New Inks: Elixir Colorist Collection

[Tom Kellie]

[inkstainedruth]

 

 

The reason I was posting the prices wasn't about the absolute price of each bottle in any given country, but that the manufacturers are finding sales success with luxury lines of ink, at higher prices than their regular ink.

 

The difference between the Edelstein inks and the LE MB inks (and also this new line) is that most of the Edelstein colors are really different from the standard Pelikan inks. Ditto for the Iroshizuku line vs. the standard Pilot ink colors (which are basically, black, blue and blue-black). I don't have enough experience with Sailor to be able to say if the same thing is happening with that brand (although I'm not overly enamored of them switching to really little bottles if that is indeed the case.

As for these? Meh. I tend to like more saturated inks. While the pix posted are useful, though, IME swabs don't give as true a color as an actual written sample.

And as for the brand overall (at least the inks -- I don't buy into that whole "precious resin" snob factor BS; I dropped a Pelikan M405 on the bathroom floor this morning and it, well, is fine -- if it had been a MB, though, the pen might have toast...). I like MB Lavender Purple. And I picked up a bottle of Leo Tolstoy LE before it went away, just because I happened onto it, and it's not bad a color (although I don't use it a lot). The other MB inks I've tried, though, did not impress me -- Midnight Blue was sort of flat (and *very* dry), and while I know a lot of people say that Toffee Brown is a go-to ink for them, I don't happen to like red leaning browns. I was tempted by the Beatles LE ink last winter, and actually walked around Fountain Pen Hospital with a box in my hand for five or ten minutes. And then I put it back and bought a bottle of Platinum Classic Lavender Purple instead, because that ink was WAY less expensive and because I tend to like iron gall inks.

Apparently there is a school of thought amongst some ink manufacturers -- "Hey, if we only sell it in little bottles the customers will go through it faster and have to buy more!" Up against this mindset, though, are people like me, who would much rather buy a sample first and then (if I like the ink) buy a BIGGER bottle as being more cost effective -- not to mention taking up less room overall (and less of a PITA to recycle).

Although I liked the suggestion about "Hey, if they want to sell more ink, make wider nibs so people go through the ink faster!" -- even though I'm one of those people that really prefers F nibs.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amcityink]

Have to agree. Maintenance costs are why I finally traded in my beloved Mercedes for a Lincoln.

 

Me too, Mercedes after 4-5 years are a money pit... got rid of mine and have a Volvo.

[amcityink]

This reminds me of Martin Guitars putting out a platinum set of Strings for $40.00.... Most strings cost between $5 - $15.00... I fell for the market of them lasting longer, feeling softer and bought a set... ping broke two strings in the first week.

[Cyrille81]

Just a little writing sample comparaison between the Elixir Azure and the Unicef:

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ Cyrille:

 

The comparison image above is highly useful.

Yes, the Montblanc UNICEF is indeed very saturated.

The turquoise hue of the Montblanc Elixir Azure shows very well in your Miles Davis M nib.

Thank you so much for preparing and posting this comparison photograph.

Tom K.

[meiers]

Cyrille, your medium nibs are magnificent!!!

The ink comparison and your detailed description is an eye-opener for me.

And I enjoy reading the French text.

[Tom Kellie]

~ I've been looking for any post showing the Elixir Colorist Violet de Cobalt used for writing.

Have I somehow overlooked such a post? If so, how does it look when written?

Cyrille's post showed the Azure and Michael R.'s post showed the Pourpre.

Has the Violet de Cobalt attracted less attention?

Is it significantly different from Montblanc Lavender Purple and Montblanc The Beatles Psychedelic Purple?

Tom K.

[Cyrille81]

 

~ I've been looking for any post showing the Elixir Colorist Violet de Cobalt used for writing.

Have I somehow overlooked such a post? If so, how does it look when written?

Cyrille's post showed the Azure and Michael R.'s post showed the Pourpre.

Has the Violet de Cobalt attracted less attention?

Is it significantly different from Montblanc Lavender Purple and Montblanc The Beatles Psychedelic Purple?

Tom K.

 

 

I have the intention to buy it but for the moment the Elixir inks seems really hard to find them so I'm waiting my local reseller receives it to buy it. I think the ink is really close to the Psychedelic purple and the difference will be in the saturation. The ink seems less saturated as with Azure and UNICEF. The Pourpre doesn't attract me a lot so it is not in my wish list for the moment.

