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Top ten Inks to try out?


The_Beginner

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Someone earlier today had the most interesting question and I wanted to you know your guys thoughts on it, What would be the top 10 inks you would recommend someone to try before they die?

 

1. Diamine Tulip

2. J.herbin Emerald of Chivor

3. Nitrogen from Organics Studio

4 Iroshizuku Kon-peki

5. Noodlers Apache Sunset 5

6. Sailor Seiboku

7. Sanford Pentit washable royal blue (tough one to find now)

8. Diamine Earl Grey 

9. Diamine Autumn Oak

10. Noodlers bay state blue

As i see it you are never an expert just a beginner learning a new trick!

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I'd put at least one of Sailor's dual shading Manyo-series. My favorite is probably Hinoki but Haha seems like the more popular ink (and there are many other really interesting options). In a similar theme, I'd add Pen & Message Cigar (made by Sailor and similar to Sailor Rikyu-cha).

 

From the OP's list I'd second Herbin EoC, Noodlers Apache Sunset (or whatever it's called now), and BSB. Nitrogen is also wild, as is its teal cousin Walden Pond, but they can be such a pain to use I would only include them with very strong warnings. Colorverse Supernova is a similar super-sheener that's worth a try.

 

Almost all of the above reach their full potential in very broad and wet nibs but can still be fun in fine writing. 

 

I also really like Kon-peki and Seiboku but I don't think they're try-before-you-die level of interesting, even though they're fantastic. 

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36 minutes ago, mulrich said:

I'd put at least one of Sailor's dual shading Manyo-series. My favorite is probably Hinoki but Haha seems like the more popular ink (and there are many other really interesting options). In a similar theme, I'd add Pen & Message Cigar (made by Sailor and similar to Sailor Rikyu-cha).

 

From the OP's list I'd second Herbin EoC, Noodlers Apache Sunset (or whatever it's called now), and BSB. Nitrogen is also wild, as is its teal cousin Walden Pond, but they can be such a pain to use I would only include them with very strong warnings. Colorverse Supernova is a similar super-sheener that's worth a try.

 

Almost all of the above reach their full potential in very broad and wet nibs but can still be fun in fine writing. 

 

I also really like Kon-peki and Seiboku but I don't think they're try-before-you-die level of interesting, even though they're fantastic. 

Shooooot i forgot about supernova good call in it!

As i see it you are never an expert just a beginner learning a new trick!

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1. Sailor ink studio #752

2. De Atramentis Aubergine

3. J. Herbin Cacao du Brésil

4. Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

5. Platinum Classic Cassis Black

6. Taccia Ukiyo-e Hokusai Sabimidori

7. Ink Institute Taipei Metro Songshan-Xindian Line (tied with J. Herbin "Couleurs de Paris" Vert Métropolitain - you see the transport patern :))

8. KWZ Honey

9. Graf von Faber Castell Stone Grey

10. Aurora Black

 

...this list to be completely revised upon my next login 😛

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  • 1 month later...

I've slightly skewed the assignment. The first list are inks/categories of inks which are interesting but low value inks (i.e., try a sample and not a bottle because a bottle would probably be a waste of money). There is no particular order.

  1. Most of Noodler's jewel-like beautiful inks, including Golden Brown, Apache/Southwest Sunset, (Navajo [Turquoise) of the Mesas], the two Black Swans, Red-Black, Green Marine, and several others that I won't bother to include unless asked. They're so beautiful but they take 1+ hours to dry and (in some cases) are so bright that I would never want to write a full page with them out of fear of my retinas detaching and running off with what is left of my sanity. But gosh are they gorgeous!
  2. Most of Noodler's experimental inks, including Rome (Burning), highlighter inks, UV inks, fast-drying inks, and the paint-like Russian inks. They are gimmicks that don't behave well enough in most pens and papers for most writing. But if you find a color that you like, a utensil and medium that can keep the inks disciplined (or can take advantage of their lack of discipline) then it is worth the cost of a sample. Some people (I suspect they are mostly artists) love them.
  3. Noodler's Blue Ghost. An invisible ink that shows up under a black light. It behaves well enough, isn't always truly invisible (or maybe is just proving to me that I don't clean my pens well enough), but is mostly just a gimmick. I've had fun splashing around with it but can't imagine anyone using 3oz of the stuff... unless you have a horde of young boys/spies in the house.
  4. Shimmering inks. So many gorgeous options! but every page will eventually be a glittery mess, the glitter is often unevenly distributed as one writes, will eventually dislodge from the path of the ink, and few people need 50+ mL of the stuff. J. Herbin's Emerald d'Chivor, Kyanite du Nepal, and Diamine's Night Sky are good places to start.
  5. Heavy sheeners. They're similar to the shimmering inks. The sheen is the result of ink drying on top of the paper rather than within the fibers of the paper. This can create a dust that is easily spread with minor vibrations on the page and easily reactivated by moisture, including finger oil. They can be quite messy, even years later, but they're dazzlingly beautiful.

