Caran D'ache Caribbean Sea

[saskia_madding]

I like a lot of inks, I do, but this is definitely in my top five favourites. It's got this shifting blue/green undertone that makes what you write seem enthralling and shading that keeps it interesting. It looks AMAZING on Rhodia dotPad & CF paper.

 

 

Overall? I definitely love it.

 

 

More photos on my blog here.

[LionofdiSouth]

Great review, Ink looks great

[da vinci]

Looks very nice. How does it compare to Lamy Torquoise or Edelstein Topaz?

Edited May 7, 2013 by da vinci

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/7757/cqrj.jpg

 

I have no direct replacement for Carribbean Sea in my little ink collection.

The following are at least somehow similar.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/62/x9w5.jpg

 

(Mont Blanc 142 - KM ..... Caran d´Ache Caribbean Sea)

(Mont Blanc 344 - M ..... Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare)

(Mont Blanc 14 OBB ..... De Atramentis Adular Blue)

(Pelikan 140 - OF ..... Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrün)

Edited July 18, 2013 by Pterodactylus

[Flake]

This is a beautiful color! I'm curious how it would compare to Diamine Aqua Lagoon

[georges zaslavsky]

looks close to waterman south sea blue

[gmax]

looks close to waterman south sea blue

The reincarnation of Waterman SSB as Inspired Blue seems much closer to a pure turquoise. I find Diamine Marine much closer to CdA Caribbean Sea.

 

Saskia, if you're looking in, could you please point me towards any close substitutes for CdA CS?

Edited May 15, 2014 by gmax

[mm1624124]

Caribbean Sea OCD here.

 

So far...Diamine Soft Mint comes closet to color and behavior out of the bottle. Some writing samples I honestly cannot tell the difference; others, Caribbean Sea is a little darker and greener.

1. It is a lighter tint.

2. It needs to be just a tad darker in shade OR tone with just a touch of black or something that will give it a darker, more complex base.

3. It is not quite green enough. It is close, very, very close, but not close enough.

 

I've tried Diamine Marine, Diamine Aqua Lagoon, and a few other turquoises. Most are too blue. Diamine Marine can mimic Caribbean Sea sometimes with a dry writer, but I found it to be on the bluer side, most of the times too dark, and lacked the subtle shading. Diamine Soft Mint does a better job overall than Diamine Marine.

 

I'm very encouraged with this discovery and will be experimenting with some mixes to see if I can get closer to Caribbean Sea.

 

A word of caution: No guarantees that what I like and see suits your needs--ala Parker Penman Sapphire.

[KBeezie]

Caribbean Sea seems to looks very similar to Hypnotic Turquoise, only darker.

[PAKMAN]

I love this color and the bottle is so pretty that I use it in my desk pen display.

[KAC]

Very informative review and, incidentally, nice penmanship too!

[arispsalas]

Great review! This ink reminds of Kaweco TURQUOISE

[Lorna Reed]

Caribbean Sea is by far my most favourite ink. I have a few bottles stashed away which I hope will last me a very long time, as I'm a light ink user. Can't bear to think of being without it.

[Bo Bo Olson]

This is the most resent review listed.

 

My first impression of the ink was....my god, that is a real wet ink!

So went looking to see if it was.....and in one of the reviews it was so labeled.

 

I must have used a regular flex nib the first time I used this ink, in it did not appear super wet. Added to a wet nib, it certainly did.

 

Sigh....I'm going to have to look again at 4001 Turquoise in someone was very impressed with both inks. I do have Lamy Turquoise of course..............but first I'll have to run some other pens dry.

 

A 'long time ago', I read of folks complaining how expensive the old Earth color Cd'A ins were. So never looked for any until they were discontinued. They were folks from the States, with imported inks.

It only cost then E8.50 or so....here in Germany...not much more than Waterman, when I grabbed 4 bottles of the Cd'A inks. Had I looked before, I might have enough of them....all of them.

 

 

I sent off 4 of my Osmia/Osmia-Faber-Castell pens to be re-corked by Francis/Fountainble..

After a while a 60-65 year old pen's cork can go bad, especially if it sat dry for a number of decades. Re-corked....it's good if someone uses it for the next 70 years. Cork is the smoothest of the gaskets, better than Plastic Gasket 1.0 (@1939-40) or 2.0 that came in @ 1955. (Never cheap out and use an O ring, they can bulge the barrel and need to be regressed often. The pens are not Twisbi or Ahabs.....so are not designed to be yanked apart every year or two to be re-greased.)

 

Spend a little money and do cork instead of plastic gasket.....never use O rings. (Be honest when selling a now substandard pen with O rings....that it wasn't worth any money to properly repair....so don't want any money for selling it now.)

Properly fitted cork, boiled in paraffin oil (a thicker mineral oil) and bees wax with a bit of silicon grease smeared on afterwards.....is good for the next 70 or so years.

Marshal&Oldfield in their "pen Repair book , state cork is the smoothest of the gaskets.

 

This is the pen that started me collecting pens, a mdl 540 with a steel Supra (maxi-semi-flex) nib.

 

Having 19 pens inked....20 now, didn't want to use the unusual suspects. I was going to put Cd'A Strom in it, but it has an ink window, and don't want purple ink sitting around so long, waiting to be used.

Caribbean Sea, was used. The first time in a long time I've used a Turquoise. I do like turquoise, but only have some five or so....being from B&W TV time, when boys used only black, blue black and blue....Lamy Turquoise was my first 'off the wall' ink. And I liked it.

 

A Supra nib is a maxi-semi-flex....that and semi-flex are wetter nibs because of ease of tine spread. This was a M nib......and Vintage German nibs are 1/2 a width narrower than modern outside the 200.

On M&K Typewriter paper 95g, ( a nice affordable paper) the line was much wetter and wider than expected. Being wet the didn't shade as much as or as well as expected. A combo of a wet ink and wet nib.

 

On my good Gmund 170g paper it was a bit wider than expected also. Shading was off and on, when on, very good. Again a wet ink, with a wet nib.

 

Being very old fashioned, seldom buying online. Finally after ages of 'going to', got some Rhoda 90g and Clairefontaine Triomphe 90g....It came in as I was 'talking' about this ink. So opened up the package and inked them.

On those two papers the line was much thinner, shading was very, very good.

I should have gotten those papers ages ago.

The Rhoda 90g is new. Use to be only 80g...can still be bought in 80. Better paper has better coating. Back in the 'Old Days' '80's and before even cheap paper had good coating.

I bought a cheap 'no name''paper pad with no watermark (so can't find out who made it), back when I was a Ball Point Barbarian and wouldn't have dreamed of spending beer money on good paper. 12 sheets of that paper pad, got lost in my bond paper (which I didn't use, in it was too expensive....for letters only...never written).....and it is perfect. :crybaby:The Bond paper was only good.

The bottom line is when Ball Points Rule, coating is a waste of Bonus money.

 

I will not be getting any Rhoda 80g...in I have the 90g. Will look up what others say of the two.

 

I have a number of pretty good papers....but the way those two tamed the wet nib and wet ink is impressive.

Edited June 8, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson