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L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Itzamna L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Itzamna, one of several ochre-coloured inks in the Callifolio series. In Maya mythology, Itzamna is the name of an upper god and creator deity thought to reside in the sky. An interesting name for a fountain pen ink – let’s see whether the ink is as great as its name suggests. I started with my usual Lamy Safari pens (M and B nib), which are fairly dry writers – with these pens Itzamna was not fun at all … very dry and scratchy. Ugh! Time to switch to wetter pens, in my case a TWSBI Vac Mini (M-nib) and a Pelikan M400 with M-nib. With these wetter pens, Itzamna wrote much better, and presented itself as a beautiful writing ink. Callifolio Itzamna is a kind of orange-brown that shades nicely, and has just enough contrast on the paper to be easily readable. But remember – you have to use wet pens to get a good experience. Not an ink for the workplace, but a splendid ink for journaling. The ink is also a great choice for drawing, with a colour palette that ranges from orange-brown all the way to a much more saturated brown. To show you the impact of saturation on the ink’s look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Itzamna behaved perfectly. There is hardly any smudging visible. Water resistance is also quite good – even after longer exposures to water, the text remains perfectly readable. This is clearly apparent from the bottom part of the chromatography. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on many different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain pen (TWSBI Vac Mini)The name of the paper used, written with a broader pen (Pelikan M400 M-nib)A small text sample, written with theTWSBI Vac Mini M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with TWSBI Vac Mini M-nib)Itzamna behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. The only exception is the Moleskine paper, where the ink looks really ugly, and exhibits noticeable show-through and bleed-through. Drying times are mostly around the 5 to 10 second mark, so this is a quick-drying ink. At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. Conclusion Callifolio Itzamna is a nice orange-brown ink, that is a great choice for personal journaling. I really like the ink’s gorgeous colour. For a Callifolio ink, water resistance is astonishingly good – a pity this is not a business-type colour you can use in the workplace. A real bummer is that this ink requires wet pens, so you have to be selective about the pens you ink up with this. This costs the ink some points in my score-book! If you can live with this, Itzamna is a real good-looking ink that is a pleasure to use. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Oconto L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review, I take a closer look at Oconto, one of the many blue inks of the Callifolio series. Their blue inks are named after bodies of water, so this one is presumably named after the Oconto river in Wisconsin, USA. Oconto turns out to be a very nice blue ink, that looks real businesslike. And yet, it has a tiny bit of a green streak, which gives it just that little extra to stand out from the crowd. I consider it a wonderful ink for use at work – the ink grabs the eye, yet is classical enough not to get frowned at in a business setting. I love it! The ink is also a great choice for doodling and drawing. I was pleasantly surprised by the way it looks in some of the doodles I made with it. A splendid type of blue! Not that the ink doesn’t have its flaws. I found it to be a bit too dry and undersaturated in EF and F nibs. With these finer nibs, the ink’s lovely colour and subtle shading fail to materialize, resulting in too flat a look. But starting with M nibs, the ink really takes control of the paper, and becomes a classic beauty. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – there is some of the blue dye that rubs off, but the text itself remains basically untouched and very readable. Even better, accidentally spilling some water on your notes is not a problem. You can just dry it off with a paper towel, without much impact on the written word. This becomes clear from the droplet test, where water is dripped on the grid, and left there for 15 minutes. Running tap water does more damage to the text, but the remaining residue of your writing remains perfectly decipherable. Oconto definitely has a rather good water resistance, which is great for an ink used at the office. Keep in mind thought that this is not an archival ink – so it’s not completely waterproof! I have tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper, I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Callifolio Oconto behaved perfectly on all the paper types I used, with no visible feathering on the lower quality papers in my test set. It even looks great on Moleskine paper – if an ink manages that feat, it can definitely cope with the lower quality paper that’s typically found in an office setting. Drying times are on the short side in the 5 to 10 second range – another plus for an ink you use at work. At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on all paper types. Only with Moleskine did I notice a tiny bit of bleed-through. Conclusion Callifolio Oconto from L’Artisan Pastellier is a robust blue ink, that is really well suited for a business setting: the ink has a classic look, is surprisingly water-resistant and is quick drying. All qualities that are greatly appreciated in an ink you want to use at the workplace. Oconto also has a tiny bit of a green undertone, which results in a blue colour that’s just that bit different from a standard blue. As such, it will draw the eye, without being too playful. If you’re looking for a business ink, this one will surely fit the bill (and it’s a nice variation from the staple blue-blacks that are often seen in this setting). The ink is also a fine choice for personal use. I especially enjoyed using it for doodling & drawing – great colour! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with a Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

Ink Shoot-Out : iroshizuku tsuki-yo vs Callifolio Oconto Over the past few years I've acquired a taste for dusty, murky and quirky inks - perfect for personal journaling, but not always suited for a more formal setting. Blue-blacks are a staple for use at the office, and always a safe choice. But when you want something a bit more daring, you just might reach for blue inks with a little bit of a green undertone. Two inks in this category are Pilot iroshizuku tsuki-yo and L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Oconto. Tsuki-yo is my go-to ink in this category, but recently I noticed that Oconto is another player on this field. Time do to a detailed comparison, and find out which of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where heavyweight inks do battle to determine who is the winner. In the left corner - the Japanese king of the ring: Pilot iroshizuku tsuki-yo. In the right corner, the challenger from southern France, L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Oconto. Which champion will remain standing at the end of the fight ? Let's find out... Round 1 - First Impressions Both inks certainly are attractive liquids, that are quite a home in a more formal business setting. Both are also just slightly off-blue, with a tiny bit of a green undertone. In writing, they look quite similar, but there are some differences:Tsuki-yo is a bit greener than Oconto, which is quite evident in swabs, but less so in normal writing.Oconto is definitely less lubricated than the Japanese ink, it writes a bit on the dry side with noticeable feeback from the paper.Tsuki-yo is a bit more saturated than the French ink. This is also most apparent in the swabs.On first impression I preferred the slightly less green appearance of Callifolio Oconto. On the other hand, the Japanese ink clearly is the better writer with superior lubrication and saturation. In a sense - I was torn between the two, and found myself wishing for the best aspects of the two: the colour of Oconto, and the lubrication/saturation of tsuki-yo. As such, this round ends in a draw. No clear winner emerges. Round 2 - Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. Iroshizuku tsuki-yo wrote like a dream, with very good ink flow and lubrication, and leaving a well saturated line. In contrast, Callifolio Oconto is much less lubricated, and feels much drier. This is especially noticeable with the EF nib. The Callifolio ink needs broader nibs for a satisfying writing experience. Colourwise both inks look very similar in writing, although there is definitely more of a green undertone in the iroshizuku ink. Both inks also shade nicely, without too much contrast between light and dark parts. This aesthetically pleasing shading gives more character to your writing. For this round, the focus is on writing, and here the Japanese ink clearly has the upper hand, with undeniably superior flow, lubrication and saturation. A solid win for Pilot iroshizuku tsuki-yo. Round 3 - Pen on Paper This round allows the batlling inks to show how they behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : FantasticPaper, Life Noble, Tomoe River and Original Crown Mill cotton paper. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib.Both champions did well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? For this judge, the choice is clear. Tsuki-yo has a very consistent look and feel across the paper types. In comparison, Oconto looks much more washed-out and undersaturated. I really like how tsuki-yo makes the most of the paper, and manages to look good no matter which paper you use. Callifolio Oconto tries its best, but cannot compete. Being much less saturated, it has trouble to make the paper shine. So for this round, tsuki-yo clearly has the upper hand and is granted the victory. Round 4 - Ink Properties Both inks have drying times at around the 10 second mark on the Rhodia paper. But at this point, the similarity ends. On the smudge test, where a moist Q-tip cotton swab is drawn across the text lines, the Japanese ink clearly shows its lack of water resistance with significant smudging of the text. This gets confirmed in the droplet test. I dripped water onto the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes, after which I removed the water with a paper kitchen towel. With iroshizuku, a blue mess results, with barely reconstructible writing. Oconto on the other hand shows itself to be a very water-resistant ink ! This is an ink you can take down the trenches. The Japanese opponent is completely obliterated (figuratively speaking, but also quite literally). The chromatography shows that tsuki-yo leaves a bluish residue that is almost indistinguishable from the smudges that detach from the paper. Oconto on the other hand leaves a firm blue fingerprint of your text - only the more greenish undertones of the inks get flushed away when coming into contact with water. For this round, the Callifolio ink is clearly the superior, and delivers a resounding knock-out to its Japanese opponent. The crowds are cheering! Round 5 - The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and allow for some nice effects when using a water brush. I really enjoyed using them.For drawing, iroshizuku tsuki-yo has the advantage though. For one, the more greenish undertones make it the more interesting ink for drawing. And its low water resistance makes it a really great ink when used with a water brush to obtain watercolour-like effects. Callifolio Oconto also looks good, but for drawing, its strong water resistance is more a drawback than an advantage. This is of course a purely personal judgement, but for this round the Japanese ink gets the judge's favour, and is granted victory. The Verdict Both inks are beautiful, slightly off-blue inks that are a great choice for a more formal setting. I love them both. But counting the points, the story is clear: iroshizuku tsuki-yo wins three rounds, while its French opponent manages only one win. This fight clearly has a definite winner : iroshizuku tsuki-yo remains the king of the ring !

