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Mikl posted:Quick question! Grey ink: which one? Should I just go for Stormy Grey? If not, Kiri-same or Fuyo-syogun? I love Fuyu-syogun, it's an almost silver grey in a wet nib, and really nails the "wintry" grey feel. Noodler's Lexington Grey looks pretty much like marks from a graphite pencil, if that's your thing. De Atrementis e: I've got J. Herbin on the brain, the De Atrmentis is Fog Grey. herp derp NeurosisHead fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Dec 10, 2014 |
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Dec 10, 2014 19:40
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Haven't tried Kiri-same, but Fuyu-syogun has subtle bluish tones that really evoke the sense of an overcast winter day. It can look a bit pale if you use a particularly fine or dry nib though. The J. Herbin Stormy Grey I just picked up actually appears to be a bit purplish--can't really see it when writing with the ink, but the ink in the bottle and the stains on my hand are purple. However, the gold particles in the ink can make it 1) a little ostentatious since the glitteriness can be pretty heavy, which sometimes reminds me of those glitter gel pens I remember kids using in school, and 2) high maintenance, since the particles might be harder to clean out when switching inks, and can settle in the pen and lead to inconsistent application of the sparkles. You'd definitely want to give the bottle a good shake and "scrape" some of the gold off of the bottom of the bottle when filling a pen. Not sure of a good way to shake up the gold after leaving a pen alone for a while, since with fountain pens that has the tendency to spray ink all over the place.
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Dec 10, 2014 19:52
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I just learned that you can screw a Falcon nib/section unit into a Metro body, but you can't put the cap on. Also, the soft broad falcon nib really brings out the shading in EL Lawrence.
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Dec 10, 2014 19:57
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Mikl posted:Quick question! Grey ink: which one? Should I just go for Stormy Grey? If not, Kiri-same or Fuyo-syogun? Fuyu-syogun is pretty boss.
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Dec 10, 2014 19:58
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I have a bottle of kiri-same that I've been using in a CP1, looks pretty much like pencil. howe_sam posted:I just learned that you can screw a Falcon nib/section unit into a Metro body, but you can't put the cap on. Also, the soft broad falcon nib really brings out the shading in EL Lawrence. Ha, just bought a bottle of that today. Also have a second Falcon on its way that I was planning on filling with the El Lawrence.
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Dec 10, 2014 20:10
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Thanks for the answers! Somehow before reading 404notfound's post it really hadn't registered with me that there are gold flecks into the Stormy Grey ink, despite reading the description over and over again  Judging from what you write I think I'll go with Fuyu-syogun, I'd been considering Kiri-same but Noctone said it looks like pencil and I want something that stands out a bit more.
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Dec 10, 2014 23:52
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Kiri-same has hints of red but is mostly grey, like an old and faded Chinese ink painting. Fuyu-shogun is noticeably blue-grey. They're both excellent but the latter stands out more.
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Dec 11, 2014 00:56
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My TWSBI mini EF nib is running kind of dry; I want to take it apart and clean the channel, but I can't tell if the nib and feed are pressure fit in the collar or not. Trying to tug it apart, there was enough resistance to tell me that they're cemented, but I might just be a huge man baby or maybe just missing the trick to them coming apart. Stephen Brown says they're pressure and just pops them apart, but they sure don't act like it for me. Do you guys have any experience with them?
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Dec 11, 2014 07:03
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NeurosisHead posted:My TWSBI mini EF nib is running kind of dry; I want to take it apart and clean the channel, but I can't tell if the nib and feed are pressure fit in the collar or not. Trying to tug it apart, there was enough resistance to tell me that they're cemented, but I might just be a huge man baby or maybe just missing the trick to them coming apart. Stephen Brown says they're pressure and just pops them apart, but they sure don't act like it for me. Do you guys have any experience with them? They're friction fit but very tight. Screw out the nib assembly and soak it in warm (not hot!) water for about 5-6 minutes, screw it back in to the pen. Then, take a piece of non-adhesive shelf liner (the rubbery stuff with holes in it), and while gripping the sides of the nib just keep gently pulling and wiggling it back and forth and it should pop out. Or you can try flushing out the feed with a 10% ammonia solution using a converter to force the solution in and out of the nib.
