Water-Resistance in Fountain Pen Inks: How Important Is It Anyway?

October 30, 2021

I don’t do as many ink reviews as some bloggers, and when I do, it’s mainly a high-level review of (1) how I like the color, and (2) how the ink behaves on the paper that I use on a day-to-day basis, meaning whether it feathers, bleeds, or takes forever to dry. I typically don’t review properties such as the degree of lightfastness (i.e., whether the ink will fade if exposed to sunlight over a long period of time) or water-resistance. So why not? First of all, I don’t have the scientific background or personal experience necessary to make an informed judgment much beyond “I splashed some water on this page of writing and it did/did not smear.” Second, these properties aren’t as important to me as being able to get the ink down on the page with as little fuss as possible. I don’t necessarily need my notes and drafts to be archivally bulletproof, and if I do, I’ll take notes in ballpoint or pencil, or will type them up for electronic storage.

Water-testing inks in everyday situations — Testing inks at pen club in “everyday” situations.

That said, I’ve actually been fairly surprised at the water-resistance of many modern fountain pen inks, even those that don’t advertise themselves as “waterproof” or “bulletproof.” You may have seen some pictures I posted on my Instagram account from last week’s meeting of the Middle Tennessee Fountain Pen Club, where several of us were comparing shades of dark green, and I got curious and splashed some water (not beer) on my writing samples. All five inks actually held up fairly well, with two qualifying as what I would call “waterproof” for my purposes. Here, the Kakimori pigmented ink held up the best (as pigmented ink should do); Noodler’s “Zhivago” came in second (it’s “semi-bulletproof” after all), followed by Cross Black, Birmingham Inks Ancho Chili Pepper, and Diamine Salamander, all of which remained highly legible even if some of the color washed out.

The results from water testing at pen club. Paper used in this test is Write Notepads Dot Grid Paper.

Water testing TWSBI Inks under “less ordinary” circumstances

Similarly, a while back I did a “soak test” of all five TWSBI standard inks and found that the Blue-Black was more or less completely waterproof, while the Black and Midnight Blue showed high levels of water-resistance. This is a far cry from when I first started getting into the pen hobby, and my beloved Waterman inks would essentially wash off the page if I got caught in a rainstorm or spilled a drink.

Results of my TWSBI waterproof testing from a while back. Testing paper is Rhodia.

Suggestions for Waterproof and Water-Resistant Inks

While I still wouldn’t expect fountain pens to be the best choice for signing legal documents or in situations like drawings or technical plans where you absolutely don’t want the ink to run, in light of this experiment I remain relatively unconcerned about the water-resistance of my fountain pen inks, expecting that most of them will remain “legible enough” in the event of a spill. That said, if I want to sign a legal document or am in some other situation where I do want a waterproof (or “highly water-resistant”) ink, here are my favorites:

TWSBI Blue-Black. A great classic steel-blue color, and water-resistant due to iron-gall content.
Pilot Blue-Black. Another classic blue-black ink with high water-resistance that behaves well in most pens. If you shop internationally, you can sometimes order this ink in very large bottles.
Sailor Kiwa-Guro. A pigmented black ink that dries to a matte finish. Blue and Blue-Black pigmented inks are also available from Sailor.
TWSBI Black. For a standard black ink, this ink surprised me with how well it held up when soaked in a glass of water. If you’re looking for a workhorse black, why not choose one where you won’t have to worry if your notebook gets wet?
Noodler’s Zhivago. Not quite as waterproof as Noodler’s “Bulletproof Black,” but I find that this one behaves better, and is a nice green-black shade.
Platinum Carbon Black. Another pigmented ink that’s a favorite of artists as well as writers.

