Our Favorite Shading Inks!

[@ronwoch]

Late to the party, but I imagine Noir-Brian walking up to the bar and Drew puts a row of ink bottles out (Monteverde Noir series?) - with Brian saying "I'm looking for the HARD stuff" - Drew makes some shifty eyes to see if the coast is clear, then reaches under the bar and pulls out a 16oz bottle of Noodlers (Baystate Blue or Heart of Darkness?) and, thunking it on the counter, says "It doesn't get much harder than that, friend."

[@deanandreoli1975]

hell yes! Drew! The purple grays... some of my ALL TIME Faves.

[@MummyBrown]

Mine too, they are so unique

[@geneinpennsylvania]

Noodles Apache Sunset is so good and so special I can never go away from it for very long. And I just got delivered Noodlers Navaho Turquoise. Such a bold shader Thank you Brian and team for this special hobby of mine. My journaling is very important to me. PEACE

[@Foxtrotlima73]

Drew - you enabled me with the Robert Oster's Summer Storm! I already had Robert Oster's Viola and Sydney Lavender (both of which shade fantastically for me, even in my fine nibbed pens). I find Diamine Amaranth, Earl Grey and Tobacco Sunburst are great shaders, and some of the lighter Pilot Iroshizuku line too. I have got Monteverde Rose Noir on my wishlist for my next acquisition.

[@Gouletpens]

Yay! Thanks for watching - I'm glad you like the ink! - Drew

[@Detman101]

Awesome, I'll be picking up Sailor Ink Studio 123 & 224 next week! I've been hooked on "Sailor Manyo Nadeshiko" for over a year now and NOTHING else has been able to touch it. Thanks guys!!

[@isab2376]

You two are amazingly fun, and always give great info! Love your online shop!!! Thank you for the help & nice moments. 💕

[@Gouletpens]

Thanks so much for putting your kind words out there, Isa! - Drew

[@jrdavisphd]

Your videos continue to be entertaining and highly informative. Their liveliness definitely helps keep my love of fountain pens alive. Very best wishes to you both, and to all the Goulet guys and gals.

[@Gouletpens]

Thank you so much, John! - Drew

[@hazshepherd]

Hi guys. I enjoy these videos. When discussing shading and shimmer inks I add another twist. When I'm writing in my office I have lamps on either side of the desk that use color-changing bulbs that I can change by voice command with Alexa (while I'm writing). It may sound a bit cheesy but it makes writing with all different colors really enjoyable. I have really enjoyed florescent inks. When I write to my children I give them a hint as to the color under which they would find it interesting to read. I write letters mostly with dip pens and I prefer a stub-nib like the speedball c-5 and c-3. I use fountain pens for all the writing that takes place away from my dedicated writing desk. Write On...

[@chopperboi89]

I suggest Private Reserve American Blue. Specifically with my Lamy extra-fine nib, it has a fantastic shading flow. I found that when writing in print, my letters were typically light near the top, and darker near the base, giving each line of text a gradient.

[@wompus_king]

Oh, nice!

[@ToxicSentinelTTV]

Brian Noir with cargo shorts is just the thing I needed today

[@Alvenrik1]

Platinum Classic Citrus Black. It goes from yellow to... well, black-ish... and it does that over time. The most extreme change of color between the light and the dark parts I've ever seen.

[@Gouletpens]

That is a fun ink! - Drew

[@johnpaulalbrecht7305]

Finally!!! This is what I'm waiting for!

[@harrybmichell]

Always been a huge fan of Noodler's Navajo Turquoise for shading

[@mebpratt859]

How about a video on best liked inks for extra fine and fine nibs?

[@melissagodwin1594]

I’ve been using up a sample of J. Herbin Stormy Grey that I’ve had for a while, and the shading has really surprised me. Honestly, the shimmer is just an added bonus. Planning on getting a full bottle at some point.

[@fearlessknits]

My Pilot Petit1 accidentally took a dive into my dishwater. The clip and the apron pocket had a fight, I think. The Papier Plume Sepia ink in it went from a light cocoa shade to barely darker than sand. But the shading has gone wild! I don’t recommend this dilution method, but I’m just glad the pen survived in usable fashion!

[@JoeyTCartoonP]

My sister got me Blue Suede for Christmas. I can’t stop using it for my blue ink!

[@Gouletpens]

It's so lovely, isn't it? - Drew

[@Sonicman415]

Kyo-iro soft snow… purple grey shader.. I want to pick up the Robert Oster stormy one.

[@cferracini]

Ok. I watched the video and yes, Brian looks like a flasher but it's possible to see in some scenes that he is really wearing shorts

[@florencefortyseven]

Turquoise as a colour is inconsistent because it comes from a natural material, and the mineral itself wildly differs in colour depending on the area it's mined from. Iroshizuku Ama-Iro is probably what most people would recognise as Turquoise.

