Inca Sol - L'artisan Pastellier

[visvamitra]

L'Artisan Pastellier is french ink / calligraphy materials producers. They offer two lines of inks suitable for fountain pens: CALLIFOLIO (inks made for fountain pens, neutral PH and so on) andENCRES CLASSIQUES (not all of them may have perfect properties however I've tried most of them and had no issues in my fountain pens).

L'Artisan Pastellier inks don't get much love or attention here. I understand this as they're not easily obtainable. You may buy them directly from the producer's on-line/stationery boutique. The best thing to do is to organize group buy (I've done it twice last year for polish sountain pen board). It's nice thing to do - you get to meet a lot of people to exchange inks and the shipment cost becomes really friendly.

Inca Sol is decent ink with nice shading and good properties but it lacks saturation.

INK SPLASH

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DROPS OF INK ON KITCHEN TOWEL

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SOFTWARE ID

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COLOR RANGE

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Oxford notebook - Kaweco Sport, eyedropper mode, broad nib

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COPY PAPER

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[amberleadavis]

I was just looking at my Noodler's Tanned Armadillo which is a similar color, but it survived my fade tests and still doesn't look like the maker didn't include enough dye.

 

Vis, Thank you for doing these reviews. They are helpful!

[rudyhou]

a bit too orange for a sepia. but still a nice ink color.

[mmg122]

I've just received this lovely ink from Vanness and it's become a favorite. I'm currently using it in an Esterbrook J with a #2668 (firm medium) butter smooth nib (Thank you, Gary). I'm so impressed with the behavior of this ink that I'm considering picking up some more L'Artisan Pastellier inks. Any recommendations?

[DrDebG]

I've just received this lovely ink from Vanness and it's become a favorite. I'm currently using it in an Esterbrook J with a #2668 (firm medium) butter smooth nib (Thank you, Gary). I'm so impressed with the behavior of this ink that I'm considering picking up some more L'Artisan Pastellier inks. Any recommendations?

 

I am a HUGE fan of L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks. I tried over 21 of their inks. I read that L'A Pastellier is known for their blues. Many of them are not heavily saturated - which is something I like. Olivastre is probably the biggest exception.

 

My favorites are Bleu Atlantique and Bleu Pacifique, which have great shading and sheen nicely in stub nibs on my Tomoe River paper. Atlantique is slightly darker than Pacifique. I also have Bleu Azur and Bleu Mediterranee. Azur is lighter but quite readable. I use it a lot for journal writing. Also in the bluish green family, Omi Osun is very nice. Violet is absolutely fantastic and has some very nice sheen. I also have a variety of the dark reds - Bordeaux, Bourgoyne and Grenat. I prefer Bordeaux and Bourgoyne over Grenat. My favorite red, however, is Andrinople.

 

Of the dark blue grays, I like Baikal alot. It dries to a dusty blue grey and shades nicely on good paper. And Teodora is perhaps my favorite green, although I do like the unique shading in Olivastre from my stub nibs.

 

Most of all, what I really like is how easily they clean up out of my pens. They are not water resistant, which makes cleaning much easier.

 

There are a couple that I don't care for. Noir is not as saturated at it should be for a black. It looks washed out. I also don't care for Yalumba. When it comes to cleaning, Yalumba seems to be the exception. It has stained two of my converters.

 

I really like purchasing the inks in the foil pouches. Then I divide the ink into two small Nalgene bottles or several sample bottles, since I travel so much. The pouches are very economical. But the glass bottles are really nice and look great on your desk if you have several of them.

 

Good luck and I hope that helps.

[mmg122]

DrPen...thank you so much for taking the time to respond on these awesome inks...and thank you for the tip on the ink pouches. Currently I have the Inca Sol, Inti, Canelle, and Olivastre. I was on the Vanness site today trying to decide on some blues and red/burgundy. Your analysis will be very helpful. The swabs (??) they have on the site are not very helpful...in fact, the worst I've seen. I've been slowly plodding thru the ink reviews Vis has done on the entire collection. The only one I've tried so far is the Inca Sol and I love it. Thank you once again.

 

Mary

[Uncial]

I really liked this ink. It reminded me of red clay.

[Safari_Camo]

Looks some orangeish for me

[DrDebG]

DrPen...thank you so much for taking the time to respond on these awesome inks...and thank you for the tip on the ink pouches. Currently I have the Inca Sol, Inti, Canelle, and Olivastre. I was on the Vanness site today trying to decide on some blues and red/burgundy. Your analysis will be very helpful. The swabs (??) they have on the site are not very helpful...in fact, the worst I've seen. I've been slowly plodding thru the ink reviews Vis has done on the entire collection. The only one I've tried so far is the Inca Sol and I love it. Thank you once again.

 

Mary

Hi Mary,

 

Good luck with trying to choose inks. You are correct about the poor ink samples. Truthfully, when I wanted to find out more about Callifolio inks, I ordered over 20 samples to see how I liked each ink. For example, Bleu Azur is a bit too pale for my extra fine nibs, but is much darker than the Vanness swab in my stub nibs. Have fun with them!

[inkstainedruth]

I have a sample of Bonne Esperance, but haven't tried it yet (looking at the swabs of three very similar looking blue blacks, I picked that one on the basis of it seeming to be the darkest and most saturated of the three). And a sample of something which was swag from the Vanness table at OPS last year, but I don't know what I've done with the vial. I put it in the car "someplace safe" for the trip home, but have no clue what happened after that.... Don't even remember what the ink was -- probably some blue or blue black (my ink stash notes have big red boldface question marks...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[visvamitra]

Little update

Software ID (Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib)

Color range

Rhodia, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

Linen, Kaweco Classic Sport, broad nib

[fugel]

thanks for the review. I really like this color.