Please note that this is absolutely NOT an exhaustive list of all the “waterproof” fountain pen inks available. Noodler’s makes an entire line of “bulletproof” and “eternal” inks, and companies such as Kakimori, Platinum, and Rohrer & Klingner all make iron-gall, pigmented and “document” inks expressly intended for maximum water-resistance. Also, most permanent inks will need to be regularly cleaned out of your pens every couple of weeks, if not more frequently. (As long as an ink is intended for use in fountain pens, it most likely will not harm your pens, per se, but you may start to have clogging and hard-starting issues if you leave these inks in a pen for a long time.)

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Throughout this post, you will have to endure my lack of any real calligraphy skills ;)

Well, No Vacation After All...But Let's Play with Some Pens and Inks to Forget That!

October 9, 2021

Just a quick update: I was up early and packed and on the road to go to NYC for a long awaited family vacation…. only to arrive at the airport and have Southwest cancel our flight one hour beforehand and tell us there were no openings on any other flights, direct or indirect, for the next three days. Oh well! I didn’t have any fresh review content prepared, but I CAN show you all what I was playing around with last night as I was getting ready for some time off.

Shading Inks from Pennonia, Courtesy of Vanness Pens

I’m not typically a crazy ink enthusiast, but after spending a fun weekend at the Chicago Pen Show experimenting with all sorts of flexible nibs and shading inks, I decided to break into my ink sample stash and play around with several inks from Pennonia that I’ve been admiring online. Pennonia is a Romanian/Hugarian ink company that hand-mixes an enormous line of fountain pen inks, ranging from vibrant blues to more subdued super shaders and double-shaders. You can even purchase shimmer powder in various colors to customize your inks! I’ve been testing out four different Pennonia inks in a wide variety of pens, ranging from standard broad and stub nibs to Pilot Parallels to folded and flex calligraphy nibs. These inks have all behaved wonderfully, even if the specific colors work best for different types of writing.

Pennonia “Danuvius Danube” on mixed-media art paper, writing sample done with a folded nib (top) and a Zebra G dip nib (bottom). The ink shades grey-blue with purple and pink tones, and reminds me somewhat of Vinta Armada, though lighter.

Pennonia Zuzmo Lichen is one of the more interesting inks of the four. Originally, I thought it was far too light but it’s grown on me, especially when I started deploying it in flex nibs and really wet stubs. It’s a light green ink that shades beautifully with yellow and pink tones.

Pennonia Orgona Lilac is a gorgeous ink, but probably the least practical because it’s not very legible without a very broad or wet nib. Even then, the ink is rather light, though it shows dark lavender and blue shading. Writing sample shown here is on bright white Write Notepads dot grid paper.

Pennonia Balaton Blue is a Best-Seller for a reason: It shades with a hit of purple/pink but is also legible enough for easy reading. So what’s that nib? See below:

Yes, that’s a Platinum 3776 14k Medium Nib retrofitted into an Opus 88 Jazz, using a Platinum-compatible JoWo Nib Housing from Flexible Nib Factory. I’m playing around with several “Frankenpens,” so stay tuned!

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Ink Review: Color Traveler Shodoshima Olive Green and Mihara Daruma Red

September 15, 2021

I’ve always strongly believed that the best stationery brands - or at least my favorite stationery brands - are those that draw strongly on their own origins and sense of place when developing their brand identity and aesthetic. Color Traveler, an ink brand from Hiroshima, Japan-based stationer Tayama Bungu, is one of those brands. Like other boutique Japanese inks, the roughly 20 colors in the Color Traveler lineup are all named after regional “destination towns and their histories, special products and local goods, and other items which can accompany trips.” The two inks I’m reviewing today, Shodoshima Olive Green and Mihara Daruma Red, are perfect examples: the olive green is named after Shodoshima island, described as the first locale to successfully grow olives in Japan; the red is named after Mihara City, Hiroshima, which is famous for the production of Daruma, a traditional Japanese doll known as a “symbol of tenacity and good luck.” (Note: I don’t read Japanese, so all of my background information is drawn from the Shigure Inks website, where I acquired these two inks.)

