A Quick Look At Ostrich 901 Green Ink From Tianjin

[Seele]

Ostrich is the main brand used by the Tianjin Ink Factory in China, and the firm is the first manufacturer of fountain pen inks; the modern pigment ink is believed to be one of their innovations. Oddly enough, while the brand is Ostrich, the logo is an emu: but then in the Chinese language the same word refers to both creatures, I understand.

 

As a friend was making a trip to Tianjin I certainly was persuasive enough to end up with a few bottles of Ostrich inks, the most interesting one is undoubtedly the 901 Green, apparently the only green ink in series production in China. I understand that there was a 111 Green as well but it's no longer listed, perhaps it was renamed 901 to fit into the 90x series: 901 Green, 902 Blue, 903 Blue-black, 906 Red, and 908 Carbon pigment.

 

 

The packaging is not luxurious at all, and the cap seems to be quite prone to leakage, but the content does work quite well. Below is a picture of the very few greens in my possession. The paper is very basic Xerox printing paper, a Serwex with a dagger nib was used. Compared to the original, the image - as displayed on my calibrated monitor - shows the Toucan Bright Green a little too dark and the Sheaffer Skrip Green a bit too light.

 

 

Generally speaking the 901 Green is very easy to get on with, flows nicely and gives decent intensity; it does not appear to shade though. Compared to the most common Skrip, it shows the latter as more towards turquoise/blue than green. In reality it is very close to Toucan Aqua but with a touch more pea green as if it's Toucan Aqua with half a step towards Toucan Bright Green.

 

In other words, it is a green with a moderate dash of yellow in the brew, and in effect it's a very "green" sort of green; compared to it the Toucan Bright Green is a bit muddy, and the Toucan Aqua has started to make its way towards blue.

 

While I am no ink collector I cannot be sure how it compares to other green inks. But judging it by its own merits, I would say it is one that I can live with easily: a nice shade that is very easy on the eyes. But I sure hope that the backroom boys at the factory will eventually do something about bottle caps: they're meant to keep the juice inside the bottle!

[amberleadavis]

Wow, I think this is great! Did you buy all the colors?

[Seele]

Wow, I think this is great! Did you buy all the colors?

 

Amberlea,

 

The package brought back from Tianjin contained two bottles of this 901 Green (one leaked more than the other), 903 Blue-black, and 906 Red. Also in the box are two bottles of ostensibly "higher-end" Ostrich inks: 512 Blue and 513 Blue-black. I have only tried the 906 Red and found it to be practically identical to the Hero 201 Red in colour. In other words, an intense red that's starting to head towards pink, and makes Pelikan 4001 Bright Red looks distinctly orange.

 

I have tried it on Xerox laser paper so far, it does seem to bleed a little, perhaps I should try another pen and better paper in due course. Like the other major makers, Ostrich makes no fewer than nine separate series of inks, with pretty much the same colours, so this can get very confusing indeed.

[amberleadavis]

Hmm... I just found some on ebay. It is as expensive as Pilot/Iro or Kobe inks once you factor in shipping. The item is $8 + $13 shipping for a total of $21. The Pilot/Iro inks at Amazon are $20 with free shipping, and Kobe ink is $20 with free shipping.

 

In your experience is the ink so spectacular as to justify the price to ship it in?

[estie1948]

Thank you for posting your review. I found it interesting in that you not only reviewed the ink but you also presented interesting historical information about the producing company. I think it was well done and I learned something. Thank you.

 

-David.

[Seele]

Amberlea,

 

I have to say I do not know much about the other inks, and even less about stringent testing; that is your area of expertise! Perhaps I have to send you a sample for testing and your pretty-much definitive database. That said I think the seller is making too much money, in mainland China it sells for less than a dollar retail.

 

estie1948,

 

This is the official company website:

 

http://www.ostrich-ink.com/English.asp

 

The English therein seems to be very clumsy. For instance, "3 character series" means "3xx series" and I think some of the products lines have been revised too. Also worth mentioning is that the firm owns the brand "Boss" and uses it for two scented inks: 881 Black and 883 Blue-black. This is interesting because the brand "Boss" is also used by yet another unrelated firm in Guiyang, but these are easy to spot as they all feature the logo of a man wearing a Trilby hat.

[amberleadavis]

Wow! Thank you! And of course, we would love to have samples for the next fade test. I haven't completed the 2013 test yet.

[lapis]

Thanks for this news. The site in English really is clumsy I can't find any real information on any specific inks. Let's say I'm looking for a grey.

Whatg i do like is that they say boss serious.

Crass!

[Fabienne]

I am so very impressed with all of the Chinese inks I have tried. Well, I supposed I should be...they invented ink in the first place (lest we forget).

[Seele]

lapis,

 

As the Chinese make lots of different inks but of limited colours, getting a green is surprising enough, so grey would be quite impossible. For the record I have done some digging, and here is a list of the fountain pen inks from this maker, as far as I can establish:

 

(57ml, cyindrical bottle with slightly domed top and bottom. Packaging revised recently)

102 blue

103 blue-black

104 red

(48ml, trapezoidal bottle)

221 black (some early batches have bottle label misprinted as blue)

222 blue

223 blue-black

224 red

(55ml, Parkeresque bottle, also marked "Tuoniao Moshui")

311 black

312 blue

313 blue-black

314 red

331 carbon

582 red (possibly discontinued)

111 green (possibly discontinued)

(60ml, old style in conical bottle, new style reversed trapezoidal)

511 black

512 blue

513 blue-black

531 carbon

(60ml, near Parkeresque bottle, shaped label with ostrich in the middle)

901 green

902 blue

903 blue-black

906 red

908 carbon

(68ml, squat bottle, oval from top)

913 blue-black

916 red

918 carbon

(60ml, Lamy-style bottle with tissue roll dispenser)

921 black

923 blue-black

(tapering bottle much like nail polish bottle, size unknown)

281 Super Ostrich Ink black

283 Super Ostrich Ink blue-black

Ostrich-Boss inks

(Note that Ostrich also owns the "Boss", or "Laoban" brand but not the "man in trilby hat" logo; Boss brand inks with that logo are made by another firm; these have a smaller ostrich logo.)

(60ml, hexagonal bottle)

881 scented black

883 scented blue-black

Fabienne,

While the Chinese-made inks can be excellent, most of them were not engineered to be so; they're meant for utility only and they might not have performance characteristics such as waterproofing and light-fastness, etc. However, some of them are quite remarkable, such as some carbon pigment inks' permanence, and I certainly hope to get my hands on a few bottles of Pearl River 684 Black, which is said to have some mystical powers which I shall relate once I am successful in acquiring it.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Seele

[lapis]

Seele, thank you so much for your very extensive (re-)evaluation. You've spent a lot of work and time for us.... I'll now give up on looking e.g. for a grey from them.

In case any comparison is warranted here, a look for a grey under Kobe and/or Bung Box (which are, yes, not Chinese inks) was much easier....

 

Mike

[amberleadavis]

Wow, that list is fab! Thank you.