Ambassador “52”

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by Five Cat Penagerie in A Random Writing, Sailor, Various Pen Stuff, Video, Waterman, Writing Sample

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blue ink, dark blue ink, flex, Flex Nib, flexible nib, Fountain Pen, fountain pen sample, franken pen, frankenpen, italic nib, left oblique, left oblique nib, oblique, oblique nib, pigmented ink, rhodia, sailor ink, sailor sea-boku, sailor sei-boku, sei-boku, stub nib, waterman, waterman 52, waterman fountain pen, Waterman nib, writing sample, writing with a fountain pen

Here’s one of my favorite Frankenpens of all time.

The Ambassador body, which I’ve not been able to find any info on, came in a box of parts pens. I thought it looked neat. The steel nib wasn’t salvageable, but the rest was in great condition, and a spare Waterman #2 left oblique nib fit perfectly. I did have to substantially deepen and expand the feed’s channels, but after the ebonite dust cleared I had myself a wonderful little pen that I dubbed the Ambassador 52. I consider it to be like a “sleeper” car; it looks cheap until you get in on that long Rhodia highway to stretch its ~~legs~~ tines.

The ink is Sailor Sei-Boku, one of my favorite blues.

Three Great Copy Paper Blues

29 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Five Cat Penagerie in A Random Writing, Noodler's, Rohrer & Klingner, Sailor, Writing Sample

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bad blue heron, bbh, blue ink, copy paper, Fine Nib, Flex Nib, Flex Pen, flexible nib, Fountain Pen, Fountain Pen Ink, Fountain Pen Ink Review, Fountain Pen Network, Ink, Nib, Nibs, Noodler's, noodler's bad blue heron, noodler's bbh, Noodler's Flex, noodler's flex pen, noodler's warden series, noodlers ink, Pens, r&k, rohrer & klingner, rohrer and klingner, rohrer and klingner salix, sailor sei-boku, sailor seiboku, salix, sei-boku, Shading, warden series, waterman 52

Here are my three favorite blues for when I’m writing on less-than-ideal paper.

Otherwise good behaving, heavily-shading and/or sheening inks more often than not are rendered by bad paper into flat, feathering, bleedthrough-prone monstrosities.

But not these three inks. Shading is heavy on all three and bleedthrough isn’t an issue at all.

Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron: A part if Noodler’s Warden Series, their most fraud resistant inks currently produced. Feathering sent a problem and shading is heavy. There’s even a tad of the ink’s subtle sheen.

Sailor Sei-Boku: This ink is one of the only pigmented inks on the market that’s truly safe for regular use in fountain pens. On copy paper its behavior couldn’t be better. Shading and sheen are prominent. The sheen is especially striking considering the absorbency of the paper.

Rohrer & Klingner Salix: This is an iron gall ink, a category of ink that is known for its good behavior on a wide variety of paper.

You won’t regret trying any of these fantastic inks.

Sailor Sei-Boku Blue Black

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Five Cat Penagerie in Ink Review, Sailor

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Ahab, Baystate Blue, black ink, blue ink, China Blue, Diamine, Diamine Sepia, dip pen, Fine Nib, Flex Nib, Flex Pen, flexible nib, Fountain Pen, Fountain Pen Ink, Fountain Pen Ink Review, Fountain Pen Network, Ink, Ink Review, Nib, Nibs, Noodler's, Noodler's Flex, noodler's flex pen, Presidential Blue, sailor, sailor ink, sailor nano, sailor nano ink, sailor sei-boku, sailor seiboku, saolor, Shading

This has become one of my favorite dark blue inks. Sei-Boku, along with its dark black sibling, Kiwa-Guro, is a fountain pen-safe pigmented ink. The vast majority of fountain pen inks derive their beautiful hues from dyes rather than pigments, as pigments tend to clog the small channels of fountain pen feeds. And while I’m unsure of if this ink gets its color from only pigment or a mix of pigment and dyes (I’m guess the latter), I can attest that this ink ran through the test pens perfectly fine and without any trouble. And while the manufacturer recommends flushing your pen between fills of this ink, that’s a pretty good ink hygiene habit to get into anyways.

On the page this ink also has a very prominent red/pink sheen, which I’ve found is a common color of sheen for blue inks.

And the one big plus for me with this ink? Here’s what it looks like on cheapo copy paper:

Look at that shading! The best part? It retains its fantastic sheen on copy paper as well! There is only one other ink I can think of that don’t feather and shade heavily and retain sheen: J. Herbin Rouge Hematite 1670. But as for blue inks that share this great behavior? In my experience, only Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron and Rohrer and Klingner’s Salix (an iron gall ink).