Private Reserve Ebony Green

[JJBlanche]

Attached below is an image of a writing sample with Private Reserve Ebony Green, and below that, the review proper. Regarding the image, "lorem ipsum" is a nonsense language used by printers to showcase a font/color (ie: it takes focus away from content and puts it on aesthetics). The water test was performed by submerging and agitating a sample swatch of the given ink in reverse osmosis water for thirty seconds, then letting it drip dry.

 

A key has been added, written on Clairefontaine paper, with a number of different inks for reference.

 

Standard Disclaimer: Image provided only to give a general sense of the color. The vibrance and nuance are typically lost when an ink is digitized.

 

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8629/prebonygreenrx4.jpg

 

Review

 

When I write a review, I first focus on color, and award an ink 0 to 100 based upon that alone, separate from other considerations. I then deduct points from the color score for defects (ie: lack of flow, creep, etc), to arrive at an overall score.

 

Color

 

Out of all the writing/ink samples I've showed to friends, Private Reserve Ebony Green was consistently picked as a favorite. It has the same jump-off-the-page electricity of Noodler's Navy, but in a rich, dark green. Great shading. Overall a very good color.

 

Color Score = 89

 

Deductions

 

...ahh, how I tried to love this color. Green is my favorite, after all. But I just cannot come to terms with using an ink this blatantly green. Call me a traditionalist, or even conservative, but I think the predominant colors in any ink should be either blue or black.

-5 for practicality

 

Bonus Points

 

PR Ebony Green is, however, among the quickest drying inks I've dealt with to date, which I found rather surprising.

+2

 

Overall Score = 86 out of 100

Edited May 29, 2008 by JJBlanche

[gaurav21s]

Attached below is an image of a writing sample with Private Reserve Ebony Green, and below that, the review proper. Regarding the image, "lorem ipsum" is a nonsense language used by printers to showcase a font/color (ie: it takes focus away from content and puts it on aesthetics). The water test was performed by submerging and agitating a sample swatch of the given ink in reverse osmosis water for thirty seconds, then letting it drip dry.

 

A key has been added, written on Clairefontaine paper, with a number of different inks for reference.

 

Standard Disclaimer: Image provided only to give a general sense of the color. The vibrance and nuance are typically lost when an ink is digitized.

 

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8629/prebonygreenrx4.jpg

 

Review

 

When I write a review, I first focus on color, and award an ink 0 to 100 based upon that alone, separate from other considerations. I then deduct points from the color score for defects (ie: lack of flow, creep, etc), to arrive at an overall score.

 

Color

 

Out of all the writing/ink samples I've showed to friends, Private Reserve Ebony Green was consistently picked as a favorite. It has the same jump-off-the-page electricity of Noodler's Navy, but in a rich, dark green. Great shading. Overall a very good color.

 

Color Score = 89

 

Deductions

 

...ahh, how I tried to love this color. Green is my favorite, after all. But I just cannot come to terms with using an ink this blatantly green. Call me a traditionalist, or even conservative, but I think the predominant colors in any ink should be either blue or black.

-5 for practicality

 

Bonus Points

 

PR Ebony Green is, however, among the quickest drying inks I've dealt with to date, which I found rather surprising.

+2

 

Overall Score = 86 out of 100

 

 

Great Review!!!!

 

I am looking for a very bright emerald green

Could you suggest which is the best ink in EMERALD GREEN (starky bright) for PElikan m1000 and Sailor 1911.....also which ink would you recomend for a waterman charleston....as it seems the charleston is peculiar about "ink" and "paper type".....

 

Thanks,

[Limerick]

I share your thoughts on practicability. I'd like to write more with green inks, but if you file in a document in a row where the others have written in blue or black, yours is the only one which stands out and you can never know which sort of impression this would leave to a potential reader. That's a pity, because this'll limit the usage of green inks extremely

[JJBlanche]

The PR Ebony Green should be a great choice for any pen where a rich, vibrant green is desired. I've found that PR inks flow very well, and do not exhibit problems, even in picky pens.

 

[JDlugosz]

I am looking for a very bright emerald green

Could you suggest which is the best ink in EMERALD GREEN (starky bright) for PElikan m1000 and Sailor 1911.....also which ink would you recomend [sic] for a waterman charleston....as it seems the charleston is peculiar about "ink" and "paper type".....

 

I just bought a bunch of greens and I'm interested in trading samples. Check out the sticky message about the KCat Ink Exchange on the Inky Thoughts topic. I've got Caran d’Ache Amazon, Lamy geen, PR Sherwood Green and Spearmint, and Waterman green.

 

Also check out my scans of Levenger's Gemstone.

 

--John

[encephalartos]

I am looking for a very bright emerald green

Could you suggest which is the best ink in EMERALD GREEN (starky bright) for PElikan m1000 and Sailor 1911.....also which ink would you recomend [sic] for a waterman charleston....as it seems the charleston is peculiar about "ink" and "paper type".....

 

I just bought a bunch of greens and I'm interested in trading samples. Check out the sticky message about the KCat Ink Exchange on the Inky Thoughts topic. I've got Caran d’Ache Amazon, Lamy geen, PR Sherwood Green and Spearmint, and Waterman green.

 

Also check out my scans of Levenger's Gemstone.