And a special note...

  • Noodler's La Couleur Royale. Most blurples are just blurple. LCR blows my mind for some reason. When I see it, it can appear blurple... but it often appears blue one moment and purple the next without hints of the other. It's blue. Then I'll blink and it is purple. Then I'll blink again and it is back to blue. Maybe I'm just nuts. But nutty or not, the ink suffers from the long dry time noted in the #1 category above.

 

This second list are inks which I opine are so beautiful in some way that I believe people have to try them and see them for themselves, even if they wouldn't ordinarily try it for some reason, or if they have a downside to them that might be a dealbreaker for some... but they're just so dern beautiful that I still suggest that a sample is tried.

  1. Diamine Arctic Blue. One of my favorite vibrant electric blue inks with wonderful shading and hints of non-problematic pink sheen... but it is a shimmering ink. I usually fill my pen without first shaking the ink into suspension, but you're still paying for a gimmick. It is worth it IMO but maybe not yours.
  2. Noodler's Walnut. This is one of the most complex inks I've tried, with shades of brown, orange, and red throughout. It tends to bleed through many papers, in my experience, enough to make the reverse side of a page worthless. It also seems to be an unstable formula; make sure to shake it first and hope that anybody who filled a sample vial for you knows to shake it first. Walnut and Diamine's Ancient Copper and Autumn Oak always make the fall season fun to write with.
  3. Colorverse Supernova. Similar to the popular Monteverde Horizon Blue but with more shading and occasional touch of sheen. But it also has a longer dry time and hefty price tag compared to the already wonderful Horizon Blue, which downgrades it from "must own" to "must try".
  4. Diamine Registrar's Blue Black. This one is so much fun to watch as it dries... and continue to watch even after it dries! It goes down a rich blue but dries to a desaturated blue. Eventually, over a period of several days or more, it fades to black with fun, gray shading. It is a modern iron gall ink and a pain to clean.
  5. Taccia Kuro and Kyo-no-oto 01 Nurebairo. From what I can tell, most FP lovers want their black inks to be permanent and/or the blackest black that has ever blacked. Kuro and Nurebairo can't claim any of those honors but they have a surprising sheen that prevent them from being just another boring black. Kuro has a brown sheen while Nurebairo's

    has a peachy/copper-colored sheen.

And if you'll allow me to skew the assignment even further...

I think people should try a Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya pen with an Extra Fine Ultra Flex nib filled with either Platinum Sepia Black or Robert Oster's Motor Oil ink on Ledesma NAT Unbleached Sugarcane Pulp paper to try their hand at Spencerian script at least once before they die.

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Very interesting colors i didn't know, ill have to do some research now ty!

As i see it you are never an expert just a beginner learning a new trick!

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I like Noodler's Walnut, but it's a very dry ink.  When I first got it, I had it in a pen that turned out to be a very dry writer, and hated it (and the pen as well).  But when I got my first Pelikan, a 1990s era M400  with an F nib?  It coaxed flow out to the ink like nobody's business -- it was such a good combination (I had initially tried Iroshizuku Yama-guri in the pen, and it was a firehose).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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On 9/13/2024 at 2:41 AM, lamarax said:

...this list to be completely revised upon my next login 😛

Welcome to the club! :) 

There are not 10 constantly top inks, maybe only three

deAtramentis Aubergine

Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris

Lamy Crystal Amazonite

...

and Pilot Iroshizuku tsuki-yo

...

and Rohrer & Klingner Magenta

...

and, hmmm, ask me tomorrow. ;) :) 

One life!