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Dec 11, 2014 07:13
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A year ago I bought a TWSBI mini and a bottle of Heart of Darkness to fill it with. I don't write much so I haven't had to refill it yet and my pen is still over half full. The bottle feels like it'll last me a lifetime so I haven't felt the urge to buy more pens or ink. At least not until yesterday. I broke down and ordered a bottle of Stormy Grey. And a TWSBI 580AL + 1.1 stub nib to go with it. I don't feel too guilty about the purchases because having 1 "fun" pen is ok, right? But oh look! Swagger Dagger says Mass Drop has the Pilot Metro's on sale again. They're cheap so why not see what all the hype is about? If I'm getting 2 more pens, I obviously need more (different) ink to fill them with. I'm thinking samples of Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun and Shin-Kai. Four pens is really not that much, but I feel like I need to join Fountain Pens Anonymous now because I also want a flex pen and that white TWSBI mini vac looks pretty good and what am I going to do with all these pens?
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Dec 11, 2014 09:13
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Since Noodler's has more than one lower priced flex nib pen, which would be the best bet? I had an Ahab; it never wrote like I wanted it too, so I tweaked it. Got it to a nice gentle flex resulting in a wide line and then decided to go further and hosed the nib up beyond compare. Or, if there are other flex pens that are in the lower price range. Someday I'll save for a wet noodle, which is whY I would really love.
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Dec 11, 2014 17:46
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rio posted:Since Noodler's has more than one lower priced flex nib pen, which would be the best bet? I had an Ahab; it never wrote like I wanted it too, so I tweaked it. Got it to a nice gentle flex resulting in a wide line and then decided to go further and hosed the nib up beyond compare. Or, if there are other flex pens that are in the lower price range. Someday I'll save for a wet noodle, which is whY I would really love. I'm gonna suggest getting a Goulet 1.1 or 1.5 italic nib and putting that in your Ahab. I bought a Noodler's pen because I wanted to try a flex pen, and while it flexed well, it took a lot of pressure to flex and the nib itself was scratchy. So then I went the vintage route, and restored a Waterman's 3v with an ideal 2 nib. It's a wonderful pen, goes from EF to BBB line variation, and it's pretty easy to flex a little bit (maybe EF to M) and it's super neat. But since I've tried stubs, I hardly ever use it. Flexing seems neat, and I'm sure if you're into actual calligraphy you can do beautiful things with a flex nib pen, but for the majority of every day writing I'm quite content to use my 1.1 nib, and I still get pretty line variation and shading without all of the fatigue that comes from writing with a flex pen. Edit: But I can totally understand wanting a vintage flex pen just to have one, I just don't think you're gonna get any kind of modern equivalent from a steel nibbed pen. Korwen fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Dec 11, 2014 |
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Dec 11, 2014 21:13
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rio posted:Since Noodler's has more than one lower priced flex nib pen, which would be the best bet? I had an Ahab; it never wrote like I wanted it too, so I tweaked it. Got it to a nice gentle flex resulting in a wide line and then decided to go further and hosed the nib up beyond compare. Or, if there are other flex pens that are in the lower price range. Someday I'll save for a wet noodle, which is whY I would really love. You can buy any number of cheap Indian FPs that are identical to Noodlers pens minus their logo. For serious flex there's dip pens for writing. I've gotten over the flex phrase and kinda just writing with anything else.
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Dec 11, 2014 21:34
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grack posted:They're friction fit but very tight. Screw out the nib assembly and soak it in warm (not hot!) water for about 5-6 minutes, screw it back in to the pen. Then, take a piece of non-adhesive shelf liner (the rubbery stuff with holes in it), and while gripping the sides of the nib just keep gently pulling and wiggling it back and forth and it should pop out. Thanks for this! I'll give it a whirl tonight and see how it goes. I bought a Nib Creeper to use with the Stormy Grey ink so it wouldn't trash my TWSBI 1.1mm italic; if I can just take the nib and feed apart to clean it effectively(I don't trust a flush to get the gold out of it) that poo poo is going in my TWSBI asap. Or I could just get the Goulet 1.1mm and stick it in one of my Ahabs. So much options!
