this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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Fountain Pens
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My most recent ink purchase was Dominant Industry's Earl Grey Tea, and it's a beautiful orange shade that is well-behaved (albeit not quite as red as I was expecting when I ordered it). Absolutely no complaints - I even love the bottle, however I will probably get through it slowly because I don't often use colours that are bright and eye-catching.
By contrast, one of the inks that is in my permanent rotation and I plan to continue purchasing over and over is Diamine Saddle Brown. It's a more subtle, darker brown that can pass for 'serious' writing but still has a personality that I prefer over many other browns. If the orange of Earl Grey is a cozy Autumn fire, Saddle Brown is the tree branches holding on to their last leaves and the damp earth underfoot on a cold, foggy morning - both enticing in different ways.
Nice - I had misread this as Diamine Earl Grey at first, and was very confused ("I've used this before and don't remember any orange tones!"). But it does look beautiful!
Saddle Brown also looks very nice and versatile. Do you think that you need a medium nib to get the full spectrum of shading? I've sometimes been disappointed with browns that are too light with an F nib (bought a sample of Robert Oster Caffe Crema, but it really was too light for my daily use unless in an M, B, or stub).
I do expect that you would need a medium or wider nib in order to get a real sense of shading out of the ink.
To your other concern, though, if anything I've found that Saddle Brown goes much darker when used in an F/EF nib. Certainly not to the point of being black, but dark enough that unless you were actually paying attention to the shade it doesn't immediately grab attention as being non-standard; to some people that defeats the point, but I find that sometimes (e.g. at work) I want to fly under the radar a bit while also knowing that I'm using 'my' colour.
It also looks amazing in notebooks that have a slightly ivory/off-white cast to the pages, where the overall sepia effect is something I really enjoy.