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Byzance L'Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L'Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review the spotlight is on Byzance, one of the many blue inks of the series. Callifolio blues are typically named after bodies of water, but in this case the naming seems to refer to the old Greek city at the banks of the Bosphore river. It should come as no surprise that both Callifolio inks (Byzance and Bosphore) are quite similar. Byzance is a quite nice blue-grey ink, that shifts character with the light. In some conditions it looks bluish, with different lighting you see almost a true dark grey. Myself - I don't consider blue-blacks boring at all, and I truly appreciate this ink's appearance. You could almost consider it as a blue-black that has faded with time. The ink is nicely saturated and works well with all nib sizes. Even with finer nibs, there is good contrast with the paper. There is some subtle shading present, which requires broader nibs to become clearly visible. I like the narrow shading range, resulting in not too much of a contrast between the light and dark parts in the line. The result is aesthetically pleasing. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - Byzance exhibits some smearing, but without impact on the readability of the text. Water resistance is quite low though - all the colour quickly dissipates, leaving only a faint greyish ghost image. The good thing is that this ghost image remains just readable, so you will be able to reconstruct your writing. Overall though, this is NOT a water-resistant ink by any definition. I have tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I'm using a new format to show you the ink's appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Callifolio Byzance behaved perfectly on all the paper types I used, with a very consistent look across the different paper samples. Drying times are also quite short at about the 10 second range on most papers, even on smooth paper like Tomoe River.At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on all paper types. Only with Moleskine did I notice a tiny bit of bleed-through. Conclusion Callifolio Byzance from L'Artisan Pastellier is a really nice blue-grey ink, that behaves exceptionally well on all paper types. A pity about the poor water resistance - this would otherwise be a great ink for use at the office. Byzance has a bit of a faded look, resulting in a vintage feel. The ink looks like a blue-black that has faded with time. If you like blue-blacks (or in this case blue-greys), this ink will be right up your alley. Try it ... I’m sure you'll like it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

Lgsoltek suggested earlier a CRV to compare some of our inks. There is a fear that some might been mislabeled in the past. Let's try to get to the bottom together. My samples of Bleu Méditerranée, Atlantique and Equinoxe 6 on Leuchtturm and Clairefountaine with relatively similar broad and wet nibs. The colours are consistent with the samples I received earlier. On Clairefountaine it's somehow hard to tell the difference between the BM and BA, but I can assure you that in reality the differences are striking. Now I can understand my constant fear that I filled a pen with the wrong ink whenever I reach for the Méditerranée. These are relatively fresh samples and I noticed there is some colour shift while the inks mature on paper. ORF RAW exported through the Lightroom, no adjustments.

The L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks I have stumbled upon are among the best regarding performance and of most interesting colours. Bleu Méditerranée is my favourite, although Atlantique and Equinoxe 6 are not far behind. Two different wet pens (BB and flexible F) on Leuchtturm. The shading, purity of the blue colour and the warm glow can be enchanting. It may not be suitable for official documents but I am ready to stand my ground. The ink is also extremely shy and well behaved and it stays on paper exactly where it should, without spreading and messing around. Bleu Méditerranée on Clairefountaine, Xerox Performer, Leuchtturm and Moleskine. The ink behaves exceptionally on all papers. Samples a and f were written with rather wet pens (BB and M/B). Surprisingly, the lines in the Moleskine notebook and on the Xerox copy sheet are still clearly defined and the colour stays pleasantly vibrant. Usually, colours on these two papers become flat and dull. The greater spread and feathering in b, c, d and e can be attributed to the extremely wet flexible pen which leaves puddles of ink. It took well over three minutes for the three-stripes to dry on Clairefountaine and Leuchtturm. Again, the performance of the ink on my super absorbent papers is way better than most I have ever used. It's rather an extreme setup but shows how brilliant the ink is and illustrates well the advantages of paper designed for the use with fountain pens. Callifolio Bleu Méditerranée is clearly exceptional but I can't really recommend it to everyone for two reasons: possibly insufficient lubrication and relatively low saturation. The ink appears dry and may make a pen feeling scratchy. Lower saturation will leave washed out colours in pens with more restricted flow. However, if someone likes the performance of Diamine Registrar's or Salix but strives for more exotic blue it's a great option.

