Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'robert oster 1980'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • FPN Community
    • FPN News
    • Introductions
    • Clubs, Meetings and Events
    • Pay It Forward, Loaner Programs & Group Buys
  • The Market Place
    • The Mall
    • Market Watch
    • Historical Sales Forums
  • Writing Instruments
    • Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop
    • Fountain Pen Reviews
    • Of Nibs & Tines
    • It Writes, But It Is Not A Fountain Pen ....
    • Pen History
    • Repair Q&A
  • Brand Focus
    • Cross
    • Esterbrook
    • Lamy
    • Mabie Todd Research/Special Interest Forum/Group
    • Montblanc
    • Parker
    • Pelikan
    • Sheaffer
    • TWSBI
    • Wahl-Eversharp
    • Waterman
  • Regional Focus
    • China, Korea and Others (Far East, Asia)
    • Great Britain & Ireland - Europe
    • India & Subcontinent (Asia)
    • Italy - Europe
    • Japan - Asia
    • USA - North America
    • Other Brands - Europe
  • Inks, Inc.
    • Inky Thoughts
    • Ink Reviews
    • Ink Comparisons
    • Co-Razy-Views
    • Th-INKing Outside the Bottle
    • Inky Recipes
  • Paper, and Pen Accessories
    • Paper and Pen Paraphernalia
    • Paper & Pen Paraphernalia Reviews and Articles
  • Creative Expressions
    • Pen Turning and Making
    • Pictures & Pen Photography
    • The Write Stuff
    • Handwriting & Handwriting Improvement
    • Calligraphy Discussions
    • Pointed Pen Calligraphy
    • Broad (or Edged) Pen Calligraphy

Blogs

  • FPN Board Talk
  • Incoherent Ramblings from Murphy Towers
  • The Blogg of Me
  • FPN Admin Column
  • Rules, Guidelines, FAQs, Guides
  • Musings on matters pen
  • Marketing & Sales
  • Iguana Sell Pens Blog
  • Newton Pens' Blog
  • Peyton Street Pens Blog
  • holygrail's Blog
  • A Gift For Words
  • I Don't Have a Name; So This Will Do
  • Karas Kustoms' Blog
  • Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal
  • Sus Minervam docet
  • Crud!
  • Clut and Clutter
  • Federalist Pens

Calendars

  • Pen Events Calendar

Product Groups

  • FPN Pens
  • FPN Inks
  • FPN Donations
  • Premium/Trading/Retailer Accounts

Categories

  • Fonts
  • Tools & Software
  • Rules for Notepads & Paper

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Found 6 results

  1. InkShift - Robert Oster 1980 Opal Green to Honey Bee Just for the fun of it, I decided to do a project exploring what happens when you move progressively from one ink colour to another. For now, I'm restricting myself to inks from the same manufacturer - mainly to avoid nasty chemical surprises. My hope is that some of these "inkshifts" result in interesting colours that I can use to write/draw with. And besides... it's just fun to watch one ink colour morph into another one. Opal Green and Honey Bee are two inks from the Robert Oster 1980 series that I didn't like too much. Opal Green is just not my type of colour, and Honey Bee is too light to write with. Both are great for drawing, but for writing they didn't strike a chord with me. That makes them ideal candidates for an InkShift. You never know whether some interesting mixes turn up. In the span between the two starting inks, some interesting grass-green colours can be found. I personally like the mix with 1 part Opal Green and 1.5 parts Honey Bee... quite a nice one. One word of warning: Honey Bee is a chameleon ink: yellow under artificial light, sepia with daylight (and under the scanner). The same can be said for the "Honey Bee"-leaning mixes: under artificial light you get yellow-green colours, in daylight (and with the scanner) these look more like moss-green. I really enjoy these ink morphing experiments, the results are often surprising and a lot more interesting than the original inks. Loads of fun!
  2. namrehsnoom

