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Pelikan Edelstein Golden Beryl - Ink of the Year 2021 In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of high-end inks, available in a variety of colours. The theme of the Edelstein concept is the gemstone – each ink corresponds to the beautiful colour of a gem. The Edelstein line of inks is presented in 50 ml high-value bottles, that are truly beautiful, and worthy of a place on your desk. In this review the spotlight shines on the sparkling presence of Golden Beryl, the Edelstein Ink of the Year 2021. Golden Beryl is a limited edition ink, that will most probably be gone in the near future. I got my bottle fairly late in the year, but the ink is still easily available if you’re thinking about buying it before it’s gone. Golden Beryl has a fairly light yellow-orange colour with some added twinkle. For the first time, Pelikan introduced a shimmering ink in the Edelstein line. This Golden Beryl has gold shimmer added to it, and quite a lot of it too. The effect is that of ornamental writing in old manuscripts. Definitely not an ink for everyday use. To be honest, I’m not impressed by this ink. The yellow-orange colour is fairly light, although with better contrast on the paper than I expected. Unfortunately, you really need wet pens and broad nibs to get the best out of this ink – dry pens or fine nibs won’t do! The added glitter is very present, and only loosely bound to the paper. Once dry, the glitter comes off too easy… rub the paper, and you’ll find glitter all over your hands. That said, the choice of gold glitter for this yellow-orange ink is a good one – they blend well together. Personally, I’m not a fan of glitter in my inks. And without the glitter, this Edelstein has not too much going for it. As it stands, this is an ink that I only see myself using for greeting cards and the like. For this purpose, the 50 ml bottle will easily last you a lifetime. The chromatography shows the yellow & orange dyes, that are very water soluble. What remains fixed to the paper is the gold shimmer, and a faint blue-grey component. Based on this info, I didn’t expect any water resistance, and the water test at the end of this review confirms this. Golden Beryl is not an ink that can survive watery accidents. Golden Beryl writes well in broad nibs, with heavy shading and lots of glitter. It did not do well at all with dry pens and finer nibs. With dry pens, the ink exhibits subpar lubrication and feels fairly scratchy. Worse though is that the gold glitter easily clogs up the ink channel, stopping ink flow. I noticed this multiple times when using finer nibs, both with dry pens (Lamy Safari’s) and even with wet Pelikans. The minimum you need is an M-nib, but ideally you use this ink with a broad nib or even wider (BB and calligraphy nibs). As said before, this is more of an ink for ornamental writing, not really usable for everyday writing & journaling. 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 a piece of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Golden Beryl has a fairly wide colour span, ranging from a faint light-yellow to a much darker yellow-orange. This translates to heavy shading, which - combined with the heavy glitter - looks real good in calligraphy writing, but is much less at its place for normal journaling. I see only limited uses for this ink. Technically, the ink felt quite dry in my Lamy Safari test pens, where it writes a fairly unsaturated line. With the Safari, the ink is actually too light to be useful. For me, the ink only became tolerable when using a wet Pelikan with M nib and above. With the wet pens and broader nibs, Golden Beryl wrote smoothly, and showed its higher-contrast dark yellow-orange tone. It then becomes quite a nice ink to use, with some lovely shading. But still… not an ink I see myself using for normal journaling. For me, this Golden Beryl remains a greeting-card ink with only limited use-case scenarios. Because dry pens don’t do justice to the ink, I used alternative pens for the writing samples. On each scrap 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 Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a wet Pelikan with M cursive italic nib A small text sample, written with a wet Pelikan with M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper, with a B-nib Lamy Safari I’ve also added a few photos to give you another view of the ink. Scanned images and photos often capture different aspects of the ink’s colour & contrast. That’s why I present them both. In this case, the photos capture Golden Beryl’s colour best – the scans of the writing samples are little bit too yellow, and seem to exaggerate the shading. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. The top samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a few visiting pens – all wet-writing Pelikans. Even with these wet pens, Golden Beryl needs broader nibs. I found it best with M-nibs and above. Related inks To show off 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. Golden Beryl’s base colour is fairly similar to several other inks. A good alternative would be Callifolio Heure Dorée… quite similar, but without the glimmer. Inkxperiment – all these worlds … I’ve put myself a challenge to try to produce interesting drawings using only the ink I’m reviewing. I find this to be a fun extension of the hobby, and have found these single-ink drawings ideal for experimenting with different techniques. Yellow-orange inks are often great for drawing, and this Golden Beryl is no exception. I could do without the glitter though… the golden shimmer adds some ornamentation when writing, but didn’t do much to enhance my drawings. Inspiration for this inkxperiment comes from the book “2010 – Odyssey Two” by Arthur C. Clarke. In this book, the planet Jupiter gets transformed into a star, and its moons become new worlds for mankind … “All these worlds are yours - except Europa. Attempt no landing there.” The drawing concept started with a little doodle in my daily journal. For the artwork itself, I used an A4 sheet of HP photo paper, and applied water-diluted Golden Beryl to paint in the background. I then used glass jars and pure ink to stamp in the world circles. Next I used cotton swaps to add the background bands. I finally painted in the worlds and star shapes to complete the drawing. The end-result gives you an idea of what can be achieved with Golden Beryl as a drawing ink. Not too bad… a nice ink to draw with. Conclusion With this Ink of the Year, Pelikan tried something new and risky: a shimmering ink with gold particles against the backdrop of a yellow-orange colour. A nice ink for greeting cards, but less well suited for everyday writing and journaling. For me personally, Golden Beryl feels like a missed opportunity. It has too many flaws: only works with wet pens and broad nibs, and glitter and more glitter… One can only hope that this was a one-off experiment, and that 2022’s Ink of the Year turns out to be a more satisfying one (personal opinion of course). Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with a Pelikan M200, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

Quick Look - Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz (Ink of the Year 2023) The Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year 2023 "Rose Quartz" is available. A full review might be coming, but I wanted to give a quick look at the ink for those of you who are wondering what it looks like. The first thing you'll notice is that the promotion pics of the ink bottle are a big lie - totally Photoshopped. In reality, the bottle looks green! Fortunately, the ink within the bottle is still the promised light rose colour. No idea why it looks green - it must have something to do with the breaking index between ink and glass (my guess). Below is a saturation picture of the ink - showing both photo and scan. The colour is best represented in the photo. The scan is definitely too purple. The ink itself is best described as a light pastel-tinted rose. The inks saturation on the page is fairly low. Not totally unusable, but for me it's borderline tolerable, especially in drier pens. The chomatography looks really delicate. Below, I show you some writing with the ink (photo), and a comparison with some other rose/pink inks I have in my collection. Overall, I like the colour - I just wish it would be a little bit more saturated. But compared to the previous two Inks of the Year, this one is definitely an improvement.

