Reviews of Various Brown Inks / Ink Review

[@gristlevonraben]

Yeah, swabs are good for sorting colors, but writing samples are essential for when you want to know what they look like in your journal.

[@SunshineIzDivine]

I found this video after Goulet pens just did a quick talk on brown inks. I’m so happy! I live brown inks and greenish yellow inks, which a pen friend dubbed as “pickle juice” inks

[@tsherbs1309]

I always appreciate comparisons.

[@nitina8564]

Brown inks are underrated, they are really beautiful on paper. Somehow i really like the Waterman absolute brown it's a value for money ink in my opinion.

[@hannahzechariah5062]

The pen you have Smoky Quartz in seems to be a firehose (makes sense for a BB). I'm very attached to the shading I get from that ink in my fine to medium nibs, its always a grey leaning brown but I've never had it look quite so black.

[@christinearmington]

Agreed. Love Ancient Copper! Diamine Terracotta is going to be next on my list! Thanks 😊

[@Johan-vk5yd]

Thank you for this delicious display! In ancient times, I mixed my red and my blue quink and achieved what I percieved as brown. I really liked the eye-catching deviation from the normal blue and black that was all around at the time. I might try some Pelikan Smoky quartz, and give it the gentle dilution treatment I already practiced on the Tanzanite, with satisfying result. Some people prefer adding some water to their whisky to bring out the nuances. Some inks perform better by watering down, too. Great job! Keep it up!

[@jatupholnuanjan4637]

Love how you speak with gestures that reflex on the ink bottle.

[@lenorebreen3394]

Thank you for the informative video. My favorite brown is Kaweco Caramel Brown.. Sort of underrated.

[@ittaicarmon8347]

Just the review I was looking for. Well done.

[@pat412pear]

Has the Noodler’s on Tomoe River dried yet? 🙂

[@LittleKikuyu]

Halfway there 😂

[@jsprite123]

Thank you for showing us all of these brown ink samples! I personally only use a glass dip pen when comparing inks, that way I eliminate the variable of trying different nibs (which usually produces different results with the same ink).

[@pedrojpinto]

I recently got my hands on a sample of kwz honey. It's glorious.

[@solascripturamjc9681]

Nice, I love Browns!! Thank you!

[@criscavi19]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I recommend to try Pelikan "Brilliant brown", Caran d'Ache "Organic brown", Montblanc "Homage a Victor Hugo", Diamine "Ochre" and Private Reserve "Sepia". All these are beautiful browns.

[@sajjadhusain4146]

Finally what I’ve been waiting to see for many months already. I’ve loved brown inks forever. I’m guessing I was one of the first ones to request you to do this. So, thanks for obliging. No surprise to see many beautiful browns here. I have a handful of them myself. And I certainly fancy a few others here, namely the SBRE Brown and the Colorverse ink. I only have eight brown inks. My own usual favourites are Diamine Espresso, Noodler’s Walnut, Iroshizuko Yama-Guri, Monteverde Canyon Rust and my newest fave: Aurora Sepia.

[@stargazer1359]

And it's especially beautiful on ivory or cream paper.

[@sajjadhusain4146]

@@stargazer1359 ..Very true! I often use cream/ivory paper for much of my writing. The browns seem especially irresistible on them.

[@0xss]

I have tobacco sunburst and it doesn’t look like the colour in your writing sample, probably due to dry flow. I completely agree with the swab part, they are useless to me as the ink almost always looks different from the colour and intensity

[@alexandrapirvu7945]

I'm not into brown inks, but brown-caramel-scotch colour really speaks to me. Or red-brown. SBREBrown and Diamine Teracotta are awesome! Thanks for presenting them! P.S. Noodler's have many browns, maybe you could do a line-up of them?

[@luisorlandomontero6412]

Lovely ink color and amazing tones. Writing with all these shades of brown is a real delight. I am more inclined to enjoy the medium tones, although I find that the most striking effects are very much dependent on the color of the paper. Darker brown inks go better with cream or brownish sheets, while lighter browns are better paired with white paper.

[@lpanades]

Nice guide of browns.

[@TweakMDS]

I love brown inks! I have and use many of the ones you show in here, but both Lie de Thé and Tobacco Sunburst are a bit lighter/warmer for me. I guess the pen does a lot to change things a lot, and maybe also batch / sample variation. SBREBrown is on my list for my next Akkerman order. Maybe not a traditional brown, but Diamine Autumn Oak can be considered a light brown rather than an orange. Some other interesting options: KWZ Aztec Gold, a light iron gall that has nice brown shading. KWZ Mandarin IG, a heavier, slightly darker iron gall brown. I also have J Herbin Cacao du Bresil, but don't love that, I found later that I prefer the warmer tones. KWZ Aztec Gold is definitely a massive recommendation.

[@archimark5060]

Excellent overview of some very handsome brown inks. Thanks for making this video! Can you please let me know about the nice ink swatch cards. Who makes them and where can you get them?

[@greyareaRK1]

I really like SBRE Brown as well. One thing that I wish ink reviews would include is whether the inks are permanent. SBRE Brown, for instance, is not permanent, which I get around somewhat by using fixative after the fact.

[@anguswhite8233]

Like the looks of Noodler’s Golden Brown and Colorverse Coffee Break; thanks for this: know how much extra time it takes to do this type of vid, but it introduces me to so many great inks!:)

[@tsherbs1309]

Noodler's GB is my favorite brown all time

[@anguswhite8233]

Must be time for another review of a pen by Pilot, Platinum, Sailor or Aurora - really like look of Aurora 88 ‘EF’ but not sure it will write fine enough for me!; btw bought sample Noodler’s Golden Brown which is an absolute winner, still looking for way to get hold of Colorverse Coffee Break: thanks for introducing me to these:)

[@anguswhite8233]

Need brown inks part 2, please:)

[@janisforehand7690]

Enjoyed the video. Some inks I love. Also were did you get your swatch cards?

