Ink Spots!

Well, not really ink spots!  But I'm always on the search for The Perfect Ink for my purposes.

I'm still looking.

What I want most often is an ink that dries waterproof (or at least water-resistent) in a relatively short time, so I can use watercolor over it...and that's tricky, in most fountain pens.  I've tested dozens and usually go back to Noodler's Lexington Grey, which seems to perform best for me, given my usual "requirements."

Often, we blame our fountain pens for not feeding well, but it may be the ink instead.  (And of course some pens write wetter and some dryer...meaning some make a finer more delicate line, and some really flow readily.   My original Namiki Falcon is like that, somewhat juicy.)

I'd love a dependable brown that doesn't clog my pens, but so far except in RARE cases, that's been tough to find.  (My Carbon Desk Pens, the TWSBIs, and my inexpensive Preppies seem most amenable to brown ink, and the brown that works best for me seems to be Noodler's Brown #41.)  But for the most part, Lexy Grey is my go-to ink.

GouletPen.com has a lovely sampler set of browns to try out!  (And come to think of it, there ARE some "ink spots," someone leaked!)

I used Noodler's Brown #41 in my Materia Medica, in a Carbon Desk Pen you can read about in this post.

I was really excited when I heard about DeAtramentis Document Inks, and some people are finding them PERFECT for their needs, not a bit of trouble; my dear friend Liz Steel loves them!  (The inks seem to work perfectly in many of the Lamy pens, which, unfortunately, I don't care for.)

And I just paid a professional to clean my vintage Sheaffer--I couldn't get it to work even with Goulet's pen cleaner, which is normally magic!  She recommended that I either change to water-soluble ink or flush it about once a week!

(My favorite Noodler's Creaper pen that I only write with is always filled with a water-soluble ink that hasn't failed me once in almost 3 years...it's De Atramentis, a dark green-black, and I love it!)

NOTE: There's a big difference in dye inks and pigmented inks.  The latter is much more likely to be water-resistant, but also more likely to clog since pigment particles do tend to clump.  That's why some cartridges, like the Pilot Namiki, some with a tiny ball-bearing inside that keeps the particles more evenly distributed.  Some of my converters have that option too... 

I recently bought another Noodler's Konrad pen, which holds more ink than the Creaper, and was amazed when it quit working after a few weeks.  I'm not, any more.  That's its feed and nib, on the left, in the first picture below.  The other is my normally dependable, foolproof Hero M-86 nib.

Yeah, that's the new Konrad's feed...almost totally clogged.

This is the Hero nib, likewise--but it had been in the pen considerably longer, so not as surprised.  BOTH took a nice bath in pen cleaner and got a good scrubbing with an old toothbrush, though...

Just for the heck of it I put the Hero under a magnivying glass...yuck.  I'd be reluctant to work too if I were clogged like that...

So will I continue to use my De Atramentis Document inks?  Of course.  But I'll be much more mindful of cleaning and flushing my pens and nibs, and use them in my juicier, more dependable pens, at least the inexpensive ones like the Preppy and Metropolitan, definitely not the vintage pens!  And they're great with dip pens.

Obviously this is not an issue only with the De Atramentis Document inks, either...many pigmented inks can be challenging to use.  I'm careful with Platinum Carbon Black and other similar inks as well.

And of course you do NOT want to use India Ink or one of the acrylics in a good fountain pen.  They dry hard!

It is more than possible to draw with water-soluble ink, and wet the lines for halftones...it's a lovely and often luminous effect, just not one I go for often!  I may have to branch out a bit...

Soooo...what works for you, in which pens?  Water soluble, water resistant?

Fountain pen tweaks and maintenance...

I thought I'd cover this subject since so many of us are experimenting with fountain pens, now!  Some maintenance IS necessary (especially if you're using pigment inks, which can clog), and it's best to take it easy and take it slow...

Tweaks CAN work...but they can mess up a good pen, too.  Go gently...

I've been very enthusiastic about my Noodler's Ahab pen, while recognizing that not all Ahabs are created equal.  Some work great, some apparently don't have their nibs set quite right.  Since it is SO easy to tweak the Noodler's small Creaper pen to get the nib set just as you, personally, prefer it, and since I noticed my two Ahabs were slightly different and one worked better than the other, I decided to fix that.

Great fix, as you can see above.

Apparently, unlike the Creaper, there is only one way the Ahab nib will seat properly.  (They tell me it goes on the side that is slightly out of round...which is hard to discern, and isn't mentioned in their flier.)  Since I didn't set it that way, it wouldn't go in as far and I bent the nib when I tightened the cap...siiigh...

So...I tried a replacement nib, and since I was messing with it anyway, I decided to try converting it to eyedropper fill, which holds a lot more ink than the piston-pump the Ahab comes with.  The whole body of the pen can be full of ink!  OK, I got a little starry-eyed about that idea.  I love the little Noodler's Flex pens but they DO run out of ink quickly if you sketch a lot.

The flier gives directions on how to do that, including moving up the O-ring and using some silicone grease to seal the threads...

Want my directions?  Just don't.  Ahab holds a lot of ink, just as it comes.  It's difficult to know why it didn't work for me, but it leaked around the nib section.  Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.  I tried tweaking more, but...

Spoiled the journal page above with a sudden big drop of ink--and notice the ink pooled in the cap?

After which I decided to heck with it, moved the O-ring back where it was, reinstalled the pump, and it works FINE now.  Sometimes it's better just to be happy with what you have!  The Ahab already holds a LOT more ink than the Creaper.

NOTE: Some people have problems with the Ahab spitting or belching anyway.  No idea why...happily, it is an inexpensive pen, and you may be able to get a refund if yours just does NOT work.  

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My Lamys are workhorses, very dependable, if a tad predictable.  (Very uniform lines...and the EF nib really isn't as fine as I'd like.)

But you still need to take care of them, with an occasional cleaning--especially with some inks.

This nib section of my clear demonstrator had ink dried in it...I tried soaking it, but not long enough.  Online searching for help suggested grasping the nib firmly and just wiggling it back and forth...upon which it broke right OFF.  YIKES, I don't know my own strength!

My husband's Lamy had brown ink in it...and it hadn't been used for months.  The ink feed was very spotty and weak...so I decided to try again with it, and PATIENCE.  I used warm water with a shot of vinegar in it, left it to soak overnight, and that solved the problem.  Look at all the sediment in the bottom of the jar!

Here's the difference a good cleaning can make!  The top part of the page is the "before."

You can use a few drops of detergent, a spoonful or two of vinegar*, or even a little ammonia.  Be sure to rinse the pen thoroughly before re-inking and you should be good to go!

*NOTE:  Some of our commenters tell me there's a problem using vinegar, which may etch or corrode a good pen or nib, and say ammonia is the recommended fix.

It writes smooth as silk now, as do my other Lamy pens...but the one I broke off required buying a whole new nib section.  That was $20 down the drain that could have been saved by exercising a bit more patience...and vinegar* or ammonia.

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I've been experimenting with other inexpensive pens and will do a new post on those next week...but for now, let me say that the Lamys and the Noodler pens are going to be my personal go-to solution in most cases. 

Till the next gotta-test-it pen comes along...