Ink Mix – Depuydt Green 2 parts : Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite 5 parts : Pelikan Edelstein Golden Beryl A colleague of mine is entering retirement shortly, and I wanted to present her with a personalized greeting card for this occasion. And to make it even more personal, I decided to create a special-edition green colour using a mix of the Pelikan Edelstein inks Tanzanite and Golden Beryl. I tried out some combinations in an Ink Shift experiment, and the current mix turned out to be a beautiful muted moss-green. And because it’s a personalized ink, it gets her name: “Depuydt Green.” “Depuydt Green” is brewed by mixing 2 parts of Edelstein Tanzanite with 5 parts of Edelstein Golden Beryl. This mix resulted in a stunning muted grey-moss-green colour that totally fits my taste and that is worthy of the occasion. For the writing samples in this review, I used a mix without the Golden Beryl shimmer particles. For the drawing, Golden Beryl’s golden shimmer was allowed into the mix (and I must admit that it works quite well within this Depuydt Green). See below for a swab with the golden shimmer particles included. This new ink writes fairly wet and well-lubricated in my Safari test pens. Contrast with the paper is excellent, even with EF nibs. This Depuydt Green shades nicely too – not harsh, but with a soft presence and aesthetically very pleasing. I like this mix a lot! 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 a piece of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Depuydt Green has a medium tonal range. Contrast between light and dark parts is not too harsh, resulting in soft and elegant shading. For me, the sweet spot for this ink lies in the less saturated range – which translates to dry-writing pens and/or finer nibs. I prefer to use this mix with EF/F/M nibs, where the moss-green colour comes out the best. The resulting mix shows fairly good water resistance, undoubtedly inherited from its Tanzanite heritage. Short exposures to water flush away the yellow component dyes, leaving a blue-grey residue behind that remains perfectly readable. This is also clear from the bottom part of the chromatography. This added water resistance makes Depuydt Green a good ink for use at the office. I have tested the ink on a variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. Below I show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on different paper types. 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 Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Safari A small text quote, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with a Pelikan M200 with M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) The Depuydt Green mix behaved perfectly on most of the paper types I used, with excellent behaviour all-around. It even works with the notoriously bad Moleskine paper: just a tiny bit of feathering, but you still get bleed-through (so you won’t be able to use the backside of the paper). Drying times with the M-nib are fairly short in the 5-10 second range. The ink looks good on both white and cream-coloured paper, but the muted grey-green look works best with pure white paper. The scan above shows a bit too much yellow. I therefore add a photo of the same writing, which is almost spot-on colourwise. Related inks To compare this mix 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. Depuydt Green looks fairly similar to Graf von Faber Castell Olive Green (which has a touch more yellow in the mix). Inkxperiment – A History of ICTS I always enjoy doing a small drawing using only the ink I’m reviewing. In this case, the inkxperiment was used on the invitation card for the thank-you party we’re organizing. The drawing summarizes the history of our university’s IT department. Its origins are pictured in the circles on the left: the University Computing Centre (abbreviated URC in Dutch), the Computer Science group and the Administrative Information Processing group (abbreviated AIV in Dutch). These groups merged over time to form the current IT department (ICTS in Dutch, symbolized by the pyramid on the right – and written out in ASCII code on the pyramid), with Annemie as our CIO. With the help of all our co-workers, we built a smoothly running organization that is prepared for the future. Our department’s one-liner motto’s are enscribed in Pigpen cypher code on the drawing. Oh… and you may have noticed the little fisherman in the drawing … it’s not always work-work-work, we sometimes take a break 😉. For this inkxperiment, I started with an A4 piece of HP photo paper. I taped out the pyramid and some other parts with washi tape, and used water-diluted ink to fill in the background, with a darker region at the bottom. After removing the washi tape, I used a piece of cardboard with pure Depuydt Green (with shimmer particles) to draw in the lines – resulting in a nice shimmer effect. Next I drew the circles on the left and filled circles and pyramid with ink. I added the circuit-board lines with a dip pen and bleach (this ink mix reacts really well with bleach). Finally I drew in my co-workers, and added the capping stone to the ICTS pyramid (which symbolizes the end of a career). The result is a one-image history of our university’s IT department, that also shows what can be achieved with this Depuydt Green ink mix in a more artistic context. In my opinion, this ink is simply great for drawing! Inkxpired – computational art I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper, and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper. For this computational derivation, I applied a couple of filters that zoomed in on the main subject, and added a mosaic of colours, that I toned down to a more muted pallet. The end result is not too bad, but in this case I like the green original more. Conclusion Depuydt Green is an ink mix that really impressed me: it is a stunningly beautiful muted moss-green that works well with all kinds of nibs and papers, and that is especially nice for drawing. Fabulous!

InkShift – Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite to Golden Beryl Just for the fun of it, I occasionally resume my project exploring what happens when you move progressively from one ink colour to another. 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. A colleague of mine is entering retirement shortly, and I wanted to present her with a personalized greeting card for this occasion. For this, I am on the look-out for a moss-green style colour. And to make it even more personal, I decided to mix my own. So I turned to my ink-stash looking for some blue and yellow inks. I had a hunch that the blue-black Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite would mix well with Golden Beryl to create a fairly dark green. Well, only one way to find out, and that is to do the inkshift experiment. In the span between the two starting inks some nice moss-green colours appear. Up to the 1:2 Tanzanite:GoldenBeryl mix there is still too much blue in the mix (not immediately obvious from the scan, but absolutely noticeable to the naked eye). The mixes with 1 part Tanzanite and 2.5/3/4 parts Golden Beryl are more or less alike. I decided to go with the 1:2.5 mix which looks like a nice moss-green colour. This mix is not too dark a green, and has good contrast between the light and darker parts, which translates to an aesthetically pleasing soft shading. And it doesn’t use up too much of the Golden Beryl, which is a useless ink on its own, but a great one for mixing. Above, you can see the progression of the chromas from Tanzanite on the left to Golden Beryl on the right (2:1, 1:1 and 1:2 mixes between the original inks) . It’s quite clear that Tanzanite dominates the spectrum. I continue to enjoy these ink morphing experiments. Fun adventures in ink-land, and more often than not you are rewarded with a mix that beats the original inks. Fun guaranteed!

Pelikan Edelstein Apatite (Ink of the Year 2022) In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of high-end inks, available in a variety of colours. The theme of the Edelstein concept is the gemstone – each ink corresponds to the beautiful colour of a gem. The Edelstein line of inks is presented in 50 ml high-value bottles, that are truly beautiful, and worthy of a place on your desk. In this review I take a closer look at Apatite, the Edelstein Ink of the Year 2022. This is a limited edition ink, that will probably be gone in the near future. Apatite is a blue-turquoise shade of colour, that – according to Pelikan – “leads to an association with the natural element of water, an ink colour that lets all thoughts flow…” Hmm… that sounds a bit over-the-top to me. In reality, the colour was more of a bummer (personal opinion): I don’t hate it with the same intensity as I do Edelstein Jade, but a full page of Apatite is still too much for me. Nevertheless, I collect these Edelstein inks, so I had to get this one, even if it’s not my cup-of-tea. And – as always – I will do my best to give you an honest technical review. The chromatography shows the blue & green components of the ink. It’s definitely a blue with green undertones, but I wouldn’t call it a teal. From the bottom part of the chroma, you can already deduce that Apatite is not a water resistant ink. This Edelstein ink can handle all nib sizes with ease, always showing an easily readable line. I do prefer this ink with the broader nibs (M,B), where it becomes more saturated and leaves a darker line on the paper. Regardless of nib size, a full page of text written with Apatite remains overwhelming. Too bright and in-your-face for me… this ink could use some toning down. 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 a scrap of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Apatite has a medium dynamic range, with not too much difference between the light and darker parts. But the ink makes the most of it: in writing Apatite mainly uses the extremes of this spectrum, resulting in fairly heavy shading. Personally, I find this one of the few strong points of this blue-turquoise ink. The ink copes well with a wide variety of paper, both white and more creamy ones. Apatite prefers higher quality paper. With the cheaper variety, you get a tiny amount of feathering, and a fair amount of see-through and even some bleed-through. I had expected the ink too look ugly on yellow-leaning paper, but that’s not the case. The ink’s colour remains fairly consistent across paper types. Below, you’ll find the writing samples. On each scrap 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 Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nibbed Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with a wet-writing Laban Rosa Lilac M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper, with the M-nib Lamy Safari I’ve also added a few photos to give you another view on the ink. Scanned images and photos often capture different aspects of the ink’s colour & contrast. That’s why I present them both. In this case, the photos capture Apatite’s colour best – the scans of the writing samples are little bit too bright, and definitely exaggerate the shading. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. As you can see, Apatite works well in all nib sizes, even the finest ones. I personally prefer using it with broader nibs, where the colour becomes more saturated, and more to my liking. With broader nibs, the shading becomes more pronounced, and can be quite good-looking. In my opinion, this prominent shading is the saving point for the ink. Related inks To show off 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 form. This allows you to easily compare the ink with its eight direct neighbours, which I hope will be useful to you. Apatite sits somewhere between Kaweco Paradise Blue (greener) and Robert Oster Clearwater Rain (more blue). Personally, I prefer the Robert Oster ink over Apatite: only minute differences in the amount of green, but Clearwater Rain simply look better to me. Inkxperiment – Green City As a personal experiment, I try to produce interesting drawings using only the ink I’m reviewing. For me this is an incredibly fun extension of the hobby, and one that continuously challenges my drawing skills. Inspiration for this drawing comes from a town project in my home town. To mitigate the effect of “heat islands” in the town center, one of the central market squares will be turned into a city forest (from the current situation where it is a huge slab of concrete – a superb heat absorber that drives up air temperature with a few degrees). A fine geo-engineering project, that I fully support. I started with an A4 piece of 300 gsm watercolour paper, on which I first drew an outline of a town street leading up to the market square. I then used water-diluted ink with ever more saturation to fill in the street and buildings, using Q-tips as a drawing tool. Next I used more or less pure Apatite to draw the tree trunk. Foliage was added with the rough end of a dishwashing sponge dipped in ink. Final touches of the drawing were done with the M-nib Lamy Safari. This Apatite ink turned out to be rather difficult to draw with. Not much dynamic range, which made it fairly difficult to add texture to the drawing. Definitely not my favourite drawing ink! Inkxpired – computational art I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper, and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper. For this computational derivation, I abstracted the scene a bit, and used a colour palette that adds some contrast to the drawing. The result is definitely an improvement over the original, somewhat bland, Apatite drawing. Conclusion This Edelstein ink of the year 2022 with its blue-turquoise colour is not a must-have in my book. The colour fails to convince me, and the ink has some issues with lower quality paper. Shading looks great though, and is the one saving feature of this ink – in my opinion. A decent ink, just not for me. To salvage my bottle, I already explored some ink mixes with last year’s Golden Beryl, that result in several beautiful greens. Never let a bottle of ink go to waste! Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

Ink Mix – Kung Fu Caine 2 parts : Pelikan Edelstein Golden Beryl 1 part : Pelikan Edelstein Apatite Pelikan Edelstein Apatite is the new Ink of the Year 2022. I knew it wasn’t my type of colour, but I collect these Edelstein inks, and so didn’t want to miss this one. Apatite is a really bright and in-your-face blue… a full page of it is just too much for me. I got the feeling though that it might be a nice base colour for some ink mixes. So I resurfaced Edelstein Golden Beryl – a golden yellow that works well with wet & broad nibs, but not so well with my usual F and M pens. I tried out some combinations in an Ink Shift experiment, and the current mix turned out to be a really beautiful yellow-green. This yellow-green reminded me of the long grass in the garden, that is populated by those small green grasshoppers – almost invisible until they jump away. Grasshopper… that brings back memories... it was the nickname of Kwai Chang Caine in the 70’s TV series Kung Fu (played by David Carradine). As a kid, I really enjoyed this series, so I decided to name this ink mix “Kung Fu Caine”. “Kung Fu Caine” is brewed by mixing 1 part of Edelstein Apatite with 2 parts of Edelstein Golden Beryl. The resulting mix is a really beautiful yellow-green colour … a substantial improvement over the parents’ colours. This new ink writes fairly wet and well-lubricated (inherited from Apatite) in my Safari test pens. Contrast with the paper is good, even with EF nibs. Like Apatite, this Kung Fu Caine mix is a strong shader – not too harsh though, but aesthetically pleasing. I like this mix a lot! 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 a piece of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. Kung Fu Caine has a medium tonal range. Contrast between light and dark parts is not too harsh, resulting in well-defined and elegant shading. The resulting mix has zero water resistance. Short exposures to water flush away all colour, leaving only some yellow-green smudges. This is also clear from the chromatography : at the bottom part, you can barely see where the original dyes were put on the coffee filter paper. A good ink for journaling, but not one for use at the office. I have tested the ink on a variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. Below I show you the ink’s appearance and behaviour on different paper types. 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 Safari fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Safari A small text quote, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with a Pelikan M120 Green-Black with F-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) The Kung Fu Caine mix behaved perfectly on most of the paper types I used, with only a tiny bit of feathering on the lower quality papers. Bleed-through was only present with the Moleskine paper, but even there it was not too bad. Drying times with the M-nib are mostly paper-dependent ranging from 5-10 seconds on absorbent paper to 10-20 seconds on paper with a hard surface. I quite enjoy the way it looks on the Paperblanks paper, which is what I use for daily journaling. The scan above greatly exaggerates the contrast in the shading. Below you’ll find a photo of the same writing samples, that gives a truer impression of reality. A difficult ink to capture... the colour is more in the direction of the scan, the contrast is more like in the photo. The colour is best captured in the more zoomed-in scans: B-nib detail, saturation swab, related inks... Related inks To compare this mix 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. Kung Fu Caine looks very similar to kyo-no-oto moegiiro and Diamine Meadow. Inkxperiment – Embracing Diversity I always enjoy doing a small drawing using only the ink I’m reviewing. Inspiration for this little piece comes from some pics I saw on Pinterest. People come in all kinds of hardware & software configurations… big & small, multiple skin tones, many belief systems, a multitude of personalities. On an individual level, I embrace this diversity, and I mostly enjoy my interactions with other people, regardless of inevitable differences. But scale up the group, and individuality is quickly wiped out and replaced by mob dynamics with binary thinking and loss of nuances. This never ceases to amaze me! Oh… and you may have noticed that I included a cat in the drawing… cats have personalities too! For this inkxperiment, I started with a piece of 300 gsm rough watercolour paper and a 4x3 grid. I used water-diluted ink to fill in the background, and added some texture with Q-tips dipped in ink. I then used a piece of cardboard with pure Kung Fu Caine to draw the borders of the 12 rectangles. Next I drew in a variety of people (and the cat) with a glass dip pen. Final accents were done with my B-nib Lamy Safari. Yellow-green inks are usually very rewarding to draw with, and this ink mix is no exception. The resulting drawing gives you a good idea of what can be achieved with Kung Fu Caine in a more artistic context. Inkxpired – computational art I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper, and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper. For this computational derivation, I zoomed in a bit on the inkxperiment picture, and used a colour scheme that adds some extra contrast to the drawing. Conclusion Kung Fu Caine is an ink mix that really impressed me, and that’s definitely ways better than the original Apatite and Golden Beryl. It is a stunningly beautiful yellow-green that works well with all kinds of nibs and papers, and that is especially nice for drawing. Another great thing: you’re at the controls here: do you want the colour to be a bit more yellow or a bit darker green… just add a drop of Golden Beryl or Apatite to steer the mix in the direction you want. Fabulous! Backside of writing samples on different paper types

InkShift – Pelikan Edelstein Apatite to Golden Beryl Just for the fun of it, I occasionally resume my project exploring what happens when you move progressively from one ink colour to another. 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. Pelikan Edelstein Apatite (review coming shortly) is the new Ink of the Year 2022. I knew it wasn’t my type of colour, but I collect these Edelstein inks, and so didn’t want to miss this one. Apatite is a really bright and in-your-face blue… a full page of it really is just too much for me. I got the feeling though that it might be a nice base colour for some ink mixes. So I resurfaced Edelstein Golden Beryl – a golden yellow that works well with wet & broad nibs, but not so well with my usual F and M pens. Could there be some nice looking greens in there? Who knows… only one way to find out, and that is to do the inkshift experiment. In the span between the two starting inks some interesting greens appear, that certainly cater more to my taste than the bright blue Apatite original. The 1:1 mix results in a fresh spring green that looks quite nice. And the 1:2 and 1:3 mixes of Apatite with Golden Beryl are more of a delicate lemon grass green. Overall, a few very appealing greens in the mix. Above, you can see the progression of the chromas from Apatite on the left to Golden Beryl on the right (with the 2:1, 1:1 and 1:2 mixes in between). From these, you can already see that none of these mixes show any water resistance. It’s also clear that the mixes with a stronger presence of the yellow ink show a bit more complexity. I continue to enjoy these ink morphing experiments. Fun adventures in ink-land, and more often than not you are rewarded with a mix that beats the original inks. Fun guaranteed!

InkShift – Pelikan Edelstein Jade to Onyx Pelikan Edelstein Jade is one of the few inks that I really hate – I simply cannot stomach its colour. So time to get creative and try to salvage my bottle. The Platinum Classic Black series gave me the idea to darken up the ink by adding some black. So I set out to try different ratios of two Edelstein inks: Jade and Onyx, shifting from one to the other. Below is a set of progressive mixes I used while looking for an interesting combination. Works great, and this is a technique I will surely use more often in the future. I liked the 1:1 and 2:1 Jade/Onyx mixes most, and finally added a final one in between with a ratio of 3 parts Jade and 2 parts Onyx. That became my favourite – a dirty dark blue-green - and I have named it “Murky Waters”. I will do a more comprehensive test of it in the coming days, which I will post here on this forum.

Pelikan Edelstein is the proof of Pelikan employees marketing efficiency. Beautifully packaged inks bear promise of amazing writing experience. The line is popular all around the world and concurs with the likes of Pilot Iroshizuku or Graf von Faber-Castell. http://imageshack.com/a/img540/2076/YtmFPx.jpg The packaging is really impressive. The outer cardboard box is, more or less, standard. It's not overisized and made from cardboard.The front panel has a slightly slanted extra facet with a colored panel that corresponds to the ink color inside. Care was also taken to keep ink secure in the box - the pair of styrofoam pads rest between the neck of the bottle and the box. The bottle itself is really, really nice. The glass is thick, heavy and rectangular but with slightly concave sides. The lettering fits the design. I believe Caran d'Ache Chromatics inks bottles are more interesting, Iroshizuku probably nicer but Edelstein offers great and solid cap. The inks can be bought in 12 colors, seven standard. Aventurine Jade Mandarin Onyx ​Sapphire Ruby Topaz And 5 LE inks of the year Turmaline Ink of the Year 2012 Amber Ink of the Year 2013 Garnet Ink of the Year 2014 Amethyst Ink of the Year 2015 Aquamarine Ink of the Year 2016Sapphire form standard Edelstein line is, in my opinion, the least interesting og the group. It behaves well and has reasonable drying times. However I can't help but notice it's incredibly boring and generic. When I look at this ink I just can't see anything interesting. Sometimes and for some people it can be an asset. For me though it's unforgiveable sin Frankly if you like such colors Diamine Sapphire Blue or J. Herbin Eclat de Saphire will be much cheaper and more interesting choices. Drops of ink on kitchen towel Software ID Tomoe River, Kaweco Classic Sport, B Leuchtturm 1917, Kaweco Classic Sport, B Kokuyo Campus, Diplomat Depeche, B

InkShift - Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin to Aventurine 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. Mandarin (orange) and Aventurine (green) are regular Edelstein inks. Nice inks, but not really exciting. I decided to explore the territory in between to find out if something interesting turns up. As always, I start with 1:1 and 1:2 mixes to see what areas to explore. In this case, Aventurine clearly is the dominating ink, so I decided to zoom in more on the Mandarin side of the spectrum. In the span between these two inks, there are some interesting colours to be found. My personal favourites are:15 parts Mandarin / 1 part Aventurine : a nice sepia type colour3 parts Mandarin / 1 part Aventurine : an appealing moss greenI really enjoy these morphing experiments. You never know what surprises will turn up, and the resulting colours are often a lot more interesting than the standard ink colours you start with.

Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz Back in the days When I attended primary school in Holland in the end of the 70s a Fountain Pen was obligatory. Since I had some troubles with my fine motor skills my parents decided to buy me a Pelikano Fountain Pen which in those days was top of the bill and a serious investment back then. I always remember what I loved most about that pen. It not only had a nice blue colour, but I really loved the blue ink window. I thought it resembled the blue flashing light on police cars AWESOME Here is a link to the history of the Pelikano Fountain Pen https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US.CMS.displayCMS.220931./the-history-of-the-pelikano-from-1960-until-now School boys fantasies… Maybe it is that boys never grow up or simply that early youth memories impress… But I am still in love with Pelikan and I am now the proud owner of 2 Pelikans, the M800 Green and the M800 Stresemann on the left. My wife was infected with my love for Fountain Pens and is the owner of the M600 and the M400 with 14kt nib on the right Well and since my wife and I both love Birds and Fountain pens we cannot guarantee that these are the last Pelikans that enter our house Before I get to the review I want to let you know that I will enter the links to my previous reviews of Pelikan inks at the bottom of this review Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quarz Pelikan is famous for it’s 4001 range Which was introduced as in 1901 as an Iron Gall ink. This Iron Gall ink is still available but today there is also a range of Non-IG 4001 inks which all perform well… Just like a good wine ripens and gets better the 4001 Inks still are a joy to use even after 20 years… A thing I pointed out in my comparison of a matured and e brand new bottle of 4001 Royal Blue ink https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/264220-pelikanss-royal-battle-battle-of-the-blue-kings/ In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein ink Collection. A more exclusive line of fine inks following the trend of i.e. Iroshizuku Graf von Faber-Castell which already brought more high end inks in luxury bottles. https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US.Pelikan.showTimeline.221778./history Well I am glad to tell that Pelikan stayed loyal to his principles. Same as in the 4001-Range where Pelikan brings highest quality at fair prices. It did so in its Edelstein Range… Giving you finest quality combined with refined luxury … at fair prices https://www.lacouronneducomte.nl/webstore/main/inkt-vullingen-merk-c-161.html Well and yes all bottles contain 50 ml. Pelikan Smoky Quartz The Ink The colour is a lovely medium dark brown. Shading is very nice so is the flow. If there is a small minor, it is the drying time: The ink is wet and stays in this condition for 10 seconds. That is a thing you must consider if you’re a left-hand writer. My advice in that case: Bind your Bottom to a drone and hoover over your writings…. This ink worth the extra effort… Even if your texts contains a lot of “Male Cows Feces” (sorry I cannot write BullS..t here), your writing will be beautiful when using this beautiful ink Technical specifications own here are some of the technical specs (as suggested by Ann Finley 2007) (not copied in but for this ink) points 1-5 1 = 5= Fountain Pens: , Kaweco Calligrapy Classic Sport 1,5 Italic, Lamy Safari B nib Paper: Vleveka Classic Line Paper and ordinary copying paper Drying time Slow points 2 Flow: very smooth points: 5 Lubrication: wet points: 5 Feathering : None points 5 Bleeding: nada points 5 Shading: very good points: 4 Waterproof: good points: 3 Package: robust yet elegant points 4 Please have a look at the Water test I tested it with an very wet Q-tipp and look at the result. Still very legible. Maybe it does not survive a wet monsoon… but hey it s not a Document ink. So I will call it Waterproof Availability This is one of those inks that are even available on the moon. But since it is pretty hard to go to the moon you might consider following adresses La Couronne du Comte I guess Dennis and Rik would even travel to the moon to get it for you (just pay them a million or 2 ) Well it is safe to say that they do almost everything to satisfy their customers… Considering http://www.lacouronneducomte Bankers have Rothshield Ink lovers have the Goulet Pen Company. Rachel and Brian carry the almost* largest assortment of ink on earth an it's near surroundings http://www.gouletpens.com (*almost Dear Amberlea Davis carries the largest assortment in the universe but is not a seller Larry Post of Australia is a Great Supplier of Stationary and Artist Equipments. They carry a lot of De Atramentis Inks http://www.larrypost.com.au/ The same applies to Singapore based Arters of the utterly friendly Yitpeng and WeetekOng http://arters.com.sg Conclusion For me this ink is spot on. The colour is lovely, in fact together with De Atramentis Ebony and Sailor Jentle Brown this Smoky Quartz is belongs to my favorite browns. It is an saturated shading ink that writes very smoothly. Drying time may be a bit long but since I am a right-hand writer this does not bother me much. The Bottle is lovely, it is a bit like yin & yang robust yet elegant. An pleasure to my eye when I visit my Ink Cellar, and so is this ink Links to my reviews of Pelikan inks (work in progress) https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/291420-pimp-my-ink-comparison-pelikan-edelstein-aventurine-vs-pelikan-4001-brilliant-green/ https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/266092-pelikan-4001-brilliant-green/ https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/291416-pelikan-edelstein-aventurine/ https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/264220-pelikanss-royal-battle-battle-of-the-blue-kings/ https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/266286-pelikan-4001-violett-violet/

InkShift - Pelikan Edelstein Topaz to Ruby 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. In this experiment, I started with Pelikan Edelstein Topaz and Ruby as base inks. My hope was to find some interesting purples. But no... I'm not impressed with the purples that appeared. I do like some of the blues though. Now I'm wondering if a more vibrant red like "Star Ruby" would have been a better choice... I'm hoping for more of a violet colour to turn up.

InkShift - Pelikan Edelstein Topaz to Star Ruby 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. This particular combo is a follow-up to the Topaz-to-Ruby InkShift. I had a hunch that the more vibrant Star Ruby might result in more interesting purples. As far as I'm concerned that hunch turned out to be correct. This inkshift produced quite some interesting colours, even a few violets. This morphing project really is great fun... I am thoroughly amusing myself. Below is a side by side with the Topaz-to-Ruby InkShift. What a difference a "star" makes

Ink Mix – Murky Waters 3 parts : Pelikan Edelstein Jade 2 parts : Pelikan Edelstein Onyx I have a bottle of Pelikan Edelstein Jade, that turned out to be of a colour that's not really my thing (to put it mildly - I simply cannot stomach it). From the Platinum Classic Black series, I got the idea of darkening up the ink... maybe that could be a way to salvage my bottle. I tried a number of different proportions of Edelstein Jade and Onyx (documented here on the forum), to come up with a combination that I liked - Murky Waters. "Murky Waters" is brewed by mixing 3 parts of Edelstein Jade with 2 parts of Edelstein Onyx. The resulting mix gives a really dark grean-leaning teal colour, that is quite stable. This new ink writes wet and well-lubricated in my dry Safari test pens. Contrast with the paper is excellent, even with EF nibs. The ink also exhibits aesthetically pleasing soft shading. 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. Murky Waters has a narrow tonal range, and is definitely a well-saturated ink. The limited colour span explains the soft shading that is apparent in writing. The resulting mix is also fairly water-resistant. Short exposures to water flush away the Jade components of the ink, but the black remains, and is still very readable. This is also clear from the chromatography: at the bottom part, the black dye remains well fixed to the paper. This makes it a good candidate for use at the office. I have tested the ink on a variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. Below I show you the ink's appearance and behaviour on different paper types. 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 fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib A small text sample, written with an M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib) Murky Waters behaved perfectly on most of the paper types I used, with only a tiny bit of feathering on the lower quality papers. Bleed-through was only very present with the Moleskine paper, but even there it was not too bad. Drying times with the M-nib are paper-dependent ranging from 5-10 seconds on absorbent paper to 15-20 seconds on paper with a hard surface. I quite enjoy the way it looks on the Paperblanks paper, which is what I use for daily journaling. Related inks To compare this mix 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 - a fistful of flowers I always enjoy doing a small drawing using only the ink I'm reviewing. For this inkxperiment, I started with a piece of 300 gsm rough watercolour paper that I thoroughly wetted with water. I then added some drops of Murky Waters to start the flowers. Once dried to the point of dampness, I added a bit of bleach, and ten minutes later again a tiny bit of Murky Waters to the flower heart. I then painted in the background with a Q-tip and heavily water-diluted ink. Finally I drew in the flower stems, completing the drawing. Conclusion Murky Waters is an ink mix that I like, and that definitely saved my bottle of Jade. A nice dark green-leaning teal that works well with fine nibs, and that is fairly water resistant. This is an ink that will get used in my EDC pens that I carry with me to the office. All in all a successful mixing experiment. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Back-side of writing samples on different paper types

Ink Review : Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite Pen: Lamy AL-star, M-nib Paper: Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm Review In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of high-end inks, available in a variety of colours. The theme of the Edelstein collection is the gemstone - each colour corresponding to the beautiful colour of a gem. The inks themselves are presented in 50 ml high-value bottles, which are truly beautiful, and worthy of a place on your desk. Here I review Tanzanite, an ink that was added as a standard colour to the Edelstein line-up in 2012. This is the blue-black of the Edelstein inks, a really nice colour that feels at home with all kinds of writing. Myself, I use it equally at home for journaling and at my workplace. The are a number of things that I really appreciate in this ink. First and foremost : it exhibits some really nice shading even with the finest nibs. It's not often that you find an ink with such visible shading in an EF nib. Well, Tanzanite provides, and gives my small handwriting that extra touch ! The ink also writes wonderfully smooth with EF nibs - it's really well lubricated. And with the right paper and the right kind of lighting, it shows a beautiful red-golden sheen with text written with wetter nibs. This ink really delivers - thank you Pelikan ! The ink is remarkably well water-resistant. With running tap water, the text remains perfectly readable even after 30 seconds under the faucet. And even a 15 minute droplet test poses no problem for this ink. As the chromatography shows, the ink has a solid permanent grey-blue base. This water-resistance makes it a really suitable ink for the workplace. Tanzanite behaves well on most good quality paper. For some reason though, it's one of the few inks I have that doesn't behave in a Paperblanks journal - here there is some minor, but annoyingly visible, feathering. A pity, because Paperblanks is my notebook of choice for keeping a daily journal. Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm - drying time 15-20 seconds, no feathering, no show-through or bleed-throughPaperblanks journal paper - drying time 10-15 seconds, some minor but visible feathering, minor show-through, but no bleed-throughGeneric notepad paper 70 gsm - drying time 10-15 seconds, no feathering, some show-through, no bleed-throughMoleskine journal - drying time ~5 seconds, some minor feathering, significant show-through and bleed-throughTomoe River paper - drying time 20-25 seconds, no feathering, visible show-through but no bleed-throughOriginal Crown Mill cotton paper - drying time 15-20 seconds, no feathering, no show-through and no bleed-throughThe ink behaved very well, even on the Moleskine paper (if you use just one side). A pity about the annoyingly visible feathering in the Paperblanks journal. The ink looked particularly stunning on the Original Crown Mill cotton paper where the golden-red sheen is very prominent. Conclusion Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite is currently my favourite blue-black ink. It writes extremely will with finer nibs, and has a more than decent water-resistance. I particularly like the way it shades, and the golden-red sheen it produces if the circumstances are right. I'm glad this is one of the standard inks of the Edelstein line, so that I'm assured to find a new bottle when my current one has been emptied. my overall score: A+

Pelikan Edelstein Star Ruby - Ink of the Year 2019 - In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of high-end inks, available in a variety of colours. The theme of the Edelstein concept is the gemstone - each ink corresponds to the beautiful colour of a gem. The Edelstein line of inks is presented in 50 ml high-value bottles, that are truly beautiful, and worthy of a place on your desk. In this review the stage is taken by Star Ruby, the Edelstein Ink of the Year 2019. This is a limited edition ink, that could be gone in the near future, although it's not unheard of for Pelikan to change its mind. Star Ruby is a very saturated reddish pink ink. I'm more inclined to softer pastel-toned inks, but to my surprise, I quite liked this one. It's just enough off-pink to appeal to me. I see myself using it mainly for personal journaling, or even as a business ink for marking papers. Star Ruby succeeds in finding the middle ground between pink and red, and as such can appeal to a broad audience. The chromatography looks a bit boring though - this seems to be mainly a single-dye ink. The chroma also shows little promise for using Star Ruby as a drawing ink for artistic purposes - there’s just not enough of a colour span. Star Ruby really excels as a writing ink, that can handle all nib ranges without a problem. The ink has excellent saturation, and is well-lubricated. It's a pleasure to write with it. Shading is present in all nib sizes, but remains subdued and not in-your-face. The contrast between light and darker parts is aesthetically pleasing. Overall, I really like what I see on the paper. 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. Being a very saturated ink, Star Ruby exhibits only a limited colour span. On very saturated parts, the ink shows a golden-brown sheen, which is clearly visible on the right side of the picture. In normal writing - using my everyday pens & paper - I couldn't reproduce this sheen though. Technically, the ink behaved perfectly, with exceptionally good flow and saturation, and a good contrast with the paper even in the finer nibs. Overall a pleasurable ink to write with. Drying times are quite short in the 5 to 10 second range with M-nibs. Star Ruby copes well with a wide variety of paper - and can even tolerate the crappy ones. To proof this point, take a look at the writing sample on Moleskine paper: no visible feathering, and the colour looks quite good too. Star Ruby works well with both white and more yellowish paper. As a writing ink... impressive ! Unfortunately, Star Ruby shows a total lack of water resistance. Even the slightest touch of water obliterates your writing, leaving only a pinkish mess - see the water test at the end of this review. 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 Pelikan M200 with an F-nib. With all these combinations, the ink writes very pleasantly and leaves a nicely saturated line. Related inks To show off related inks, I recently switched to a nine-grid format, with the currently reviewed ink at the center. The new 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. This format makes it easy to compare the ink with its eight direct neighbours, which I hope will be useful to you. I've added Edelstein Turmaline and Ruby to this comparison: this clearly shows that Star Ruby strikes a middle ground between pink and red. Inkxperiment - the end of the road I've put myself the challenge to try to produce interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. I find this to be a fun extension of the hobby, and have found these single-ink drawings ideal for experimenting with different techniques. From the chroma, I already knew this would be a challenging inkxperiment... the limited colour span of this ink makes it less than ideal for artsy experiments. I started with HP photo paper, on which I painted the background using heavily diluted ink. I then added the road & tree trunks using 1:3 diluted ink. Finally I used pure Star Ruby to add highlights to the road, and to draw in the little figure with the umbrella. For the leaves, I used my recently discovered dish-washing sponge with pure ink to stamp in the foliage. The end-result gives you an idea of what can be obtained with Star Ruby as a drawing ink. Personally I'm not impressed: the ink has too limited a colour span to allow for interesting drawings. Conclusion Last year's Olivine was a bit of a disappointment: a good ink, but not the yellow-green colour that I had expected. This 2019 ink of the year exceeded my expectation. It turns out to be a really impressive writing ink, that works exceptionally well with all nib sizes and a broad range of papers. And the colour strikes the right balance between red and pink to make it appealing for a broad audience. Kudos to Pelikan... this is a worthy addition to the Edelstein line. Technical test results on Rhodia N°16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

Pelikan Edelstein line is great proof of Pelikan's marketing team efficiency. Beautifully packaged inks bear promise of amazing writing experience. The line is popular all around the world and concurs with the likes of Pilot Iroshizuku or Graf von Faber-Castell. Packaging and bottle The packaging is impressive. The outer cardboard box is, more or less, standard. It’s not overisized and made from cardboard. The front panel has a slightly slanted extra facet with a colored panel that corresponds to the ink color inside. Care was also taken to keep ink secure in the box – the pair of styrofoam pads rest between the neck of the bottle and the box. The bottle itself is really, really nice. The glass is thick, heavy and rectangular but with slightly concave sides. The lettering fits the design. I believe Caran d’Ache Chromatics inks bottles are more interesting, Iroshizuku probably nicer but Edelstein offers great and solid cap. The inks can be bought in 13 colors, seven standard. Aventurine Jade Mandarin Onyx Sapphire Ruby TopazAnd 6 LE inks of the year Turmaline Ink of the Year 2012 Amber Ink of the Year 2013 Garnet Ink of the Year 2014 Amethyst Ink of the Year 2015 Aquamarine Ink of the Year 2016 Smoky Quartz Ink of the Year 2017 I have mixed feelings about Edelstein as a line. The inks aren't bad. But they're not as good as the price tag would suggest. On the other hand Pelikan does a great job communicating with pen enthusiasts and engaging them in activities (Pelikan Hub, creating the color of the ink of the year). My feelings, though, change nothing - each year I'm eager to try their new ink. This year Pelikan has finally offered brown ink. The color was created and voted by Pelikan-fans. The hue can be described as warm and nicely saturated brown. Happily the color is quite unique. It's not one of generic red-browns that are omnipresent on the market. This one has some personality. Color perception is always subjective. Physical properties less so. Let's examine them. Flow: the Ink feels dryish. In wetter pens it won’t be an issue but in drier ones, especially those equipped with fine / extra-fine nib the flow may be a little disappointing. It’s ok but if you like, say, J. Herbin Eclat de Saphire, Smokey Quartz is nowhere near in terms of flow. It’s average. Saturation: level of saturation is satisfying for my needs. The ink doesn’t look oversaturated, it remains fully legible in alli light conditions. Lubrication: average at best. If your benchmark for lubrication is Sailor, Smoky Quartz may disappoint you. In wet pens it won’t be an issue. In dry nibs, you’ll feel that there’s no free riding on the paper. Drying time: rather reasonable. 15-20 seconds on Rhodia, 10 – 15 seconds on absorbent paper. Clogging issues: None experienced. The ink may dry in the nib but only after few minutes. You can leave the pen uncapped for 2-3 minutes and everything should be fine. I’ve tried it in Wing Sung 658 and hard starts were experienced only after leaving the pen uncapped for 4 minutes. Feathering: practically none. Maybe some barely perceptible feathering on Moleskine. Bleedthrough: experienced only on Moleskine (crappiest paper ever) Water resistance: this ink is water resistant. The color washes off but the text remains fully legible even after soaking paper for two hours. Sheen: none seen on papers that I used. Ink Splash Drops of ink on kitchen towel Software ID Color range Maruman, Wing Sung 698, fine nib Maruman, Przemysław Marciński PERUN - custom pen with JoWo 1.1 nib Leuchtturm 1917, Przemysław Marciński PERUN - custom pen with JoWo 1.1 nib Rhodia, Wing Sung 698, fine nib Moleskine, Wing Sung 698, fine nib Bleedthrough on Moleskine Water resistance Mini-comparison

Ink Shoot-Out : Mont Blanc Midnight Blue vs Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite was my very first blue-black ink, and one that I like a lot - it's usually to be found as the perfect companion for my Lamy 2000. Then I read visvamitra's review of Mont Blanc Midnight Blue, and found another blue-black that spoke to me. Recently I managed to get my hands on a bottle of the MB ink. A great opportunity to do a detailed comparison, and find out which one of these inks I like the most. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight where heavyweight inks do battle for four rounds, to determine who is the winner. In the left corner - the challenger: Mont Blanc Midnight Blue. In the right corner - my current favorite: Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite. Which champion will remain standing at the end of the fight ? Let's find out... Round 1 - First Impressions For the first round I made my usual swabs and scribbles on Rhodia N°16 80gsm notepad paper. Both inks are a pleasure to use, and exhibit a very professional-looking blue-black color - perfect inks for the workplace and for daily business writing. They also shade nicely, even in smaller nib sizes. But... darn... on this paper, I'm hard pressed to notice any difference. Maybe a small hint that the Tanzanite ink is a bit darker ? Time for a second first impression ;-) For this I used Midori Traveler's Notebook N°13 Refill paper - this is a lightweight paper that's supposed to be close to Tomoe River (and has the advantage of being readily available here in Belgium). Yes... on this paper the Edelstein ink is definitely darker. And a further test on Moleskine paper confirms this - Tanzanite is the darker-blue of the two inks. Both inks are on par with each other, but there are some differences: MB Midnight Blue shows a wider range of hues on different paper types, ranging from a more greyish blue to real dark blue-black. Tanzanite exhibits a more consistent blue-black across papers.I didn't notice any sheening on the Rhodia paper, but on the Midori paper... wow... Tanzanite definitely is a real sheener ! You get a very prominent red-golden sheen where the ink is laid on thickly. The Mont Blanc ink doesn't stand a chance ! Both Midnight Blue and Tanzanite are top-of-the-line inks of their respective brands. And as expected, both are very fine-looking blue-black inks. For me personally, I appreciate the fact that the Edelstein ink is a darker blue-black, with a more consistent color range across different types of paper. And there is absolutely no competition for Tanzanite's splendid red-golden sheen. Knock-out ? No. But this round definitely goes to the Pelikan ink on points. 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. Both inks also showed good ink-flow and smooth writing with the EF nib. Here I was pleasantly surprised by Tanzanite - usually Edelstein inks are considered to be a bit dry in fine nib sizes, but that's not the case here ! I also like that both inks show decent shading even with the finer nibs. With many inks, shading almost disappears with EF/F nib sizes, losing some of the ink's character. Not so with these inks ! On the crappy Moleskine paper, both Midnight Blue and Tanzanite exhibit some minor feathering, as well as significant show-through and bleed-through. In my opinion, both inks indubitably (hey - not often you get a chance to use a word like this ;-) measure up to each other, and no clear winner appears. As such, this round ends in a draw. Round 3 - Ink Properties Both inks have drying times in the 15-20 second range on the Rhodia paper, with Tanzanite closer to the 15 second range, drying a bit faster than Midnight Blue. 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. Midnight Blue is clearly the more water-resistant of the two inks, and did really well on this test. But although Tanzanite did worse, the written word did not disappear and remained perfectly readable. I will absolutely call these inks water-resistant ! The chromatography shows that Midnight Blue leaves a darker footprint after soaking in water - as shown by the bottom part of the picture. The chroma's look really similar, which probably explains why these inks are so alike. In this round, the Mont Blanc ink had a better technique, especially on the droplet test. Again - no knock-out, but this round definitely goes to the challenger - on points. Round 4 - 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. For this round - I really wished for a clear winner - but that's not to be... The dark-blue color of the inks is well-suited for some gloom-and-doom doodling and drawing. And both inks put their heart into it - nice flow, easy drawing, beautiful gloomy color ... what's not to like ? But in the end, they performed equally well, and no clear winner emerges. I'm sure there will be more of a difference on other papers - where Tanzanite is guaranteed to be a bit darker. Nevertheless, for this round, I call it a draw ! The Verdict Both inks deserve their place at the top of my ink collection. They are beautiful professional-looking dark-blue inks. Both MB Midnight Blue and Pelikan's Tanzanite win a round, with the other rounds ending in a draw. Nevertheless... it's the Belgian judge that gives the points. Although Midnight Blue has some technical advantages, I find Tanzanite the more aesthetically pleasing of the two. You just can't compete with that golden-red sheen ! And Tanzanite has a more consistent behavior across paper types, which I also appreciate. Both champions came out very close. But it's the judge's opinion that round 1 was the decisive one, and that Tanzanite comes out on top and remains the reigning champion !

Ink Review : Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline --- Ink of the Year 2012 --- Pen: Lamy AL-star, M-nib Paper: Rhodia N°16 notepad 80 gsm Review In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of high-end inks, available in a variety of colours. The theme of the Edelstein concept is the gemstone – each colour corresponds to the beautiful colour of a gem. The inks themselves are presented in 50 ml high-value bottles, that are truly beautiful, and worthy of a place on your desk. In this review I put the spotlight on Turmaline, the Edelstein Ink of the Year 2012. This is a limited edition ink, that’s probably difficult to find today. Pelikan themselves describe the colour as “plum”. Myself, I just see a very bright and flamboyant pink. I’m the first to admit that I’m not a “pink ink” person, but nevertheless this ink has a strange attraction. Perhaps it’s the boldness of the ink’s colour… this is definitely NOT a shy or subdued ink. Technically, the ink behaved really fine, with good flow and saturation, and a good contrast with the paper even in the finer nibs. With broader nibs there is some really nice shading that accentuates the pinkyness of the ink. Overall a pleasurable ink to write with. Drying times are reasonable, ranging from 10 to 20 seconds, depending on the type of paper. Turmaline copes well with a wide variety of paper – and can even tolerate the crappy ones. On Moleskine, there’s only some barely noticeable feathering going on – coupled with significant show-through and some bleed-through. On other papers the ink behaved impeccably. Turmaline is not a water-resistant ink though. It smudges easily, but without impacting the readability of the text. It could handle 15 minutes of water droplets fairly well, but when your writing comes into contact with running water, the paper is left with unreadable pinkish smudges. Although… for this ink, water-resistance should not be a concern – I doubt you’ll use this colour for business correspondence ;-). Be aware that this ink will stain your pen – it takes some serious cleaning to remove all ink residue from inside your pen. The chromatography of this (p)ink looks very interesting, with some water-soluble yellow and grey components. Conclusion I think for a pink this ink doesn’t stink. This is not a colour for me, but if you like pinkish inks, this one is probably worth looking at. It’s bold and bright, and definitely an attention-drawer. my overall score: B+

Ink Review : Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine Pen: Visconti Rembrandt Ivory, M-nib Paper: Rhodia N° 16 notepad 80 gsm Review In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of boutique inks, available in a variety of colors. The theme of the Edelstein concept is the gemstone - each color corresponds to the beautiful color of a gem. The inks are presented in 50ml high-value bottles, which are gems themselves, and an ornament on every desk. Here I review the color Aventurine - the true green ink of the Edelstein line-up. I like the color, it is a saturated green ink, similar to Diamine Tropical Green and Diamine Beethoven. A green as it should be, not too light, and with a solid presence on the paper. Aventurine shades beautifully and very prominently. The shading in this ink is very visible. You need a wetter nib though to bring out the character in this ink. With EF and F nibs, the ink is an OK but rather bland green. With M and broader nibs the ink opens up nicely. On very saturated spots - clearly visible on e.g. an ink swab - there is a faint yellowish sheen on the ink. The chromatography of this ink shows that it is composed of yellow and blue dyes, so it's probably this yellow component dye that is coming through. Aventurine is a well-behaving ink that writes well on a variety of paper. Like all Edelstein inks, it's a bit on the dry side, which you definitely notice when writing. A negative point for this ink: it has zero water resistance. When coming into contact with water, the ink quickly disappears from the page, leaving a yellowish and totally unreadable mess. Rhodia N° 16 notepad 80 gsm - drying time 20-25 seconds, no feathering, no show-through nor bleed-throughPaperblanks journal paper - drying time ~15 seconds, no feathering, no show-through and no bleed-throughGeneric notepad paper 70 gsm - drying time 20-25 seconds, no noticeable feathering, some show-through but no bleed-throughMoleskine journal - drying time 5 seconds ! Some minor feathering, significant show-through and bleed-through (making the back-side of the page unusable) Conclusion Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine is a well-behaving nice green ink with very prominent shading in broader nibs. For me, this is a true green - not too light and not too dark. Beware though: this is not an ink for finer nibs. With EF and F nibs, the ink is bland and totally boring. my overall score: B+ (but C when used with EF/F nibs)

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Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/20150529_100935_zpsnptk5ylt.jpg Dear FPN friends. This is my first review of a Pelikan Edelstein ink. I am a Pelkian Fan of both the inks and the pens. The Edelstein ink is a case of Pimp-my-Ink.... What is that??? Well there are certain Companies that produce several line of inks. They every now and then put a special line of inks on the market. For example Faber Castell vs Graf von Faber CastellPelikan 4001 vs Pelikan EdelsteinInk of the year etc... Like J Herbin's What are the differences Fancy packiging(slightly) changed recipeother coloursmore saturationand of course a HIGHER PRICENot every point will be aplicable on any ink but just to give you an Idea of the possibilities Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine This is an example of a Pimp-my-Ink ink. The ink comes in a beautiful bottle for €13,95 at La Couronne du Comte Generally I can say that the ink behaves very well like all the Pelikans I have tested so far http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Scan_Pic0004_zpshkpvco0h.jpg Handwritten sample on Clairefontaine Veloutè 90 gr. Shading is visible here but not expressed this strong in all my handwritten texts http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Avetnurine%20Inkvomit%20FPN_zpstnigheg4.jpg Ink vomitus http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Pelikan%20Aventurine%20blow%20my%20nose%20FPN_zpsxhj0x0ec.jpg Blow my nose with ink The Colour I woud call a medium dark green. Darkness depends on the nib. The ink is lighter in a finer nib Shading is little to medium dependent on nib and paper. Therefore the ink sinicerely saturated http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Aventurine%20pick%20and%20gradient_zps69p8aj9q.jpg Adventurous Green it is.... Jungle Joy Ink Behaviour As mentioned before this ink too behave very well. On the sheet down here I forgot to mention the drying tim... QUICK 5 seconds in F nib http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Pelikan%20Aventurine%20samplesheet%20fpn_zpsftn3pwwd.jpg Waterproof This ink is not waterproof at all. This is not a probem the ink was not meant to be permanent Down here is the result of my usual Jacques Cousteau DIving Experience fo Inks http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Pelikan%20Aventurinn%20Waterproof_zpsttokzelk.jpg This is the result after only one minute at 20000 leagues under the kitchen sink.... But it will survive a small drop.... Just be careful (and do not stick it in your bathing pants) Colour comparison http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a617/Morbus_Curiositas/Pelikan%20edelstein%20Aventurine/Pelikan%20Aventurine%20Comp%20FPN_zpsohke7aos.jpg The Aventurine is darker than the Brilliant Green which is more er... brilliant. The ifference is not that big though. I think it is a nice colour to rotate. I havepublishe an extensive comparison of these two Pelikan inksin the Ink cmparison forum... Here is a link https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/291420-pimp-my-ink-comparison-pelikan-edelstein-aventurine-vs-pelikan-4001-brilliant-green/ Availability This is one of those inks that is even avaiLable on the moon, simply hijack a passing space craft.... But since you and I most probably will not get to the moon that often at least I don't)... I will give you some adresses here La Couronne du Comte I guess Dennis and Rik would even travel to the moon to get it for you (just pay them a million or 2 ) Well it is safe to say that they do almost everything to satisfy their customers http://www.lacouronneducomte Bankers have Rothshield Ink lovers have The Goulet Pen Company. Rachel and Brian carry theALMOST largest assortiment of ink on earth and it's near surroundings http://www.gouletpens.com (almost Dear Amberlea Davis carries the largest assoritment in the universe but is not a seller To Conclude Pelikan did a nice job on this ink.... Nice colour, beautiful bottle, well behaving and the price is not too expensive (in my opinion). Edelstein ink costs € 0,28 per ml. vs € 0,9 for a Pelikan 4001 ink. Is the Pelikan Edelstein ink that much better than Pelikan 4001? In my opinion not.... Wiil this keep me from buing other Edelstein inks.. ... DEFINATELY NOT Regards Peter

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A quick water-fastness test of 17 inks on a sheet of Rhodia dotpad paper. They all dried for at least a week prior to when I conducted the test. I rinsed the sheet in warm water, soaked it for half an hour, and then pressed it under a stack of magazines to dry. http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv56/k4p2tog/InkWaterTest1copy.jpg De Atramentis Aubergine (4) Diamine: Hope Pink (2) Marine (1) Peach Haze (1) Syrah (3) Noodler's: 54th Massachusetts (5) Antietam (3) Bad Green Gator (5) Baystate Concord Grape (4.5) Black Swan In Australian Roses (4) Green Marine (4) Kung Te-Cheng (5) Liberty's Elysium (3.5) Pelikan Edelstein Ruby (2) Pilot Iroshizuku: Ama-Iro (2) Yama-Budo (3) Private Reserve Tropical Blue (1) Notes: I was having feed issues with the pen with which I wrote the Bad Green Gator sample, which is why it is lighter than normal. The way the waterproof Baystate Blue and the more fugitive Baystate Red combine produces a decent imitation of mimeograph printing. I've given a numerical rating based on remaining legibility. 5 = Unchanged 4 = Changes to color but still entirely readable 3 = Readable, but it is getting hard 2 = If you stand on your head and squint, you just might make something out 1 = All gone!