Some Ink Tests

[USG]

10 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

+1 on retesting, I have the Asa Gao bottle out and lined up for a very dry WS 698 (yes I could make it wetter, but no I like this one being dry).

Then Yu-Sari... one day, when my local Amazon gets up to speed with civilized world Amazon To compensate, I just ordered some (overpriced) Kobeha Gaphilo)

 

I'll have to pass on Graphilio.  It's not white.  Got a horrible review on JetP.  And you get twice as much paper with Iroful.

11 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

DBPS

 

I think my favorite inks are, in one form or another, DBPS  👍😀

 

11 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Asvine V200 with a F Bock nib and they sent me an EF. 

 

I've already adjusted the nib back to a F, but I think you will love the EF. 

 

11 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

I think you're referring tot he older Lake Placid blue, pre Yafa? Mine if on the medium blue side, nice and wet, and glowy. Less purple than Asa Gao too
EdS, I can only like it in a concentrated form. For a long time after filling, it's way too shady for my tastes. But I find it very easy to clean, and it works very well with a multitude of pens. Probably something I'd recommend having in an ink selection, if you don't want something like Waterman blue or Pelikan 4001 & co.

 

Yu-Sari is on my list, but toward the bottom now. Plus not only it's expensive, but also hard to get (for me). Meh.

 

Horizon blue, I remember it working very well in a dry Pilot Capless, so you may be right about it! And that's making me want to try it even more.

 

I have both original (brown box) and modern Lake Placid Blue.  The new color is not much different from the original color.  I did a post about it a couple of years ago.  To my eyes, its's definitely darker than Asa-Gao out of the bottle, but in my latest pic of "out of the bottle" Asa-Gao I'm not seeing purple.... 🤷‍♂️

 

I know you're referring to the Herbin ink but EdS could also stand for Edelstein Sapphire  😲

 

Speaking of Horizon blue, some of the WET inks I have are, the Iroshizukus, Private Reserves and Monteverdes.

 

[USG]

11 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

I'm on the fence with NLE. Shading.

Is Yu-Sari an over-engineered paper aimed at giving a particular feedback or result? It does seem to do well with Lady Emerald, Melancholic blue and the 4001 BB.

 

Why are you on the fence about Elysium's shading?  What is there about it that bothers you ?

 

As far as I'm concerned, Yu-Sari is just another over priced paper that feathers.  So far I haven't seen the kind of inky nuances that Cosmo Snow and Iroful show.

 

In the meantime, I'm eagerly waiting to see your review of Graphilio paper. 😀👍

 

[Penguincollector]

 Here’s a photo of my adventures with Yu-Sari and the inks we were talking about, plus some bonus samples I was given and the newly arrived Sailor Studio inks.

 

[USG]

49 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

 Here’s a photo of my adventures with Yu-Sari and the inks we were talking about, plus some bonus samples I was given and the newly arrived Sailor Studio inks.

 

 

Hey, Good Job!!!!  That's really nice work PGC 👍😀

+1 on using a dip pen for homogeneity.

You were really able to get some very good "out of the bottle" color renditions.

Were you able to pick up any nuances on the Yu-Sari paper?

It would be interesting to see that exact same format repeated on Cosmo Snow for a head to head comparison to see if there are any differences.

 

[Penguincollector]

4 minutes ago, USG said:

It would be interesting to see that exact same format repeated on Cosmo Snow for a head to head comparison to see if there are any differences.

 

  I will do that tomorrow night, as well as think on the nuances of the Yu-Sari. 

[USG]

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

  I will do that tomorrow night, as well as think on the nuances of the Yu-Sari. 

 

I just started to look at your close ups...  I see Yu-Sari feathering, although not as profound as what I experienced.

[USG]

Today:

 

 

 

[Mechanical]

9 hours ago, USG said:

 

I just started to look at your close ups...  I see Yu-Sari feathering, although not as profound as what I experienced.

 

I thought the same... and perhaps this lends weight to the idea that there is more manufacturing variability with YuSari. 

[Penguincollector]

   I definitely think that there’s probably ton of variation in batches of this paper, especially since it seems to be a relatively new product. I need to look at it again more closely and with better focus and see if I find any of those spots USG has on his paper. 
 

  @Lithium466, have you looked into Private Reserve Midnight Blue? I just bought a bottle online this morning. 

[USG]

11 hours ago, Mechanical said:

 

I thought the same... and perhaps this lends weight to the idea that there is more manufacturing variability with YuSari. 

 

Or it's just not up to all it's cracked up to be.....  😲

So why bother with it?  It doesn't do anything that other paper doesn't do better and for a fraction of the cost....

[Penguincollector]

10 hours ago, USG said:

 

Or it's just not up to all it's cracked up to be.....  😲

So why bother with it?  It doesn't do anything that other paper doesn't do better and for a fraction of the cost....

  It’s not on my recommended paper list, that’s for sure. 

[USG]

9 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  It’s not on my recommended paper list, that’s for sure. 

🤣

[USG]

Sailor Pigmented Souboku Ink

 

 

 

[USG]

Just made another Cosmo Snow notebook...  😀👍

[USG]

Some nice Shading & Outlining on Cosmo Snow with Teranishi Melancholic Blue

 

 

Much Less on Tomoe River-S

 

And now Yu-Sari paper

[USG]

On 2/3/2025 at 1:43 PM, Mechanical said:

 

I thought the same... and perhaps this lends weight to the idea that there is more manufacturing variability with YuSari. 