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Noir L'Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L'Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Noir - the black ink of the Callifolio line. It seems every inkmaker feels obliged to have a black ink in its collection, and L'Artisan Pastellier is no exception. In my opinion they shouldn't have bothered... there are already enough black inks on the market. On the other hand Callifolio inks were designed to be freely mixed, so this black could probably be used in your own mixes to darken up some other colours (that's one rabbit hole I haven't dived into yet ;-) Noir is not a deep black but more of a very dark gray, which is especially noticeable in swabs. I found the ink to be undersaturated in the finer nibs, with an unpleasing aesthetics as a result. Below this review you'll find writing samples in different nib widths. It's only with broader nibs that the ink starts to look nice with some subdued shading. With fine nibs, the text looks really bland and uninspiring. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - Noir exhibits quite some smearing, but the text itself remains readable. This ink smudges easily. Combined with a rather long drying time, this means you have to be extra careful while writing. Definitely not an ink for lefties. The ink has almost no water resistance. With a 15-minute soak in still water, the text is completely obliterated, leaving an undecipherable mess. Running tap water provides a better result. The ink detaches almost completely from the paper, but a faint greyish ghost image of your writing remains that can still be read quite easily. I have tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I'm using a new format to show you the ink's appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an F-nib fountain pen (Pelikan M200)The name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an F-nib (Pelikan M200)Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the F-nib)Callifolio Noir behaved perfectly on all the paper types I used, with only some very minor feathering on the lower quality papers in my test set (Moleskine and HP 80gsm printing paper). Drying times are fairly long in the 20-25 second range on most papers, with up to 30 seconds on the smoother papers like Tomoe River. In my opinion, this makes the ink useless as an everyday writing ink because you have to be too careful with regard to smudging. At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on all paper types. Only with Moleskine did I notice a tiny bit of bleed-through. Conclusion Callifolio Noir from L'Artisan Pastellier is a not so great black (or should I say dark grey) that has too many shortcomings to be considered a good ink. Drying times are way too long which results in easy smudging of your writing. The ink also looks bland and uninteresting in the finer nibs, only showing some character with broad and stub nibs. If you're looking for a black ink, you should look elsewhere. There are lots of better blacks on the market. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Pelikan M200, F-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks have been around for many years but don't seem to attract much attention in the English speaking community. I guess that we have too much to choose from. Several months ago, namrehsnoom published the most extensive and exhaustive review of Bleu Atlantique: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/316800-lartisan-pastellier-callifolio-bleu-atlantique/. There is nothing new I can add, but since the ink quickly become one of my favourites I decided to post some additional pictures. I tested the ink on four different papers: Clairefontaine, Leuchtturm, Moleskine (of the worst kind) and Xerox Performer 80 gsm using some of my favourite wet writing pens. http://i.imgur.com/iBG1YBi.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Dtt3PJv.jpg Leuchtturm & Moleskine http://i.imgur.com/MXOhGfw.jpg Clairefountaine, Leuchtturm, Moleskine and Xerox. Although some feathering and line widening can be seen on the Moleskine and Xerox, they are not even close to be as bad as with a wet pen filled with most other inks I tried. I'd say that the ink behaves similarly well on some lesser quality papers as Salix, Pelikan Blue/Black and Pelikan Royal Blur but with a bit more lubrication. Ink characteristics Saturation: low to medium (great for shading) Lubrication: above average Feathering/woolly lines/bleed-through: low Flow: average Drying time: average Namrehsnoom gave it earlier A+ score. I'd go for A, simply because I found even better performance in another Callifolio ink. Anyway, either A or A+ are absolutely deserved. It is really hard to find an ink of interesting​ colour one can use almost without limitations on more absorbent papers.

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Violet L'Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L'Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review, Callifolio Violet takes center stage: a springtime light-purple ink obviously named after the violet flower (aka viola of the Violaceae family of flowering plants). You can also think of the colour of lavender if you prefer. Violet is a fresh, lively and primarily beautiful looking ink. The ink gives me a playful feeling - perfectly suited for this late spring / early summer season. It is not too intrusive though, and in my opinion not only suited for personal journaling but also well adapted for notetaking at work. Be aware that this is a reformulated version of the older Callifolio Violet, and a totally different ink than the one previously reviewed by visvamitra (no golden glitter in this incarnation of the ink!). As far as I'm concerned, this ink doesn't need a golden shimmer to shine. It's a beauty in its own right. The ink works well in all nib sizes but is a bit undersaturated in drier fine nibs. It shows some really nice shading in the broader nibs, from light to dark violet. I'm not a fan of too bold a shading (with a large difference between light and dark) - here the contrast between the light & dark portions of the text is obviously present, but remains subdued with an aesthetically pleasing look. I really like it ! This flowery ink really blossoms in wetter nibs where it leaves a much more saturated and darker-looking line, which looks amazing. Be sure to find a wet pen to use with this ink - you'll be well rewarded with the eye-pleasing result. Below you'll find a writing sample with my drier Safari M and B nib, compared to the wet golden M-nib of my Lamy Dialog 3. The difference is obvious On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - Violet behaved perfectly with almost no smearing. Water resistance is remarkably good ! This is the first Callifolio ink I've used that is nearly water-proof. A 15-minute soak in still water posed no problem at all. Running tap water caused some purplish smudging, but the text remained perfectly readable. This water resistance makes Callifolio Violet all the more suited for the workplace, earning an extra plus from me. The ink's water resistance is demonstrated clearly in the chromatography, which shows that most of the ink remains in place when coming into contact with water. It also clearly shows that this is a one-pigment ink. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I'm using a new format to show you the ink's appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Callifolio Violet behaved perfectly on all the paper types I used, without any feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are fairly short in the 5-10 second range on most papers. In my opinion, the ink looks best on true white paper, and is a bit less eye-pleasing on more yellow paper. I find it great-looking on the readily available Rhodia paper. At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on all paper types. Only with Moleskine there was a tiny bit of bleed-through - given that Moleskine is a notoriously bad paper for fountain pens, this was really surprising (in a good way). Violet is a really well-behaving ink. Conclusion Callifolio Violet from L'Artisan Pastellier is a wonderful ink, perfectly suited for late spring / early summer. I am really impressed by the ink's performance on different paper types, as well as its near-perfect water resistance. But primarily I am totally charmed by the ink's colour, which looks fresh & beautiful, but is still not too out-of-bounds for an office setting. A great-looking ink for any occasion ! You should really try it out for yourself ! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Téodora L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review the spotlight is on Téodora, one of the two green inks of the series (the other one being Olivastre). But where Olivastre is an awe-inspiring green, Téodora fails to woo me. The ink tries to be green, but has an off-putting blue tinge to it. In my opinion, the resulting colour just doesn’t work. If you want to be a teal – be boldly blue-green! Not this faint trace of blue that distracts from your green nature. To tell you the truth, Téodora is my first Callifolio ink that I dislike. Technically, Téodora behaved really well, with good performance and good contrast with the paper. The ink looks flat in an EF-nib, works well in F/M, and exhibits heavy shading in the broader nibs. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – the ink starts to show its weakness with heavy smearing of the text. Water resistance is near zeo, both on the droplet test (15 minute soak) and on the running water test. The colour completely disappears, leaving nothing of the words you’ve written. Not good! I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. . On every small band of paper I show you:An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Callifolio Téodora worked well with all the paper types, without any feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are fairly short in the 5-10 second range on most papers. The ink works well with both white and more cream-coloured paper. At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved well on all paper types, with the exception of Moleskine (which is a notoriously bad paper for almost all fountain pen inks). Conclusion Callifolio Téodora is a well-performing green ink, but one with a complete lack of water resistance. Well… I have other inks without water resistance that I still like. Unfortunately, Téodora is not one of them: in the looks department, I personally consider it a complete failure. The ink leans towards the blue, but fails to go all the way and become a real teal (and I happen to like bold blue-greens). In this case though, the ink stays stuck in ugly-land! I’m sure some people will still like the colour, but for me this is one ink that L’Artisan Pastellier could have done without. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Baikal L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Baïkal, one of the many blue-toned inks of the series. Callifolio’s blue inks get their name from seas, rivers and the like. Baïkal is no exception – it is named after lake Baïkal, a rift lake in southern Siberia. The lake’s age is estimated at 25 million years, making it the most ancient lake in geological history. The ink is aptly named – it is in essence a blue-black ink, but one with a faded and worn-out look. It feels old and ancient within a few minutes after writing. There’s also a bit of a purple undertone that provides a vintage feeling. At first, I almost dismissed this ink as yet another blue. But I quickly grew fond of that aged look, which makes your writing look like it’s decades old. Really nice, and sufficiently different from my other blues. Technically, Baïkal behaved very well, with good performance in all nib sizes and good contrast with the paper. The contrast with the paper is just right – with high contrast inks, a full page of text can look crowded and eye-searing. That’s certainly not the case with this ink. Baïkal flows well, but I found it a bit lacking in lubrication. Shading is almost absent in the finer nibs. It’s only with the broad and calligraphy nibs that you get some subtle shading. I personally like that the ink deals well with F and M nibs, which are my typical nib sizes. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Baïkal behaved very well with only minimal smearing. Water resistance is almost totally absent though. Reconstructing text after a 15 minute soak in still water might just be possible, but running tap water almost immediately obliterates your writing. There is less ink left on the page than you might infer from the chromatography. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. For this review I’ve added OCM Moyen Age to the paper mix. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Baïkal behaved perfectly on all the paper types, without any feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are fairly short in the 5-10 second range on most papers. The ink works well with both white and more cream-coloured paper. I really like the way it looks on Tomoe River paper. My personal favourite though is OCM Moyen Age – a more toothy paper with a name that matches the faded and worn-out look of the ink. At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on all paper types. Only with Moleskine there was very visible show-through and bleed-through. Baïkal is a really well-behaving ink. Conclusion Callifolio Baïkal from L’Artisan Pastellier is a well-performing ink that you might at first sight dismiss as just another blue. But look again, and you will see a really nice vintage-style ink with a faded and worn-out look. Your writing immediately looks as though it was written decades ago. Personally, I’ve grown really fond of it. If you’re into vintage-style inks, this one certainly deserves your attention. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Grenat L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Grenat, one of several purple inks of the Callifolio series. You might think that this colour gets its name from the gemstone. But this is no Edelstein, and the other purple Callifolio inks are named after elegant wines, so my guess is that this colour is also named after the produce of grapes. Grenat is a nicely saturated dark purple, that is at home both with fine and broad nibs. It writes well, and is nicely saturated for a Callifolio ink. Grenat also shows some fancy shading, but you need broader nibs to get the full effect. With fine nibs the shading is almost absent – you need to look closely to notice it’s still there. I personally like dark purple inks, and Grenat is one that doesn’t disappoint. This is an ink that stands out, and that is “conventional” enough to be used at work without getting strange looks. It also helps that the ink can handle cheaper paper well –no high quality journals to be found at the IT department where I work, only printing paper ;-) Like all Callifolio inks, this one is also great for doodling & drawing. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Grenat behaved really well. There is some smudging, but nothing that impacts readability. Water resistance is very low though. Only a faint purple-grey residue remains, as is also shown in the chromatography. What is left on the paper is still decipherable, but will require some detective work. This is not an ink to use when water resistance is high on your list. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Callifolio Grenat behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times with an M-nib are mostly in the 10-15 second range, even less on the very absorbent paper. I like the ink best on white paper, and it looks absolutely fantastic on Fantasticpaper (pun intended). If you haven’t tried this paper yet, you owe it yourself to hunt around for this notebook. That fantastic paper really brings out the best from a fountain pen ink ! I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved perfectly with almost all paper types. Only with the Moleskine paper, there was significant show-trough and some minor bleed-through. All in all a really well-behaving ink. Conclusion Grenat from L’Artisan Pastellier is a fine dark purple ink, that is suited for all occasions, and works with any paper you care to use it on. The ink writes nicely saturated even in finer nibs, and shows some pleasant shading in broader nibs. A great ink for note-taking at work – dark purples are conventional enough to be used in such a setting. I really enjoyed using this ink, and can heartily recommend it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Anahuac L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. This review focuses on Anahuac, one of several ochre-coloured inks of the series. Anahuac is said to signify “country by the waters” in Nahuatl, the old Aztec language. It is thought to refer to the great plateau valley in which the city of Mexico is located. Think of a heat-shimmering valley floor, with orange-brown sun-baked dusty basin. Anahuac has a really nice orange-ochre-brown hue, that works well with with all types of pen and paper. But the ink shows its soul mainly in the wetter pens, where it exhibits a darker tone and really fine shading. With wet pens, the ink writes with excellent flow and lubrication – a real pleasure to use. And contrast with the paper is also excellent – not always the case with ochre coloured inks that are often a tad too light for comfortable reading. The writing sample below used Lamy Safari (M and B-nib) as an example of a drier pen. The other text was written with my wet pens – a Parket Sonnet with F-nib and a Pelikan M400 with M-nib. Like all Callifolio inks, Anahuac is also great for doodling and drawing – with a colour-spectrum ranging from dark to light-orange ochre. Beautiful ! Technically, the ink behaved very well, with good performance in all nib sizes. It’s perfectly usable in an EF nib – although a bit on the light side - and starts to show some very aesthetic shading in M-nibs and above. I found the ink pleasurable to write with. Like stated above, if you give the ink a wet pen, it will reward you with great colour and performance. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Anahuac behaved perfectly, with almost no smearing of the text. Water resistance is a mixed story though. With the droplet test (a 15 minute soak with water droplets on the paper), a readable light-ochre residue remains which is still legible. Short exposures to running tap water are also OK, but with longer exposures the text rapidly becomes totally unreadable. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. For this review I’ve added Leuchtturm 1917 to the paper mix. I also used the wetter pens for the writing samples, instead of my usual Lamy Safari. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with my wet Parker Sonnet fountain pen (F-nib)The name of the paper used, written with a wet Pelikan M400 (M-nib)A small text sample, written with the Parker Sonnet F-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the F-nib Parker pen)Anahuac behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are on the long side in the 15-20 second range, except on some of the more absorbent papers. The ink looks fabulous on Paperblanks, which I use for daily journaling. In fact, it works really well with all of the paper types in my test set. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved very good with almost all paper types. Only with Moleskine and Graf von Faber Castell, there was significant show-trough and bleed-through. The swab with the 70gsm generic paper also resulted in some bleed-through. All in all a really well-behaving ink. Conclusion Callifolio Anahuac from L’Artisan Pastellier is a splendid orange-ochre ink that is equally at home with both writing and drawing. The ink has good contrast with the paper, and works well with all paper types. But do yourself a favour and use this ink with a wet pen – the ink will reward you with its soul, and your writing experience will be that much better. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

I didn't like or dislike this ink. The color is not very exciting; it is somewhat pale and has a washed out look - I rated the saturation as medium, but I'd probably revise it to medium-low. It looks like what I imagine aged red writing would look like. I think there are other red-browns that are much more interesting. But, it performs very well. It's a little bit on the wet side and very well lubricated. I didn't see any bleed-through, and there was only a tiny bit of feathering was on Original Crown Mill Laid Paper. The dry time is impressive at about 10 seconds. So, if you want an ink that is a bit less saturated and behaves very nicely, this is a good option. If you're looking for a stand-up-and-shout ink, this is probably not for you. Also, I like that Callifolio offers both a bottle and the pouch refills. (But can someone explain why the refill is 10 mL bigger than bottle? )

(P)ink Shoot-Out : Callifolio Andrinople vs Edelstein Turmaline Given that today is Valentines Day, I thought it would be fun to pitch a fight between two inks that are definitely up to the occasion. And what a surprise ! These turn out to be pink inks ! I’m not a pink ink person myself, but these inks crossed my path and somehow stuck in my collection. The inks entering the arena today are L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Andrinople and the Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year 2012 Turmaline. Both are really vibrant super-pink inks that I would normally dislike, but these two have a certain “je ne sais quoi” that turned my eye. The date being what it is, I thought it would be a perfect time to do a detailed comparison, and find out which of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where heavyweight inks do battle to determine who is the winner. In the left corner – la petite Française Callifolio Andrinople. In the right corner, das Deutsche Fraulein Edelstein Turmaline. Which champion will remain standing at the end of the fight ? Let's find out... Round 1 - First Impressions Both inks are an eye-searing super-pink. The inks pop from the page – pink and proud – waiting for some joyful writing or drawing. Both are lovely, but there are some differences: The Edelstein ink is more saturated, leaving a well-defined line when writing.Edelstein Turmaline is also very well lubricated, making your pen glide over the page. In contrast, Callifolio Andrinople writes much drier with noticeable feedback from the paper.Callifolio is a more reddish purple, which in my opinion looks more appealing. I like the fact that the colour is more subdued (if it’s possible to say this of a pink ink).Evaluating this round, I find that the French girl has the looks, the German girl the moves. In my opinion, this evens out. For this round, it’s the judge’s opinion that both champions are on par with each other, resulting in a draw. Round 2 - Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. Pelikan Turmaline wrote like a dream, with very good ink flow and lubrication, and leaving a well saturated line. In contrast, Callifolio Andrinople is much less lubricated, and feels much drier. It also has visibly lower saturation. The Callifolio ink needs broader nibs for a satisfying writing experience. Turmaline on the other hand writes perfectly fine even when using an EF nib. Colourwise both inks look very similar in writing, the reddish undertones of Andrinople becoming more apparent in the broader nibs. Both inks also exhibit some nice and classy shading. The shading is not very prominent – ranging from rose to pink – but it’s definitely present, and enhances the character of your writing. For this round, the focus is on writing, and here the German ink clearly has the upper hand. A solid win for Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline. Round 3 - Pen on Paper This round allows the batlling inks to show how they behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : FantasticPaper, Life Noble, Tomoe River and Original Crown Mill cotton paper. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib. Both champions did well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? Well – the choice is difficult and highly personal (almost a blonde vs brunette thing). In my opinion, Callifiolio Andrinople is the more beautiful of the champions – I find its more reddish appearance much more appealing. The only exception is with Tomoe River paper, where I prefer the looks of Edelstein Turmaline (on this paper it’s a really striking and vibrant pink). For this round, Andrinople gets the upper hand and is granted the victory. Round 4 - Ink Properties Both inks have drying times in the 20-25 second range on the Rhodia paper, with Andrinople the quickest-drying of the two. Both inks also do fine on the smudge test, where a moist Q-tip cotton swab is drawn across the text lines. There is some smearing, but the text remains perfectly legible. The smearing is more prominent though for the Edelstein ink. For the droplet test, I dripped water onto the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes, after which I removed the water droplets with a paper kitchen towel. Neither of the champions exhibits good water resistance – all that lovely pink writing just disappears, leaving only smudges ! The Pelikan ink leaves some traces of the original though, which might be reconstructed with a lot of patience. The chromatography shows that Turmaline leaves a greyish residue – as was apparent in the droplet test. You can also clearly see that Turmaline is a more intense pink, and one with a surprisingly complex chemical composition (notice the very water-soluble yellow and light-grey components at the top). With Andrinople, the chroma shows the more prominent existence of the red undertones. In this round, both inks show more or less the same behavior. Andrinople dries a bit quicker and is a bit more smudge-resistant. On the other hand, Turmaline is more soak-resistant (in comparison with Andrinople that is – both inks score very low for water resistance). There is no clear winner in this round. Round 5 - The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and the lack of water resistance allows for nice effects when using a water brush. I really enjoyed using them. Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline was easier to draw with using a fountain pen – no doubt owing to its better lubrication. When using a brush or dip pen, you won’t notice the drier feel of Callifolio Andrinople though. On the other hand, I really like the somewhat more reddish appearance of Andrinople. On the light side of these inks’ colour spectrum, they produce an almost identical light-rose colour. It’s only on more saturated parts that Turmaline shows it’s more pinkish nature. I really wanted a clear winner for this round, but in all objectivity I have to admit that both inks were on par with each other. Both inks dealt some good punches, but neither of them dominated the fight. I had a great time using them both ! So for this round, I have no other choice than to declare a draw. The Verdict Both inks are joyful, lively and vibrant pinks that are guaranteed to bring colour to your page. For writing – Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline is technically the superior ink. In the looks department, I definitely prefer Callifolio Andrinople myself. In this fight, both champions put on their best show, but in the end no clear winner emerges. So – as a first in this shoot-out series – I leave it up to you to pick your winner. If you prefer blondes, go for Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline. If you prefer brunettes, the French ink Callifolio Andrinople is an equally good choice. And in case you’re interested: my own vote goes to Callifolio Andrinople ;-) Postscriptum: in case you want to buy a bottle – be aware that Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline was a limited edition ink that is no longer produced. You can still pick up a bottle of Andrinople though, and use the occasion to explore some other Callifolio inks. I’ve done so myself, and never regretted it.