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Dec 11, 2014 22:48
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Korwen posted:I'm gonna suggest getting a Goulet 1.1 or 1.5 italic nib and putting that in your Ahab. I bought a Noodler's pen because I wanted to try a flex pen, and while it flexed well, it took a lot of pressure to flex and the nib itself was scratchy. Unfortunately I pitched the pen - the nib was unsalvageable and, worse, I got the feed stuck in the body. I couldn't get it out no matter what I did and eventually my efforts broke the thing. It flexed really well the week before that but I chose to tinker too much, thinking I could get more out of the pen. I don't even know what to do now honestly. I want something with which to work on my handwriting, and the Ahab did fill that roll well by having the flex to work on spencerian and copperplate. Any other lower priced pens that I should know about? I have two Metros, and 3 Safaris (well, one is a knockoff but performs the same), the Noodler's free pen, a cheap Schaefer calligraphy nibbled pen that I tried to turn into a stub (the product looks good, but it is a bad writing experience), a Parker 51 Chinese copy, a Cross .... Century perhaps...something no longer made with a gold nib that has been dropped on the floor nib first but somehow still works although hosed up, and a Carene that needs a nib adjustment. I think I have hit a fountain pen wall. I should probably just get an Ahab and commence the tinkering I guess.
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Dec 12, 2014 03:45
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Follow up to previous, they are friction fit, and the soak and disconnect worked wonderfully. I smashed a couple of the fins off of the underside while I fiddled with it; but it turns out that they don't seem to serve any purpose at all! Hooray, time to play with my Stormy Grey! e: another follow up, drat this stuff is sparkly. I think that the feed channel on the TWSBI feed isn't robust enough to handle how goopy this ink is. It's fine for other inks so I'm not going to carve it up though - my Nib Creeper should be here tomorrow though so I won't mind messing that up with it! NeurosisHead fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Dec 12, 2014 |
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Dec 12, 2014 05:29
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Swagger Dagger posted:Just got an e-mail from Massdrop saying the 2-pack of Pilot Metropolitans for 24 bucks is back on sale, if you missed out on that last time or just want more Metros. They've also got the Lamy Studio for $60 for the next 6 days, but I'm trying to cut back on my luxury spending  .E: I'll probably be able to hold out, at least until they get a 2000 up there again  .
surc fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Dec 12, 2014 |
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Dec 12, 2014 15:46
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My girlfriend uses a blue Kaweco Sport, and I don't think she's loaded up on cartridges or anything. I want to get her some fancy bottles of ink for Christmas, I know she'd love to just display them on her desk, and if she can use them, so much the better! I want to get her whatever supplies are needed (a converter?) so that she can refill her Kaweco with bottled ink. If I buy this: http://www.wonderpens.ca/Kaweco_Sport_Squeeze_Converter_p/10000654.htm and a few bottles of whatever (do I need to worry about what type of ink? Or just go for cool colours and bottles?), is that all she needs? Thanks!
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Dec 12, 2014 17:34
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surc posted:They've also got the Lamy Studio for $60 for the next 6 days, but I'm trying to cut back on my luxury spending That's really not that great of deal for the steel-nibbed studio. Amazon has the brushed steel one for like $61. But I have no room to complain, since I'd gladly drop a scary amount for that brown special edition studio. Or the coffee al-star. Which is weird, because I've never bought a lamy with one of those interchangeable nibs that I didn't find almost unusable.
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Dec 12, 2014 17:43
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Kreez posted:My girlfriend uses a blue Kaweco Sport, and I don't think she's loaded up on cartridges or anything. I want to get her some fancy bottles of ink for Christmas, I know she'd love to just display them on her desk, and if she can use them, so much the better! I want to get her whatever supplies are needed (a converter?) so that she can refill her Kaweco with bottled ink. That's the correct converter. If you're doing your shopping off of Wonderpens just make sure whatever you choose for ink is listed under fountain pen ink and not calligraphy ink.
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Dec 12, 2014 18:38
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grack posted:That's the correct converter. If you're doing your shopping off of Wonderpens just make sure whatever you choose for ink is listed under fountain pen ink and not calligraphy ink. You can also very easily rinse and refill Kaweco cartridges with a blunt syringe. I do it all the time. In other news, my ほぼ日手帳 (Hobonichi Techo) came today! More on that later, but the pen it came with is my new favorite ballpoint.
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Dec 12, 2014 21:20
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I got my first pens today, and the very first thing I did was explode the cartridge that comes with the Metropolitan all over my hands because I got impatient with the (lack of) ink flow and started loving around with an ink syringe. I ended up flushing it out and refilling it with the De Atramentis Sherlock Holmes that came in this month's Goulet Pens Ink Drop. It's a pretty ink, but too dark of a blue for me so I don't think I'll be using the rest of the sample that's left. I put some Aurora Black in my TWSBI 580 and that process couldn't have been simpler. Both pens write like a dream, I can't really decide which I like better. The F Metropolitan gets the same line size as the really fine Staedtler fineliners I've been using which is really impressive.