    Robert Oster 1980 - Opal Green

    Robert Oster 1980 – Opal Green Robert Oster is an Australian ink maker that is well-known for its unique range of colours. With this mini-series he gives us a conglomeration of colours inspired by the anything goes world of the 1980s. The inks include muted pastel-type colours along with some eye-popping disco-style hues. Definitely an interesting series. In this review I take a closer look at Opal Green - a blue-leaning mint-green. To be honest, not my type of colour. But this won't stop me from doing an objective review. The ink feels a bit dry in my Lamy Safari test pens, which is not unusual for a Robert Oster ink. Nevertheless, it still works well with all nib sizes - even the finer ones - providing good contrast with the paper. Opal Green shows excellent shading, which becomes more prominent with broader nib sizes. To show you the impact of saturation on the ink's look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles on Tomoe River 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. As you can see, Opal Green moves from a pastel-like mint-green to a much darker bluish green. The contrast range is rather broad, but there is no harsh contrast between the light and darker parts. This translates to soft shading, which I find aesthetically pleasing. Like most Robert Oster inks, Opal Green has zero water resistance. Short exposures to water completely obliterate the text, leaving next to nothing on the page. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography. The chroma clearly shows the dominating presence of blue in this ink. It's definitely a green though and never a teal, but the blue presence is really very prominent. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with an M-nib Lamy Safari Origin of the quote, written with a wet Pelikan M101N with F-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Lamy) Opal Green behaves well on most paper types. You get a tiny bit of feathering on the lower quality papers (Moleskine and the copier paper). With the lower quality paper you also get some bleed-through, but never excessively so. The ink dries quickly around the 5 second mark (with the M-nib Lamy Safari). The ink shows truly elegant shading, even with finer nibs. White paper seems to work best for Opal Green - it doesn't look nearly as good on the yellowish papers in my test set. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen: a wet-writing Pelikan M101N Grey Blue with F-nib. As you can see, Opal Green can handle all nib sizes without a problem. With the wet pen, the ink shows a saturated bluish green, moving away from the mint-green you get with the drier pens. Related inks To compare Opal Green with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. I specifically added Pelikan Edelstein Jade to the grid. This is another ink I don't like at all - more of a blue leaning to the green, with Opal Green being a green leaning to the blue. Neither ink colour works for me - if you want to be a teal, you should boldly go all the way, not this "I’m not sure what I am" type of colour. Inkxperiment - isolation With every review, I try to create an interesting drawing using only the ink I'm working on. Limiting myself to one ink allows me to showcase its colour-range nuances. For me, this is the fun part of every ink review. Inspiration comes from the current COVID19 crisis, which forces us to be extra careful, practice social distancing, interact online instead of in person. A side effect is a feeling of remoteness... each person an isolated bubble in the sea of humanity. For this drawing I reached once again for my favourite medium: HP photo paper. I started by drawing the bubble, and adding some texture to it (using a plastic sheet with holes, and a kitchen sponge). I then added the isolated person, and used different water/ink ratios to draw in the radial spikes outside the bubble. The resulting drawing gives a good indication of what can be achieved with this Opal Green ink. In my opinion, this Robert Oster works really well as a drawing ink. I quite like the end result. Conclusion Robert Oster 1980 Opal Green is a strongly blue-leaning green ink (definitely not a teal, more of a mint-green). The ink works well with all nib sizes, and shows really elegant shading. It has some minor feathering problems with lower quality paper, but nothing really worrisome. I really liked this ink for drawing, but as a writing ink it's definitely not my type of colour. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types
  3. namrehsnoom

