800 inks

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It’s been a big week here! Last Thursday my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and on Tuesday I graduated from college. (I never seem to do anything in the proper order). Mountain of Ink began as a project for my Business 250 class, and slowly turned into my senior project as well. I’ve never worried about spending time and money on the site because it was a project for school. Since I’m done with school now I’m looking at my options for what Mountain of Ink should become in the future (feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below). Yesterday we also hit 800 inks! This time I decided to tackle my favorite inks by ink property rather than color or brand. I know I always seem obsessed with color, but sometimes I look for inks because of specific properties.

You can find my past favorites here:

The First 100 Inks

The First 200 Inks

The First 300 Inks

The First 400 Inks

The First 500 Inks

The First 600 Inks

2 Years and 700 Inks

The rules: the inks have to have been in the first 800 ink reviews. They have to be my current favorites from that category, meaning the ones I use the most often. My favorites change often, so these are the ones I have used the most in the last month.

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Water Resistant Inks:

  • Sailor Kiwa-guro

  • Rohrer and Klingner Lotte

  • Sailor Sei-boku

I don’t often worry about water resistance, I think it’s something most ink users worry about too much, although there are some specific use cases that require it. I reach for water resistant inks when I’m doing large color ink charts or playing with mixed-media.

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Inks that perform well on copy paper:

  • Rohrer and Klingner Salix

  • Rohrer and Klingner Alt-Goldgrun

  • Lamy Benitoite

R&K Salix actually fits in a lot of these categories (copy paper, iron gall and water-resistant), but my favorite feature is that it works really well on absolutely crap paper. When I’m trying to use up a notebook with awful paper I use Salix more than any other ink.

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Wet Inks:

  • Sailor Jentle Black

  • Rohrer and Klingner Verdigris

  • Sailor Jentle Yama-dori

Wet inks are my favorite, probably because I like juicy broad nibs. These three inks are the ones I reach for most, but in general Sailor (including Sailor store brands like Bungubox, Kobe, Kingdom Note, Pen Saijiki and Usagiya), Monteverde, KWZ, Taccia and Pilot Iroshizuku inks have wetter than average flows.

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Sheeny Inks:

  • Colorverse Andromeda

  • Sailor Jentle Ultra Marine

  • Monteverde Sapphire

Sheeny inks have become all the rage lately. Monster sheeners are beautiful but so high maintenance! A lot of them dry very quickly in the nib, have sticky flows and smear even months after drying-I’m looking at you OS Nitrogen! When I want sheen, I stick to high sheening inks because they perform a bit better and don’t smear. You can find the difference between monster and high sheening inks here: All The Sheen.

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Iron Gall:

  • Platinum Lavender Black

  • Platinum Khaki Black

  • Platinum Forest Black

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Shading Inks:

  • Sailor Ink Studio 162

  • Sailor Ink Studio 123

  • Sailor Ink Studio 150

Shading is my favorite ink property. I love inks that shade between multiple colors. Right now I’m obsessed with the dual shaders from Sailor Ink Studio (you can learn more about them here).

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Shimmer Inks:

  • Robert Oster Heart of Gold

  • Diamine Moon Dust

  • Nemosine Coalsack Nebula

Shimmer inks aren’t my favorite, mainly because I don’t love high maintenance inks and shimmer is definitely high maintenance. When I do use shimmer inks, I usually stick to neutral, metallic-looking ones like gold, silver and black. I was sad to find out Nemosine stopped making their shimmer inks since I really enjoy theirs.

What inks are you loving right now?

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page, and this post is not sponsored in any way.