Some Ink Tests

[inkstainedruth]

8 hours ago, USG said:

 

Hi ISR

I didn't have any drippy problems with Asa-Gao, but I have pilot ink in a Pilot pen.  In terms of sheen, maybe try some Iroful or Cosmo Snow paper to bring out the nuances?

Well, back then I didn't have any Pilot pens -- not even either of the Metropolitans.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: As for paper?  I have too much already....

[Mechanical]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

ETA: As for paper?  I have too much already....

 

I think many of us could permanently append this statement to our signature line

[inkstainedruth]

Very true.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[USG]

11 hours ago, Mechanical said:

 

I think many of us could permanently append this statement to our signature line

👍

7 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Very true.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

So true.....

[USG]

Sailor States Ink:  I had good results with Illinois so I tried 5 blue looking inks...

 

 

 

[RedPie]

17 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 I have too much already....

🤣 You are kidding, right???

[inkstainedruth]

Well I still have several of the 600 page Miquelrius journals for starters (for doing "morning pages" -- about halfway through the current volume, which I think I started using in the spring).  And I tend to buy composition books during back to school sales (I like those for writing poetry and I keep trying my hand at fiction as well).  I'm SLOWLY starting to work my way through some of the Pelikan note pads (most of which were from various Pelikan Hubs as swag over the years).  And I have a bunch of cheapie mini composition books from various dollar stores (they tend to come in 3 packs, and they're useful for when I'm keeping track of expenses or when taking down notes (say, at what booth/display case in an antiques mall I saw X that I want to look at up close...).

And that's not even counting the loose paper for running through the printer (although I tend to have to forward the files to my husband because my laptop isn't talking to the scanner or printer these days).  And various packets of Tomoe River paper in various sizes/weights.  And of course I tend to also write on the backs of opened envelopes or on junk mail ads for stuff like shopping lists and "to do" lists.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

On 7/24/2025 at 1:40 AM, USG said:

Sailor States Ink:  I had good results with Illinois so I tried 5 blue looking inks...

 

 

 

 

  I’m excited to see what these look like in your ink tests!

[USG]

15 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

 

  I’m excited to see what these look like in your ink tests!

 

OK, here goes......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Hawaii is turning out to be a dual shading ink like Nekoyanagi

 

 Do you see some Haloing ?

And I loaded Wisconsin into a Pilot 743 WA

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Penguincollector]

  Interesting, the Pilot dip pen on Iroful makes both Colorado and Mississippi outline, while the Kaigelu doesn’t. Wisconsin reminds me of hydrangeas. Thanks for sharing those- they’re all so beautiful! 

[USG]

On 7/26/2025 at 2:00 PM, Penguincollector said:

  Interesting, the Pilot dip pen on Iroful makes both Colorado and Mississippi outline, while the Kaigelu doesn’t. Wisconsin reminds me of hydrangeas. Thanks for sharing those- they’re all so beautiful! 

The Pilot dip pen is a wet medium that comes with a non-removable nib.  The Keigelu is one of their Long Blade nibs.  This particular one is a relatively dry architect, and shows colors and shading better.  I didn’t do the greatest job showing the colors on the Iroful paper.  I’ll see how they look on Cosmo Snow and b7.

[Mechanical]

On 7/16/2025 at 4:22 AM, USG said:

Testing Etranger di Costarica  paper sent to me by PGC.

The paper is a bright white paper similar in color to Clairefontaine stationary. It had a slightly rough surface feeling to me and for some reason, most of the pens I used, exhibited an increased ink flow which resulted in feathering in about 1/2 the writing examples.

 

I really like the bright white of this Etranger di Costarica paper.  I also find it fairly absorbant; I got the best results with F and MF nibs.  It tends to ghost, but overall I find it does a nice job with showing proper color hue and brightness.  

 

Here's the reverse side with almost all inks written on the first side, showing through.