    Robert Oster 1980 - Bass Straight

    Robert Oster 1980 - Bass Straight Robert Oster is an Australian ink maker that is well-known for its unique range of colours. With this mini-series he gives us a conglomeration of colours inspired by the anything goes world of the 1980s. The inks include muted pastel-type colours along with some eye-popping disco-style hues. Definitely an interesting series. In this review I take a closer look at Bass Straight - a heavy-shading medium soft blue that is a bit green-leaning without becoming a teal. The colour is comfortable to the eye for both reading & writing, and it deviates enough from a standard blue to become interesting. I quite like the looks of it. For a Robert Oster ink, this one feels well-lubricated, and it lays down a wet and well-saturated line even with my dry Safari pens. The ink also works well with finer nibs - although you lose some of its nice shading. Overall, a good writing ink that I enjoyed using. 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 Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Bass Straight has a medium tonal range, ranging from a light blue to a dark medium blue. Nevertheless, there is quite some contrast between both ends of the spectrum, making this ink a fairly heavy shader. When writing with broader nibs, shading is very present, but remains pleasing to the eye. You definitely notice that you're writing with a fountain pen! Like most Robert Oster inks, Bass Straight has zero water resistance. Short exposures to water completely obliterate the text, leaving next to nothing on the page. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography. The chroma shows an intriguingly complex mixture of dyes, and you can also clearly see the underlying green that moves this ink slightly towards teal terrain. All this translates to an interesting medium blue writing ink that I find quite appealing. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with an M-nib Lamy Safari Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Lamy) Bass Straight behaves perfectly on most paper types, with no visible feathering. It even worked surprisingly well with the notoriously bad Moleskine paper, which is quite a feat. With the Moleskine paper I got a tiny amount of bleed-through, but nothing too bad. Saturation and contrast are really good across all paper types in my test set. The ink also shows some nice shading, even with finer nibs. All in all a very pleasing writing experience. Personally I prefer the ink on pure white paper. With more yellowish paper, I feel the ink starts moving a bit too much towards teal territory. I guess the yellow colour of the paper shines through the blue ink, resulting in a bit too much green for my liking. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen: a wet-writing Parker Sonnet with F-nib. As you can see, Bass Straight can handle all nib sizes, and even shows a bit of shading with the EF-nib. Saturation & contrast are very good across the complete nib-range, making it a fine writing ink. Related inks To compare this Bass Straight with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. When seen next to a real teal like iroshizuku ku-jaku it is totally clear that Bass Straight is a blue ink. But it's still a bit more green-leaning when compared with e.g. Callifolio Omi Osun. Inkxperiment – thunderstorm With every review, I try to create an interesting drawing using only the ink I'm working on. Limiting myself to one ink allows me to showcase its colour-range nuances. It's often quite a challenge, but always great fun. For this drawing inspiration comes from a thunderstorm that recently passed over town, filling the air with lightning and a feeling of static electricity. I started with a piece of cardboard paper (a Fellowes binding cover), that I wetted with water-diluted ink applied with a brush through a piece of paper kitchen towel. I then painted in the little cottages on the still wet paper, and drew in the lightning & static electricity patterns in the sky with my medium-nibbed Safari. The rain-spatters in the foreground were drawn in with a Q-tip dipped in Bass Straight. When the painting was almost dry, I added the final details like doors&windows, outline of the houses, the paveway in the foreground and the trees. The resulting little picture gives you a good idea of what can be obtained when using Bass Straight as a drawing ink. Conclusion Robert Oster 1980 Bass Straight has a nice medium-blue soft colour with enough complexity in its dye composition to make it interesting. It really excels as a writing ink, capable of handling all paper types and nib sizes. I especially liked the fairly heavy shading, that never gets too harsh but remains pleasing to the eye. The ink is also a fine one for use in a more artistic setting. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types
  4. namrehsnoom

