Franklin - Christoph Urushi Red

[visvamitra]

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/3941/5Lb5cU.jpg

Franklin-Christoph is one of fairly new pen makers. I had three of their pens and they were all good writers. The company is headed by Scott Franklin and operates from North Carolina. I like company's approach to clients (sales directly to us) and they're designs.

Franklin-Christoph offers not only pens but also notebooks, pen cases, wallets and inks. I was huge fan of Olde Emerald from first generation of their inks. It used to be my favourite ink for a while. At the moment however the bottle's long gone and I keep fond memories of this exceptional writing fluid.

I was surprised to hear they've stopped producing first generation of their inks, especially after I took a look at new colors. First generation colors were rather unique, second generation colors are rather generic. And that's not an advantage to my eyes. Being boring in ink market may be safe when you're Pelikan or Sheaffer, but for smaller player it's risky. Just my opinion.

Sample of Urushi Red was sent to me by Mmg112 - thank you Mary

The color has interesting dark brick hue that I find attractive. On some papers it'll look more brownish than red.

Flow: the flow is good but I would say it's not something I would describe as very wet ink. I'm not sure I would like to use it in drier pens.

Saturation: average. It's not heavily saturated ink.

Lubrication: fine. Nowhere near Sailor inks.

Drying time: rather reasonable. 10-15 seconds on Rhodia, 5 – 10 seconds on absorbent paper.

Clogging issues: None experienced.

Feathering: some feathering was experienced on Leuchtturm and Moleskine, but only with stubbed nib. It may be that the nib has some sharp places that cut through paper just a bit. None feathering was experienced in Gama Airborne and Kaweco Sport nibs.

Bleedthrough: visible on low quality, absorbent paper

Ink splash

Drops of ink on kitchen towel

Software ID

Oxford, Kaweco Sport Classic, B

Maruman, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib

Rhodia, Lamy AL-Star, medium nib

Leuchtturm1917, Lamy Al-Star, medium nib

[ManofKent]

Nice review. I can't decide on whether or not I like the heavy shading.

 

Thank you.

[white_lotus]

Looks nice.

[senzen]

Awesome review, much appreciated; very pretty ink.

[zaddick]

Thanks for the review. I have liked this color since it came out. It looks great paired with tamenuri urushi pens.

[Bhavna]

Beautiful red, great review.

[visvamitra]

Thanks, it's good ink. I'm nor crazy about it, but I consider it well engineered.

[dms525]

I like this color a lot. However, I have had it loaded in a couple pens for a few months. Over this time, the ink has changed to a less red, more brown color. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

David