Shodoshima Olive Green

The olive green is easily my favorite of these two inks, which will come as a surprise to most readers since you know how much I enjoy writing with my reds. Olive green is a difficult color to get right - it’s typically either too yellow and pale, in which case it ends up barely legible, or it’s too dark, in which case it’s not really an olive green. Color Traveler nailed the tone, plus the ink shades nicely, dries quickly, and is generally well-behaved, even in a broader, wetter nib. If you’re interested in seeing how this green compares to others, you can check out my green ink comparison here.

I used two pens for my ink testing: a Leonardo Momento Zero Grande with a 14k medium (a very wet writer), and a Sailor 1911 Black Luster with a fine nib. I swapped both inks between these two pens, and the combination shown here worked the best for reasons discussed below. All ink samples in this review are done on bright white Write Notepads paper.

Mihara Daruma Red

My experience with the Mihara Daruma Red was a bit more mixed. While a gorgeous color that strikes me as a dead ringer for the now-discontinued Montblanc Corn Poppy Red, in a broader nib I experienced extremely slow dry times and some smearing/tackiness up to an hour later. When I swapped the ink into a Japanese fine, I had no problems, but be warned if you like broader, wetter writers. Since the Shodoshima Olive Green dries quickly, I’m curious whether the slow dry time is unique to the dye used in the red ink, or whether other colors in the Color Traveler lineup have the same issue. If you know, please drop me a line or leave a comment. To see how this particular shade of red compares to others, you can check out my red ink comparison here.

Color Traveler inks come packaged with a small glass sample vial and a pipette.

Packaging and Overall Takeaways

Apart from the Mihara Daruma Red’s slow dry time, I had no other issues with these two Color Traveler inks. Neither bled or feathered on good paper. Moreover, the packaging/presentation are top notch, with an aesthetic similar to Colorverse. Each bottle of Color Traveler ink ships with a smaller vial for sampling/sharing, a pipette for pulling ink samples or filling an eyedropper fountain pen, plus some stickers. While not a huge selling point for me personally, I can see how the packaging and included extras could serve to raise the brand’s profile in an ink market that’s growing increasingly crowded.

I purchased the ink featured in this review from Shigure Inks, and paid full retail price. At $20 per 30ml bottle, I would say that Color Traveler is fairly priced for an imported Japanese ink, and in line with other similar brands such as Lennon Tool Bar and Tono & Lims.

Disclaimer: This post does not contain affiliate links, nor have I been compensated in any way for this review. Going forward, T.G.S is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

Mini Collections, Part VI: The Rest of the Inks - Blacks, Greys, Browns, Oranges, and Golds

September 4, 2021

For the last round of ink swabs, I grouped together the five color families of which I have the fewest colors: blacks, greys, browns, oranges, and golds. Of these five, I have the most black inks, followed by browns, then oranges, with greys and golds bringing up back end. What was interesting is that after swatching all of these various inks, the colors I like the most are the greys and the golds - inks I’ve discovered recently and plan to work into my primary rotation.

Key Takeaways and Conclusions

Black Inks. I always have appreciated, and continue to appreciate, a good black ink. But not a solid black, which I find boring. Most black ink enthusiasts know that black inks come in a variety of shades - some have blue, purple, or red undertones, and others dry to a matte finish. the closest ink to a “pure black” in my collection is classic Aurora Black, and while the color is a touch boring to me, it still gets a fair bit of use since it’s such a well-behaved, safe ink, especially for vintage pens. Other favorites include Waterman Black (red undertones), Lamy Black (purple undertones), and Roher & Klingner Leipzeiger Schwartz (blue-green undertones). Some people love Noodler’s Black and Sailor Kiwa-Guro for their waterproof qualities, but in my experience these black inks tend to smear since they are pigmented. I will likely keep the Kiwa-Guro for specific use cases since it smears the least.
Grey Inks. This is where things got interesting. For years, I found all of the grey inks I tried too thin and watery, with the writing barely legible on the page. Recently, however, I’ve discovered several that I enjoy quite a bit. Scribo Grigio is a dark grey with strong steel blue undertones. Vinta Armada is another multi-shader with a blue, green, and even red undertones, depending on the light, and Ferris Wheel Press Madam Mulberry is probably the best purple/grey I’ve ever used. (This latter ink could easily have been included in the purples as well, but since I only recently acquired it I had to group it here.) I don’t currently plan to get rid of any of my grey inks at this time. I’d also appreciate any suggestions for new greys to try!

