I have some inks which colours I really like, but they happen to have some features that makes me think once or twice extra before I use them. All of these are my hopeless darlings. I’ve used all of them quite a lot  and/or for quite long. Some are more hopeless than others. Some are hopeless since their colour is such that I’d love to use them in pens that makes the use fussy – like using those who are a pain to flush in lever fillers with flexy nibs. Others are picky about paper and yet others are reluctant flowers in some pens. This is – apparently – my experiences of them and others can have other experiences, but I thought it might be useful to share. Since I still have them and use them I think they are worth the fuss, but I use them a little more seldom than I would if they hadn’t had these picky streaks.  Samples were made with paint brush.

Featherers

Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun A beautiful cloudy grey with a blue streak. Feathers terribly on many papers. No other issues.

Diamine Royal Blue My all time favourite summer sky blue and a terrible featherer and bleeder. No other problems.

Diamine Mediterranean Blue A beautiful blue that very much resembles the mediterranean. Summery and one of the best lubricating inks I’ve tried. Feathers a little too much on too many papers.

Those who want to stay in the pen and takes time to rinse

J Herbin 1670 My all time favourite red. warm, super saturated and beautiful. But it is a pain to flush the pen afterwards. Have minor flow problems if left too long in pen. Lovely in flex nibs.

Iroshizuku Yama-Budo Beautiful, vibrant with the colour of a chianti (yum yum yum). Great flow. As most inks with a lot of magenta/purple a pain to flush. No other issues.

Diamine Imperial Purple A regal purple. Lovely in italic and broads. A super pain to flush. No other issues.

Diamine Majestic Blue One of these rare dark blues that are dark blues and not blue-blacks – I like that a lot. Extremely saturated. Takes time to rinse and have minor flow problems when left for a while.

Noodler’s Baystate Blue – The king of vibrant blues. Stands out of the paper. Cool. And – as widely known – prefers to stain and stay in the pen if it can.

Picky flowers that don’t flow well in many pens or try to stay wet for very long

Noodler’s El Lawrence A truly original green-brown-grey bullet proof ink. Looks and smells like liquid mud. I like it a lot, but since it flow is rather unpredictable in many F nibbed pens I don’t use it so much as I’d like.

Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron I love this jeans-blue with a streak of teal.  Unfortunately it is picky with pens and doesn’t flow as well as I’d like in some of my F nibbed pens – otherwise I’d use it much more than I do. No other issues.

Noodler’s FPN Tulipe Noir A beautiful Tulipe Noir. Like dried wine. I simply love this colour. The problem here is not the flow, but the drying time which is extremely slow – even on absorbent papers like Moleskine.