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Montblanc Ink Of Joy


lapis

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INK of JOY_ Hi there.jpg

Introduction

I bought this ink after reading Sam's note (http://www.fountainp...-refills-store/) on it four days ago. Thanks Sam! Since I really do love and cherish MB's inks, and also have all of them too (I think), I of course thought "What the heck, I need these as well". So, I fled off to the boutique here and bought all three of these new refills (Joy, Love and Friendship). The first one of these I tried out, immediately, was the INK of FRIENDSHIP, which immediately disgusted me -- noho, not that I have anything against friendships -- I'm just not all that hot about light blues. I then picked out the INK of JOY because I like a saffron type of thing better than any light blue and knew right off which inks I could whip out of my Ikea Billy shelves to make them try and stand up against it (well, maybe). Yes, most of these shots are direct scans because they indeed happen to look just as authentic as all of the photos I made; the scans are as a matter of fact even better (except for the shot of the bottle... yeah, yeah). See below.

 

INK of JOY_bottle.JPG

That's my Crest BB (used in this review) and my M800 (not used here), for size comparison.

 

More about the bottle

□ Well packed, as usual. This time the bottle is not a shoe and, even better, not like any of those rounded thingies used for SE inks. It is a squarish bottle reminiscent of the new shoe. It now has a tag around the collar. The tag doesn't have any printing on it except for a part of the picture on the box.

□ Another thing which I really find to be good (as no surprise) is that although the square, cubic bottle here is obviously different from the old and/or new shoe-shaped bottles, the whole cap is still the same as that on the new bottles. In contrast to the older bottles, the newer caps are much easier to open and close, without having to fool around with the spacer disc inside which often wreaked havoc.

 

Pens and papers

□ As for pens, I used -- alongside swabs with exactly 100 µl of ink on each -- a 1.5-mm dip pen, my Crest BB, Kultur M, Pelikano M and a Rubinato F dip pen with a real feather on it (honestly). I chose these not only because they have various nib widths but also various flow rates.

□ I used a 90 g HP copy paper which is a fair-to-middling thing here. I usually use any ol' cheap copy paper because I have tons of it anyway for my printers and if an ink writes nicely on that, it'll write even better on any other paper. I also use Clairefontaine and Moleskine in the form of tiny notebooks for my T-shirt pocket but who cares?

□ Judging by this, there is no really big difference in writing with this ink as regards the type of paper used. For scans on four types of paper, see below.

 

Ink properties

□ The actual colour itself is in one word "saffron". We often talk about yellows and oranges but I somehow feel that my/our description "saffron" here is still best-fitting.

□ Saturation and intensity are -- for MB inks in general -- as usual very good. Here we go again, subjectively, but IMO Herbins are all rather unsaturated, even somewhat "watered down", whereas Noodlers' and PRs are often very saturated. That is one fine thing for a great intensity but I still end up paying for this when I really need and/or want to clean a FP meticulously. This ink is about as saturated as most other MB inks I have. Less so, of course than their blue-black in the bottle or their blue or black.

□ Flow as in wetness during writing is also good, well-balanced as in most other MB inks (again, except for the bottled blue-black, which is a much drier ink).

□ It lubricates well enough, too. I see no skipping or start-up problems any paper, and after leaving the filled pen for a day or two unused (with the cap on) I still see no problems in an attempt to get it to write off immediately.

□ Drying time is around 15 seconds, plus or minus 2 or 3).

INK of JOY_drying.jpg

□ Wetness after writing: when it is dry, it remains dry. I.e. after caressing my finger over it, I see no smudging (well, okay, at least after having dried for 1 minute).

□ You can't call this ink "waterproof" let alone "bulletproof" but it still isn't as easily washed almost completely out of the paper, as say many Herbin inks are. After 2 seconds under water and then drying, you can still identify what has been written. 30 second might do the trick, but beyond that, it won't.

INK of JOY_water.jpg

 

Paper types used

□ On all types of paper used here, there is no really discernable difference.

INK of JOY_papers.jpg

□ I see no feathering on any of these papers. Also, at least on the first three, hardly any bleeding; of course, this is a function of the paper: I see it like this: zero = Clairefontaine < HP copy paper< El Cheapo copy paper << Moleskine. For me, personally, no big surprise.

□ Shading is maybe the only disappointment here. I thought there might be more shading, but, alas, practically none. I did my very best with all of my pens. My M1000 didn't fill the bill here, and I don't have any real flex nibs.

□ For fading it is too early to comment on this. Maybe someday later?

□ Smell? I don't feel anything here.

□ Rinsing and washing are as easy as with any other of the "lighter" MB inks. Staining on my fingers is quick to wash off and disappears within a few hours by itself. By no means particularly sensitive to hand oils.

 

Comparable inks 

Sure, there are more than these, but I wanted to start off small:

INK of JOY_comparison.jpg

 

□ Achtung (FWIW): I also took photos of everything here but this scan is just as good, both have a startling resemblance to the real McCoy; it's just that the photo of this (not shown here) appears to be slightly blurred.

