Alcohol can go very badly - forms a precipitate with some inks - rather interesting. Immediately makes them go milky...

(Was in biochem, long, long ago, when T. Rex stomped around the labs... Maybe not T. Rex... but Australopithecus was definitely cruising around...)

Cold water and never hot water to flush and clean your nibs and feed between ink loads.

I ordered some ink samples this evening. I went with in and out of original preferred pallette.
Blues:
De Atramentis Indigo Blue
Sailor Ink Studio 743
Colorverse Stars & Stripes Glistening
Noodler's Liberty's Elysium
Diamine Oxford Blue
Diamine Blue Velvet
Robert Oster Thunderstorm <-- maybe blue/grey
Greys:
Noodler's Lexington Gray
Diamine Moon Dust
Reds:
Diamine Red Dragon
Diamine Wild Strawberry
Herbin Rouge Grenat
Diamine Poppy Red

Based on sample pricing, the Sailor and Colorverse were highest with Noodler's being the cheapest. 2ml samples ranged from $1.25 to $2.50. So, for less than $30, I can try 13 different colors and 7 different brands. I didn't purposely gravitate towards Diamine, it just pleased my eye in the moment.

I have also managed to glom onto some rhodia paper. I am going to attempt to start using the A5 notebooks at some point. I can already tell I am not a fan of dots and will want lines or grids.

That whole no desire to go through multiple pens to find a favorite... lol what was I thinking? I did go grab two Cross pens from Office Depot with medium nibs. Favorite nib so far is still the medium caligraphy nib on the Shaeffer set.

So, I will be researching nib widths etc. for awhile.

Still crickets from TFPN site.

I appreciate all the help so far. Thank you.

Appreciate your providing an update.

You've got a lot on your plate to evaluate.

Good choice with the A5 format. As for dots, there are some papers where they very subdued and others that jump out at you. The Fabriano EcoQua A5 pads I mentioned earlier are of the former persuasion and no more intrusive, at least to me, than lines on paper. The spacing of the dots is also a factor. The Rhodia A5 dotPad I have has much more closely spaced dots which I do not like.

Shown below, the pad I favor from Fabriano has a cover that opens to the left leaving a flat "stack" of 85g/m² pale ivory paper. The left edge is gum bound and individual sheets will lift off as needed.




Fabriano also makes pads in various sizes and types of binding (spiral, gum, staple, perforated, etc.) with blank, lined, two sizes of square grids, and dot paper.

The pen is my Italix Churchman's Prescriptor with a 1.75mm extra broad oblique italic nib.

Looks like a good start. I have mixed results from Noodler's - they make some great colors, but Baystate Blue is a semi-disposable pen ink, IMO.

I treat De Atrementis Document inks the same way, mainly as I don't know how they will react, long-term, in a pen.

I would get a Document ink though. It, loaded in an eyedropper converted Platinum Preppy, is a nice thing to have around for check signing, etc. (Even a couple samples of it, would suffice - ink lasts a long time in a Preppy.)

Let me know how you like the Blue Velvet. It is supposed to be a smooth ink like the name.

I love Baystate Blue on yellow legal paper. Very saturated color that can be a bit purple though.

Liberty's Elysium is a nice blue color but it is not as smooth as I would like in my medium VP.

Be careful particularly with bulletproof inks as they will stain everything. Noodler's regular bottles are often filled to the edge, so prepare before opening a new bottle. I like to use paper plates under the bottle in an area I can live with a spill.

My wife got me a fountain pen, some ink, and a pen holder for our anniversary. She picked out a Dryden Designs in "mysterious blue" with a medium nib along with some Dryden Designs Sky Blue ink. Inam guessing I am seeing the difference between Western nibs and Japanese nibs as the Dryden has a finer line.

The ink is almost a cyan color, but there is a chance I didn't mix it well before filling. I haven't written a lot with it yet as I am trying to empty out on of the Cross pens so that I can add a converter to try some ink samples.

I am not sure I understand some of the ink responses. I will have to read more about the inks instead of simply picking colors.

My ink sample order arrived today. 2ml isn't a lot. I hope I will be able to use the converter fill. If I can't, I will need to get the syringes that have previoisly been mentioned.

