Graf Von Faber-Castell - Six Inks

[visvamitra]

Hello all. I'd like to present you my next comparison of some inks. The full text of the comparison can be found on polish fountain pen forum site.

Graf von Faber - Castell is my favourite pen maker. Unhappily I can't afford their pens, so my collection is for instance limited to three amazing fountain pens made by them (OK, two are GvFC, one is Faber - Castell).

When I heard GvFC had produced series of inks I knew I must try them. I did. And I'm impressed. They've made really good job and succeeded to deliver amazing inks with great properties (with one exception: Garnet Red really sucks). It's premium product, just look at the bottles.

http://imageshack.com/a/img631/1407/61624a.jpg

Anyway I've tried them all and must say I'm more than impressed. My favoutite green ink is GvFC MOSS GREEN. My favourite brown ink is GvFC HAZELNUT BROWN. And you must know that I'm ink obsessed person and I've tried more than 200 inks (maybe around 300) so I know quite a lot of them.

In this comparison I'll present you all six inks of GvFC line. Enjoy.

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/7449/7e7859.jpg

CARBON BLACK: Well, what can I say? I don't like black and I can't understand why someone would choose to write with black ink? It's just beyond my comprehension. The ink flows and behaves well but it's black. I just fon't like it.

http://imageshack.com/a/img539/8325/61a693.jpg

COBALT BLUE: nice, saturated and intense blue ink with purple heart (you'll see it on soaking test). I like it but it's not my favourite shade of blue.

http://imageshack.com/a/img746/3696/43f1a4.jpg

GARNET RED: This ink is boring and dry. It's plain and dull and I don't like it at all.

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/5084/36a994.jpg

HAZELNUT BROWN: My favourite brown (well, one of my favourites browns, there's just so many nice browns around. But this one is constant rotation)

http://imageshack.com/a/img536/9927/941932.jpg

MOSS GREEN: AMAZING COLOR. It rocks.

http://imageshack.com/a/img913/6627/dadf90.jpg

STONE GREY: I don't really like greys. It's OK. And that's all I can say.

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/7241/6ba2d5.jpg

Now let's get to interesting part - scans and photos. All text was written with Pilot 78G with broad nib.

SWABS ON MONDI 90G PAPER

http://imageshack.com/a/img631/9251/9091c7.jpg

DROPS OF INK ON KITCHEN TOWEL

http://imageshack.com/a/img902/2962/b97993.jpg

TEXT WRITTEN WITH PILOT 78G (BROAD NIB) IN CALENDAR

http://imageshack.com/a/img673/1191/761af9.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4272/4f50ed.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/4307/9aa647.jpg

TEXT WRITTEN WITH PILOT 78G (BROAD NIB) IN OXFORD NOTEBOOK

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/4623/859f3f.jpg

 

[visvamitra]

TEXT WRITTEN WITH PILOT 78G (BROAD NIB) ON RHODIA PAPER

http://imageshack.com/a/img903/4180/e6c1e8.jpghttp://imageshack.com/a/img537/3609/8f862c.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/3137/b60233.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img539/6002/eed3f4.jpg

TEXT WRITTEN WITH PILOT 78G (BROAD NIB) IN CHEAP NOTEBOOK

http://imageshack.com/a/img901/9422/5dade0.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/2600/4ca031.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img743/9849/e46cf5.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/5769/f14f73.jpg

DRY TIMES

http://imageshack.com/a/img907/7385/b34495.jpg

WATERPROOF (photos)

Before "immersion"

http://imageshack.com/a/img539/6163/1132d9.jpg

Floating on the water

http://imageshack.com/a/img908/7724/229549.jpg

After immersion

http://imageshack.com/a/img746/3487/b773f1.jpg

After one minute

http://imageshack.com/a/img674/963/481172.jpg

After five minutes

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5142/20fbd9.jpg

After one hour

http://imageshack.com/a/img742/8254/bb7634.jpg

Fading

I took xero paper and draw this:

http://imageshack.com/a/img674/718/cec853.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img661/9930/b73644.jpg

I'm going to cut it in two parts. One hald will stay in casy drawer, the other on windowsill. I'll scan them in one month to see the result.

SUMMARY

I like GvFC inks. Two of these collors are among my all time favourites, namely MOSS GREEN and HAZELNUT BROWN. COBALT BLUE is really nice, well behaved ink. The thing is I'm more into deep-stormy-sea green-blue inks. STONE GREY is OK. As I don't like black inks there was just no chance CARBON BLACK would impress me. GARNET RED puzzles me. It's dry. It's boring and dull. It has flow issues. it's like it was made by some other producer. This ink is really bad - you can easily find cheaper inks of similar color that behave better.

