De Atramentis Vanilletinte (vanilla Bean Black)

[jschwab]

My review of De Atramentis Vanilletinte, or Vanilla Black, or Vanilla Bean Black.

 

http://www.dslnorthwest.net/~jschwab/images/DAVanilla.jpg

 

I don't know what it is for certain, but I am really growing fond of this ink. I've run to fills through the Nakaya Piccolo now, and either its the pen—which is a dream to write with after the nib change—or just how well this particular ink flows, I don't know. I will definitely be obtaining more of this and the Silver Grey.

[GreenVelvet]

Thanks for the thorough review - this looks intriguing!

[Signum1]

You're not an inkaholic. You just like sampling new things. It's called trial and error. I suggest you sell the inks you don't want on FPN to recover some the cost to sample other inks. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

[penspouse]

Nice color. Thanks for the review.

[pen2paper]

interesting..would like to see the color next to Caran d'Ache Storm..

of course, it wouldn't have the scent..

[arz]

Yay! This is one of my favorite inks and I'm glad to see it reviewed. I don't think my bottle looks quite as purple as yours appears on my computer, but that antique-looking purple hue is what I love best about this ink. In fact, I do not even think of it as a black at all, although it's one of those inks like MB racing green, which fools a quick glance. I don't really get any scent out of it from the pens, just when I smell the bottle. I think that subtlety about its scent and color is what really thrills me. I bought it together with the Jasmine ink last year, quite a difference: strong scent and bright color!

[biffybeans]

Looks like Diamine's Damson

[dizzypen]

Oh now I like this one. When you say the Vanilla scent is faint what do you mean? I have a very sensitive nose and scents have a tendency to make my nauseous. Can you smell the ink coming out of the pen or on the page? or do you just have to sniff the bottle to get the scent?

[jschwab]

Thanks for all of your kind comments. To answer a few questions...

 

The violet color is very subtle and appears mostly after the ink has started to dry, say at the 5 - 10 second mark. My first impression was that it was going to fade to grey, but there is definitely a violet tint. If it looks really purple on your monitor then you aren't getting a good idea of the color. Arz will know what I mean I think.

 

As to the scent... You get it strongest from the bottle, but the vanilla scent is more obvious if you sniff the nib fairly closely. I don't detect it at all when I am writing with it, and definitely not a hint of it from the paper. It doesn't really smell like vanilla from the bottle, unless it is from a raw unprocessed form. The nib will have more of the traditional vanilla scent.

 

John

[Fabienne]

I have this ink and I think it's OK. It isn't very distinguished though. The scent is so light it's non existent, the color is an acceptable purple-black with no shading and no sheen. You can put it in a pen and write with it and it will show up on paper. But, what do you ask an ink to do? Just that...anything else is a bonus. Scented ink is a funny thing anyway, it usually stops smelling when the ink dries and usually doesn't smell like too much anyway. I really don't think it is very good for pens and their innards (trust me on that).