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On 10/29/2024 at 10:10 PM, The_Beginner said:

Very interesting colors i didn't know, ill have to do some research now ty!

 

I'm happy to throw in my 2 cents. Thanks for creating the mental exercise! I enjoyed several of the other suggestions. Earl Grey and Stone Grey are two wonderful grey inks, chromashaders are fun (I'm hoping to get my hands on a sample of Troublemaker Foxglove and Milky Ocean soon) and I have a bottle of Seiboku in my cart as I type.

 

 

 

18 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I like Noodler's Walnut, but it's a very dry ink...It coaxed flow out to the ink like nobody's business -- it was such a good combination

 

Typical Noodler's! My bottle is, if anything, too wet! 😆 I think Walnut looks at its best when paired with a pen that creates an average to wet flow. It loses its complexity in a dry pen on my papers, so I'm glad you found a good combo for it! I've read that some people bought bottles that are just a standard neutral brown—not bad but no depth at all—which is part of why I recommend a good, vigorous shake.

 

 

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Lamy Crystal Amazonite

 

This ink keeps popping up and tempting me lately!

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10 hours ago, AmericanMonk said:

 

I'm happy to throw in my 2 cents. Thanks for creating the mental exercise! I enjoyed several of the other suggestions. Earl Grey and Stone Grey are two wonderful grey inks, chromashaders are fun (I'm hoping to get my hands on a sample of Troublemaker Foxglove and Milky Ocean soon) and I have a bottle of Seiboku in my cart as I type.

 

 

You're welcome, i love seeing new inks and hearing others thoughts and trials and tribulations on inks!

As i see it you are never an expert just a beginner learning a new trick!

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On 10/30/2024 at 6:59 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I like Noodler's Walnut, but it's a very dry ink.  When I first got it, I had it in a pen that turned out to be a very dry writer, and hated it (and the pen as well).  But when I got my first Pelikan, a 1990s era M400  with an F nib?  It coaxed flow out to the ink like nobody's business -- it was such a good combination (I had initially tried Iroshizuku Yama-guri in the pen, and it was a firehose).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Why can't I message you ? 

Go to the Lamy section I found something you might like.

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  This thread is a good read. I have been trying to narrow down what my choices would be but I have a long way to go, while the list continues to grow with every new bottle. 

Top 5 of 19 currently inked pens:

MontBlanc 144 IB, Herbin Orange Indien/ Wearingeul Frost

Sailor x Daimaru Central Rockhopper Penguin PGS mini, Sailor Wonder Blue

Parker 88 Place Vendôme IB, Diamine Golden Sands

Salz Peter Pan 18k gold filled filligree fine flex, Waterman Serenity Blue 

Pilot Silvern Dragon IB, Iroshizuku Kiri-Same

always looking for penguin fountain pens and stationery 

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On 9/13/2024 at 1:41 AM, lamarax said:

Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

 

Definitely ↑ this!

And don't take just my word for it...

 

Please watch this YouTube review:

An Ink Guy's review of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black

 

Also, please read this review on here:

Sandy1's review of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black

 

"When you're out of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black, you're out of ink."

👍

large.Mercia45x27IMG_2024-09-18-104147.PNG.4f96e7299640f06f63e43a2096e76b6e.PNG  Foul in clear conditions, but handsome in the fog.  spacer.png

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1 hour ago, Mercian said:

"When you're out of Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black, you're out of ink."

👍

 

It's definitely the Coke™ of fountain pen inks. Pilot Blue-Black being Pepsi® ... 🫣

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15 minutes ago, lamarax said:

 

It's definitely the Coke™ of fountain pen inks. Pilot Blue-Black being Pepsi® ... 🫣

 

:D

That comparison had never occurred to me - but I think that it may just be the best possible way to describe these two inks!
Bravo! :thumbup:

large.Mercia45x27IMG_2024-09-18-104147.PNG.4f96e7299640f06f63e43a2096e76b6e.PNG  Foul in clear conditions, but handsome in the fog.  spacer.png

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