Pink Ink And The Hummingbird
02/04/2013It’s that time of year when the Anna’s Hummingbirds appear outside my kitchen window. My friend from previous years has yet to appear but a vividly colored cock checked out my camellia tree a few minutes ago. His jewel tones are stunning and have inspired me to find inks that mimic his brilliant head feathers.
Click the image to see the variety of colors a mature Anna’s can sport.
Anna’s Hummingbird at Rest
For the darker tones:
- Noodler’s Saguaro Wine
- Noodler’s Burgundy
- Sailor Grenade
- Diamine Claret
- Diamine Syrah
- Diamine Deep Magenta
For the lighter tones:
- Noodler’s Shah’s Rose
- Pelikian Edelstein Tournaline
- Iroshizuku Tsutsuji
- Noodler’s Baystate Cranberry
- Caran d’Ache Sunset
- Diamine Amaranth
- Platinum Cyclamen Pink
Only four of these are in my collection limited to a bottle of Claret and small samples of Tsutsuji, Cyclamen Pink, and Deep Magenta. The samples were written with a J. Herbin glass dip pen on a Quattro pad. All four inks are in the right range.
Pink Fountain Pen Inks
It was a challenge to find suitable colors, but turned into a good exercise in color matching. Of those on hand, Tsutsuji and Cyclamen Pink hit the spirit best. Deep Magenta and Claret are a bit too blue. One day the perfect color will come along, but for now flashes of that vibrant pink whizzing past my window will suffice.
Just for the fun of it, find an item you really enjoy for its color and match an ink to it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But it should make you happy. Isn’t that what pens and inks are all about?
An Anna’s Hummingbird in My Camellia Tree
Photo courtesy of Tessa R. Maurer.
An Inkophile's Blog 
I would add J. Herbin’s Rose Cyclamen.
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I have Diamine Claret and Herbin Rose Cyclamen. And Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo, which is close, but a bit more cranberry-ish. Recently I got Sailor Peche, which is warm and rosy and light.
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Hi Mona and Erin! Rose Cyclamen is a pretty color that I don’t have. Might need to rectify that with a sample next time I order ink. 🙂
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I bought a bottle of Diamone Crimson, hoping for a deep red-wine burgundy shade, but when I filled my M800 and started writing, I saw a retina-scorching shade of pink very similar to the Magenta up above. If I ever write a letter to Oscar Wilde (doubtful, since I don’t have his address), this is the colour I’ll use.
And it must be wonderful to have these hummingbirds just outside your kitchen window. Nice post!
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The hummers are so special. There was a hen who returned every winter for several years. She would buzz me when I walked outside and sit in the tree outside the kitchen window keeping me company as I drank my morning tea. Her progeny nest nearby these days. Hummers are fearless with the occasional one being curious if not comfortable with humans. Such clever birds!
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A very pretty little bird. I just inked up iroshizuku tsutsuji yesterday – great with a Sailor Zoom nib for marking up corrections in documents.
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Nice! Are you going to review it? If I had a bottle of tsutsuji and a Sailor Zoom nib, I’d give that duo a go for sure. My little sample will last longer in a fine nib so that’s the plan for me.
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No real time to do formal reviews these day – one day maybe but work for me is pretty hectic. Yes I have been asked in the past why I own a full bottle of this rather bright pink ink – I had to get it to complete my set of iroshizuku inks and it is a great mark-up ink, though my assistant wants to steal the pen with this ink just now as she wants to take it to a cosmetics store to try to match the colour for some nail polish???
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😀
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I’m not huge on pink ink, but this week we received our first UK Ink Sample set containing J Herbin Rose Cyclamen and also a few purples that I’ll be trying (R&K Cassia is lovely!).
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What a lovely post! Now I’ve got a hankering to try Diamine Claret. =)
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The 30ml bottles ordered direct from Diamine are a good deal especially when you order four or more with their reasonable shipping costs. The bottles are a bit awkward for some pens but a pipette or syringe will get around any difficulty.
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