Parker Quink Black
It’s black.
There are a handful of black inks that I would call a standard. That is, they will work well in almost every pen. Quink’s Black is one of those inks.
INK SWAB: 27/365 – Parker Quink Black
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Category Archives: INKS
INK SWAB: 26/365 – Private Reserve Fiesta Red
Fiesta Red is a pleasant brown/red shade. I’m not sure I’d call it a party color, but there you go.
I store all of my ink samples in a dark cabinet. Fiesta Red is the only ink (that I’ve noticed so far) that has turned a different color. It faded to almost the shade of a band-aid. I don’t know why this happened, but I know that after I saw it, I got myself busy swabbing all of my inks samples. Thank you, Fiesta Red!
INK SWAB: 25/365 – Organics Studio – Cobalt and Mercury
BONUS
Two ink swabs today!
Organics Studio is responsible for my policy of not using new or very small brands of ink in my fountain pens. I’ll write more about this another time, but for now here are the swabs.
INK SWAB: 24/365 – Omas New Grey
INK SWAB: 23/365 – Diamine Eau de Nil
Diamine Eau de Nil
INK SWAB: 22/365 – Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts
Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts seems to be a very popular ink. I’ve not written with it.
Maybe you can tell me – is it the color, the way it behaves, something else?
INK SWAB: 21/365 – Delta Black
Delta Black
How many different bottles of black ink do you have? I think I probably have 3-4.
Oh, and hey, did you see this Double Exposure post from Ed Jelley? Love it.
INK SWAB: 20/365 – Scribal Workshop Damsel Fish
Scribal Workshop has stopped making inks and Damselfish is no longer available. Such a beautiful, rich shade of blue, too.
I sort of have a policy against putting very new or very small brands of ink into my fountain pens. Do you have the same policy?
INK SWAB: 19/365 – Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-yake
Pilot Iroshizuku is a well-respected brand of fountain pen ink. Yu-yake performs well, but is not my favorite orange ink because the color is a wee bit too muddied for me.
FOUNTAIN PEN INK REVIEW: Diamine Terracotta
Diamine Terracotta
Terracotta was released late last year as one of eight inks Diamine created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the brand.
Over the past couple of years, Diamine released a couple of limited edition sets of inks, but they had to be purchased as a complete set. It’s nice to see that each of the eight inks in this Anniversary Collection may be purchased separately.
Here’s a picture of the arranged bottles (and swabs – always swabs!) I posted on Instagram awhile back. I love that they remind me of Trivial Pursuit wedges – collect them all!
I Love This Ink
The color is a unique and pleasing brownish-reddish-orange that doesn’t remind me too much of terra-cotta pots and their traditional chalky band-aid color.
Terracotta is well-saturated and it shades beautifully – just enough to give it some character. Flow is good from the pen and I’d say it’s on the wet side of average, but definitely not wet. There was no significant ghosting and no bleeding. All very good things.
There are two “features” of this ink that may be a deal breaker for some people . . .
- there’s no resistance to water
- dry time is longer than average (or at least it was in my bold-nibbed pen). Even at 45 seconds, there was a little smear.
I can live with both of the downsides of this ink quite easily and am finding myself using it every day for various notes.
Here’s the entire handwritten review of Diamine Terracotta.
If you’ve tried Terracotta, I’d love to know your thoughts. Or maybe you’ve tried another one of the Anniversary inks?