[@Gouletpens]

Good point, Florence! - Drew

[@elvinmay54]

I would love to know more about what kind of projects you do for using your fountain pens. Show us. Please

[@Will-jd2br]

Rhorer and klingner salix shades pretty well.

[@maxlebow7373]

Love you two - do you guys talk about sweaters a lot?

[@YvonneRaphaelWriter]

I can only get away with EF or to a lesser degree stub nibs because I get muscle spasms in my hands. These nib sizes keep my writing legible despite the unintentional flourishes that happen during a spasm. I’m always looking for inks that shade in EF nibs. Any suggestions?

[@Oldnose63]

Hi there Yvonne, Apart from the ink some other things that influence shading in a EF nib are: The paper (how fast does it suck up ink) How hard you press your pen on the paper. The harder the more ink you press in the paper, the less shade. If you can adopt the above than I think you can have shading in probably all the inks in this great video. I have good shading in my EF Pilot 78G with Black Swan in Australian Roses and SBRE Brown

[@YvonneRaphaelWriter]

@@Oldnose63 oh thank you for letting me know this! I got hip to the paper choice, but I didn’t realize that my ballpoint pen days were spoiling my shading! Thank you so much!! I’m working on not using my pens like a ballpoint, but the habit is still with me. I try to stick to steel nibs right now, so I don’t ruin an expensive pen. I appreciate the time you took to reply. Thank you again!

[@Oldnose63]

Yvonne I know this from personal experience so don’t worry. When you press hard you can change how you write. It’s the best excuse to write a lot with your nice pens, inks and paper.

[@larryglatt2548]

Thank you once again for your information. Question: Are there feeds that work better with some inks than others & how can I tell the difference between feeds? Thank you

[@Gouletpens]

Good question! I'll add it to the list! - Drew

[@larryglatt2548]

@@Gouletpens Thank you & hope to receive an answer here Drew.

[@larryglatt2548]

Thank you Drew

[@reenathomas4922]

Brian you just called and described Drew as a Gilded Age- Vagabond. LOL

[@rebeccac4751]

I am a shading ink fan and I recently found Van Die an’ sink from Australia and they have some great shading inks….wish you would carry their inks…..please 😉

[@kiwig1015]

Blue Suede is one of my favorite inks. It's the only color of ink that I actually went through the entire bottle!

[@deanandreoli1975]

Damn it, i love this channel. Thank you, Brian. #bestnerdsinthegame

[@echo021]

Do you have an ink recommendation for something similar to Robert oster violet dreams but without the shimmer? 🤗

[@ryanstephenson8422]

Would people recommend getting the Homosapian magma, or the lamy 2000 first? The magma is my favorite looking pen, and I'm assuming it would write well~ However the Lamy is a classic, that I really want to try.

[@avnishcantcountd7701]

Recently visconti’s quality control has been horrible. I would suggest the lamy

[@JoeyTCartoonP]

You can’t go wrong with the Lamy 2000! I was fortunate to go to a pen show to try a Visconti. For the price and the way it felt in my hand, I was disappointed.

[@Izanuela22]

By now they probably would add troublemaker inks to the list… my favorite at the moment is kelp tea… just fantastic shading…!

[@NicholasColdingDK]

I really like the Diamine Raw Sienna and the Diamine Autumn Oak. They are nice in a Twsbi 580 stub. Remember to use real pen paper.

[@slo_carry]

Thanks for sharing! Question, is there a way to prevent pen "burps" on eyedropper pens?

[@lovetome6867]

Mr. Brian talked about diluting an ink color with distilled water to make it lighter, what would you recommend to darken a shade of ink? Or would you just buy a new darker ink?

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Gonna depend on your definition of "darken"... If you mean saturate (color) you WILL need to get a new ink... You CAN still take the new ink and meter it into the original ink to add value IF they're compatible... and you can reach almost any value "between" the two... it takes practice, notes, and experimentation... IF on the other hand, "darken" means "shade" (from white to black scale) then you CAN just get a compatible black or dark neutral gray ink, and meter the combination that way, too... again so long as you're careful, you won't instantly inundate the original ink color. Either of these is limited. Primarily there's only so small a quantity of ink that you can play with and still avoid inundation one way or another. It's risky, no matter what you do. Of course, ink tends to come in 1-oz or 30 ml bottles (or multiples of such) AND mostly, just in my experience, you can usually get by with the little 5 ml pain mixing "pots" used in modeling and miniatures hobbies... The only difference is that you're dripping measured amounts of ink into them rather than paints... AND closing and shaking the pots tends to work best for mixing inks, where you could get by with a toothpick to stir paint... Ink will only muddy up staining the tooth pick and not mix cooperatively. (yeah, experience)... It's really going to depend on your budget as to which is better, trying to salvage an ink that's just not quite as bold or "nice" as you thought it would be, OR just biting the bullet and ordering a new bottle while reserving the "disappointing" ink for testing pens because you don't really have to love it to see that a pen actually works well, and you don't have to pour it out to send the pen back or work on it... I don't throw ink down the sink anyways, BUT losses happen when you're tinkering and putting ink back in a container between tests... There are some pretty good alcohol AND acrylic inks available in art supplies, varieties of relatively cheap material with different colors and all, so it doesn't have to be your expensive brand name ink, used to correct a disappointing shade or tone for some purpose... nor to repurpose it... DO be careful mixing colors altogether. Black is usually relatively straightforward, though different black inks dilute at different rates. {though SOME black inks are based on other colors like blue-violet or green, too} The risk with other colors is "graying out" where you end up inexplicably turning ordinary colors into something closer to a "green-gray vomit color" than the intended mix... It's something or other to do with ink absorbing light as much as reflecting it... or a translucency versus opaqueness in its nature, where paint (at least acrylic paint) seems to behave and act "truer" to its color on a color wheel for mixing... ;o)

