~ Diamine "Red Dragon"
~ Namiki Blue (standard/water-resistant); Robert Oster "Fire and Ice" (sheen)
~ Kobe "Ginza Gold Sepia" (Itoya/Japan exclusive)
~ Forget purple, get a bottle of KWZ "Honey"
oh, i LOVE brown inks. here are some browns i looooove:
FERRIS WHEEL PRESS | steeped umber, beaver dam brown
DIAMINE | macassar, warm brown, saddle brown, rustic brown, english milk tea, if it's a diamine brown i love it
PELIKAN | brilliant brown
TERANISHI | nostalgic honey
several shops offer various volumes of ink samples, usually 3-5mL - i also recommend checking out r/pen_swap on reddit as users regularly will sell ink samples. u/flaky-tie-1985 does the inksanity project and he sells an ASTONISHING number of inks; i've also purchased from u/saturnsrings7
I have just emptied a bottle of FWP Writing Press. Absolutely lovely colour, it's the one that opened the possibilities for brown inks for me. I did not get along with the bottle though. Do you use dip pens for your FWPs?
i use fountain pens but i preferentially use extra-fine nibs for everything, so i haven't managed to work far enough down into a FWP bottle to need to worry about it yet, LOL
The bottles are GORGEOUS. If they were more usable, I'd definitely keep them, even if just for decoration. I'm sorry FWP but I need something more practical ;_;
I see some people using a small ink glass to refill the inks, but since I'm too lazy to buy, use and maintain extra equipment, I was just using the bottle's own lid and pouring ink on it. 2/10 do not recommend, it is very messy lol
I don't have a fave purple or brown yet, but!
Reds: Diamine Syrah, and seconding someone else's suggestion of Wearingeul's Dracula, honorable mention to Edelstein Star Ruby (darker pink)
Blues: Lennon Tool Bar's Shuise (quite light but really lovely), Organics Studio's Nitrogen (sheening, maybe?)
I haven't so far! I've used it in both a Kaweco Sport F nib and TWSBI ECO F nib with no issues for clogging (since there is no glitter in it). It will however stain up inside the pen's cap a bit, which might be aesthetically annoying for transparent pens like a Kaweco Frosted Sport 😅.
Blues: too many to count (as 99% of my ink collection is BLUES) but, some faves: Kobe Inks #77 Rokko Himalayan Blue, Sailor Manyo Haha, ON Inks (🇵🇭-based) Blue Horizon, Pilot Tsuyu-kusa
Browns: Rohrer & Klingner Kastanienbraun (this is uh, a limited edition ink iirc), Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri
Rohrer & Klingner never seems to last for very long on the local shop where I get my inks from, but their purple Cassia drew my attention; I guess I'll have to keep an eye on that one as well...
Brown: Teranishi Guitar Nostalgic Honey. It looks exactly like syrup glazed over the top of a perfect pancake. And it shades.
Purple-brown hybrid: Diamine Seize The Night. It's a deep purple that sheens a thin film of gold turning it a weird, somehow luminous brown, the color of snowsky at night.
Comments
Diamond Sherwood Green, Pilot Iroshizuku Syo Ro (obsessed), Hongdian blackish green, taccia cha
Jacques Herbin Poussiere de Lune
Jacques Herbin Eclat de Saphir
~ Namiki Blue (standard/water-resistant); Robert Oster "Fire and Ice" (sheen)
~ Kobe "Ginza Gold Sepia" (Itoya/Japan exclusive)
~ Forget purple, get a bottle of KWZ "Honey"
FERRIS WHEEL PRESS | steeped umber, beaver dam brown
DIAMINE | macassar, warm brown, saddle brown, rustic brown, english milk tea, if it's a diamine brown i love it
PELIKAN | brilliant brown
TERANISHI | nostalgic honey
WATERMAN | absolute brown
forgot FWP's writing desk, also lovely
Reds: Diamine Syrah, and seconding someone else's suggestion of Wearingeul's Dracula, honorable mention to Edelstein Star Ruby (darker pink)
Blues: Lennon Tool Bar's Shuise (quite light but really lovely), Organics Studio's Nitrogen (sheening, maybe?)
Browns: Rohrer & Klingner Kastanienbraun (this is uh, a limited edition ink iirc), Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri
Brown: WKZ Newky Brown, Diamine Autumn Oak
Colorverse Hayabusa (glistening or not), Milky Way (glistening)
Diamine Mondboddos Hat, Imperial Purple
Monteverde Purple Reign
Waterman Tender Purple
Red:
Colorverse Supergiant, Red Horizon
Diamine Writers Blood, Red Dragon
Hayabusa is gorgeous. It was my first Colorverse, and so happy with it I preordered the Colorvent calendar.
Blue: Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo for reliability, Diamine Storm for moody sparkle.
Red: Diamine Bah Humbug: elegant, vintage looking burgundy now with sparkle.
Purple: Sailor Shigure for being sneaky- you can probably use it at work. Good sheen, doesn't bleed. (Purples often do)...
Purple-brown hybrid: Diamine Seize The Night. It's a deep purple that sheens a thin film of gold turning it a weird, somehow luminous brown, the color of snowsky at night.