 

 

Still, the writing (and all of Mr. Turnip) on the reverse is entirely clear.  I think Sailor Souboku was the only ink I tried that didn't ghost.

 

[USG]

   @Cjtamu

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

I compared the WA (Sailor Wisconsin) to a SFM (Sailor Konagi) and a SF (Iroshizuku Shin-Kai).  Most of the writing I've done with these pens has been on Cosmo Snow, Iroful and Tomoe River-S.

 

All 3 are long thin pens about the same length as a Jinaho X149.  They  weighed 22 grams each (with refilled cartridges) and were about 14.8mm long.

 

The WA lays down a line about 0.5 wide which is about the same as a Pilot 743 Medium and wider than the SFM and the SF.

 

The biggest difference between the nibs, (and this is splitting hairs because there really wasn't much of a difference) was that the WA was able to write at angles the others could not. 

 

I hold the pens around the section threads so it could be my imagination, but it felt smoother as I slid my fingers down the section and the angle got steeper.

 

Trying hard to feel a difference between the pens, I would say that the WA had a slight pencil feeling against the paper that the others did not.  I don't know what that meant.  I could feel the paper more with the WA.   Is that Feedback?  I don't know.  Not a bad feeling, just different from the other 2 pens and very subtle.  If you weren't doing a direct comparison you'd never notice it.

 

I didn't feel that any of the #6 size nibs were particularly flexible.  The SFM and the SF may have had a bit more bounce than the WA but not by much. They appeared wetter than the WA  but that could have been the ink.

 

The predominant thing I noticed visually was the up turned nib. (Duh)

 

I like the pen.  It's different enough from the other 2 to justify a purchase.

 

Some close up writing Samples to follow....

[sebastel23]

14 minutes ago, USG said:

I like the pen.  It's different enough from the other 2 to justify a purchase.

 

I fully agree.

In my case, I compare to Custom 74 FM, and Custom Heritage 91 SF, as well as a Custom 742 SU.

I think, the 742 WA and the 742 SU together make a perfect "minimal kit".

 

cheers,

sebastian

[Cjtamu]

50 minutes ago, USG said:

   @Cjtamu

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

I compared the WA (Sailor Wisconsin) to a SFM (Sailor Konagi) and a SF (Iroshizuku Shin-Kai).  Most of the writing I've done with these pens has been on Cosmo Snow, Iroful and Tomoe River-S.

 

All 3 are long thin pens about the same length as a Jinaho X149.  They  weighed 22 grams each (with refilled cartridges) and were about 14.8mm long.

 

The WA lays down a line about 0.5 wide which is about the same as a Pilot 743 Medium and wider than the SFM and the SF.

 

The biggest difference between the nibs, (and this is splitting hairs because there really wasn't much of a difference) was that the WA was able to write at angles the others could not. 

 

I hold the pens around the section threads so it could be my imagination, but it felt smoother as I slid my fingers down the section and the angle got steeper.

 

Trying hard to feel a difference between the pens, I would say that the WA had a slight pencil feeling against the paper that the others did not.  I don't know what that meant.  I could feel the paper more with the WA.   Is that Feedback?  I don't know.  Not a bad feeling, just different from the other 2 pens and very subtle.  If you weren't doing a direct comparison you'd never notice it.

 

I didn't feel that any of the #6 size nibs were particularly flexible.  The SFM and the SF may have had a bit more bounce than the WA but not by much. They appeared wetter than the WA  but that could have been the ink.

 

The predominant thing I noticed visually was the up turned nib. (Duh)

 

I like the pen.  It's different enough from the other 2 to justify a purchase.

 

Some close up writing Samples to follow....

