Some Ink Tests

[Penguincollector]

   I swatched this rareish beauty on Tsubame OK Fools last night. Here it is in the daylight:

[USG]

3 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

   I swatched this rareish beauty on Tsubame OK Fools last night. Here it is in the daylight:

That looks interesting...    Fools paper…   What’s it like? 
 

[USG]

4 hours ago, Mechanical said:

25 years!  You have accidently become a paper archivist  😊

 

 

On paper like this, what is enjoyable are the inks that work well... or at least reasonably well.  And, I'm growing quite fond of this brown Sailor Ink Studio #973 ink.

+1 on that #973 ink 👍😀. It’s becoming one of my favorite inks. 😀👍. Konagi is another one, and so is Platinum BB, which is now hard starting from a 3776.

Speaking of old paper, I found some writing I did, way back then, on parchment paper that didn’t feather or spread.   It could have been a contender if it was white…

 

3 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I think my memory of Ampad paper is kinder than the reality. The brown 973 is pretty. I’m glad you found a brown that you like.

I do like this brown ink 👍😀.   I have so much old paper laying around…. it figures that if full pads of this stuff are left over, there must be a reason why I didn’t use it…

 

It’s funny but my memory of AMPAD Gold Fibre is the same as yours.  I remember it being much better than how it’s performing today.  I’ll have to dig out some of the A4 lined sheets and try them…. But, of course,  back then we didn’t have Cosmo Snow, Iroful or Tomoe River to compare it to…

 

Chronogically speaking, after AMPAD I used those colorful Clairefontaine spiral notebooks.  I still have a bunch of those laying around too….😀

[Penguincollector]

32 minutes ago, USG said:

That looks interesting...    Fools paper…   What’s it like? 
 

  It’s nice, I really like it for keeping tabs on what I have in my collection. The paper is about 81 gsm, no ink has bled through so far, and no feathering (that I have seen, but I am having trouble seeing it now at times, eye Rx keeps changing). @fireant gave me a couple of boxes and now they are my preferred swatch card, because it’s easier to see how the ink looks on a typical fp friendly sheet of paper. It’s not a super bright white,  I think that might be the one drawback for you. 

[USG]

2 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  It’s nice, I really like it for keeping tabs on what I have in my collection. The paper is about 81 gsm, no ink has bled through so far, and no feathering (that I have seen, but I am having trouble seeing it now at times, eye Rx keeps changing). @fireant gave me a couple of boxes and now they are my preferred swatch card, because it’s easier to see how the ink looks on a typical fp friendly sheet of paper. It’s not a super bright white,  I think that might be the one drawback for you. 

 

How does the color compare to Iroful?

[Penguincollector]

3 hours ago, USG said:

 

How does the color compare to Iroful?

  I think it’s slightly brighter, but not much whiter. It’s not crème, but not snow white. Shows sheen really well, shading and shimmer too.

[USG]

On 4/6/2025 at 12:05 AM, Penguincollector said:

  I think it’s slightly brighter, but not much whiter. It’s not crème, but not snow white. Shows sheen really well, shading and shimmer too.

 

OK, I might have to get some then.  Do you have some you write on, or is it just for swatches?

 

You know, Tomoe River-S is not all that white either... 

Next to the two vintage graph papers I recently posted about, Tomoe River-S, looks like it's a cream color.  (And Tomoe River-S is whiter than Iroful)

 

[Note how the #973 from the <SF> 3776 spreads on the vintage papers]

 

 

EDIT:  I took this pic under Halogen light.

[Penguincollector]

8 hours ago, USG said:

Do you have some you write on, or is it just for swatches?

  I have a few pages of it in the Yamamoto paper sampler I bought some time ago, but I haven’t bought a notebook yet. Other shiny objects keep catching my attention. I have it in one of my wish lists either on JetPens or Amazon. 

[USG]

Vintage AMPAD Gold Fibre "Designer" Pad:

 

(This is the correct color of the paper)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[USG]

Cosmo Snow Paper, Halogen light  (hard to get good colors under this light)

 

 

 

A very nice dark blue ink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[USG]

King Jim Paper:  Preliminary writing samples, 37 pens, 34 inks

 

 

This is a very large Pic

 

[USG]

King Jim Paper Close Ups showing feathering:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[USG]

Back to the Thin Paper test a number of us are doing:  

Tomoe River-S  (52gsm)

• White Paper
• Pleasant Writing Surface
• Good Colors
• Displays Shading and Sheening
• Limited Nuances
• No Feathering

 

 

 

The Polar Glow was very sheeny

 

 

J Herbin Cornaline d'Egypte:  I like this ink but after it's been in a pen for a few days something happens to it and it won't dry. 

 

Three hours later, still not dry

[USG]

 

From the above top left, this is a light pastel lavender colored ink with darker edge outlines....

 

[USG]

[Mechanical]

@USG, are the blues -- like the asa blue and the kon peki -- as blue as you expect?  Or maybe the photo (or my monitor) that flattens out their dynamics a bit?

[USG]

19 hours ago, Mechanical said:

@USG, are the blues -- like the asa blue and the kon peki -- as blue as you expect?  Or maybe the photo (or my monitor) that flattens out their dynamics a bit?

I know what you mean.  The colors look a little flat on that whole page shot.  I’ll take some close ups.  Maybe that will show the colors better…..  although, these pics were taken under my halogen desk lamp, which tends to flatten out colors a bit anyway…

 

The Asa Blue has been in that Jinhao 100 for years, I just keep refilling it.  So I expect it to be darker and slightly more concentrated than the out of the bottle color.   
 

The Kon-Peki, on the above page, has many different looks depending on how long it’s been in a pen, nib width and wetness.  I got some very colorful versions on Cosmo Snow paper, not so much on this Tomoe River-S paper.

[USG]

@Mechanical  

Close Ups : Kon-Peki and Asa Blue

I took these pics under PGC's florescent desk lamp (in all cases the paper had a blue tint which I corrected)

 

Fresh ink

 

Has been in the pen for a while but stays light colored

 

Has been in the pen for a while, cartridge refilled. has darkened

 

Has been in the pen for years, converter refilled periodically

 

[Mechanical]

Wow, it's really like you have four different inks.  I'm always flushing out pens and changing inks, so this is something I haven't experienced. 

[USG]

22 hours ago, Mechanical said:

Wow, it's really like you have four different inks.  I'm always flushing out pens and changing inks, so this is something I haven't experienced. 

 

I used to flush and refill my pens but found it inconvenient for comparing inks.  No sooner had I switched out an ink, did I want to compare the previous ink to the one I just loaded.  My solution is a fleet of Jinhao X159s, all with different inks so I don't have to change the inks in my favorite pens.