Wedding Invitations - which ink? Pen?

[BigAlum]

My son is getting married in September and my wife is doing the addressing of the invitations. Of these two inks, Noodlers Heart of Darkness or Bad Belted Kingfisher, which one would you use? Or is there a different ink you'd recommend?

Also, none of our pens have italic nibs, we have mostly M, or F. We don't have time to order anything else, however my wife has very good penmanship. Medium or Fine? I know the choice of nib will depend on the pen it's in...let's see if I remember all our pens: Lamy Al-Star M, Pilot VP M, Parker 21 F, Esterbrook SJ F, Parker Vector M, Noodlers Konrad M, and our course the B&B Edison Herald Grande M. We have others but I wouldn't use them on the invitations.

Thanks in advance.

 

[drocu]

I'm very new to fountain pens but I ended up hand writing our escort cards so I'll offer some suggestions.

Is blue one of the wedding colors? If so, I'd use the Kingfisher. Otherwise, I'm not sure it matters as either color is pretty formal and nice looking. We purchased inks that matched the wedding colors.

I ended up using a 1.1 mm Italics nib instead of a F nib on my Lamy Al-star because it showed more style. So I would suggest a M nib over the F nib if you're not going to pick up something else.

Good luck!

 

[Dave258]

When do you need them done by? I would get a 1.1 or 1.5 for the Al-star. I think it would look nice! And I would vote for BBK though I do like HOD!

 

[Jimmy James]

We're talking about addressing, so I would suggest an ink that does not shed ink if splashed with water. It's a bit pricey but I think I'd suggest Noodler's La Reine Mauve (which is a purple that I am pretty sure does not shed ink). I wouldn't want to go with either of your options, but I think HoD is a bit less prone to shedding ink than BBK is.

 

[Dave258]

We're talking about addressing, so I would suggest an ink that does not shed ink if splashed with water. It's a bit pricey but I think I'd suggest Noodler's La Reine Mauve (which is a purple that I am pretty sure does not shed ink). I wouldn't want to go with either of your options, but I think HoD is a bit less prone to shedding ink than BBK is.

I thought Bad Belted Kingfisher is water resistant, bullet proof, forge resistant and Eternal?

 

[Jimmy James]

No. Bad Belted Kingfisher is one of the Warden series of ink. They're most clearly identified as being fraud evident. That means that ink does shed. In addition, the discussion of Liberty's Elysium has revealed a number of "bulletproof" inks are really more clearly identified as fraud evident and not so much waterproof. With Heart of Darkness, the issue is like that of Noodler's Black -- it is waterproof, but there is usually excess ink on top of the page that can create little smudges.

 

[the_edski]

You are correct on all counts, Dave (per the Goulet Pens website). I vote for BBK, but then again, I am a huge sucker for blue-black ink!

I thought Bad Belted Kingfisher is water resistant, bullet proof, forge resistant and Eternal?

 

[Dave258]

No. Bad Belted Kingfisher is one of the Warden series of ink. They're most clearly identified as being fraud evident. That means that ink does shed. In addition, the discussion of Liberty's Elysium has revealed a number of "bulletproof" inks are really more clearly identified as fraud evident and not so much waterproof. With Heart of Darkness, the issue is like that of Noodler's Black -- it is waterproof, but there is usually excess ink on top of the page that can create little smudges.

So when you say fraud evident, versus waterproof, do you mean that if some pigment or coloring comes off of the ink when it gets wet that it is not waterproof even though you can still see and read the ink? If it was truly waterproof, it should not change at all?
I guess I never really tried to think about how waterproof, waterproof should be.

You are correct on all counts, Dave (per the Goulet Pens website). I vote for BBK, but then again, I am a huge sucker for blue-black ink!

Yeah, I double checked myself, love how the Goulets list everything.

 

[cvac]

Have your wife pick her favorite pen and test out the two different inks on the actual paper/cardstock that you will be using for the invitations. Then see what looks better to you.

IMHO opinion this is going to be one of the few cases where black ink (or a very dark blue/black) makes the most sense.

I recently got a 1.5 mm Italic Nib for my Lamy Al-Star and it writes really nicely and shows off shaded ink very well. It does take a little practice to use though compared to a regular nib. If you're not careful, it can skip strokes or snag on the paper. If you want to try it, Goulet Pens or a similar store could have one to in a few days via Priority mail...

 

[Doc4]

... We don't have time to order anything else, ...

If you are truly stuck with your current options, I'd go with the BBK ink, in whichever pen you like best (ie the pen that the BBK performs best for you in your opinion.)

IIRC, the BBK is "water resistant" ... some will wash off, but it'll remain legible. If I were starting from scratch, for envelopes I'd get an ink that isn't going to wash off at all. Noodler's black is a perfect choice. If you dislike pure black for that, the Sailor Sei-Boku "Nano" blue-black is a good choice, as is Benevolent Badger Blue (shameless plug for the B&B custom ink.)

 

[BigAlum]

To answer Dave's question, the plan is to start addressing the invitations in the next few days. However that was based on getting everything back from the printers today which doesn't look like it's going to happen. Word is we may not see them until the end of the week, so I do have time to put in an ink and nib order.

Drocu, thanks for reminding me about matching the wedding colors, seems obvious, but with all else going on, I didn't remember that.

Jimmy James and others, I was thinking of HOD and BBK because I thought they were the best of the inks I have at being safe with any moisture encounters. But as has been mentioned, the water resistant qualities have been called into question...rats. JJ your suggestion of the Noodlers La Reine Mauve is intriguing as I think it would be a nice match for their wedding colors...as to it's price, well let's just say that it would be one of the least expensive items for the occasion!

I'm going to go back over the inks mentioned and do my research asap. Thanks folks.

 

[cvac]

La Reine Mauve is a great color even if you don't use it for the invitations!