 

--John

 

Caran d'Ache Amazon is very bright, if you don't object to the fancy-looking and not very deep

bottle. Noodlers Gruene Cactus is also bright green.

[langere]

Try Noodler's Gruene Cactus - it's a lighter green but kind of more like emerald, IMO.

 

Erick

[gaurav21s]

Thanks all...will try some of them as my waterman charleston seems to be a very moody pen...i have tried Pelikan and waterman inks and both could not solve the "skipping" and "starting" problem of the nib

[JJBlanche]

I have found Private Reserve inks, when viewed as a whole, to be the best in terms of lubrication.

[Annie]

Thanks all...will try some of them as my waterman charleston seems to be a very moody pen...i have tried Pelikan and waterman inks and both could not solve the "skipping" and "starting" problem of the nib

Have you tried the dish washing liquid trick? Touch the end of a toothpick in dish washing liquid, such as Palmolive or Joy used to hand wash dishes, and put the tiniest bit on the end of your filled cartridge or converter. Giovanni Abrate also sells additives: Tryphon

Scroll down to the product - Ink Safe - it's only $2.00 and people have reported good results.

 

[JDlugosz]

Scroll down to the product - Ink Safe - it's only $2.00 and people have reported good results.

 

Or I'll give you some pure X-100 for free, or rather on equal terms as ink samples for Ink Exchange trade. That's the interesting ingredient in dish liquid: the surfactant.

 

--John

[hblanchard]

Just a minor correction of interest only to obsessive personalities like myself:

 

"Loren ipsum" is not nonsense, or was not originally nonsense. The passage is in Latin and was extracted from a treatise on ethics by Cicero. It has been altered over the years by purpose and accident so that many versions of the text are in fact no longer the original passage verbatim.

Edited June 11, 2008 by HBlanchard

[JJBlanche]

In the interest of furthering the obsessive-compulsive need to point out minutiae:

 

Lorem Ipsum was derived from the treatise by Cicero on ethics. However, the original text was purposely scrambled to derive a "nonsense" language; it didn't happen to -- organically, over time -- arrange itself in the way you see above.

 

In order to keep the reviews short, sweet, and to the point, I've saved the history lesson for those that were interested in looking "lorem ipsum" up, as I see you have.

[chancew1]

Thanks for the review, I've been looking for a very dark green and thought this one might be what I was looking for. It is lighter and more green than I expected. I guess I'll keep looking or maybe try a mix.

 

As far as a bright green, one that I like and is often overlooked is Private Reserve Spearmint. I'm not sure if it is "Emerald" green - to me that implies a more bluish tint - but it is a nice ink if you are looking for a bright, saturated green color. My only complaint is that it is too much of a bright color for "serious" writing (thus my quest for a darker, more subdued green).

[JJBlanche]

Thanks for the review, I've been looking for a very dark green and thought this one might be what I was looking for. It is lighter and more green than I expected. I guess I'll keep looking or maybe try a mix.

 

As far as a bright green, one that I like and is often overlooked is Private Reserve Spearmint. I'm not sure if it is "Emerald" green - to me that implies a more bluish tint - but it is a nice ink if you are looking for a bright, saturated green color. My only complaint is that it is too much of a bright color for "serious" writing (thus my quest for a darker, more subdued green).

 

You may want to look into Montblanc British Racing Green. I can't decide if I like MB Racing Green or R&K Alt Goldgrün more (although if you're looking for dark, the MB is probably the way to go).

[hilsedwards]

Oh joy and rapture! What a fabulous colour green. Thank you Private Reserve.

 

This is very nearly my favourite green ink, very nearly but not quite. I just have to have any trivial excuse to go on searching for that non-existent 'just right' colour green.

46 bottles of different green ink and still searching. Now, if only I could get my hands on a bottle of ............

 

[CharlieB]

The scan of the PR Ebony Green reminds me very much of PR Sherwood Green. Anyone done a side by side comparison?

[KCat]

The scan of the PR Ebony Green reminds me very much of PR Sherwood Green. Anyone done a side by side comparison?

 

Much darker. I don't know if the scan above was written with a dry writer but this ink is very close to Penman Emerald. Easily as dark. Also, even if in your pen it comes out similar to Sherwood, it doesn't smear!!! Yay! I've found drying time of this ink to be surprisingly quick for a PR color - for any highly saturated ink. But no feathering. I can't recommend this ink enough if you want a very dark green that is still green v. black with a green tint.

[JJBlanche]

My scanner has a tendency to lighten up the inks a bit.

[KCat]

I gotta say - it seems very odd to me to review a green ink and deduct points because it isn't blue or black.

 

I'm not defending the ink just because I like it a lot. Just a tad boggled by this quirk. X ink is red. I'm going to deduct points because it's red and not black even though the bottle says it's red. :hmm1:

 

Now, if you want to do a separate category for "practicality" then call it that. X ink is red and as reds go, it's good/bad/boring/orangish/pinkish/blueish. For editing it would be practical/impractical because of x/y/z. For daily writing it would be practical/impractical because of x/y/z.

 

Just a thought. They're your reviews. Just that from a rationality POV, it doesn't quit jibe. It gives a false impression in the final tally if you don't separate the two very different concepts.

 

KCat the Picky.