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Cassis L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review the spotlight is on Cassis, which presumably gets its name from the drink “Crème de Cassis” – a beverage distilled from blackcurrants, and also the favourite beverage of the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. If you’ve set your sights on a dark purple colour, you’ll be disappointed. In reality, Callifolio Cassis is a nicely saturated dark grey with subtle purple undertones. Cassis is a nicely saturated ink, that works well with all nib sizes. It can live perfectly with an EF nib, laying down a well-defined line that contrasts nicely with white or cream paper. In broader nibs it additionally shows some really classy shading. Nice ! The purple undertone is there, but very subtle. With normal writing it’s barely visible, but nevertheless it gives this grey a certain panache. Personally, I really like it. Like all Callifolio inks, this one is also great for doodling & drawing. Depending on the paper used, the purple undertones will show their appearance when using a water brush. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Cassis behaved acceptably. There is definite smearing, but the text remains very legible. Water resistance however is almost completely non-existent. The droplet test leaves only greyish smudges with a ghost image of the original lines. The test with running tap water washes away all the colour – leaving only a barely readable residue of the original text. This is not an ink to consider if you require some measure of water resistance. When using Cassis for drawing, the lack of water resistance can be a plus. As the chromatography clearly shows, there are purple tones hidden within the ink. With waterbrushing it’s possible to bring these purple undertones to the surface in your drawings. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Cassis behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times with an M-nib varied from 5 to 20 seconds, depending on the paper used. Surprisingly, the ink looks consistently similar across all paper types. The purple component is really apparent in the ink swabs – here you are reminded that this is not a pure grey. When writing the purple undertones are nearly invisible, but tantalizingly present, lifting this ink above a pure neutral grey. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved perfectly with almost all paper types. Only with the Moleskine paper, there was significant show-trough and some minor bleed-through. All in all a really well-behaving ink. Conclusion Callifolio Cassis is a really nice dark grey ink with subtle purple undertones. I found it a pleasure to use, both for writing and drawing. The ink works really well with finer nibs – leaving a well-defined and nicely saturated line with good contrast on the paper. I also liked the way the ink shades in the broader nibs. The barely noticeable purple undertones lift this ink above a neutral grey – personally I consider this a plus that provides some extra character to the ink. If you like grey inks, this one is certainly worth looking at. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Andrinople L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Andrinople, one of the purple inks of the series. Andrinople is a very lively reddish pink, that presumably gets its name from the famous dye “rouge d’Andrinople”, also known as Turkey Red. This colour, obtained from the root of the rubia plant, was widely used to dye cotton in the 18th and 19th century. Andrinople sure is an eye-catching colour – lively and happy – and absolutely very very pink. Wow… this is really pink ! No denying it. Definitely not an ink I would normally use for writing, and certainly not an ink for use at the office. And yet, for some strange reason, I kinda like it. It reminds me a bit of Edelstein Turmaline – also a reddish pink, and I had exactly the same relation with that one (not an ink I wanted to be caught with using it, but strangely attractive nevertheless). Although I won’t use this ink for writing myself (I’m trying not to be biased, but I can’t see myself writing in pink), I certainly can understand the appeal this ink could have for other people. And myself, I definitely like it for doodling and drawing. The ink is a pleasure to draw with, with hues ranging from a light rose over pink to purple-red. It really brings colour to the paper ! Technically, the ink behaved very well, with good performance in all nib sizes. It’s perfectly usable in an EF nib, and starts to show some very aesthetic shading in M-nibs and above. I found the ink pleasurable to write with. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Andrinople behaved acceptably. There is some smearing, but the text remains very legible. Water resistance however is totally non-existent. The droplet test leaves only some pink smudges. The test with running tap water washes away all the colour – leaving no readable residue on the paper. If you need some measure of water resistance in your ink, look elsewhere. When using a water-brush with doodling & drawing, you get a nice light-rose shading effect, while lines drawn with e.g. a dip pin are a nicely saturated dark red-purple. Like all Callifolio inks, Andrinople is a very fine choice for inky drawings. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Andrinople behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 5-10 second mark, so this is a rather fast-drying ink. The ink looks really vibrant on Fantastic paper, and also shines on Rhodia and Paperblanks paper. On Tomoe River – it disappointed a bit, remaining undersaturated. Andrinople looks good on both white and off-white paper. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved perfectly with almost all paper types. Only with Moleskine and Graf von Faber Castell, there was significant show-trough and some minor bleed-through. All in all a really well-behaving ink. Conclusion Andrinople from L’Artisan Pastellier is a very vibrant and eye-catching reddish-pink ink, that is great for doodling and drawing. Myself – I wouldn’t like to be caught writing with it, but I’m sure it will appeal to lots of other people (not trying to be sexist here, but I consider this more of a feminine ink colour, certainly for writing). I find the ink very appealing for doodling & drawing – an eye-catching hue that retains its watercolour-like appearance. Really nice ! The ink works well with all nib sizes, and shows some very nice and aesthetically pleasing shading in the broader nibs. Like most Callifolio inks, water resistance is close to zero. If you like pinky inks or if you enjoy doodling & drawing, this certainly is an ink to consider. I’m sure you will like it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

I know on occasion there is discussion of this brand, but I've never had the chance to try any of the inks until now. I received a sample of this ink and found it to be quite decent. L'Artisan Pastellier is a French company, and so I suspect their inks might be easy to obtain in the EU. Currently only Vanness carries them in the US afaik. They seem to have two lines: Classique and Callifolio. The former seems to be a more saturated, brilliant line, the latter more subtle. This is a nice professional or school blue. Not bright, but not as dark as a blue-black. A dark, muted blue. It's not super saturated, not meant to be water resistant, but might have a little. I liked this ink quite a bit. It has some nice gentle shading, reasonable dry times, and worked on all the papers I tried without problems. The color I got in my writing wasn't quite like what I see in the Vanness swab. A most unusual ink droplet for a blue. The inks come in 40ml bottle for $12, and a 50ml pouch for $8. Perhaps worth a try, especially if you haven't already built up an inky hoard. Pen: Edison Premiere (F-steel) Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory. Camera: iPhone 7

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Bleu Atlantique L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review the spotlight is on Bleu Atlantique, one of the many blue inks of the series. The blue Callifolio inks are named after rivers, lakes and oceans – this cerulean-type blue gets its name from the Atlantic Ocean (not the wild northern atlantic which in my imagination is more of a blue-grey, but the tropical one near Haiti – think of a mid-summer day on a lagoon beach). This is a really nice true sky-blue ink, without green undertones. I’m a big fan of such blues and colour-wise, Bleu Atlantique did not disappoint. I like it very much. There is of course no way to avoid a comparison with the two other well-loved cerulean-type blues – iroshizuku kon-peki and Pelikan Edelstein Topaz. Below is a small swab and writing comparison on Fantasticpaper. Bleu Atlantique leans more towards Topaz, but is a less saturated ink with a more watercolour-like appearance. Myself – I still think Topaz is the absolute king. But if you collect sky-blue inks, Callifolio Bleu Atlantique is definitely one you should get. Technically, the ink behaved very well. It’s rather dry in an EF-nib, but starting from F it wrote very smoothly. For a Callifolio ink, I also found it to be well-lubricated. The ink shows some really classy shading in the broader nibs, without too much contrast between the lighter and darker parts. Aesthetically very pleasing, and it definitely gives some extra character to your writing. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Bleu Atlantique behaved acceptably. There is some smearing, but the text remains very legible. Water resistance however is almost non-existent. The droplet test leaves only unrcognisable blue smudges. The test with running tap water washes away almost all the colour – only faint traces remain that are barely legible. If you need some measure of water resistance in your ink, look elsewhere. When using a water-brush with doodling & drawing, you get a nice light-blue shading effect. Like all Callifolio inks, Bleu Atlantique is a very fine choice for inky drawings. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Bleu Atlantique behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 10 second mark, with a low of 5 seconds on the more absorbent paper. The ink really shines on white paper where it looks lively and vibrant. In my opinion, it’s not a good ink for yellowish paper, where it looks sickly and underwhelming. My advice – stick to white paper with this colour. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is prominent show-through and a little bleed-through. With the other papers, Bleu Atlantique’s behaviour is impeccable. The ink copes really well with a wide variety of paper types. Conclusion Bleu Atlantique is a lovely sky-blue ink which looks best on pure white paper. The ink works well with all nib sizes, and shows some very nice and aesthetically pleasing shading in the broader nibs. Like all Callifolio inks, water resistance is low. If you love cerulean-type inks, you should definitely get this one. If you only need one ink of this colour-type – my personal advice is to go for Pelikan Edelstein Topaz. Nevertheless, this Callifolio ink is a great choice, and I enjoyed using it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Inti L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Inti, one of several ochre-coloured inks in the Callifolio series. Inti is named after an ancient Incan sun god, often represented as a golden disk with rays and a human face. An interesting name for a fountain pen ink – let’s see whether the ink is as cool as its name suggests. I’ve used the ink for more than a week in my daily journal (Paperblanks), with a TWSBI VAC Mini with an M-nib, which is a fairly wet writer. I immediately took a liking to the ink – the colour is superb, and fixes the main problem I had with Heure Dorée. That ink was just too light and too low-contrast for writing. Inti solves that : the ink is a more orangy ochre, with much better contrast on the paper. Definitely a splendid ink for journaling. And my personal impression is that Inti is rather well lubricated for a Callifolio ink, which is also a plus. Inti exhibits some very pleasant shading, especially in the broader nibs. I like that the shading is subdued, with not too much contrast between the lighter and darker parts. As with all Callifolio inks, Inti is a great choice for drawing, with a colour palette that ranges from light orange ochre to a much darker red-orange hue. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Inti behaved perfectly. There is hardly any smudging visible. Water resistance shows some curious behaviour. With the droplet test, where I leave water droplets on the ink for 15 minutes, the ink remained firmly attached to the paper. Running water however is not Inti’s friend – the colour washed away very quickly, leaving only faint light-brown traces of my writing. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on many different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Inti behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 5 to 10 second mark. I love the way the ink looks on Paperblanks paper. The ink also works surprisingly well with low-quality paper like Moleskine and generic notepad paper. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is a certain amount of show-through and bleed-through. The Graf von Faber-Castell paper also exhibits visible showthrough (this paper is a real Jekyll & Hyde – with some inks it behaves perfectly, with other inks it shows&bleeds like hell, and that for a 100 gsm paper – really strange). With the other papers, Inti behaved just fine. The ink copes really well with a wide variety of paper types. Conclusion Inti is a very pleasant orange-ochre ink with a fantastic colour. The ink is great for drawing, and works really well for personal writing. I enjoyed it a lot ! The ink is on the light side, but retains sufficient contrast with the paper. L’Artisan Pastellier produced a very fine ink with this one. An ink I will definitely include in my ink rotation. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Heure Dorée L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take apart Heure Dorée, by far the lightest ink in the Callifolio series. This ink takes its name from the famous “golden hour” – the period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky. This magic hour is perfect for photography, but unfortunately did not result in a perfect ink. Heure Dorée is way to light and unsaturated to be usable for normal writing. It might be tolerable with broad nibs in very wet pens – but I would choose an ink that’s a bit darker on its own like Cannelle or Inti. Like all Callifolio inks, it’s definitely suitable for ink drawings – but even then it’s on the light side. Technically, the ink behaves acceptably. But for most people it will just be too light, with too little contrast with the paper. With broad nibs it looks a bit more saturated, with heavy shading… but still too light for my tastes. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Heure Dorée behaved acceptably. Water resistance is low. The yellow component of the ink washes away rather quikly, leaving a very faint brownish residue. Writing can be reconstructed, but only with some serious effort. Definitely not a water resistant ink. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Heure Dorée behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 10 second mark, with a low of 5 seconds on the more absorbent paper. The ink looks way too light, and writing is difficult to read due to the low contrast with the paper. The ink swab on Tomoe River looks good – but that’s because the ink pooled heavily on this smooth paper, resulting in a darker than normal ink swab. Writing remains light with low contrast. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is very prominent show-through and bleed-through. With the other papers, Heure Dorée behaved just fine. The ink copes really well with a wide variety of paper types. Conclusion Heure Dorée is a light yellow-brown ink that’s just not made for writing. In my opinion, it’s too light and too low-contrast to make for an enjoyable writing experience. For drawing the ink works just fine, but remains on the light side. All in all, not an ink that I enjoyed using. I will still use it for drawing, but it will not find its way into my pens again. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Califolio - Botany Bay L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review the spotlight is on Botany Bay, one of the many blue inks of the series. The blue Callifolio inks are named after rivers, lakes and oceans – this blue-black liquid gets its name from the famous Australian bay. Visvamitra did an excellent review, but is not a fan: “the color is supposed to be deep blue/black. It isn’t. It’s a washed out greyish thing. Not really exciting.” Well… de gustibus non est disputandum. Me, I like the ink a lot lot lot ! Right up my alley. I love blue-blacks, I love greys, I love a vintage feel. This ink ticks all the right boxes for me. A vintage-y dark blue-grey. Yummie! Technically, the ink behaves rather poorly. It’s rather dry, and dries too quick on the nib. When left uncapped, I experienced hard starts after a minute or two. Not so good. Botany Bay exhibits prominent shading in the broader nibs. It is much more restrained in finer nibs, which I find more aesthetically pleasing. And since I typically use the finer nibs… lucky me ;-) On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Botany Bay behaved acceptably. Water resistance however is almost non-existent. All that lovely colour disappears very very quickly. A real shame. When using a water-brush with doodling & drawing, you get a nice blue-grey shading effect. Like all Callifolio inks, Botany Bay is a very fine choice for inky drawings. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Botany Bay behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 15 second mark, with a low of 5 seconds on the more absorbent paper. The ink is equally at home with both white and off-white creamy paper. When writing, the ink lays a dark blue/black line, that dries to a lovely blue/grey colour – a really nice and interesting effect. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is very prominent show-through and bleed-through. With the other papers, Botany Bay’s behaviour is impeccable. The ink copes really well with a wide variety of paper types. Conclusion Botany Bay is not your average blue-black. This ink should be taken at face value – it’s a lovely dark blue-grey with a vintage feel. The ink works well with all nib sizes, with really prominent shading in the broader nibs. Technically, this is not a good ink : it feels dry and is susceptible to hard starts when left uncapped for short periods of time. The ink also has zero water resistance. But me… I’m in love with the colour, and don’t mind these shortcomings. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Bleu Pacifique L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Bleu Pacifique, one of the many blue inks of the series. The blue Callifolio inks are named after rivers, lakes and oceans – this one gets its name from the Pacific Ocean. Bleu Pacifique is a really bright light-blue ink with a hint of green undertones. Think of a blue lagoon on a very bright day, with just a small shimmer of the green seabed coming through. A really nice and sunny colour. That being said – I personnaly prefer the true blue cerulean inks like Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, Pilot Iroshizuku kon-peki and Callifolio Bleu Atlantique. The ink writes well, with good flow, and is nicely saturated. Lubrication is surprisingly good for a Callifolio ink, with almost no feedback from the paper when writing. Bleu Pacifique is comfortable with all nib sizes – it even looks good and nicely saturated with an EF nib. The ink exhibits a pleasing unobtrusive shading with the finer nibs, and really robust shading with broader nibs. On the whole, a pleasing ink for writing, but a bit too bright for use in the workplace. Bleu Pacifique smudges easily, but the result remains very readable. On the water resistance front, we can be brief: this ink has zero water resistance. Even short exposures to water obliterate all of your writing. There is nothing left to read on the paper! This is a bit disappointing. When using a water-brush with doodling & drawing, you get a nice light-blue shading effect, that contrasts well with the inky lines. Like all Callifolio inks, Bleu Pacifique is a very fine choice for inky drawings. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)For this review, I have extended my test repository with two new papers: Original Crown Mill Vellum paper and Graf von Faber-Castell 100gsm notebook paper. Bleu Pacifique behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly around the 10 second mark, with a low of 5 seconds on the more absorbent paper. This is a quick-drying ink. The ink is equally at home with both white and off-white creamy paper. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is significant show-through and bleed-through. Surprisingly, the generic 70gsm notepad paper behaved really well with this ink. Another surprise, the Graf von Faber-Castell paper had lots of problems with show-through and bleed through - I didn’t expect this from a 100gsm paper type. On the other hand, the writing itself looks stunning on this paper. With the other papers, Bleu Pacifique’s behaviour is impeccable. The ink copes really well with a wide variety of paper types. Conclusion Bleu Pacifique is a very well-behaving ink on a wide range of paper, with surprisingly good lubrication for a Callifolio ink. The ink works well with finer nib sizes, and shows robust shading in the broader nibs. The lagoon-like colour is a very bright light-blue with a hint of green undertones. If you don’t like the green component, look at another ocean with Bleu Atlantique. I find Bleu Pacifique to be very enjoyable for doodling & drawing. For lasting writing it’s total lack of water resistance can be a problem though. Overall, Bleu Pacifique is a fine ink, but - in my personal opinion - looses some of its appeal because of the green undertone and the non-existent water resistance. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib

L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Olifants L’Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L’Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-colored inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens. Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolor-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling. In this review I take a closer look at Olifants, one of the many blue inks of the series. The blue Callifolio inks are named after rivers, lakes and oceans – this one gets its name from the Olifants river in South-Africa. Olifants not only has a cool name, it’s also a cool ink – a kind of blue-black with strong green undertones or a very dark teal. It’s a strange and unusual colour… I really have no other blue to compare it to. The ink writes well, with good flow, and is nicely saturated. Lubrication is on the low side, resulting in noticeable feedback from the paper when writing, especially with the finer nibs. Olifants is comfortable with all nib sizes – it even looks good and nicely saturated with an EF nib. The ink also exhibits a pleasing shading, even with the finer nibs. I typically use smaller nib sizes because of my small handwriting, so I appreciate an ink that shows character in EF/F nibs – Olifants definitely delivers. Olifants is smudge-resistant – there is very little spreading of the ink. The ink’s water resistance however is really low. With both the running tapwater test and the soak test almost all of the colour disappears and only faint greyish markings remain. These markings are still decipherable with some effort. But this is definitely not an ink to use for signing important documents. When using a water-brush when doodling & drawing, you get a nice light-blue shading effect, that contrasts well with the inky lines. Like all Callifolio inks, Olifants is a very fine choice for inky drawings. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I’m using a new format to show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on the different paper types. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturationAn ink scribble made with an M-nib fountain penThe name of the paper used, written with a B-nibA small text sample, written with an M-nibDrying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib)Olifants behaved perfectly on all the paper types, with no apparent feathering even on the lower quality papers in my test set. Drying times are mostly in the 10 to 15 second range, with a low of 5 seconds on the more absorbent paper. The ink looks really nice on the white papers in my test set, and is positively stunning with Fantasticpaper. Personally, I don’t care for the colour on the off-white, creamy papers – I find the combination rather unpleasant with such a pairing. I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine and generic paper, there is significant show-through and bleed-through. With the other papers, Olifant’s behaviour is impeccable. The ink copes really well with all paper types. Conclusion Callifolio Olifants is a very well-behaving ink on all types of paper, with a rather unusual green-blue-black colour – I have no other blue similar to it. The ink works really well with finer nibs, which is a big plus for me. I also find Olifants very enjoyable for doodling & drawing. Unfortunately, the ink only combines well with pure white paper, and is – in my personal opinion – rather unpleasant when paired with off-white creamy paper. A fine ink, but not one of my best.

Ink Shoot-Out : J.Herbin Poussière de Lune vs L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bourgogne Over the course of the past few years I have developed a taste for dusty, murky inks. Excellent colours for gloomy autumns and dark winter evenings... Two of the inks I love very much are J. Herbin’s Poussière de Lune and L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio’s Bourgogne. Both are nice dusty purples that fit very well with the autumn season. A perfect time to do a detailed comparison, and find out which of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where heavyweight inks do battle to determine who is the winner. In the left corner - the well-known J. Herbin champion – Poussière de Lune. In the right corner, also from France, the challenger from L’Artisan Pastellier – Bourgogne. Which champion will remain standing at the end of the fight ? Let's find out... Round 1 - First Impressions Both inks are wonderful murky purples. These are dark and moody inks, well suited to writing on gloomy autumn evenings. Count Vladimir Dracula would have loved them both, and so do I. There are some differences though: Poussière de Lune is much more saturated and lubricated – the pen flows over the paper and leaves a very well saturated line. Bourgogne writes drier with noticeable feedback from the paper. As a result, Bourgogne leaves a finer line with less saturation.Bourgogne is a darker purple with more grey-black undertones. This is a matter of personal taste, but I definitely prefer the darker purple of Bourgogne.Both inks appeal to me. Poussière de Lune is technically the better ink for writing, but colour-wise I really consider Bourgogne to have the edge. For this round, both champions are on par with each other. Let’s call it a draw. Round 2 - Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. J. Herbin’s Poussière de Lune wrote wonderfully, with very good ink-flow, and leaving a well saturated line. In contrast, Callifolio Bourgogne is much less lubricated, and leaves a consistenly thinner line on the paper. With normal writing, the colour difference between both inks is less apparent. Although Callifolio has more grey-black undertones, in everyday writing this is not immediately obvious. You need to look carefully to see the difference. Both inks also exhibit an aesthetically pleasing shading. Being dark inks, the shading is not very prominent – from dark to darker purple – but it is there, and gives extra character to the writing. For this round, Poussière de Lune clearly has the upper hand, and showed the best technique. A clear and definite win. Round 3 - Pen on Paper I added this round to indicate how the battling inks behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : FantasticPaper, Life Noble, Tomoe River and Original Crown Mill cotton paper. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib. Both champions did well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? In my opinion, Callifolio Bourgogne is the more able of the champions – It’s dustier and murkier on a wider variety of paper. The only exception is with Tomoe River paper, where I like the result of Poussière de Lune better. For this round, Bourgogne gets the upper hand and gets a win on points. Round 4 - Ink Properties Both inks have drying times in the 15-20 second range on the Rhodia paper. Both inks also do fine on the smudge test, where a moist Q-tip cotton swab is drawn across the text lines. There is some smearing, but the text remains perfectly legible. For the droplet test, I dripped water onto the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes, after which I removed the water droplets with a paper kitchen towel. Neither of the champions exhibits good water resistance – although with some patience you might be able to reconstruct the written word. Also Poussière de Lune leaves more of a purple mess on the page. The chromatography shows that both inks leave a greyish residue, with Poussière de Lune leaving more purple smearing. You can also see that Bourgogne is the darker of the two, with more grey-black undertones in the ink. Overall though – the chroma’s look very similar. In this round, both inks show more or less the same behavior, resulting in a draw. Round 5 - The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and the lack of water resistance allows for nice effects when using a water brush. But I must admit that I like L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bourgogne a lot better than J. Herbin Poussière de Lune. Bourgogne is much nicer to draw with, and has a much more pleasing dark dusty purple colour. The dark grey in this ink is what really makes it shine. In comparison, Poussière de Lune is too purple in appearance. This is of course a personal decision, but it is the judge’s conclusion that this round is clearly won by the more artistic ink – Callifolio Bourgogne. The Verdict Both inks find a proud place in my collection, and both are suitably gloomy inks for the dark autumn season. If you are in search of some dusty dark purples – no need to look any further. But counting the points, I find that L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bourgogne has a slight edge over J. Herbin Poussière de Lune. A fight needs a winner, and in this fight I grant the victory to Callifolio Bourgogne.