Thanks for the comparison. The WA nib is known for its writing ability. Try it on some non-FP friendly paper and it will still work. I love my 743 WA. I had a 912 Custom Heritage WA that was also very nice, little smaller nib. Mom took a shine to it but forbade us buying her an expensive pen. So, bought myself a 743 and gifted her the 912. There’s always a workaround 😉

[USG]

Close Ups: 

Pilot 743 WA, Pilot 743 SFM, Pilot SF

On Cosmo Snow   &   Tomoe River-S

Cosmo Snow has slightly wider lines and picks up much more detail, (shading, sheening and outlining) than Tomoe River-S does.

CLICK TO ENLARGE FOR DETAILS

 

 

 

 

 

[USG]

2 hours ago, sebastel23 said:

 

I fully agree.

In my case, I compare to Custom 74 FM, and Custom Heritage 91 SF, as well as a Custom 742 SU.

I think, the 742 WA and the 742 SU together make a perfect "minimal kit".

 

cheers,

sebastian

 

Hi Sebastian @sebastel23

You have a stub? Oh boy! 👍😀

What ink and paper are you using for you pens? 

Can you post some writing samples with your different nibs?  I'd especially like to see how your Pilot stub looks on paper.😀👍

 

2 hours ago, Cjtamu said:

Thanks for the comparison. The WA nib is known for its writing ability. Try it on some non-FP friendly paper and it will still work. I love my 743 WA. I had a 912 Custom Heritage WA that was also very nice, little smaller nib. Mom took a shine to it but forbade us buying her an expensive pen. So, bought myself a 743 and gifted her the 912. There’s always a workaround 😉

 

@Cjtamu  What paper and inks are you using?  Could you post some writing samples with your 743WA?

 

 I'm still getting used to the WA nib and as you can see I changed the ink again.  I'm not sure I'm going to keep the Platinum Blue Black either.  I'd like to find another ink that has outlining like Konagi and Shin-Kai.

 

I'm curious, what are your impressions of the 743WA?  

 

[Cjtamu]

8 hours ago, USG said:

 

Hi Sebastian @sebastel23

You have a stub? Oh boy! 👍😀

What ink and paper are you using for you pens? 

Can you post some writing samples with your different nibs?  I'd especially like to see how your Pilot stub looks on paper.😀👍

 

 

@Cjtamu  What paper and inks are you using?  Could you post some writing samples with your 743WA?

 

 I'm still getting used to the WA nib and as you can see I changed the ink again.  I'm not sure I'm going to keep the Platinum Blue Black either.  I'd like to find another ink that has outlining like Konagi and Shin-Kai.

 

I'm curious, what are your impressions of the 743WA?  

 

I love the 743WA. My pens are used for writing. Meeting notes, executing contracts, shopping lists, etc. So, while I appreciate inks and nibs that shade and the like it’s not my primary focus. The 743 is comfortable to me and the WA nib will write on anything I ask it to. I generally use Rhodia notebooks and Midori for note pads but it will write in copy paper if needed. Any of the iroshizuku inks work well, think I last inked it with kon-peki? 

[sebastel23]

19 hours ago, USG said:

Can you post some writing samples with your different nibs?

 

here we go.

 

all scanned from Clairefontaine 90g/m². the grid is 5mm.

 

being (not so) smart, i forgot to keep track of what ink is in which pen, so for the first two, i can only guess. 

 

i only recently started using Pilot inks. other brands may, or may not work that nicely - especially Montblanc royal blue disappointed me. it is maybe my favourite "plain blue", but in the 742, it runs just that bit too dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2025 by sebastel23
replaced promise with delivery

[USG]

7 hours ago, sebastel23 said:

 

here we go.

 

all scanned from Clairefontaine 90g/m². the grid is 5mm.

 

being (not so) smart, i forgot to keep track of what ink is in which pen, so for the first two, i can only guess. 

 

i only recently started using Pilot inks. other brands may, or may not work that nicely - especially Montblanc royal blue disappointed me. it is maybe my favourite "plain blue", but in the 742, it runs just that bit too dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you.  Wonderful pens!!! 😀👍   I especially like the 'SU'. 👍

You got some very good color.  How did you do it?  Is is a scan?