Anyway I hope GvFC will make some new inks. I'll defintely check them. I would love to see their Orange ink.

What's your opinion? You can choose few inks from the poll.

[Ceelo]

I think you picked a winner with the Moss Green, it's fantastic. Great job putting all this information up, it's a really useful future reference.

[Chrissy]

I have Cobalt Blue and one day I'm going to treat myself to Moss Green

Edited July 20, 2014 by Chrissy

[The Blue Knight]

Thanks for the review, I was tempted to buy cobalt however I don't think know it is very different to the inks I already own.

[KaB]

lovely review!

when, one day, I finish my own blend of green, I might very well shift to GvFC moss

[whichwatch]

Very nice review. I first found this ink when I stopped by Dromgoole's in Houston and decided to try a bottle. They didn't have the blue, so I bought the Carbon Black because I prefer water resistant inks for writing checks and addressing envelopes. Had I seen your review first, I certainly would have bought the Moss Green. What a terrific color!

 

Thanks for a really nice presentation of these colors.

[plumista]

THANK YOU for your comprehensive and really very useful comparisons and comments!

 

GarnetRed (Granatrot in original German version, RojoGranate en español) is..., well..., how could I say it politely..., I do not recommend it either. The mentioned reasons are very good reasons (it´s dry, it´s weird-behaved), so, although I do like the colour and the beautiful shading... try some other similar maker. For me, it will become a "not for fountain pen" ink, and its probable fate will be its use with a fine brush as a watercolour option.

 

The MossGreen is another story: a true winner, I love it.

 

StoneGrey (Steingrau, GrisPiedra) is a true grey, same highest quality as Sailor, and in my opinion a better ink than Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun (less saturated and more bluish).

 

plumista

[lowfiwhiteguy]

Garnet Red looks terrible, and isn't even the colour of garnet. Pelikan Edelstein Garnet absolutely nails the colour, I recommend that one 100%

[napalm]

I ain't voting any. I find them as inspiring as the Wancher inks previously reviewed.

[migo984]

Garnet Red looks terrible, and isn't even the colour of garnet. Pelikan Edelstein Garnet absolutely nails the colour, I recommend that one 100%

Isn't personal experience and taste fascinating. I have a bottle of the Edelstein Garnet and really dislike it. It's wishy-washy and very dry in my pens. But despite feeling dry from the nib it seems to take ages to dry on the page. It looks like dried blood when it finally does dry. An individual's colour perception plays a huge part in ink preference and although these reviews are so very useful and much appreciated I still prefer to try inks out myself. And it's a very good thing that we all like different inks otherwise our writing would be boringly generic.

[I.M.]

To save myself the expense of buying a whole bottle before trying I bought myself a pack of Cobalt Blue cartridges a while back. I like blues, and I'm still searching for the one and only true blue. When I tried this blue I liked it. BUT a few months later I found some notes made with this ink, and it has not aged well at all, in fact it looks awful -- kind of bloated or something. I wouldn't put it down to the paper, the other inks used on the same paper looked fine.

 

I've been ogling the stone grey for some time now, but I think I'll get some cartridges first and then wait a while after using before forking out for a whole bottle. Stone grey gets my vote here.

[Cyber6]

Awesome review and comparison.... As Always..

 

I found it very interesting that Brown leaves a blue tint behind on the paper when washed out... Cool!!!

[raging.dragon]

Good inks and great bottles. What's not to like? The GvFC inks are very strong for a new line.

 

Moss Green is my favourite and the only one I've bought so far. Cobalt Blue is nice, and I might pick up a bottle, but it would irresistable if it had better water resistance.

[SujiCorp12345]

That Moss Green looks great.

[Morbus Curiositas]

Hello nice work again.... Is there a way to get an automatic message eacht time you post?

 

Not a fan of Blacks and greys either. But i became some black Kaweco cartidges and some times I like it.

 

Funnily I love the brown and the green ink the most too... Must have a softspot for those colours

 

Greetz

 

Peter

[VivienR]

Great review! Well, I'm keeping my eye on Hazelnut Brown, but admittedly Moss Green looks interesting too.

[amberleadavis]

Moss Green is amazing. You may convince me to to try that brown.