    Robert Oster 1980 - Grey Seas

    Robert Oster 1980 - Grey Seas Robert Oster is an Australian ink maker that is well-known for its unique range of colours. With this mini-series he gives us a conglomeration of colours inspired by the anything goes world of the 1980s. The inks include muted pastel-type colours along with some eye-popping disco-style hues. Definitely an interesting series. The centerpiece of this review is Grey Seas, a toned-down grey-blue with definite purple undertones. This pastel-style dusty blue certainly fits my taste - the colour is simply beautiful. The ink provides good contrast with the paper, even in finer nibs. Like many Robert Oster inks, this one feels rather dry and definitely needs a wet pen or broader nib to gain decent lubrication. 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 Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Grey Seas goes from a faint purple-blue at the light end of the spectrum, up to a much darker grey-blue at the most saturated part. The purple undertones are strongly present, especially in the swab. The broad tonal range indicates that this is a strong shading ink. For my personal taste, shading is even a bit too strong and harsh, with too much contrast between the light and darker parts of the text. Like most Robert Oster inks, Grey Seas has zero water resistance. Short exposures to water completely obliterate the text, leaving next to nothing on the page. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography. The chroma clearly shows the purple & cerulean-blue components of the ink. You can also see that the dyes migrate away with water, and that only some faint light-purple smudges remain on the paper. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with an M-nib Lamy Safari Origin of the quote, written with a wet Parker Sonnet with M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Lamy) With the writing samples, Grey Seas exhibits some technical shortcomings. The ink seems to be prone to a small amount of feathering. This typically happens on the lower quality printing paper, but I also noticed a small amount of feathering on some high quality paper, like OCM vellum paper. Drying times are in the 5 to 10 second range with my M-nib Lamy Safari. Contrast with the paper is excellent and easy on the eyes. I don't like the way Grey Seas interacts with more yellowish paper - it just doesn't look good. In my opinion, this is an ink to use with pure white paper. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen: a wet-writing Parker Sonnet with M-nib. As you can see, Grey Seas has no problem with even the finest nibs, exhibiting some shading even with the EF-nib. This ink is a really heavy shader. For my tastes shading is even a bit too pronounced - I prefer more subtle shading myself. Related inks To compare Grey Seas with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. Inkxperiment – waiting for the princess With every review, I try to create an interesting drawing using only the ink I'm working on. Limiting myself to one ink allows me to showcase its colour-range nuances. It's often quite a challenge, but always great fun. Inspiration for this inkxperiment comes from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Frog Prince". I started off with a piece of 300 gsm rough watercolour paper, on which I painted the background using water-diluted ink. Next I used some Q-tips dipped in 1:2 diluted Grey Seas to stamp in the trees and paint in the castle. I then used a Q-tip with a bit of ink to darken up the foreground. For the frog prince I used my Lamy Safari pens and pure Grey Seas. Finally I used a Q-tip with heavily water-diluted ink to add some texture to the path leading up to the castle. The resulting drawing is only so-so, but it does give you an idea of what can be achieved with Grey Seas as a drawing ink. Conclusion Robert Oster 1980 Grey Seas gives you a beautiful muted grey-blue colour with strong purple undertones. Unfortunately this ink has some shortcomings, the most serious of which is its tendency to feather on a number of papers. Grey Seas also needs pure-white paper - it doesn't look good on more yellowish paper. This is an ink you need to combine with the right pen and paper - if you do so, you are rewarded with a really good-looking muted grey-blue. But make the wrong choice, and you will probably be disappointed. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types
  5. namrehsnoom

