Eight more inks

My ink-testing procedure is to write, blot and swab the noxious substance on a Clairefontaine index card and also write the name of each ink in a notebook, always using the same dip pen. Then I rinse and dry the nib. This process has worked well until today when I opened a bottle of Diamine Calligraphy Passion. The flow was bad but I got the job done. The other three inks had normal flow:

bbb — I wrote “no flow” – really the Calligraphy Passion just flowed badly.

Papier Plume Heart of Gold is an orangey/coral colour ink created for the Pay-it-Forward Project on Kickstarter. Heart of Gold also would not flow! I could only write a few letters before the tip dried, despite a blob of ink on the nib’s cutout. Normally, any ink here will flow down the slit to the tip of the nib. (And yes, all the inks are tested with the same old dip pen.) Mm-hmm. This is what we call a dry ink. I had to complete the entry with a glass nib, which wrote well enough, but then cleaning the nib was a problem. The ink stuck to it, (!) taking a few rinses to wash off. This may be because the ink is partly water-resistant. (Of course other permanent inks are mostly well-lubricated.)

Given the shading on the swabs and ink blots, Heart of Gold would be interesting in a folded nib. If I try that then I’ll put a picture here.

bbbg 1.jpeg

Anyway, the other six inks were fine! Robert (Cult Pens Iridescink) bled through a Field Notes (Pitch Black) notebook page and has a shiny green sheen.

Krishna Anokhi also has a green sheen but it is matt, not shiny. Oster’s Fire on Fire, Cult Pens’ Deep Dark Green and Orange were all excellent but I was most taken with Diamine’s Smoke on the Water — a smooth deep turquoise with a red outline/sheen: