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Dr. J. has developed a new line of pearlescent inks. I received samples of India Blue* with each of the four "sparkly-effects": bronze, copper, gold and silver. DeAtramentis India Blue, dip pen, Clairfontaine photos taken with iPhone, no color correction For this "mini-review" of these 4 samples, I have used a dip pen and a Conklin Duragraph fountain pen with 1.1 stub nib. The papers I used included Clairfontaine, Tomoe River and Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper. This ink is a wonderfully saturated royal blue. Overall, the flow was wonderful - nicely lubricated with great flow. In addition to the sparkles, the color had some shading. The ink did need to be agitated frequently to see the full effect of the sparkles. Of the four "sparkly-effects", the most pronounced effect came from the bronze and copper samples, although the gold and, particularly the silver, were beautiful. I particularly favored (for the moment) the effect of the copper sparkles and have chosen that for the rest of my review. DeAtramentis India Blue Copper, Conklin Duragraph 1.1. stub pen, Tomoe River cream paper DeAtramentis India Blue Copper, Conklin Duragraph 1.1. stub pen, Tomoe River cream paper I left the ink, undisturbed, in the pen for a couple of days, then began to write. The Conklin Duragraph pen is a very easy pen and seems to like most inks. But the pen glided across the page with this ink. There was also no sign of clogging or "nib crud". The ink does require agitation to re-suspend the sparkly particles, however. Surprisingly, with such a saturated ink, there were no feathering, bleedthrough and even minimal showthrough on any of the papers that I used. DeAtramentis India Blue Copper, Conklin Duragraph 1.1. stub pen, Tomoe River cream paper I was surprised at how much I love the color of the ink with the copper sparkles, but all of the sparkles compliment the ink very nicely. And as a wonderful bonus, cleaning the sparkly ink from my pen was fairly easy - as easy as any highly saturated ink. I am excited to present these "mini-reviews" on the new DeAtramentis Pearlescent inks. This ink is worthy of the illustrious DeAtramentis name. * The name of the ink is DeAtramentis Indian Blue, not India Blue. My samples were labelled India Blue.

Dr. J. has developed a new line of pearlescent inks. I received samples of Cyan Blue with each of the four "shimmer-effects": bronze, copper, gold and silver. DeAtramentis Cyan Blue, dip pen, Clairfontaine photos taken with iPhone, no color correction For this "mini-review" of these 4 samples, I have used a dip pen and a Jinhao 450 with 1.1 stub nib. The papers I used included Clairfontaine, Tomoe River and Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper. Overall, the ink flow was excellent. In addition to the lovely shimmery effect, the ink shaded nicely. The ink did need to be agitated frequently to see the full effect of the shimmers. Of the four "shimmer-effects", the most pronounced effect came from the copper sample. I preferred, however, the more subtle effect of the silver shimmers. DeAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver, Jinhao 450 with stub nib, Tomoe River cream paper DeAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver, Jinhao 450 with stub nib, Tomoe River cream paper I left the ink, undisturbed, in the pen for a couple of days, then began to write. The ink does require agitation to re-suspend the shimmer particles. I also discovered that this ink does have some water resistant properties. DeAtramentis Cyan Blue Silver, dip pen on Clairfontaine paper, submerged in water for 10 seconds I do like the color of the ink and the silver shimmers compliment the ink very nicely. The ink does stain, however, and took a bit more effort to clean my pen afterward. But, the lovely effect is worth the little extra effort. This ink is made by DeAtramentis, and is worthy of that illustrious name.

I haven't written a review or posted a new review in a while, so I thought I'd go a little beyond what I used to do (and enjoy my new scanner I got for digitizing old Kodachrome slides, which happens to also scan about ten times faster than my old one …) http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/MtlGRx.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/BJ12xk.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/n7rYOT.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/909/MkBNqA.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/909/LhjoI7.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/wlUIP3.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/sjqrfx.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/OLx2q3.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/901/xZdVPz.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/Q7jTQe.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/D6K2gp.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/DhlZpO.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/lFZXhg.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/681l3g.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/kSPDNA.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/vVifeI.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/hGpCZO.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/674/cSdJfx.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/7S4aKx.jpg And some obligatory bottle shots. http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/631/WeE0Tx.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/K69BjR.jpg Stormy Grey's metallic component is much more mobile in the bottle, and as a consequence takes much less time to fully integrate by shaking the bottle. http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/746/ofYoGc.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/xWriyB.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/631/brfiaX.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/901/NXRtia.jpg There is some buildup in pens, but after a week of testing I haven't encountered one clog. http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/0lyll0.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/537/N9wYoS.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/ASpqS4.jpg While I think I still like Rouge Hematite more, this ink is a must buy. Well done to J. Herbin for making up for the disapopointment that was Bleu Ocean.