    Robert Oster 1980 - Honey Bee

    Robert Oster 1980 - Honey Bee Robert Oster is an Australian ink maker that is well-known for its unique range of colours. With this mini-series he gives us a conglomeration of colours inspired by the anything goes world of the 1980s. These inks fit my personal preferences: muted pastel-type colours with great shading. In this review I take a closer look at Honey Bee - a yellow-orange-sepia chameleon of an ink. This ink substantially changes colour depending on the type of lighting. It's more of an orange-sepia colour in daylight, but a dark yellow under artificial light. Honey Bee is not a bad name, given that honey comes in a broad colour range, that is nicely captured by this ink. The ink feels dry - and I mean really dry - in my Lamy Safari test pens, and even in wetter pens with fine nibs. Saturation is also relatively low, meaning that you need wet pens to take full advantage of this ink. All this doesn't sound very promising, I know. But pair this ink with broad nibs in a wet pen, and the result looks really nice. And for drawing, this ink simply looks gorgeous. 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. As you can see, Honey Bee is quite faint at the lower saturation end, but reaches a much darker sepia-brown colour when fully saturated. The colour remains dusty and muted across the saturation range, which I personally like. To prove the chameleon quirks of this ink, I took a photo of the same saturation sample under artificial light. Here the ink transforms into a dusty dark yellow. Compare this to the more orange-sepia tones of the saturation sample above (my scanner uses light with a daytime colour temperature). To be honest, I personally prefer its nighttime appearance under artificial light. Like most Robert Oster inks, Honey Bee has zero water resistance. Short exposures to water completely obliterate the text, leaving next to nothing on the page. This is also apparent from the chromatography. Smudging is not a problem though - which is what I typically care about. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with an M-nib Lamy Safari Origin of the quote, written with a Kaweco Sport with M cursive italic nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Lamy) Honey Bee is a well-behaving ink on most paper types, with no visible feathering. The ink dries quite quickly around the 5 second mark (with the M-nib Lamy Safari). The ink reacts weirdly with Moleskine paper, but works just fine with the other paper types in my test set. Due to the yellow-orange colour, the ink works best with pure white paper. Personally, I don't really like its looks on more yellowish paper. As can be seen from the quote origin texts written with an M cursive italic, Hoeny Bee works best with broader nibs or wet pens, where saturation improves, and the horrible dry-ness more or less disappears. I also show the back-side of the different paper types at the end of the review. No troubles there, except with the Moleskine paper, which shows significant bleed-through. All in all, a well-behaving ink (if you avoid the Moleskine where the chemistry gets weird). Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a couple of visiting pens. The ink's shading really starts showing up once you go to M-nibs or broader. With wet pens, the ink becomes much more saturated, while still keeping its toned-down muted appearance. Personally I think Honey Bee should only be used in wet pens with broader nibs. Below is a writing sample on Paperblanks journal paper, showcasing the difference between a Lamy Safari M-nib (dry pen) and a wetter-writing Kaweco Sport with M cursive italic nib. With the wetter pens, saturation and dryness are no longer a problem. Related inks To compare Honey Bee with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. Inkxperiment – radiant madonna As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. Limiting myself to one ink allows me to creatively showcase all its colour-range nuances. It's often quite a challenge, but always great fun. For this drawing I started off with HP Premium photo paper. I created a background by pressing the photo paper on a water-soaked kitchen towel on which I splashed some ink. Next I used pure Honey Bee to paint in the subject. The radiant halo surrounding the madonna was added with Q-tips and different water/ink ratios. The resulting mini-picture gives you an idea of what can be achieved with this yellow-orange Honey Bee as a drawing ink. Conclusion Robert Oster 1980 Honey Bee is a pastel-toned yellow-orange-sepia chameleon, that mostly excels as a drawing ink. Personally, I didn't care much for its chameleon nature, which results in a completely different look under day- or artificial light. The ink also has technical issues, being dry and undersaturated. You really need wet pens and broader nibs to get a good-looking result. Overall, I'm not impressed by this ink - I've seen nicer ones with better behaviour. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types From idea to drawing Although Honey Bee disappoints as a writing ink, I found it to be a beautiful ink for drawing. In this appendix to the review, I'd like to give you a bit of insight into my drawing setup & process. This inkxperiment was born with some doodles, started during a lazy weekend-afternoon. I liked parts of different doodles, so I decided to combine them. I'm really bad at drawing, so I put together parts of different doodles on my computer, printed out the result, and used a light-box to transfer the resulting pic to the HP photo paper. The photo paper was already prepared with a Honey Bee background, created by pressing the paper on a water-soaked kitchen towel to which I added some splashes of ink. After finishing the Madonna picture with a fine brush and pure Honey Bee, I used Q-tips to draw in the radiant halo with multiple water-ink ratios. The end result is the inkxperiment drawing. Oh... and to protect my writing desk, I use a plastic kitchen placemat (white backside up) as a drawing surface - no accidents yet ;-)
  6. namrehsnoom

