Herbin Perle Noire with Pilot Iroshiziku Yama Guri mix

[georges zaslavsky]

[Mags]

On 4/25/2026 at 6:36 AM, georges zaslavsky said:

This has a nice look, I'm R/G challenged but it seems to have sort of an ox blood like quality to the mixture on the laptop screen I'm using.  Bravery in the non accidental ink mixology on this chat group.  Does the mixture appeal to you?

[Mags]

It just does not look black to me.

[inkstainedruth]

Me neither.  A very dark grey, maybe -- but not black.  And I'd also be worried about stuff like chemical interactions between the two inks (especially since they're different brands) -- especially after seeing someone's photos years ago of when that person mixed Noodler's Baystate Blue and IIRC Noodler's Black and the pH between the two inks was sufficiently different that at first they didn't blend at all (so part of the writing sample was one color and part was the other) and then the "blend" started coming out of the pen that person was using in solid chunks!  

It wasn't pretty....  I was just cringing when I saw the photos -- and felt so bad for the person who had made the mix (and then put it in a pen without seeing how the inks would react first).

And that's why I'm so paranoid now about flushing pens out, to get every drop removed -- those photos still haunt me all those years later.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[georges zaslavsky]

22 hours ago, Mags said:

This has a nice look, I'm R/G challenged but it seems to have sort of an ox blood like quality to the mixture on the laptop screen I'm using.  Bravery in the non accidental ink mixology on this chat group.  Does the mixture appeal to you?

Yes it appeals to me it is a very dark brown/black ink it my 149 likes it.

[georges zaslavsky]

11 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Me neither.  A very dark grey, maybe -- but not black.  And I'd also be worried about stuff like chemical interactions between the two inks (especially since they're different brands) -- especially after seeing someone's photos years ago of when that person mixed Noodler's Baystate Blue and IIRC Noodler's Black and the pH between the two inks was sufficiently different that at first they didn't blend at all (so part of the writing sample was one color and part was the other) and then the "blend" started coming out of the pen that person was using in solid chunks!  

It wasn't pretty....  I was just cringing when I saw the photos -- and felt so bad for the person who had made the mix (and then put it in a pen without seeing how the inks would react first).

And that's why I'm so paranoid now about flushing pens out, to get every drop removed -- those photos still haunt me all those years later.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

No, you shouldn't be worried at least Herbin and Pilot aren't Noodler's inks which are poor quality inks that need to be avoided at all costs. My 149 which is one of my oldest pens never showed any issues , it is more dark brown /dark black ink than a dark grey. I have mixed back in the days Sailor Grey and Herbin Perle Noire but the results was a color lacking susbstance. This 149 has been through a lot inks and never had an issue. 

[inkstainedruth]

Actually, I probably have more Noodler's inks than any other brand.  I'm just a little cautious about putting them in vintage pens.  Well, I think I put one of the less fussy colors in one of the Parker 51s and that pen didn't have ANY issues at all -- I figured that since they were originally designed for using Superquink in them, which I gather was pretty noxious?  Noodler's inks couldn't be NEARLY as bad....

I've considered adding some sort of dilution stuff to the bottle of Kung Te Cheng because it's so thick.  But at the same time?  While the flow is bad, the ink is pretty much EVERYTHING proof (waterproof, lightfast, and IIRC relatively fast drying on the page).  And it's an interesting color, and when I was writing checks with it, my bank didn't bat an eye about the color -- even though it wasn't technically "blue"....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

    I was wondering, now that you have been using this mix for awhile, if you had seen any precipitate formation, ink window staining, or other remarkable things? Interesting that both inks have a bit of water resistance on their own and seem to amp this up when combined. 

[georges zaslavsky]

1 minute ago, Penguincollector said:

    I was wondering, now that you have been using this mix for awhile, if you had seen any precipitate formation, ink window staining, or other remarkable things? Interesting that both inks have a bit of water resistance on their own and seem to amp this up when combined. 

I haven't seen any precipitate formation, nor window ink staining or anything remarkable.Once the pen will be empty, I will clean it up and refill it again.

[Penguincollector]

  That’s excellent news, thank you for sharing. It’s an interesting colour.