FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown

[wimg]

Dear Good Folks of FPN,

 

As promised :bunny01: , here follows the review of FPN's own ink, FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown, in this case the high bandwidth version. A low bandwidth version is provided in a second post.

 

In order to create this review, I had to be rather frugal with the ink, as I only had a single KCat vial available to me. This meant sharing converters between pens, if appropriate or possible. This is one of the reasons why this review took a lot of time, as many pens were used for testing this ink, and in each instance if a converter was reused, ink was still drawn in through the feed, and the pens were left for a day, sometimes two, to soak the feed fully.

 

A record number of pens and nibs has been used for this review, namely 39 all in all... I couldn't use more than this number, just in case you're wondering, because I finished all of the ink by that time....

 

As usual, the images are clickable, and provide you with an enlarged page in a separate browser window, which shows a lot more detail than the thumbnails provided in this message. Furthermore, at the end a link is provided to the complete review, all pages one after the other.

 

The limited amount of ink available meant that I could only do these pages once, so I do hope you forgive me all for the mistakes I made here and there. The scribbling I did with pen #11 has to do with the fact that I noticed that if I used the 52 degree Stipula nib, I could get some line thickness variation, when drawing a vertical line while changing the angle the nib made to the paper. It is supposed to do that. Unfortunately I didn't manage to do that in the writing sample here, and just didn't dare doing that again...

 

As page 4 starts out with a bunch of dip nibs, I also scanned the backside of the page, to show the bleed-through of the ink. This is actually very impressive, as this only shows with the wettest, most difficult dip nibs.

 

Also, what is clearly visible, is that the colour coming through is the rusty brown, which also shows in the Galileo manuscript photograph that led to this ink. If you do look very carefully at the writing, you'll find that, occasionally, this also shows at the edges of letters here and there.

 

In order to show the performance on different types of papers, I have included some samples on FPN Notepad paper, and a few cream-coloured papers, where a brown ink really gets into its own. All of these are high quality papers, while the lined college block paper is of much lower quality, even though it is fountain pen friendly. The ink works well on all of these papers.

 

Anyway, here are the clickable thumnails:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the link to the full review, all pages readable in a single browser window:

FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown, the full review

 

BTW, this is the first time that all 10 different large Stipula nibs have been used in a single ink review! 9

 

The final conclusion, especially after writing not only with a lot of different pens and nibs, but also with a lot of different browns (see other topic), is that this is a very beautfiful, pleasant, easy-going ink, which exemplifies all that is great in Noodler's inks. I reckon this is, when you take everything into account, the best ink I have ever encountered so far.

 

Yes, some inks have better characteristics for specific details, like a slightly better lubrication, or better shading, but no other inks are consistently as good as this ink, and on top of all this, FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown is bulletproof, too! And there is no other ink I have ever encountered, that is so problemless with such a large variety of nibs. Somehow the flow seems to adapt to the actual nib/feed combination, so that it always writes well, from the driest to the wettest writers.

This is absolutely impressive, and this ink, with all its other great characteristics, can only be very highly recommended as a result!

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! (with the exception of rinsing and flushing all of the pens used in this review ).

 

Warm regards, Wim

the maddest Dutchman of them all

Edited November 8, 2010 by wimg
fixed links

[umenohana]

Amazing, especially on cream paper! O_O I am going to love this ink.. Such variations! I am very grateful to have my illustration on the label. The bleed-through actually looks pretty neat. lol

 

Thank you so much for the thorough testing, Wim!

 

-Hana

[wdyasq]

Thank you.

 

(Now to analyze this stuff)

 

Ron

[krz]

Wow! That's a lot of work. Thanks!

Look's like a rich rusty brown. I can't wait to try it!

 

All the best,

[Margana]

Thanks, Wim. What a comprehensive review! Sure doesn't leave any doubt about what this ink can do.

[Ann Finley]

Wim,

 

I've loved all of your superb, thorough, reviews--and especially this one of special significance. Thanks for once again for doing all of this work for us and being willing to clean all of those pens to get the job done.

 

(When I do an ink review I can't think of nearly as much to say!)

 

Thanks, also, for posting a picture of the finalized label in the Marketplace.

 

Best, Ann

[monoceros]

What a marvellous review, thanks for all the time and effort you put in it! I really like the heavy cream paper you used. And now, I'll just keep looking at the photos and reading the review until my own bottle of ink arrives!

[Stylo]

Yep, it was worth the wait Thanks Wim.

[Stephen-I-am]

I'm in awe of the number of pens you've tried this ink in. This is the FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown of ink reviews. Thanks!

 

Stephen

[fountainbel]

Thanks a lot for your exemplary profound review Wim !

Surely look forward to recieve & try it myself.

[Margana]

I'm in awe of the number of pens you've tried this ink in. This is the FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown of ink reviews.  Thanks!

 

Stephen

I'm in awe of the number of pens you have!

[southpaw]

Wim, you've done some outstanding reviews in the past, but this one surpasses them all. I'm pleased to see such a good report on our own ink, and am in the process of ordering a bottle (after this review I might have to up it to 2). THANKS!

[cothomps]

Wow... I'm really looking forward to this now.

 

Unrelated question - where do you find the "Elco Verge" paper? That's a very nice cream - at least from the scans....

[HyperCamper]

Wim, the amount of time this must have cost you! :blink:

 

A most excellent review and I'm already looking forward to receiving my bottles...

[KCat]

well, now I'm just going to be impatient!

 

Looks very promising. I've steered away from strong browns but I'm very optimistic about this stuff. Thank you for the great review. Can't wait to get a chance to do my own investinkatin'.

[southpaw]

Ok Wim, now you've done it. YOUR review caused me to order an extra bottle of FPN Ink, so I'll just send you the invoice for the additional $20.

[wimg]

Amazing, especially on cream paper! O_O I am going to love this ink.. Such variations! I am very grateful to have my illustration on the label. The bleed-through actually looks pretty neat. lol

 

Thank you so much for the thorough testing, Wim!

 

-Hana

Hi Hana,

 

Thank You! Yes, the label does look good, doesn't it? I do liek the bleed through, too, that nice rusty red . But you only get that with the wettest of (dip) nibs . If you look carefully, though, you can actually see some here and there at the edges of individual letters. It is what makes this ink so lush looking, IMO....

 

Warm regards, Wim

Edited October 24, 2006 by wimg

[wimg]

Thank you.

 

(Now to analyze this stuff)

 

Ron

Hi Ron,

 

Thanks!

 

BTW, very funny, lovely avatar! Did you create that yourself?

 

Warm regards, Wim

[wimg]

Wow! That's a lot of work. Thanks!

Look's like a rich rusty brown. I can't wait to try it! 

 

All the best,

Hi krz,

 

Thank you! And yes, it was... more than I care to remember

 

Wamr regards, Wim

[wimg]

Thanks, Wim. What a comprehensive review! Sure doesn't leave any doubt about what this ink can do.

Hi Margana,

 

Thank you once more . And yes, that was the general idea, but I may have gone slightly over the top .

 

Warm regards, Wim