    Robert Oster 1980S - Dusky Pink

    Robert Oster 1980s - Dusky Pink Robert Oster is an Australian ink maker that is well-known for its unique range of colours. With this mini-series he gives us a conglomeration of colours inspired by the anything goes world of the 1980s. These inks fit my personal preferences: muted pastel-type colours with great shading. In this review I take a closer look at Dusky Pink, a dim muted purple with a definite vintage feel. The ink feels sub-lubricated in dry pens like the Lamy Safari. Saturation is very low here, but there is still enough contrast with the page to make for easily legible writing. What this ink really needs is wet pens and broader nibs. It will then reward you with a beautiful well-saturated - but still toned-down - purple colour that exhibits great shading. Simply superb! 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. As you can see, Dusky Pink is quite faint at the lower saturation end, but reaches a much darker purple colour when fully saturated. The colour remains muted across the saturation range, which I personally like. The ink has a definite vintage vibe to it. Like most Robert Oster inks, Dusky Pink has zero water resistance. Short exposures to water completely obliterate the text, leaving next to nothing on the page. The chromatography seems to suggest that a faint rose-red residue remains, but don't let this fool you. What is left on the page after water damage is completely unreadable. Smudging is not a problem though - which is what I typically care about. I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with an M-nib Lamy Safari Origin of the quote, written with a Pelikan with M cursive italic nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Lamy) Dusky Pink is a well-behaving ink on most paper types, with no visible feathering. The ink dries quite quickly around the 5 second mark (with the M-nib Lamy Safari). For some reason, Dusky Pink reacts weirdly with some types of paper, a.o. the Moleskine and HP printing paper. Here the ink looks just sick ... ugh! As can be seen from these writing samples, Dusky Pink looks at its best with broad nibs or wet pens, where you get nicely saturated writing with beautiful shading. I also show the back-side of the different paper types at the end of the review. No troubles there, except with the Moleskine and Generic notepad paper, which show significant bleed-through. All in all, a well-behaving ink (if you avoid the few papers where the chemistry gets weird). Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a couple of visiting pens - a TWSBI VAC mini with M-nib, and a wet-writing Pelikan with an M cursive italic nib. The ink's shading really starts showing up once you go to M-nibs or broader. With wet pens, the ink becomes much more saturated, while still keeping its toned-down muted appearance. Personally I think Dusky Pink should be combined with wet pens and broader nibs. Below is a writing sample on Paperblanks journal paper, showcasing the diffence between a Lamy Safari M-nib (dry pen) and a wet-writing Pelikan with M cursive italic nib. For me personally, the writing with the wet Pelikan looks simply great. Related inks To compare Dusky Pink with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. Dusky Purple fits nicely with my other muted purples, and is different enough to warrant its own place. Inkxperiment - zen at the lake As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. For me, this brings quite some extra fun to the hobby, and these single-ink drawings present a real challenge at times. With these small pictures, I try to give you an idea of what the ink is capable of in a more artistic setting. For this drawing I started off with HP Premium photo paper. I then painted in a background with heavily water-diluted ink. Next I used Q-tips and multiple ink/water ratios to draw the lake. The horizon line, and the rowing boat were painted with pure Dusky Pink. As a final touch, I added the pine trees on the mountain slope with a B-nibbed Lamy Safari filled with Dusky Pink. The resulting mini-picture gives you an idea of what can be achieved with this muted purple as a drawing ink. Conclusion Robert Oster 1980s Dusky Pink is a pastel-toned muted purple that totally fits my personal tastes - no wonder I like it ;-) Be aware that the ink looks quite unsaturated when using dry pens, and shows sub-par lubrication in fine nibs. Pair this ink with a wet pen and broader nibs, and the result is pure joy. In my opinion, Robert Oster produced a fine ink with this one. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types





×
×
  • Create New...