Giant Black List

[Pariah Zero]

Did you test it with your Sheaffer Javelin only, or also with your other pens?

I've tested many of the inks in other pens - the Javelin was a pen I didn't feel bad about the wear & tear of inking, flushing, inking, flushing, etc.

 

Very nice png scans. They all look pretty much the same.

I'm somewhat dissapointed with the scans myself; I've been meaning to make some higher resolution scans of it, as that would better show the difference in the darkness of the inks. Part of the problem, however, is that different blacks have different properties when viewed from oblique angles - some are black, some have a bluish tint, others a reddish tint. Others are slightly green... and so on. Some are a bit glossy, others are very flat.

 

Unfortunately, scanners aren't really able to capture the way light captures the ink in that way. Some of the inks are liked because of the very subtle tints that aren't that visible in a scan. (Noodler's Zhivago comes to mind...)

[Limerick]

I've tested many of the inks in other pens - the Javelin was a pen I didn't feel bad about the wear & tear of inking, flushing, inking, flushing, etc.

Did you have the feeling that the inks look very much the same in other inks? I'm just curious because in your scans/observations the PR Velvet Black is marked to be quite similar to Ultra Black in colour and darkness, but from all what I have observed, the Ultra Black is quite a dark and saturated ink whilst the Velvet Black is quite pale and the flow seems to be poor to me. Perhaps I just get a wrong bottle?

[DerekB]

The sad part was that I ended up with a run of ink from the top to the bottom - ruining the label.

 

I did the exact same thing! Bummer, because it's a cool label. I really love HoD as an ink, though. It's in my XF Lamy 2000 right now, and I'm always just looking for excuses to jot something down with it :-)

[Viseguy]

Awesome, Pariah Zero! Many thanks for this wonderful comparison!

 

One Noodler's black that isn't there is Swishmix Nile Ebony, which I've recently rediscovered. As far as blackness goes, it's right up there with Old Manhattan and Heart of Darkness -- it may even be blacker than either of those, if that's possible. And although it's a quicker-drying ink, the feathering is minimal, if any (comparable, I would say, to HoD). If I recall correctly, Nile Ebony is a mix of equal parts Swisher Midnight Black and Noodler's Bulletproof Black. (Swisher Midnight Black may be the absolute blackest of the black, but it's only recommended for certain kinds of paper. And it's not bulletproof, as I recall.)

 

 

[CelesteCAT]

Thanks for such an extensive comparison! I see you did this awhile ago, but if you still have the pages, can I be greedy and ask for a spill / soak test?

Edited July 22, 2008 by CelesteCAT