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Dec 12, 2014 22:04
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Kreez posted:I want to get her some fancy bottles of ink for Christmas, I know she'd love to just display them on her desk, and if she can use them, so much the better! Fun gift idea but just a fair warning it's not ideal to display ink bottles unless empty because they do better in cool, dark, and away from sunlight which can break down or change the ink formulas over time. I like to keep the bottles in a desk drawer. Swagger Dagger posted:The F Metropolitan gets the same line size as the really fine Staedtler fineliners I've been using which is really impressive. Welcome to the club  Staedtler fineliners are nice but they tend to dry out faster than I expected for art materials. I too like Fine or XXXF nibs.
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Dec 13, 2014 00:50
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Got my Stormy Grey today! I brought my Konrad home for a thorough cleaning because it's stained all to hell from some highlighter ink so I even have a pen to put it in unlike usual when I get a new ink delivered to the house Friday afternoon and all my pens are at work.
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Dec 13, 2014 01:08
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Let me describe my train of thought while browsing Goulet's earlier: "My sister and her fiancée have their birthdays in January, I better start thinking about presents. They both like writing, so... There, two sets of Metro F plus converter plus Noodler's black. On second thought, make that three, it's about time I got myself a Metro. Now let's see what else I can get, no sense in paying shipping twice. Oooo, a M italic nib on that Plumix! Even though I read the pen itself is crap, I want that nib! Thinking about it, I could just bite the bullet and get the Fuyu-syogun now rather than later. Goons said it works best with a wet nib, I have just the pen for that. But it needs some thorough cleaning. Let's add some cleaning supplies..." It's a remarkable rabbit-hole. Everything is so cheap, but in the end, it becomes so expensively cheap 
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Dec 13, 2014 02:11
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I love-hate doing Goulet orders because it starts out very reasonable -- "I want to find a blue-black ink I really love, let's get some samples" -- and then I just see one or two things -- "I really want to put a broad nib in my Konrad, and the Goulet one is just $15, and hey there's a pen I want on Bottom Shelf, and they got that bottle of ink I've been waiting on back in stock" -- and it just mushrooms and it's two in the morning and I have $200 of poo poo in my cart and I don't know what happened but I need to clean this poo poo up before my better half sees what I've been doing all night. ... because she'll want to get "just a few things" for her too ...
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Dec 13, 2014 02:21
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Remora posted:I love-hate doing Goulet orders because it starts out very reasonable -- "I want to find a blue-black ink I really love, let's get some samples" -- and then I just see one or two things -- "I really want to put a broad nib in my Konrad, and the Goulet one is just $15, and hey there's a pen I want on Bottom Shelf, and they got that bottle of ink I've been waiting on back in stock" -- and it just mushrooms and it's two in the morning and I have $200 of poo poo in my cart and I don't know what happened but I need to clean this poo poo up before my better half sees what I've been doing all night. My girlfriend is out of town for work; I told her that I got my Stormy Grey and that I got a nib creeper to play with it in. She stopped me, and said "wait, where did the nib creeper come from? Goulet?! Check with me before you order next time so I can have you grab some things from my wishlist!" In addition, the training class I have right now did their non-denominational holiday gift exchange today. Two more new agents had requested fountain pens, that's 4/10 that my monumental dork enthusiasm about fountain pens has inspired. 
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Dec 13, 2014 05:38
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milpreve posted:You can also very easily rinse and refill Kaweco cartridges with a blunt syringe. I do it all the time. That's what I'd recommend. The Kaweco sport converter is too small to be practical. It's a real fiddle to get a decent amount of ink into it and for the same reason a pain to clean out also.
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Dec 13, 2014 06:03
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Meh. It's $3.25. Not exactly going break the bank to try it out.
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Dec 13, 2014 06:06
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Noctone posted:I have a bottle of kiri-same that I've been using in a CP1, looks pretty much like pencil. I myself picked up a bottle of the new J Herbin stormy gray – it's more like a really dark black with gold highlights going to gray. The one thing about this Ankh that really isn't like the Rouge Hemetite Ink is that you really have to shake the bottle before you fill it and even I found in the pen you need to kind a tilt the pen around to spread out the gold otherwise it just wife with all the gold all at once and it looks like a glitter marker instead of shaded pen ink I don't know the manufacturer but I have a bottle of Gris muse ink that is a really nice soft gray. It's almost like a dark pencil looks really good in my Eversharp flex.
