Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Green
Ink bottle (no inkwell).
Bought from a highly un-specialized stationary shop

Octopian greetings,

This is the first ink review, by this octopus. This is my first tentacle thrown into ink-reviewing, so it's not a very experience tentacle yet.

Well, I reviewed this Pelikan Brilliant Green, because, I couldn't find any reviews of it. I've always used the 4001 Blue/Black and I absolutely love it. For this review I chose to write some words from a song by the band YES, called Close To The Edge.

Pen: Parker 51 (Brown)
Paper: I have no idea, ordinary paper sold in plastic bags.

Drying: The ink dries quickly, or as I'd like to say; Three Words Later.

Flow: it's hard for me to decide, because the pen is old and it's probably not in good shape, plus it's very cold; the weather that is. But when things are normal, it flows well. The nib runs smoothly, neither skates nor fights with the paper.

Smudging: I wiped it with my fingers several times later, it didn't smudge.

Concerning paper and other things: The ink doesn't bleed through the paper. I've tried it on ordinary writing paper, printer paper, a notebook that uses recycled paper, a Canson sketchbook. They all look the same. Out of experience, the 4001 is pretty gentle on paper, and keeps to itself.

Color: well, I would've liked a darker shade of green. At times it expresses darker tones, and sometimes lighter ones. An effect of how much ink is flowing I guess. Somehow I felt the color of the ink complemented the pen. It kind of makes me feel, I'm writing something in a notebook while sitting with the hobbits in the shire, listening to YES music of course. You will find the wavy strokes I made for the ink. I made them with old wooden calligraphy pens. Quills, if you may.

I wasn't enthusiastic about the color, and I thought I'd try it because I found the bottle lying around. But I love it! I love Pelikan's Blue-Black and I think I'll be using the Brilliant Green as much.

Well done, Ozzy. That's one ink I've never tried yet...on my list, though. I like the other Pelikan inks; can't imagine why this one would be the exception.

I have a bottle of this myself and I like it. It is very well behaved, but use in it a wettish writer or it might be too bright. (When they say "Brilliant-Gruen," they do mean it.)

Summer Greer

Just tried this. In a Waterman Phileas (med. nib)

My experience was the same and the colors look nearly identical to your posted example. when the pen was flowing heavy, it seemed like the ink I wanted but when dry it just looked almost like a pastel or watercolr and was far to light. It just didn't seem crisp. Not feathering or bleeding but softer than i'm used to.

It's the only Pelikan I've tried and wasn't impressed. I'm gonna give it another go when I refill my Parker Sonnet. It is a really wet writer so I'll see if that makes a difference. Also want to try it with my fine Namiki VP just to see if the thinness will give that crispness.

Great review.

C

I use this ink in a little Pilot Petit1 (apple green flavor) that I converted to eyedropper. It improved the flow and smoothness of the Pilot Petit1, and it seems well behaved on almost any paper. I find the color a little lighter than ideal for me but very attractive nonetheless. Thanks for your review!

Well done.

I use several Pelikan 4001 inks regularly, including the Brilliant Green. They all behave really well in the pen/paper combinations that I've tried (good flow, quick drying, no feathering, etc). I share the feeling that Brilliant Green is too bright to write a full page of text, a darker green (such as Noodler's Forest Green) would work better for that purpose.

my question concerning that ink is, is it an iron gall ink?

This ink becomes wonderfull dark green with 1/4th of Pelikan bright black That's one of my favorite greens. Also with 1/2th of bright brown makes it quite moss green (with added black you can make it darker). Best quality of Pelikan inks is mixability.