Category Archives: INKS

Fifty Shades of Grey Ink, Part 1

Posted on by
2
Grey from Diamine so stately and professional. A good basic grey.
I’m not even close to having Fifty Shades of Grey ink. Do 50 different greys even exist? Wonder how long it will take me to find out. Wonder how much fun I’ll have finding out!
Full reviews of each of these inks coming another time. This time, it’s just for fun.
Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same – delicate (hints of red)

I’ve been loving the Iroshizuku inks lately. Have you tried any? Highly recommended. And the bottles? Gorgeous!

Private Reserve Grey Flannel – Regular ole grey (with bits of green?)
You know what I wish? I wish the entire world could get together and decide on just one spelling for grey/gray. My preference (like Private Reserve’s) is “gray.” It just makes more sense, yo.
DeAtramentis – Silver-Grey – Nice classic shade
DeAtramentis Silver-Grey definitely looks more grey to me than silver. This isn’t to slight Silver-Grey in any way, it’s perfectly lovely.
You know what else I wish? I wish my images were all the same size. They were all scanned the same and they are all on 3×5 index cards. Still, the safe bet is that it has something to do with something I’m doing wrong. Probably with Flickr. I’m no Flickr expert even though it’s been around for ages.

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun – soft and a bit blue
How pretty is Fuyu-syogun? So pretty that it made my Wish List.  It is perfect – not too black, not too blue. Delicious. (Wait..how did I create this ink swab if I don’t own the ink? I bought a sample from Goulet Pens, of course.)
J Herbin Gris Nuage – delicate
Gris Nuage is a beautiful gray. I always call it New Age Gray in my head. Funny, right? Nuage is actually the French word for cloud. 
Definitely has some blue / silver qualities to it. For some reason, I think this color belongs in weddings; it’s such romantic shade, isn’t it? I ran into some trouble with this ink during a test run – but I’m not ready to give up on it. More on that another time.
So..that’s six of fifty. A lofty goal, but I’m confident I can find 44 more shades of grey and I can’t wait to show you.
My favorite grays definitely lean toward the silver/blue side of things. Grays with too much red end up looking muddy to my eye. I’m a purist when it comes colors. I want to look at a color and say, “That’s gray!” Not, “Oh. Is that gray?”
And on the (mostly internal) debate about grey versus gray. The Grammarist says either is right, though gray is used more commonly in the US – and I guess that explains my preference.
Which are your favorite grays? Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey?

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s – Black

Posted on by
Reply

Noodler’s Black is a good, solid black.  The color is rich and deeply saturated. It was definitely wet in my Caran D’Ache with a fine nib; I imagine it would be almost too wet for me in a pen with a broad nib.

Look at the water test, yo.  That’s some impressive behavior!  (The “b” in “by” is where I place a single drop of water – can’t see it at all!)

I rarely read reviews before testing the inks on my own.  It doesn’t matter too much what other people think about a particular ink – I want to know how it performs for me – in my pens. Having fallen in almost-love with this ink, I decided to see what others were saying . . .

Amazon Reviews

Goulet Reviews

According to Noodler’s, the ink is Waterproof, UV resistant, bleach resistant, fade-resistant, and good for archival purposes. It’s also forgery-resistant. SOLD! I’ve added this ink to my wish list.

INK REVIEW: Pilot Iroshizuku – Shin Ryoku

Posted on by
Reply
Initial Thoughts
Here we have Shin-ryoku from Pilot Iroshizuku. My first ink review! Wooooo!
How pretty!
Maybe a little too blue if one is searching for a pure green ink. Shin-ryoku apparently translates to Forest Green – if this is the case, the color is most definitely not dark or saturated enough.
But really pretty just the same.
Pricing
$28 all over the place.
This was my first experience with a Pilot Iroshizuku ink. Other than not loving the color (purely a matter of my good taste, I assure you), I had no complaints. It wrote wonderfully in my TWSBI Diamond 540. No skipping, not too wet/dry. Saturation was a little light for me, but definitely sufficient. Too bad there wasn’t more shading.
Some feathering when it’s examined very close up on this mid-quality paper. But really – in person, it was barely noticeable. 
Mm…doesn’t really pass the water test, but it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen.
Overall, this is a nice quality ink and it wrote very well in my pen. I didn’t fall in love with it and I won’t be buying a full bottle, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to try it out.  
Looking for more reviews?  Try these…
Review over at Goulet Pens
Fountain Pen Network