Hi  Mechanical

I wanted to ask you what paper(s) are you using?

[Mechanical]

14 hours ago, USG said:

Hi  Mechanical

I wanted to ask you what paper(s) are you using?

I have  a variety!

 

I use a lot of MD Paper in A6 notebooks and there's a Silvine pocket size that I carry with me as well.  Both of these are nice to use with pencil and pen.  One or the other, or both will be in my pocket when I'm out and about.

 

I have a supply of TR68 in my notebooks from Good Inkpressions which gets a lot of use. I use this TR68 for most of my long form writing. Also, whatever Tomoe River is being used in Hobonichi Techo currently... my daily planning happens there.  By volume I use more Tomoe River (in all its forms) than anything else, I think.

 

I have a bunch of Daiso and Muji notebooks that I switch in and out.  The Daiso notebooks vary wildly and their papers seem to come from many sources. These are occasionally great. I also often carry along a Kokuyo "Sketch Book."

 

For loose leaf papers, I have a stack of Iroful, a stack of Kleid, and several stacks of Maruman.  I like the Maruman L1332-99 and use a lot of the cheaper L1307H.  Generally these go into a Kokuyo 2x2 ring binder.  I do a fair bit of brainstorming on this paper since I can easily remove paper from the binder and change the order of pages.  Ideas that get organized and reorganized here sometimes emerge in my long form writing, possibly in a more coherent form..  Of course I have a supply of copy paper or printer paper, whatever we last brought home from Costco. Currently that's something called "Advantage Premium Bright."  Not bad as such things go... I always test new inks both on good paper and on copy paper to get a sense of its usable range.

 

Too much information, am I right?  :-)

 

 

[USG]

51 minutes ago, Mechanical said:

I have  a variety!

 

I use a lot of MD Paper in A6 notebooks and there's a Silvine pocket size that I carry with me as well.  Both of these are nice to use with pencil and pen.  One or the other, or both will be in my pocket when I'm out and about.

 

I have a supply of TR68 in my notebooks from Good Inkpressions which gets a lot of use. I use this TR68 for most of my long form writing. Also, whatever Tomoe River is being used in Hobonichi Techo currently... my daily planning happens there.  By volume I use more Tomoe River (in all its forms) than anything else, I think.

 

I have a bunch of Daiso and Muji notebooks that I switch in and out.  The Daiso notebooks vary wildly and their papers seem to come from many sources. These are occasionally great. I also often carry along a Kokuyo "Sketch Book."

 

For loose leaf papers, I have a stack of Iroful, a stack of Kleid, and several stacks of Maruman.  I like the Maruman L1332-99 and use a lot of the cheaper L1307H.  Generally these go into a Kokuyo 2x2 ring binder.  I do a fair bit of brainstorming on this paper since I can easily remove paper from the binder and change the order of pages.  Ideas that get organized and reorganized here sometimes emerge in my long form writing, possibly in a more coherent form..  Of course I have a supply of copy paper or printer paper, whatever we last brought home from Costco. Currently that's something called "Advantage Premium Bright."  Not bad as such things go... I always test new inks both on good paper and on copy paper to get a sense of its usable range.

 

Too much information, am I right?  🙂

 

 

 

Haha, not too much information..... 😀👍

 

What are your pen/ink preferences these days?

 

[Mechanical]

38 minutes ago, USG said:

 

Haha, not too much information..... 😀👍

 

What are your pen/ink preferences these days?

 

 

This is a topic dear to my heart. :-)

 

I love blue black inks and I'm current running my Parker 51 F with R&K Salix.  Boy is that nice!  In my Parker 21 F, I'm trying out TWSBI Blue Black.  That's a well-made ink and quite versatile.  I'm liking it.  I do think both of these inks have some amount of iron gall, but I've never had any problem with these modern formulations.  I'm at the end of a Platinum Blue Black fill in my Lamy 2000.  Once that's done, I may do another fill of Lamy Pink Cliff.

 

I am a sucker for all blue inks and and I (currently) use Sailor Seiboku in my Kaweco Sport M and Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki in my Sailor F (from Ancora's build-it-yourself offering).  I have a TWSBI Go M loaded with Mrs. Steward's Bluing with a smidge of Lamy Blue to give it some lubrication.  All blue inks are some kind of balm for me.

 

I always have at least one pen dedicated to black ink and I am myself amazed how much enjoyment I get from the various blacks.  Case in point is a fill of J. Herbin Perle Noire in a Lamy Safari F. Much fun!  I get equal, if not more, fun from the Pilot Iroshizuku Take Sumi in my much-used Pilot Justus 95 F. I got the Justus mosty for drawing figures and sketches, but it is such a likeable pen, I use it every day for absolutely everything.  I find that I adjust the nib collar as I go from one paper to another.  The nib designer really connected with my psychology but including this adjustable feature.

 

I could go on and on... or have I already?  I do exult in Herbin Lierre Sauvage (green) in a Lamy Vista with cursive nib.  That's a favorite and I don't think I use any other ink in that pen. Also I seem to always have Diamine Salamander in a Salior Pro Gear M.  I never tire of that combination.

 

[Penguincollector]

46 minutes ago, Mechanical said:

All blue inks are some kind of balm for me.

  Blue is my favorite color for this reason. I think Serenity Blue is aptly named. I’m trying to catalog all of my inks available for samples- the list is long and growing longer. There’s a blue to fit every mood!