Brown Inks. I strongly prefer dark brown inks, and pass on the lighter browns or reddish brown shades. Of this batch, I plan to keep the Montblanc Sand of the Desert (from the St. Exupéry collection), Scribo Classico Seppia, and Montblanc Toffee Brown. All of the others will go into the ink sale. I’ve really tried to get into brown inks but the color family, on the whole, just doesn’t appeal to me.
Orange Inks. Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin surprised me the most, with not only its color but its ability to shade. It’s a keeper, as are the legendary Sailor Jentle Apricot and Scribo Arancio di Sicilia. Diamine Deep Dark Orange is the perfect “blood orange” shade, and will stay in the collection for that reason. I’m still thinking on the others, but I doubt they will get enough use to justify keeping them even though they are great inks that survived prior orange ink purges.
Gold Inks. I only have two at the moment, and don’t know whether this category will continue to grow. The two inks I have I really enjoy: Vinta La Paz and Ferris Wheel Press Goose Poupon, both of which are gold inks that lean bronze (La Paz) and green (Goose Poupon). I typically go for darker golds, since they tend to be more legible. The number of colors in this particular range are somewhat limited, so I’m not sure there’s enough variety here that would justify accumulating more.

Ink Clearance Update and Further Reading

I plan to clear out excess inks that I don’t plan to keep in the same way I’ve been doing it. Watch the “Gently Used” Page in the coming days, as I cycle inks through the Patreon first and then move them over to the public page after a week. Some bottles still remain from my prior ink testing marathons, along with vintage pencils and office supplies that I’m clearing out. If you missed the earlier installments in this series, you can check them out below. My attention now turns to figuring out how to archive these posts for future reference, and how to update them.

For all of these ink samples, I’ve used standard q-tips to swab the inks, plus this glass dip pen to do the writing samples. The paper shown here is Write Notepads Dot Grid Memo Pad Paper, which as you can tell is exceptionally ink friendly and relatively inexpensive.

Disclaimer: This post does not contain paid affiliate links. Going forward, T.G.S is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

Mini Collections, Part V: All The Blue Inks (Including Blues, Blue-Blacks, Teals, and Turquoise)

August 14, 2021

I have way too many blue inks, and need to do some serious housecleaning. Part of this, of course, is by default. Over the years I’ve purchased many pens that ship with a bottle of ink, and nine times out of ten, it’s a bottle of “house brand” blue or black. But at the same time, I’ve fallen into the habit of constantly searching for that perfect shade of blue, even though we all know that’s impossible. I’ve accumulated dozens of blues, many in nearly identical shades, without realizing it.

It goes without saying that I’m going to be selling off a lot of the duplicative bottles very quickly, as those are no-brainer choices to let go. Some of the rest, however, are more difficult. Here are my takeaways from this latest round of swabbing inks:

A General Note:

I found the blue inks more difficult than the other color ranges to photograph correctly, especially where you have shades of standard blue, turquoise, and blue-blacks together, and where certain supposedly “blue” inks tend to lean heavily green or teal. The blue-blacks are represented fairly accurately here. Otherwise, these photos tend to slightly overstate the vibrancy of the standard blues and understate the vibrancy of the teals and turquoises.

Blue-Inks, Volume 1.jpeg — From Top: Vintage Montblanc Blue-Black; Montblanc JFK Navy Blue; Vintage Pelikan Blue-Black; Sailor Bungubox 4B; Platinum Blue-Black; Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai; Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite; Lamy Blue-Black; Waterman Blue-Black; Waterman Black-Inspired Blue Mix; Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo; TWSBI Blue-Black; TWSBI Midnight-Blue; Aurora Blue-Black; Diamine Cult Pens Deep-Dark Blue.

