Finding Inks for Lamy’s Charged Green Al-Star

Starting with the obvious, Lamy’s own Charged Green is a bit light and a bit neon for the pen itself, which is a bright chartreuse, but not quite the same color as the ink.

I don’t mind it, but it’s not really perfect.

Even though Lamy calls the pen “Charged Green,” because green is Lamy’s secret sauce, when you see the pen next to a lovely light green ink like Caran d’Ache Delicate Green, you see that you don’t really want to go green with this pen.

I hate this combination. I think that Delicate Green — an ink I adore — just makes the pen look sickly.  And the pen color in turn saps the liveliness of this beautiful ink, making it look bilious and just plain wrong.  That’s the same issue with Diamine Meadow, as Elizabeth had warned us.

So I went to chartreuse.

First is Diamine Wagner, from the Music Collection but available separately too.

I think this works. It’s a little more mustardy, and the pen looks a little more celery, but Diamine Wagner works.  It’s also a fairly legible ink.  If interested, there is a review of Diamine Wagner here.

How about J. Herbin Vert Olive?

Also a bit more yellow than the pen, but I like this combination, too.

Go a little greener?  That would be J. Herbin Vert Pré.

To me, this is the first of my inks that is both on the greener side and yet works with the Charged Green.  (Other than Lamy Charged Green ink.)  Vert Pré is a little more legible for me, but I have to caution that many people don’t consider it super legible.  So it’s probably, like Lamy Charged Green ink itself, an ink to sample first.

But here’s another solution, at least for some of us.  An ink color that is more neutral, very easy to read and works with the odd color pen.

Yeah, good old solid and reliable black ink.  I chose Kaweco Pearl Black here because that’s a lovely darker black.  J. Herbin and Aurora also make outstanding darker black inks.  As do many other ink makers.  Black ink seems like a very nice choice for the Charged Green Lamy Al-Star.