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Dec 13, 2014 06:25
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Quick pen review! Today I went to get some office supplies, and something caught my eye. Pelikan Pelikano M  Comes in red, blue or cyan. I assume there are also F versions, but the store wasn't carrying them. Note: the picture makes it look like it's a good, full red, but it's a pale red instead.  Full plastic except for the nib, which is steel. Also has some rubber on the grip for increased friction.  Comes with a HUGE ink cartridge. I didn't use that, instead I used a standard-sized one.  Flow is remarkably good, it started writing as soon as I put the cartridge in and had no rough starts or anything. By varying the amount of pressure you're able to get some line variation, not too much but it's nice. Grip feels a little awkward, but it probably it takes some getting used to. Writes a bit less smoothly than my Prera, though, and that's an F (as opposed to an M in this pen). Of note:  Nib creep! This is after writing just the test text above  Also you cannot post the pen, the cap doesn't fit right on the back and it's easy to shake it off while writing. Would probably be a good pen to do an eyedropper conversion on, except...  Yep, those are two holes in the back of the pen. Price: 15 €. Verdict: surprisingly not terrible, and even better than I expected. For that price though? Just add a bit more money and get a Metro or something.
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Dec 13, 2014 13:04
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Mikl posted:Quick pen review! I love these indestructible school pens  If you want to do an eyedropper conversion you could go for the Pelikan th.ink which has the same nib.
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Dec 13, 2014 13:16
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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Got my bottle of Stormy Grey today, going to use it for my Christmas cards this year as it's such a nice ink. With the 0.9mm cursive italic on my Pelikan M200 it looks very subtle at first glance and the gold flecks only become obvious when looking at an angle. 
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Dec 13, 2014 17:07
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Quick ink review. Sorry about the washed out picture of the bottle. This is Mont Blanc Bordeaux, and I grabbed a bottle and a half from a friend how was leaving the country where we both lived. And it's... disappointing.  This was my first attempt at washing out a cartridge and refilling it with a syringe. So, broad nib in my Vanishing Point, and a freshly filled cartridge, and I started to pull the ink through on the page, and.... it just never got rich enough, or dark enough. It always felt as if it needed a little more scribbling. Just to see if it was the paper, I scrawled something in brown (Lamy Safari medium, Monteverde brown cartridge).  It's.... OK, I guess. Just a bit anaemic for a red. 
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Dec 14, 2014 09:43
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A lot of "bordeaux" or "burgundy" inks have that problem. It's not *really* a red ink, it's a totally different animal. Plus it's a manufacturer ink so it's not like you're going to get wowzers color out of it any which way.
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Dec 14, 2014 10:05
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Also did you shake it before filling up your pen? If it's been standing for a while some of the pigment may have settled at the bottom of the bottle.
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Dec 14, 2014 10:24
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 Gosh, would you look at that? Top two lines, post shaking. Thanks for the suggestion of shaking the bottle - it's made a real difference! IT's still not my first choice of colour, bit it's much improved, thanks!
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Dec 14, 2014 10:53
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Probably worth it just for the bottle alone. Loads of people get those Mont Blanc bottles to rinse out and use as ink wells. Got my Lamy 2000 from Massdrop this weekend, along with the complimentary bottle of Lamy black for the whole "we sent all the pens to some random in Iowa" thing. I forgot that this ink wells have a built in paper roll thing for wiping nibs clean, that's pretty nice. All in all I think it was about 3 and a half weeks late due to those shenanigans, luckily that's abnormal for Massdrop. The pen writes great, on par with my Sailor 1911 I think, although the nib is a lot springier so the line it lays day can get a bit thick for a fine point. Hopefully that's normal but I'm almost worried something's wrong with it since I didn't expect it to be able to do a broad line (well Jinhao broad, so maybe it's just fine-medium). The drat thing looks so innocuous, it's sorta nuts. At first glance it seems like the kind of pen you'd steal from the dentist. I can easily see this becoming my daily writer but I might just put it in the secondary pen cycle I have going and stick with the Vac 700 out of laziness.
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Dec 15, 2014 19:55
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Brightman posted:Probably worth it just for the bottle alone. Loads of people get those Mont Blanc bottles to rinse out and use as ink wells. I like my 2000 a lot. It has a very basic look, great performance, and holds a shitload of ink.
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Dec 15, 2014 20:25
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The Lamy ink bottles make quite good ink wells.
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Dec 15, 2014 20:56
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