□ A word or two about what I see. First of all, put very roughly, all five inks are remarkably similar. I had immediately thought that MB's Ink of Joy would be either very very different from their Mahatma Gandhi or almost the same. IMO the latter holds true, although I'd say that the Joy is a tick redder and a half a tick darker. Funny thing (well, not all that hilarious) is that the similarities don't end here. Pelikan's Mandarin and CdA's Saffron are both a bit paler and the latter a bit more yellow. Orange Indien appears to be the brownest, although I must say that this brownness is less so than it was the last time I used it (half a year ago). Nonetheless, no precipitate or slime in the bottle is to be observed.

 

Availability

□ Being an MB ink, this undoubtedly has the big advantage that you can probably buy it all over the world (even if you might have to order it). The kind salesman in the boutique told me that they are also available in cartridges. If you're interested in money these days (har, har) then you might want to look at it this way (at least in terms of that found recently here in Krautland)....

 

Money

□ Just for the sake of it, here is a list of prices for the above inks. Today and here in Germany, maybe in all of Euro-Europe. These prices include our 19% sales tax.

INK of JOY_money.jpg

Notes:

{a} Sam said that this ink (and each of the other two in this series) also came in at 14.00 USD.

{b} The "usual" MB inks in the 60-ml shoes also cost 11.00 Euros (again at their boutiques here. That comes down to a shoe price of 0.18 Euros per ml.

 

Conclusions and/or what to do

□ All in all, the name JOY is, I think, a perfect blend for a new name. "Orange" or even "saffron" for the name of an ink IMO isn't all that original anymore.

□ I can heartily recommend this ink, especially if you like the colour saffron. If you already have MB's Mahatma Gandhi, then you don't really need this ink (unless of course you never have enough inks). In regard to Pelikan's Mandarin and CdA's Saffron, ditto. Herbin's Orange Indien is somewhat darker. I'd say that it is somewhat hard to sum up. MB's Ink of Joy appears to be the most brilliant, most saturated, most orange, least brown of these five. Otherwise , among the first four here, it is pretty much a matter of subtlety.

□ Physical and maintenance properties are as good as usual for MB inks.

 

My last words

So, you like the name "INK of JOY", do you? How about saying "JOY of INK"?

 

Mike

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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Thanks, Mike. Very nice review.

 

I'm glad to hear that it is a little darker than Mahatma Gandhi, but surprised that the new ink doesn't show much shading. I'll have to track down a sample before I commit to a bottle.

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Fantastic review! Thank you so much! I am nuts about orange inks, so I will just have to get this (even though I have several bottles of the Ghandi ink, which I adore). I would have to agree that, even though the Gandhi ink is *called* saffron, from your images, this ink is closer to what true saffron looks like (e.g., when I use it in cooking) - just IMHO, of course.

 

It's funny, I was calling my Montblanc boutique here in San Antonio the other day to ask about the upcoming Hitchcock pen, and they said "Did you hear about the new inks?!" Yeah, they know me... :embarrassed_smile:

 

Parting admission - When I first saw the scan at the top of your review, the following words went through my mind - verbatim:

 

"Oh DUDE! Montblanc made a Diamine Pumpkin! No nib crud! Saweeeet!"

 

:roflmho:

 

Edit to add: I'm totally jazzed about the fact that it comes in cartridges! :bunny01: :bunny01: :bunny01:

Edited by kushbaby

__________________

Kushbaby

 

I like eating peanuts with chopsticks...

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I called MB after Sam's post and my bottles should be here on Monday. After reading this review, Mike, I am really looking forward to their arrival! Thanks for the quick, great work! David

How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.

— Samuel Johnson

 

Instagram: dcpritch

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Great review, very thorough.

 

Herbin Orange Indien was my first orange, and I bought it BECAUSE it was browner and slightly muted. But I have to admit both this and the Gandhi are starting to make me think I need a bright saffron.

 

Thanks!

 

Ryan.

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Excellent review and comparisons to other similar oranges. It looks striking, and I can't wait to see it also on Monday.

With the new FPN rules, now I REALLY don't know what to put in my signature.

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Parting admission - When I first saw the scan at the top of your review, the following words went through my mind - verbatim:

 

"Oh DUDE! Montblanc made a Diamine Pumpkin! No nib crud! Saweeeet!"

 

:roflmho:

 

 

Yep. :thumbup: Me too exactly.

 

I also have a bottle of this (plus the ink o love) on order right now, and can't WAIT to get it. Diamine Pumpkin is my absolute favorite shade of orange ink -- the first orange ink I ever liked, after previously thinking, "who would want orange ink" -- but I will only use it in cheapie pens because of the damn nib crud. I'll still use it, but I'd like to try the ink of joy in a nicer pen, because I trust MontBlanc to be entirely well-behaved.

 

Anyway, if it's close to a Diamine Pumpkin replica, I'll be happy!

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Thanks for the review, Mike. This one is definitely going on my list.

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Coming from a scientific background - how did you exactly measure up the 100 microliters? How do you come to that number?

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"Oh DUDE! Montblanc made a Diamine Pumpkin! No nib crud! Saweeeet!"