Here are some observations made simply by agitating the ink samples.
Seem to be the thickest inks: (thickest first I will definitely read up on these to be sure they are fountain inks and not caligraphy inks)
Colorverse Stars & Stripes Glistening
Sailor Ink Studio 743
Noodler's Liberty's Elysium
Diamine Oxford Blue
Diamine Poppy Red

Hardest to see color while concentrated at the bottom of the vial:
Herbin Rouge Grenat this looks blackish instead of red

All the rest seem to have about the same viscosity and trend toward watery:
De Atramentis Indigo Blue
Diamine Blue Velvet
Robert Oster Thunderstorm

Noodler's Lexington Gray
Diamine Moon Dust

Diamine Red Dragon
Diamine Wild Strawberry

Still crickets from TFPN site.

Well, ffips, I am a regular on the Fountain Pen Network forums, in fact until recently, I was a moderator there. Why dont you send me an email( it is in my profile), and I will contact Wim, the owner/operator of TFPN. He should be able to help. Keep in mind, Wim is in the Netherlands, and runs a computer company and is a single Dad, so, he is a bit busy. So, please email me. If that fails, I have another solution in mind.
-Sid

quote:

Originally posted by sidss1:
Well, ffips, I am a regular on the Fountain Pen Network forums, in fact until recently, I was a moderator there. Why dont you send me an email( it is in my profile), and I will contact Wim, the owner/operator of TFPN. He should be able to help. Keep in mind, Wim is in the Netherlands, and runs a computer company and is a single Dad, so, he is a bit busy. So, please email me. If that fails, I have another solution in mind.
-Sid

Email sent, I appreciate the support.

ffpis ; I have sent Wim an email message, so let see what he has to say. I will send you a handwritten snail-mail letter tomorrow.

Thanks sidss1.

Should anyone want to send snail mails back and forth, drop me an email.

Update:

Thank you stylophiles for your generosity. I have sent a snail mail headed your way, but didn't want to surprise you with it.

sidss1, tfpn has still maintained radio silence.

Ermagherd!! Fountain pens!!

So much for the innocence of settling in with a minimal immersion experience. Slipped right off that mountainside and have now purchased two limited Conklin All American pens. I now quest for papers and inks. I am like a crack junkie looking to score my next high.

Here are some pics of one of them: (the other is golden walnut, pics at a later date)









Testing the inks that stylophiles sent, I enjoy the colors and fluidity. He sent me Tamar (blue) and St. Blazey (red) made by Conway Stewart. I also tested the Damine Moon Dust (grey) and Robert Oster Thunderstorm (grey/black). The moon dust looks like pencil on the cheap yellow staples pads. I can see the quest for ink and paper to be as daunting as the pens themselves.

I have purchased a paper sample pack from Goulet and while I was underwhelmed by the sizes (think b7 range), it will expose me to:
Rhodia premium
Mnemosyne by maruman
68 GSM Tomoe River repackaged by Goulet Pens
Clairfontaine
Apica
Traveler's

I now have exposure to western vs. Japanese nibs in medium sized as well as stub on my new Conklins.

I am trying to entice my oldest (13) into this with be, but so far he is resisting. There have been a few at work who expressed curiosity.

Fun stuff...

Should any desire to revert to snail mail to further discuss these or other topics, I am open to letter exchanges. Fair warning, my penmanship is a work in progress. My fonts range from serial killer manifesto print to brain surgeon impossible to read cursive. I am trying to find some sweet spot in between. Drop me an email to get started.

edited to add photos

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ffips,

lololololololololol

No question... you've got the FEVER!

I have a few vintage Esterbrook pens I love to use. They use a lever to fill a bladder inside. Easy to find in Antique stores although some need new bladders and those are available on line and simple to install and Nibs are easy to change out if you want something different they also can be found online. The ones in the Antique stores will need cleaning which is part of the fun in restoring the pen. I use noodlers ink mostly. I even found a basic fountain pen at hobby lobby for $5.00 that uses cartridges it's my everyday pen when I don't want to take along an Esterbrook. And while it's cheap it is surprisingly useable and carrys an extra cartridge inside.

There is something special about using a fountain pen. I use one daily I do my best to use nothing else for a Pen... Although I do like mechanical pencils but that is another story...

ffips : I sent you an email today, on Sunday, 9/20/2020, sorry for being out of contact over the past 2 or 3 weeks.