InkColor Guide
Yellow and Orange Fountain Pen Inks:
Galerie Jansen Gelb (Yellow): Very light lemon yellow, almost impossible to use in a fountain (bottled ink) pen because it is too light but might be great for mixing
Herbin Jaune Bouton D'or (Buttercup Yellow): True bright yellow, darker then Jansen Yellow (bottled and cartridge) but still pretty light, OK for highlighting with a fountain pen
Private Reserve Buttercup (Yellow): Similar to Herbin Yellow(bottled ink)
Abraxas Sonne (Sun Yellow): (bottled ink)
Delta Yellow: (bottled ink)
Pelikan Apricot: Very light orange with a slightly beige-yellow hint, interesting color but to (only cartridge) light for serious writing
Sheaffer King's Gold: For this kind of color pretty good intensity for writing with a fountain pen,(bottle and cartridge) orange-yellow color, just a little bit "dirty" in comparisons to others, which is not a bad thing, because looks less cheesier this way
Galerie Jansen Orange: Brightest yellow-orange I know with very good intensity, the color used to (bottled ink) make this ink, seems to be a concentrated"flourescin" (chemical substance) solution because when thinned down with water, turns into a bright yellow-green fluorescence color
Waltraud Bethge Papiere Orange #8: Pretty similar to Omas Triratna Orange but not as (made by Herbin, bottled ink) intense, with a almost invisible touch of red
Omas Triratna (Orange): Orange color with good intensity (limited production in 1999, bottled ink)
Herbin Orange Indien (Indian Orange): A little bit darker and slightly more red then Omas, but (bottled and cartridge) a little bit thinner (less intense)
Private Reserve Tangerine Dream: True bright and intense orange (like the fruit!)(bottled)
Pelikan Orange: Dark orange with red-brown tones in it, suitable (bottled, only sold with a so called "nature-pen") for serious writing
Abraxas Mars (Orange): Orange-red color (bottled ink)
Abraxas Cognac (Orange): Similar to the Mars color but more intense and maybe more (bottled ink) orange brown in it
Gray Fountain Pen Inks:
Waltraud Bethge Papiere Flanellgrau (Flannel-Grey): Pure medium but dark enough for (made by Herbin, bottled ink) writing gray with no other colors in it,kind of silver gray color
There is another Waltraud Bethge Gray I have not tried yet!
Sheaffer Gray: Medium gray with a slight brownish touch making it look dirty, a little(cartridge and bottled ink) bit darker then Waltraud Bethge gray
Pelikan Silbergrau (Silver-gray): Not silver-grey at all, dirty dark gray with just a (cartridge only, out of production) hint of dark-brown
Omas "Omas" Gray: Medium to dark gray with just a touch of purple, looks pretty "clear"(bottled ink) and not dirty at all, in my opinion a real nice color for serious every day writing, because it does not produce such a strong contrast to the white paper and does not look faded like some blacks do, but has a bad ink flow because the ink is pretty thick
Herbin Cloud-gray: have not tried it yet!!! (cartridge)
Abraxas Lichtgrau (light-grey): Medium gray with a purple hint (bottled ink)
Abraxas Anthrazit (Anthracite-gray): Very dark charcoal gray color (bottled ink)
Lamy
Blauschwarz (Blue-Black): Can be considered gray,
with a slight touch of green-blue
(cartridge and bottled ink) when dried, medium to dark grey-blue
Pelikan Blauschwarz (Blue-Black): Can be considered gray, too, but is slightly more blue and (cartridge and bottled ink) darker then Lamy Blue-Black goes towards Montblanc blue-black, color gets darker and less blue when drying.(I have a forty year old bottle where the color turned into a lighter greenish gray, very interesting color!!!)
Montblanc Blauschwarz (Blue-Black): Best blue-black (if you want the typical blue-black color (cartridge and bottled ink) and not a dark blue!), darker and more intense then Pelikan blue-black, just a touch more blue then Pelikan as well, darkens when drying
Sheaffer
Blue-Black: Dark blue-grey color, could be considered
blue as well but (cartridge and bottled ink) definitely heads
towards gray, has more blue the Pelikan blue-black