With Respect to Blue-Black Inks:

I’m much more of a “midnight/navy blue” person than a steel blue, iron gall fan. I intend to move on from inks that essentially dry grey. Farewell, vintage Pelikan Blue-Black, Lamy Blue-Black, Iroshizuku Shin-Kai, and others that have very little actual blue in them.
I’ll probably keep at least one or two bottles of iron gall ink in the collection because it works so well on cheap paper and I sometimes like to use them for work. I don’t need six bottles though, and TWSBI Blue-Black is an inexpensive favorite.

From Top: Noodler’s Air Corps Blue-Black; Papier Plume Midnight Blue; Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao; Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai; Caran d’Ache “Klein Blue” limited edition; Caran d’Ache Chromatics Idyllic Blue; Graf von Faber-Castell Royal Blue; Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue; Noodler’s Blue; Sailor Kobe Nagasawa No. 37; Aurora Blue; Robert Oster Fire & Ice; Platinum Mix-Free Aurora Blue; Platinum Mix Free Aqua Blue.

With Respect to “Standard” Blue Inks:

Standard Pelikan, Lamy, and Pilot blue inks are far too washed out to warrant taking up space in the collection. If you’re a serious vintage pen collector, which I’m not, you may prefer one or more of these “safe inks” for use in your more delicate pens prone to staining, but it’s not an issue I face, and in any event I prefer Waterman Florida (“Serenity Now”) Blue.
Aurora Blue remains a favorite inexpensive blue ink. Noodler’s Blue is also very good, and I’ve found it to be better behaved than other Noodler’s colors. It also dries fairly quickly and doesn’t smear. (At least, the bottle I have doesn’t. As with most Noodler’s ink, there are batch variations so YMMV.)
The Pilot Iroshizuku line has the best blue inks across the board of any ink line on the market. I could happily live in this ink lineup forever. Asa-Gao, Ajisai, and Kon-Peki are exceptionally vibrant blue inks that have become staples in my rotation.
I don’t like Sailor blues as much as I used to. I don’t find them as vibrant as the Pilot inks, and even Bungubox Sapphire (which I used to think was the best blue ever) can’t hold a candle to Asa-Gao, IMHO. The ridiculous price point of the Sailor Bungubox inks make this an even easier call.

From Top: Bungubox Sapphire; Leonardo Blue; Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire; Pilot Blue; Omas Turquoise; Montblanc UNICEF Blue; Sailor Ink Studio 140; Sheaffer Turquoise; Franklin-Christoph Spanish Blue; Lamy Blue; Pelikan 4001 Turquoise; Montblanc Elixir “Azure”; Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki; Pelikan Blue; TWSBI Sapphire Blue.

With Respect to Teal and Turquoise:

The big winner from this round of swatching is once again an Iroshizuku ink. Ama-Iro, which I’ve never used before, is absolutely gorgeous. A close second is the standard Pelikan 4001 Turquoise, which also shocked me with its vibrancy.
Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku over Sailor Yama-Dori. Again, Pilot also wins in the category of “dark teal inks with shading.”
Many turquoise inks are too watery for my taste. The one lighter ink I may make an exception for is Sailor Ink Studio 140, since it’s a relatively rare example of a “double shader” that is legible enough for everyday writing.

From Top: Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-Iro; Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku; Sailor Jentle Yama Dori; Sailor Jentle Naoi-Sumire; Birmingham Pen Company Angelfish; Scribo Blue Cosmico; TWSBI Sky Blue.

As always, watch the “Gently Used” Page in the coming weeks. I plan to aggressively unload some of these inks, cycling them through the Patreon first and then move them over to the public sale page after a week. Some greens and pinks still remain from my prior ink testing marathons, along with vintage pencils and office supplies that I’m clearing out.