M nib.This is the first time I've used it. Semi-vintage M would be a modern western Fat F or F/M. A half a width narrower than modern Pelikan/MB.

I traded a pound of coffee for the pen and the woman gave me the Uhu ink for 'free'.  I knew Uhu only as a glue. I later got this Uhu pen but not with the box. Francis did a rebuild on that '50's pen. It's on my list to use.

Senator pen; a company that is still around....somehow.

 

The bottle looks like the Pelikan ink bottle. I've not tried the ink, in right now I'm not into Royal Blue.

 

On Artoz 90g Finest, a good Swiss paper ( have a couple of them in differing papers) Ancient Copper reminds me a bit of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown.

There is some shading but not a lot on that paper. The semi-vintage M Senator writes wider than on the following two papers.

On Clairefontaine Triomphe. is is smooth, narrow and not much if any shading. Oxford Optic 90g, wrote darker than CT, a bit more shading, but not a shading monster.

 

Printed it does better in shading on each of the three paper....but again...it's only occasional is my scribble is cursive/printing. I had hoped for more.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

On Artoz 90g Finest, a good Swiss paper ( have a couple of them in differing papers) Ancient Copper reminds me a bit of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown.

That's interesting.  I wouldn't have suspected it, but then, I haven't tried Pelikan's 4001 Brown ink yet.

 

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

On Clairefontaine Triomphe. is is smooth, narrow and not much if any shading. Oxford Optic 90g, wrote darker than CT, a bit more shading, but not a shading monster.

 

Printed it does better in shading on each of the three paper....but again...it's only occasional is my scribble is cursive/printing. I had hoped for more.

I had to go back and read my own review.   Looks like I found similar - shading is hard to see because the ink is dark.  But yes, as you say, printing does shade better.

 

Thanks for sharing your lovely vintage pens, too!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Showing pens beats the hell out of showing my monstrous Roster Scratch.

 

I'm glad you like them they have been falling slowly into my hands over the last 15 years. They are more expensive to get than now than what I paid............the now 'mostly passed' old guys back when I was noobie, said the same of the decades before in the early days of the net or even before by newspaper ads.

Some day some one will tell you how cheap you got what you consider an expensive used pen now.

The inflation in pens and much else started long before blaming the Dem's.....

15 years ago, I was going to be happy flying and staying in the States for a month with some house selling business..............I was going to chili out......one $$$$bowl in a upscale mall chili joint cured that, and one Martini cocktail $$$$ had it's month too.

That's what happens when you live in the old days.

 

There I swore I'd not go over 7 pens inked and now have 12 .....there is still hope, once for years I had a 'normal' 17 inked.

Ancient Copper is redder than Pelikan 4001 Brilliant brown....just looked at some notes written in the last week with that ink.

 

 

There are more vintage pens over in the original, which Diamine inks shade thread.

[LizEF]

42 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

There I swore I'd not go over 7 pens inked and now have 12 .....there is still hope, once for years I had a 'normal' 17 inked.

  I think they multiply when locked in dark drawers or left alone on the desk...

 

43 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Ancient Copper is redder than Pelikan 4001 Brilliant brown....just looked at some notes written in the last week with that ink.

It would be hard for it to be otherwise.  Still, I like a nice brown ink, so I'll check out the Pelikan eventually...

 

As to prices, maybe one day you'll be able to trade a pen for 6 eggs or 10mL of gasoline...

[Bo Bo Olson]

That rotating under shelf has pen slots....so it's 19 pens inked, not the 14 I thought.

 

When I fall off the wagon, I need a parachute.

[LizEF]

39 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

That rotating under shelf has pen slots....so it's 19 pens inked, not the 14 I thought.

 

When I fall off the wagon, I need a parachute.

[Rebbe]

Thank you for an engaging and thorough review of one of my favorite inks. I had a lot of fun reading this and am looking forward to your next review. Monteverde Red Velvet is now on my radar!

[LizEF]

48 minutes ago, Rebbe said:

Thank you for an engaging and thorough review of one of my favorite inks. I had a lot of fun reading this and am looking forward to your next review. Monteverde Red Velvet is now on my radar!

You're very welcome!  I don't have Monteverde Red Velvet, but I've added it to my list of inks to sample, with a link back here so I can update you when I get to it.  Note that I have enough inks right now to keep reviewing to the end of 2024, so it may not be soon...

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a secret stash of Akkerman samples that I keep forgetting about....in they are put away in a tin box....with in plain sight....so no excuses. But I do know how it is to have more inks than one has time for.

[LizEF]

30 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

But I do know how it is to have more inks than one has time for.

First world problems!  I blame FPN, and thank FPNers - so many generous people have contributed to my sample collection!