[@stevenm.2934]

Brian has some awesome facial expressions. Can you say Mike Madsen?!?

[@rohitnagpal1031]

Need your guidance in choosing a pen between pelikan M800 and Sailor 1911 Large. Pls suggest which one to go for ? Thanks

[@nunubennet21]

I'm waiting for that video about paper, Drew. I'm almost at the end of my journal, and I need answers. Endless Recorder or Leuchtturm?

[@florencefortyseven]

I'm guessing the Endless Recorder would be better value per page 😉.

[@Gouletpens]

Endless would be my vote! - Drew

[@nunubennet21]

@@Gouletpens Alright. Endless it will be. ☺

[@yigalgabriel5840]

Which ink can be used on a black paper

[@debralinder6105]

Thank you for great video. Drew, how are you compiling your recipes? I have recipe pages that are old and the pages are brittle. Would love to recreate them using a fountain pen. Thanks again.

[@Gouletpens]

I'm using a Journal and just writing as I have time. Doing my best to utilize the Table of Contents with some degree of foresight, but really I have no idea what'll eventually be in there. - Drew

[@mastermachetier5594]

Suprised to not see the Walden on here it’s crazy shading

[@garybruner36]

Guys, appreciate the information. I know you said these shading properties work with broader nibs. I am a lefty so usually prefer to use a fine nib. Should I attempt to go up to medium if I want to try these shading inks? I would like to try out the Robert Oster's Summer Storm and one of the Sailor inks mentioned. The Noodler's Golden Brown looks amazing too. Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

[@Gouletpens]

You can still get shading with a more fine nib, but I'd recommend sticking with a lighter color, like Apache Sunset or Navajo Turquoise! - Drew

[@adwnpinoy]

Noodler’s Golden Brown reminds me of spilt soy sauce. I can see why it would be good for transcribing a cookbook

[@bigdhav]

Drew really needs to try out Dominant Industry Sunrise ink.

[@sunnymoondog]

Drew is so funny!

[@talat.4199]

Have you guys ever considered trying to create a discord server for pen enthusiasts? I’ll definitely join if you do create one.

[@kellywilson2147]

Although they aren't Goulet servers, I am in a couple of Discord servers that are a lot of fun. If you're interested send me a DM or comment here and I'll set you up with an invite link. 🙂

[@PorcuPineAppleSauce]

Bad blue heron shades surprisingly well

[@sanjilee6148]

I have heard a lot of negative comments regarding Noodler links. Like they never dry.

[@ichirofakename]

Howzabout a list of inks that do NOT shade? Please?

[@FuzzyWCTX]

Pelham Blue, Cherry Sunburst, Texas Bluenonnet

[@blakeward2]

Can you do one on saturated inks without shade or sheen? Perhaps I'm an anomaly, but I prefer an ink without those characteristics.

[@avnishcantcountd7701]

Platinum Carbon black and aurora black are very consistent and solid inks

[@KissingMonsters]

I personally found Diamine's "Onyx Black" has been consistently saturated for me in every pen I've inked it with.

[@bbroogs]

Dark secrets lie in the Noodle Man's murky, mucky, densely exotic lands. One must begin at the mouth of the Tomoe River, with an... Extra Fine blade. Drift, wild one, and discover a place between two extremes...where ancient crag and jagged Block give way to worn and meandering Cursive streams, in the land of the ShortHand. There you will find shading the likes of which only legends are told and mysteries lay dormant for the brave.. somewhere in that darkness, where the desert's grit and the forgotten archipelagos lay silently violent. You will find the shade. Be wary of its seduction, for those who discover this are known to become infatuated, rarely to he seen in the Light again. Yours, L.A.

[@Amanda-kw1vi]

Lol if you did an old fashioned you can do an old type of ink or pen :)

[@thekingofcats27]

That was asked in thw form of a google search

[@stephenbaluran3298]

What's your pen-paper-ink setup for your apocalypse bug-out bag? Keep in mind that it's the apocalypse. Nobody will be making more good stuff for a while, and you also need other stuff for survival in your bag.

[@sushanart]

My ink wishlist just got longer! 😇🩵🙏🙌