Ink log

Only bottles I have emptied

Swatches on a screen are a rough guess; the notes are what I would tell a friend across a table.

Colour	Flow	Dry time	Water	Verdict
Blue-black, iron-gall	dry	8 s	permanent	Everyday ink. Darkens for weeks.
Sepia brown	wet	25 s	washes out	Lovely shading, smears under my hand.
Bottle green	medium	15 s	partial	Legible on cheap paper, a rare thing.
Oxblood	wet	30 s	washes out	For corrections and margins only.
Document grey	dry	6 s	permanent	Looks like pencil, behaves like ink.

How the columns are measured

Flow is judged with the same medium nib on the same 90 gsm sheet. Dry time is the first second a fingertip leaves no smear on a straight line. For water, half of a written line sits under a wet brush for ten seconds.

On mixing

I have ruined two converters mixing inks from different makers. If a mixture is not written up here with a date three months old, assume I have not tested it long enough to recommend it.