[@WhatIInk]

They are called Tsubame Ink Collection Cards. There are a few retailers that carry them.

[@janisforehand7690]

@@WhatIInk Thank you.

[@LisaRSArt]

Lovely Brown ink comparisons. Thank you. I recently purchased Noodler’s Beaver brown ink which seems nice but after seeing this I will be purchasing the Diamine Cherry Sunburst guitar series ink especially when my musician friend has that Fender color. 😊❤

[@mrsllcp]

Thank you!

[@xerxiusmaximus]

Awesome and “epic” exploration of such an undeservedly underdiscussed staple. I, too, have a “menagerie” of sorrels, rich tawnies, and macchiato shades… And I so agree that SBRE is killer. Thank you for this much required closer look at brown(s). I think brown is such a classy accent to both formal and just fun hand-written documentation, whether by script, print, or some other form of calligraphy. My favorite of all time is a recent release by Colorverse (as this Master of ink-making can do no wrong…) is String. String brings together all the Havana tobacco and tea and Apache ebbs and flows of rich chocolate and coffee shades with an incredible and allure of shading unmatched by any… Check it out. You won’t be disappointed. But again, I love my browns. A few: Levenger Cocoa, Lamy Topaz, Graf von Faber-Castell ((best-looking bottle in the biz)) Hazelnut Brown, and, again, Colorverse String. Please keep your content coming. Stay safe. And happy fall holidays.

[@MrJungleman1]

Thanks for the great brown-ink lineup. It’s one of my favorite colors. I would add Kaweco Caramel Brown to the list. It’s a well-behaved ink with decent shading. 👍🏼

[@michellemurphy658]

I very much enjoyed the video.

[@civrn368]

Apologies I don't mean this as an insult but the lighting on the ink makes them look basically all the same and you can't really see the colors but just some darker and lighter tones.

[@Rudra0141]

I think you're right, brighter lighting would've shown better differentiation between the inks.

[@ArthurPhillip7]

KWZ honey is amazing if you like noodles golden brown. Diamine Espresso in signature collection is great in a flex pen too. Gives an antique look.

[@0xss]

My favourite colour family 😁

[@joshuanorris5860]

I like brown and green :) i could draw a tree :p

[@stephanfeinen3923]

Nice comparison. Brown is not my favourite colour, but I regularly use Edelstein Smoky Quartz and Lie de Thè. With a fine nib both inks look much brighter than your examples. Also I wouldn't consider Ancient Copper to be a brown ink, more like an intense orange. That ink has a nasty habit of building crusts on my nibs and if I'm not careful, those crusts drop off and when getting wet stain everything. I prefer Autumn Oak as it has more shading.

[@john-allenduskglass3193]

good reviews

[@juicylouisey]

Completely with you on the judging the swab issue! I am so tired of buying great looking inks that perform totally differently from the pen than the swab. It really biases things towards broad or stub nibs. I also have inks bought sight unseen, often on recommendation, that are very ho-hum in a swab but great in a fine or extra fine pen.

[@stargazer1359]

Just received a 110mL bottle of Private Reserve Ebony Brown....A rich dark brown. Not many left out there. Have many of these, nice choices. 🖋

[@prateekbhardwaj9943]

teracota and sbre brown.. but not available in my country

[@stargazer1359]

Oh....wait....13 on Friday? 🎃

[@anguswhite8233]

Got Coffee Break and Ina-Ho: great recommendations, thanks!:)

[@lizpilgrim1]

I am hunting for golden brown inks. Thanks for this video. I like the Akkerman.

[@audiolover]

You need at least Medium Nib to appreciate ink color

[@davidmathews2124]

Noodler’s Walnut? MontBlanc Toffee Brown? My two favorite browns. Best behaved & most beautiful. Sorry you missed ‘em. Thanks though.

[@harisivakumar207]

Very in-depth video of your brown ink collection. I must be honest with you, brown isn't particularly one of my all-time best colours, simply because it just doesn't feel right to me. However, there are a few brown inks that I'm considering to purchase because of the unique tone. Obviously, SBRE Brown is a nice ink with beautiful shading and that is most definitely the one I would pick up. Waterman's Absolute Brown is a decent brown that is easy to clean out, but most of the browns I see in your video are either too dark or the tone doesn't generally speak to me all that much. I think both Absolute Brown and SBRE Brown are what I'm considering to pick up in the near future...

[@shadowmihaiu]

Nice brown review. SBRE Brown is my fav, followed by the Iroshizuku and the Noodlers, for color. I won't get the Noodlers though, given your note about dry time. I like my Noodlers inks a lot but really some of them just.dont.dry. Tiananmen for instance just never dried for me, even after two weeks, regardless of paper; the standard green can take a full day or more, regardless of paper. Others are near instant. I just don't understand that...

[@tsherbs1309]

Noodler's GB will dry. I use it in folded letters all the time. Just be patient. On Tomoe River, my Noodler's GB needs about 60 seconds to dry to the point that I can turn the page over and keep writing on the other side (NGB is inked in my TWSBI ECO 1.1). I don't consider that too long for that gorgeous color. But in a wetter pen I guess that you may have to wait longer.

[@spenserblakeney]

“Ancient copper, so bronze is what you want to think of” uhhh sir…. Love the video but those two metals look completely different from each other😂.

[@mebpratt859]

Ina-ho looks totally green.

[@richardc6932]

If it wasn’t for the sample cards I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between many of the inks. Using a number of different pens/nibs especially ones that don’t suit your handwriting style complicates the review. Better lighting as well as camera position might improve the review quality.

[@ginaburlinson5559]

this is soy sauce