Ink Is Everywhere

I’m not talking about the time that I poured ink from an eyedroppered pen onto the carpet, thankfully. (Ink truly WAS everywhere, in a very bad way.) What I mean is that I’m always seeing colors out in the world that would make great fountain pen inks.

I even saw the potential for a super desirable ink in the blue/black paint job (Carbon Black, I believe) on a high-end BMW at a car show. Looking at it from one angle revealed glistening black metallic finish while looking at it from a different angle revealed a deep, deep purpley blue. I probably looked like a weirdo swaying back and forth in front of the car, but I was mesmerized by that paint job because I could envision it as a very cool blue/black sheening ink.

I guess you could say that I’m always wearing ink-colored glasses. Is it just me?

P.S. > If you have suggestions for inks that match any of the colors in these photos, please share! I’m on a quest. A never-ending quest.

Not that I need more ink, but…

I’m looking for a particular green ink. There’s a glen on campus where I go—sometimes with a friend, sometimes alone—to clear my head. I can walk into those woods with my mind racing and my muscles clenched, and walk out feeling calm and loose. It feels like a sacred place.

It is a sacred place.

In the spring and summer, the greens are spectacular. Right now, the trees are just beginning to show signs of life, so the color palette is predominantly dormant browns and grays, with occasional pops of hopeful green, like in this moss…

That’s the color of ink I’m looking for—that energetic, euphoric, almost fluorescent green. I don’t own a lot of green ink, but the ones I do have slant towards the darker offerings (Sailor Epinard, Platinum Citrus Black), or the muted sagey greens (Mont Blanc’s Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe). Blackstone’s Lemur Lime is in the ballpark, but I’d like something a little more legible with a medium nib.

I’ve done some poking around and jotted down a few candidates—Diamine Kelly Green, Diamine Meadow, Robert Oster Green Green, Robert Oster Ryde Green, Akkerman #28 Hofkwartier Groen—but it’s so hard to tell from online swatches.

With that color in a pen, I’ll feel like I’m in those woods even when I’m not, which is why I’m on a quest for that mood-lifting green. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Thank you, and happy spring!!