Oh, man! Believe it or not, D's Pumpkin was the first ink (not on my scans) which I then later thought of, alas too late to add to the above comparisons. I do like Pumpkin too, sort of like their Poppy but of course oranger, darker. Because I only have the Joy since two days ago, I can't yet comment on its crudeness. I have always found that Pumpkin does leave a lot of crud on the nib, so wait a day or 2 until I make a new shot of this and compare it with the Joy. Ditto as to the colour on paper too. Till then,

 

Glenn

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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On 8/7/2011 at 6:27 PM, Blizzard42 said:

Coming from a scientific background - how did you exactly measure up the 100 microliters? How do you come to that number?

That's easy! I have and use a 200-microliter micro pipette from the medical-scientific company Gilson (made in France). They call it their "pipetman". They also sell a 20-microliter, 1000-microliter and 5000-microliter pipette. These are guaranteed to have an accuracy of plus/minus 2% (or was it only plus/minus 5% ?). I just take a swab and anoint it with 100 microliters on the tip, simply to make all swabs carrying the same ammout of ink. 50 or 200 microliters would also work. These pipettes are also each labelled with their own S/N like a good FP. I also use a corresponding weight scale. If I come to it, I'll drop off a few photos tomorrow.

Mike

 

Ach ja, I could've sworn that a micro-symbol and a plus-minus symbol looked okay here. At least it did on my screen during a preview post. (Now, just for me, a repeat transaction: all Arial 10 in MS Word: microliter = µl; plus/minus = ± )

 

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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Ahh.. I see. We use a similar system in our labs (well, except they are from Eppendorf, which I believe is a Swiss company and they are electronic and need to be calibrated and certified all the time to prove its accuracy, since we have really high standarts in terms of quality concerning meds)

I'm just surprised that a normal person pays almost $300 just to have a pipet for doing accurate swabs. While this costing about as much as a pen, I would've to think about justifiyng this purchase.

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Not just a great review but gorgeous, too! I love the comparison between the oranges, and I like the little MB bottle. (I can be a sucker for packaging.) Nice work, Mike!

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etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

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Lisa, mine are on the way... Not sure if they'll get here before DC. We can share!

MB JFK BB; 100th Anniversary M; Dumas M FP/BP/MP set; Fitzgerald M FP/BP/MP set; Jules Verne BB; Bernstein F; Shaw B; Schiller M; yellow gold/pearl Bohème Pirouette Lilas (custom MB-fitted EF); gold 744-N flexy OBB; 136 flexy OB; 236 flexy OBB; silver pinstripe Le Grand B; 149 F x2; 149 M; 147 F; 146 OB; 146 M; 146 F; 145P M; 162 RB
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Hi,

 

Many thanks for another stellar review, c/w comparisons!

 

Yet, I shall forego the bottled Joy, and be blissfully content with the yu-yake and its higher potential for shading. LINK

 

Bye,

S1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Hi,

 

Many thanks for another stellar review, c/w comparisons!

 

Yet, I shall forego the bottled Joy, and be blissfully content with the yu-yake and its higher potential for shading. LINK

 

Bye,

S1

 

I can second that. The Ink of Joy got almost no shading. Is there a saffron ink out there which got more shading than yu-yake?

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Coming from a scientific background - how did you exactly measure up the 100 microliters? How do you come to that number?

This is now directed to those without such a background:

 

Pipetting 100 microliters onto a swab.

 

I intentionally dropped this note off here since there may be a couple of us who don't want to read any review of a MB ink... :glare:

 

Mike

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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On 8/7/2011 at 4:42 PM, GreenVelvet said:
On 8/7/2011 at 4:52 AM, kushbaby said:

Parting admission - When I first saw the scan at the top of your review, the following words went through my mind - verbatim:

"Oh DUDE! Montblanc made a Diamine Pumpkin! No nib crud! Saweeeet!":roflmho:

Yep. :thumbup: Me too exactly.

I also have a bottle of this (plus the ink o love) on order right now, and can't WAIT to get it. Diamine Pumpkin is my absolute favorite shade of orange ink -- the first orange ink I ever liked, after previously thinking, "who would want orange ink" -- but I will only use it in cheapie pens because of the damn nib crud. I'll still use it, but I'd like to try the ink of joy in a nicer pen, because I trust MontBlanc to be entirely well-behaved.

As mentioned above, D's Pumpkin does seem to leave bit of crud. I once found that too. But not having a pen on hand which was filled with Pumpkin, I thought I'd remedy that situation and do a further experiment. So I filled up another Pelikano with it (both Pelikanos are from the same "lot"). Mind you, the Pelikano with INK of JOY had already been filled on the 5th of August, whereas the Pelikano with Pumpkin was only filled on the 8th of August... so... JOY has now been in for 7 days, but Pumpkin only 4 days. WHEW! But -- in regard to crud -- that's still to the advantage of MB's orange ink here. Green pen = INK of JOY. Red pen = Pumpkin.

Pumpkin crud_1.JPG

 

Pumpkin crud_2.JPG

 

Embarrassed.png

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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