[Bo Bo Olson]

 

Using a French P-45 Flighter M.

Perhaps it needs a wet nibbed Pelikan or a B.

I ended up with less shading than hoped...on my six papers I've been using. Mondi 100g is being replaced by Mondi 120g...which is only a tad better than the 100.

 

Some = not much...

Some, minor...even less, had to look for it.

 

CT 90g ...some,

Oxford Optic 90g some,

M&K 95g some, minor.

Mondi 100g...none.

Mondi 120g some.Minor. (paper is replacing Mondi 100g...smoother but not as superior as hoped.)

On one of my better papers, 170g Gumund, little to none !!!

170g Avery Zweckform a very slick paper, some shading, not eye popping.

...a tad more than the rest...as expected. If there is any shading to be had, this paper will show it.

 

All in all, I expected more shading when using good to better paper. Perhaps a wetter Pelikan nib or a B might do a better job, than the dry M Parker.

Not a bad color to write with, if not expecting shading.

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

All in all, I expected more shading when using good to better paper. Perhaps a wetter Pelikan nib or a B might do a better job, than the dry M Parker.

I have found that in addition to supportive paper, that the right pen for the ink is required.  That is to say, you can't always use a wet pen or always a dry pen and thereby get shading.  The wetness or dryness of the pen must suit the ink.  The same can be said to handwriting to a degree - i.e. you may need longer strokes for some ink-pen combos.  So, yeah, some experimentation may be required.

[Cursive Child]

Well put, @LizEF.

I've found good shading with a wet Sailor Pro Gear Fine nib on Staples Sugarcane paper and really good on old Tomoe River 52 gsm. Also used to get good shading using a wet Pelikan M605 Medium. 

[LizEF]

32 minutes ago, Cursive Child said:

Well put, @LizEF.

I've found good shading with a wet Sailor Pro Gear Fine nib on Staples Sugarcane paper and really good on old Tomoe River 52 gsm. Also used to get good shading using a wet Pelikan M605 Medium. 

Thanks, @Cursive Child!

[Bo Bo Olson]

I always had a few papers that were too good to put in a printer....you know, I might write a letter, which never happened.

In those 3-4 papers I discovered the remnants of a paper pad.

 

I think it was when I was doing a 17 pen and it became the seventeenth paper for my ESSR test.

I went through 4-5 sheets of that in no time at all...inside of two years.

 

I have some 5, now 4 sheets of an as cheap as hell paper pad, in I'd not spend beer money on paper as a Ball Point Barbarian.....One Pen, One Man...an unused silver P-75, locked in a drawer.

 

There is no watermark, so I can't chase it down....

 

In the 1980's the Golden Age of Papers...died and no one noticed...or there was no fountain pen coms to scream that from the roof tops.

 

A wonderfully coated cheap paper from back in the day.

 

I think I'll bring out a sheet of that and test those two new way too expensive at €30 a bottle Japanese inks and Diamine Ancient

And leave that in my ink testing papers.Copper.

Was five sheets left, now 4.

 

And some '70's Eaton's Corrasable typewriter paper medium weight 16 pound 25% cotton paper. that had cost $1.05 for 80 sheets.

 

I had had some '80's Zander's Gohrsmuhle Bankpost (bond) 80g. With some rag content, not saying how much. Now I have some from 10-15 years ago....it is not quite as good as the older paper, which eventually ended up in the printer.Sometimes good, isn't quite good enough.

But while digging out old paper, one gives a bond paper a second chance. It didn't shine the other times, so am not expecting a world of difference.

 

Diamine Ancient Copper, P-45 M Flighter

Shaded  some on Eaton's, shaded well printed.

Didn't shade written on the once grand paper. Shaded low-medium printed.

Zander's, some middle-low shading written, a touch better printed but still not quite middle.

I can live with Ancient Copper's minor shading.

 

The wonder paper didn't perform...on these inks, Ancient Copper best. I will have to dig out which of my inked pens has the best shading inks in them.....

The King of my papers is Dead....

And at €40 for 100 sheets, that Gmund 170g paper  is not in line for the new coronation ceremony.

[RJS]

I remember really liking Ancient Copper when I purchased it, maybe a decade ago. It wasn't as badly behaved as other somewhat similar colours from other brands. I used it a lot for a while, but doubt I've inked a pen with it for 5 years or more now. It's below Oxblood, Writer's Blood and Deep Dark Red in the Diamine pecking order. They do make tremendous browny-reds.

 

Edit: Sorry, I somehow cut and pasted away my first sentences into oblivion. I said thank you for the review, and how it reminded me that I should use this ink once again. 😊