[Tom Kellie]

I have the intention to buy it but for the moment the Elixir inks seems really hard to find them so I'm waiting my local reseller receives it to buy it. I think the ink is really close to the Psychedelic purple and the difference will be in the saturation. The ink seems less saturated as with Azure and UNICEF. The Pourpre doesn't attract me a lot so it is not in my wish list for the moment.

 

~ Cyrille:

 

It's useful to know that the Elixir Colorist inks tend to be less saturated.

The Violet de Cobalt interests me as I've seen so little information about it.

If you're able to acquire a bottle, I'll be interested in knowing how it writes in one of your outstanding pens.

Thank you for your reply.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Montblanc Elixir Ink Trio

[Tom Kellie]

~ Michael R.:

 

As promised to you (above) five months ago.

Tom K.

Montblanc Elixir Colorist Pourpre

[Tom Kellie]

Montblanc Elixir Parfumeur Wood & Tobacco Grey

[Tom Kellie]

Montblanc Elixir Calligraphy Black

[Michael R.]

@Tom K.

what a nice reminder to use this great ink again :-)

Also thank you for showing the black ink comparison. I yet have to wait to try those inks.

I still have not tried the scented orange and gray Elixir inks!

Cheers

 

Michael

[inkstainedruth]

You dont understand. This is precious ink. Made with precious water. In a precious bottle. Its all very precious, you see...

 

Catching back up this thread so I'm behind in reading posts (about a year and a half behind).

Is that "precious" as in saying "Oh aren't you 'precious'?" which is "southern" for "You are too stupid to be alive" (Meaning MB of course...). [being a Northern girl, I'm the type of person who will call a spade a damned shovel -- and just outright TELL MB "You are too stupid to be alive!" I don't have time to waste on niceties and "genteel" manners.

Someone earlier in the thread said that other brands are doing the same thing with the price jack-ups. And that may be true. But I bought TWO Pelikan M405s for roughly the same price as ONE MB149 (which is too big and heavy a pen for me anyway). And frankly, I think they hav better nibs than my friend's MB 146 (but then, the Parker 45 I found in the wild for $10 US plus sales tax has a better nib than his 146 did...).

I do have two bottles of MB LE ink -- Leo Tolstoy and the Beatles Psychedelic Purple. And I like them. And one regular bottle of Lavender Purple. And I like it. But I'm not buying into the name-brand hype. I spent many hours trying to find a new purse recently that had the functionality I needed in a reasonable size and still be leather and not be some giant tote bag, and have it be an affordable price. (And not have the straps fall apart after a year and a half like the last one I bought...). So I spent many hours trailing around the local-ish outlet mall and was absolutely appalled. A couple of the "luxury" brand outlet stores? Even at 70% off I couldn't find a Coach or Kate Spade purse that did what I wanted -- let ALONE find one for under $200 (and mine you -- that was WITH the 70% off discount ). I guess people do. I'm not one of them.... I eventually trailed around some other stores near me, and found one in Gabe's or Steinmart for around $45 including sales tax that I'm not completely thrilled with, but it will do. At least the straps aren't thin material over some sort of padding -- they're plain strips of leather; not overly well finished on the edges of the straps, but at least they won't shred the way the old one did. No idea what "brand name" is on it (and don't care); purse was made in India.

It's not, like dapprman said last year "Stuff from Japan is more expensive here than there for the "luxury" brands like Iroshizuku. Yes, it IS more expensive but it's still cheaper than MB inks. And frankly, for the most part, Iroshizuku is better ink -- and I say this as someone who will never buy a bottle of Asa-Gao at any price because for me it was drippy and the color was not awe-inspriring for an ink that expensive; and I know there are people on here who say "it's my go-to blue..."; well maybe for you it is, but not for me....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tom Kellie]

@Tom K.

 

what a nice reminder to use this great ink again :-)

 

Also thank you for showing the black ink comparison. I yet have to wait to try those inks.

 

I still have not tried the scented orange and gray Elixir inks!

 

 

~ Michael R.:

 

You're clairvoyant!

After using and liking Montblanc Elixir Parfumeur Wood & Tobacco Grey, I'd been thinking about Elixir Parfumeur Cuir Orange Brown.

It may be time to give it more thought.

The Elixir Calligraphy Black ink is strikingly well-behaved. Such a deep black!

Tom K.

[eangelo]

~ Michael R.:

 

As promised to you (above) five months ago.

Tom K.

Montblanc Elixir Colorist Pourpre

Tom K. Thanks! I was curious about this ink!