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Inks: Cretacolor, Talens
I passed by the art section in Fully Booked GB (it is nice and big and gorgeous and so much stuff :DDDD) and I came away with a set of gouache, and two(!) bottles of ink.
The Cretacolor ink comes only in black, and came recommended as a cheaper alternative. It's really cheap -- a quarter of the price of the J Herbin calligraphy inks. It's nice and opaque, maybe a bit thinner than the J Herbin, but the price really makes it. After seeing how much more other good quality ink is, the price for this makes it feel like I now literally can afford an infinite supply of ink for practice (180 pesos for 30 ml!)
I like how it looks on paper. It's a very solid, serviceable black, that dries well. The only problem is that it's a pain to clean off the nibs. It's remained crusted on even after I've soaked and rinsed, and it looks like I'll really need to get in there with a toothbrush.
Perhaps I've been spoiled by using the (much more watery) fountain pen inks, which just rinse right off :-)
The Talens drawing ink is about as thin as most fountain pen inks, and the color I got, carmine, came out very bright, almost neon. I'm still hesitant to use it, because I wasn't sure if it was suitable -- says for technical pen, but I decided to give it a shot. It's pretty expensive (200 pesos for 11 ml :x) but it comes in a bunch of colors, and assuming it doesn't damage the pen, which I still need to test, could satisfy my craving for more colors in smaller vials to play around with.
However -- it does feel very, I dunno, light? Malabnaw, I guess. I don't think it's going to cause any harm, but I'm somewhat dubious of its effect with a broad nib.
I also got a set of gouache to play around with, because I got envious of allll the pretty colors my classmates were using *___* I haven't dared crack it open yet; will probably wait until I have more time to focus, and not just doing the daily practice, but *_____*
OH OH. ALSO I'm being really ~fancy~ and brushing on ink into the reservoir instead of dipping my pen into the ink bottles. I'm much happier with the result: I'm starting out much more even, and now never have any issues with the pen being overloaded. It's less work than dipping, too, because I don't have to fuss with blotting off the excess.
I need to find droppers somewhere (mercury drug?). I feel sad when using the brush because because it does soak up ink (EXPENSIVE INK. WHICH I COULD HAVE USED TO WRITE WITH INSTEAD. Ahem). I want at least one dropper each color so I can switch within a session without having to clean in between. But that can wait :)
The Cretacolor ink comes only in black, and came recommended as a cheaper alternative. It's really cheap -- a quarter of the price of the J Herbin calligraphy inks. It's nice and opaque, maybe a bit thinner than the J Herbin, but the price really makes it. After seeing how much more other good quality ink is, the price for this makes it feel like I now literally can afford an infinite supply of ink for practice (180 pesos for 30 ml!)
I like how it looks on paper. It's a very solid, serviceable black, that dries well. The only problem is that it's a pain to clean off the nibs. It's remained crusted on even after I've soaked and rinsed, and it looks like I'll really need to get in there with a toothbrush.
Perhaps I've been spoiled by using the (much more watery) fountain pen inks, which just rinse right off :-)
The Talens drawing ink is about as thin as most fountain pen inks, and the color I got, carmine, came out very bright, almost neon. I'm still hesitant to use it, because I wasn't sure if it was suitable -- says for technical pen, but I decided to give it a shot. It's pretty expensive (200 pesos for 11 ml :x) but it comes in a bunch of colors, and assuming it doesn't damage the pen, which I still need to test, could satisfy my craving for more colors in smaller vials to play around with.
However -- it does feel very, I dunno, light? Malabnaw, I guess. I don't think it's going to cause any harm, but I'm somewhat dubious of its effect with a broad nib.
I also got a set of gouache to play around with, because I got envious of allll the pretty colors my classmates were using *___* I haven't dared crack it open yet; will probably wait until I have more time to focus, and not just doing the daily practice, but *_____*
OH OH. ALSO I'm being really ~fancy~ and brushing on ink into the reservoir instead of dipping my pen into the ink bottles. I'm much happier with the result: I'm starting out much more even, and now never have any issues with the pen being overloaded. It's less work than dipping, too, because I don't have to fuss with blotting off the excess.
I need to find droppers somewhere (mercury drug?). I feel sad when using the brush because because it does soak up ink (EXPENSIVE INK. WHICH I COULD HAVE USED TO WRITE WITH INSTEAD. Ahem). I want at least one dropper each color so I can switch within a session without having to clean in between. But that can wait :)
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Still a bit of a nib newbie -- what does this mean? Are you using a brush to apply the ink to the nib instead of dipping it? Grammar is a bit jumbled or I'm missing something. I've been having trouble with overloaded pens as well, so, curious.
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Yes, that's it exactly! I brush it on, but I brush it onto the back, where the reservoir is (the nibs I use have one, but other nibs may not).
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Good luck with the search for droppers, I've found it difficult to find them myself. Drug stores have them less than they used to, because a lot of medications that require using droppers have the droppers built in to the bottle nowadays.
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Actually, loading with a brush will save you more ink than dipping and then blotting :3 You do lose a little ink when it dries on the bristles, but not terribly much. Unless you rest the brush on an absorbent surface and lose the ink that way, haha.
Ink! *_*
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INK. (amf)