Montblanc Heritage 1912 with broad nib. This is one of my favorite pens, with its updated safety-filler design and its pleasantly bouncy nib. But today I’m really doing a disguised Ink of the Day.
I read that the first cherry blossoms begin blooming in Okinawa right about now, which made me take out the Sailor Sakura-Mori. Warm weather envy can be a beautiful thing.
I really enjoy the gentle pink of Sakura-Mori. A few drops of ink clinging to the nib show the peach tint that makes this ink so interesting.
Fountain Pen Follies 
I tend to like darker colors when I write simply because it is harder to see the lighter colors too. I also many times write in front of the computer, in dim light. So it is easier for me to see what I am doing with a darker ink. But the ink in the photo is lovely to me. I love just about all colors, which can make it a chore to figure out how to whittle down my wish list that seems to grow daily. Laura, the pen is beautiful. I thought I posted it yesterday, but today I don’t see it.
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Gorgeous looking pen and great photos 🙂
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As stated, a nice little pen.
But since we’re talking inks… I have a really hard time buying, or keeping, a really light colored ink such as this one. I often see people showing them, but every time I try to use something like this for correspondence or whatever, it just looks like a washed-out or diluted *real* ink. I picked up a couple Califolio inks at a show based on swatches, and they were so weak on the page I haven’t ever used them. Really a shame.
So, are “light-colored inks” just a thing that people like, such as when people like a glitter ink? Am I being a baby? (Don’t answer that, we all know…). I may have to send you my handful of whispy, faint inks.
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There is a use for every ink, and if not: Make one up! 😉
I love to use lighter inks for my to-do-lists: Every day I write down the most important tasks (and sub-tasks), the most urgent tasks get coloured check-boxes. Some colour combinations look really great, like writing with a teal colour and then accenting with light orange or an ink like J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe that otherwise is hard to read. Or I use these inks in the brush version of the Pilot Petit, the Petit-3, or in really broad nibs and then write & trace a “shadow” with a contrasting colour.
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I agree with Julie Paradise in that I can find a use for almost any ink (except the ones I hate). This one, I use for anything not work-related. Only because I have the sort of job where traditional business colors are more suitable. If I worked in a flower shop or a museum, you bet I’d use this ink for work.
But, yes, some of us do indeed like inks in light colors just as much as inks in dark colors. I’ll raise my hand — I like the entire range.
It’s like music, Jon. Is there a great piece that lasts longer than 4 minutes that doesn’t have a range of sound? Soft, loud, fast, slow, strong and delicate? There has to be at least some sort of variation, some change of tempo, even a beat of silence or something in counterpoise. I love the Ramones, and they were the kings of fast and loud, but they didn’t make one record that I know of that didn’t have a quieter song or two. The Clash, too. There’s always a balance, it seems to me — if a piece of music is only loud, and every single player is only playing as loud as they can, then it’s basically Oscar the Grouch pounding on his trash cans. And we don’t really consider that music, do we?
Anyway, back to ink and your comment. Recognizing the value in the range doesn’t mean you have to like lighter inks anymore than I have to like Diamine Eclipse (gag). But, yes, I think you probably should concede that lighter inks are real inks, that real people use.
I don’t know if women are more open to lighter colors — perhaps that’s the subtext of your comment and similar remarks I’ve heard from others? That darker colors come across as more masculine? Well, sure. But masculine isn’t the only way to be, of course. 🙂 Otherwise I don’t know what “real” means. There are no writing instruments I can think of — ballpoints, gel pens, colored pencils, markers, what have you — that don’t come in the full range from light to dark.
But that doesn’t mean you have to like what you consider weak or washed-out colors. Hell no. Use what you like. We all do.
Sakura-Mori, the ink above, is cheery and soft, and it reminds me of spring and sakura blossoms. Which is nice when all one’s other inks are dark blues, greens and maroons, and it’s still winter. 🙂
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I might have expressed it better, but there is a bit of confusion: it isn’t that I don’t like light, transparent inks, otherwise I wouldn’t have purchased them. I simply find them much harder to read. I don’t know if my eyes are tuned to chroma and brightness in a different way, but when I write with those inks, it just is a real eye-strain headache waiting to appear.
So, I’m not sure it is as simple as “make up a reason to use it”, and it certainly isn’t a slam on other people using them. I was more or less wondering aloud if I’m the only one in this camp.
Maybe so.
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You’re not the only one.
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Or maybe I did not express my train of thoughts well … 😉 I agree with you that many of these light inks are not really suited for writing that is meant to be read. I have very bad eyes myself (we pen-o-phile bookworms tend to have bad eyes, don’t we?) but since I like many of these colours I find a use for them despite that, just not for writing itself.
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Sure lighter inks are harder to read — and you know I have “over 40 eyes” myself, so as you’ll see in my reviews I have the same concern about legibility as you do. 🙂 With lighter inks, I compensate by using those in pens with broader nibs, and that works with almost all of them — even the light blue J. Herbin ink. 🙂
But if you can’t see an ink, even with a broad nib, than I agree that it’s not much use. If that happens, I’d mix in a small amount of a darker ink. I do that sometimes anyway to use a lighter ink in a fine nib. 🙂
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Lovely pen! That ink really does remind me of the blossoms. I am enjoying a sun fair day; I can almost imagine spring.
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This pen is really nice 🙂
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Oh, that nib !
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