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  1. I just noticed these today on AliExpress: which are purportedly new limited-edition, market-exclusive colours for China. They are listed by that seller at the same price as the gold-trimmed translucent colours in the regular line-up (Bourgogne, Laurel Green, Chartres Blue); the available nib options are F and M only. The net price of US$112.55 (plus tax, where applicable), after automatic and/or easily accessible discounts, is marginally less than the Japanese domestic market MSRP of ¥18,000(+tax) for the regular colours going by today's exchange rates. Free international shipping included (at least for Australia, Belgium, Mexico, UK, US and Zimbabwe, as far as I've checked just now). The inclusion of a converter with silver trim in the retail package seems a bit out of place for either of those colours, especially when previously the silver-trimmed converters are sold at a slight premium over the ‘standard’ gold-trimmed ones.
  2. penzel_washinkton

    Krishna Sea At Night - Quite Obscure?

    So, finally my first ink review... The lucky ink that I have the chance to review is : KRISHNA SEA AT NIGHT (RC SERIES) Before we get down into it, as a foreword, I received this ink as a sample kindly from Pen World India (shout out to them) and in turn I would do a review on the ink. It's a win-win I guess since I believe the Sea at Night is a beautiful colored ink that seems to be getting few attention here. BACKGROUND As a little bit of a background, Krishna Inks are inks made from India, particularly by a gentleman by the name of Dr. Sreekumar. He is as quoted from the Krishna Ink web "professional at day and connoiseur by night" , now that is one hell of a description and I totally like it. Now don't misunderstand the "connoiseur by night" to other meanings . Onto the ink, the Sea at Night is one of the ink in the RC series which specializes in the sheening / shading characters of a fountain pen ink. Quite well known inks in this series is the Jungle Volcano (will do a review later), Anokhi , Goldfish etc. The ink comes in 20 mL bottles for the price of around 8-9 USD (excluding shipping and tax). You can order the Krishna Ink and particularly this one from the official website : http://krishnainks.com/ TESTING & IMPRESSIONS To be totally honest, I did not know what color this ink is initially since there are no reviews at the time I requested a sample of this ink (Pen Chalet has one review but I don't think there are other ones). From the swab sent from Pen World I thought this was a black with a heavy red sheen which is unique in itself. Upon testing the inks however, I was totally wrong and surprised at the same time. This is actually a Teal color, and a very dark one at that. The tools I've used for the testing is as below: Pen: Faber Castell Loom - Fine, Steel nib Paper; Muji A5 (over 55% recycled paper) Maruman Mnemosyne 195 Kinbor A5 Lined (not in the scans) Below are some points I concluded from my testing: Shade : Teal with heavier green toneFlow : GoodLubrication : GoodDry Out : No dry out up until 1 minute observationNo hard startsQuite saturatedMinimal water resistanceDry time (with the tools tested ) : Around 30 - 40 secondsNo major issues with the ink character, there is a little bit of smudging experienced in the testingHard to see from my scans but managed to observe limited red sheen in the ink Maruman Mnemosyne 195 Muji A5 Grid (over 55% recycled paper) Comparison with Diamine Sherwood Green - Platinum Century 3776 Bourgougne Red (Fine, 14K gold nib) CONCLUSION All in all, I have very little negative aspect and many positive aspect to say about this ink. It flows well, no issue of drying out (in 1 minute time span of uncapping the pen) , no bad ink characteristic observed. The shading for me is quite unique, I know that teal is like the trending color recently and the market is starting to get saturated (pun intended) with the color but the Sea at Night has a darker teal tone of color. It also has sheening characteristic (which may become more apparent in a broader nib) that separates the ink to other teal inks. The bad aspect I would say probably is the relatively long dry time of this ink and there is a sign of smudging. All in all, this is a good ink and good shade of teal (IMO) and I recommend it for you guys/gals looking for a dark teal ink with a little bit of flair.
  3. namrehsnoom

    Robert Oster Muddy Swamp

    Robert Oster Muddy Swamp Robert Oster is an Australian ink maker that is well-known for its unique range of colours. On his website he describes our shared love quite eloquently: “Robert Oster Signature originates from one of the most famous wine producing regions of the world, the Coonawarra district of South Australia, an idyllic setting with great influence on the senses. There is my inspiration. It’s a joy to share it with you.” Well, we are certainly fortunate to have inspiring ink makers like Robert Oster to satiate our thirst for glorious inks. It’s been a while since I reviewed a Robert Oster ink, but recently I got me a bottle of Muddy Swamp, that really impressed me. This ink’s colour is totally intriguing… a murky mix of teal, blue-black, grey and green. Difficult to describe, wonderful to experience! To me, the closest I can come is to classify it as a dark teal-grey. The ink’s name is well chosen: it definitely breathes that muddy feel of dark swamp water, with bubbling eddies of weeds swirling around, frogs croaking, dragonflies zipping around… An ink that creates a pensive mood, ideal for an intimate journaling session in the evening. A nicely saturated ink, that is at home in all nib sizes. Also an ink with strong shading, but somewhat subdued and not at all harsh on the eye. This Muddy Swamp is right up my alley – one of the best inks I tried this year! The fairly heavy shading caused some problems with my scanner, which tends to exaggerate the contrast of written text. As such, I mostly present photos of the ink that more accurately show its real looks. 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 strip 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. This Muddy Swamp has a fairly broad dynamic range, ranging from a light grey-blue to a much darker teal-grey. This translates to prominent shading, but without a harsh contrast between the light & darker parts. Aesthetically very pleasing, and I like it a lot! On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – Muddy Swamp behaved really well, with only minimal smearing. Water resistance is also fairly good: a lot of the colour dissipates, but what’s left on the page is still legible without too much trouble. Even after 15 minutes of soaking, there’s still readable text left on the page. Not bad at all. The ink’s chromatography shows a complex mix of dyes: I see green and blue, grey of course but also some hints of purple. The bottom part of the chroma shows that the grey dyes are firmly attached to the paper, which explains the waterresistant properties of the ink. 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 the M-nib Safari Origin of the quote, written with an Edison Collier with 1.1 stub Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Muddy Swamp behaved perfectly on most paper types, with only a hint of feathering on the lower quality papers (like Moleskine), where you also get show-through and bleed-through, but not the worst I have seen. Drying times are mostly around the 10 second mark with the Lamy Safari. This ink is definitely made for pure white paper, where it truly shines. I personally find it a bit underwhelming on cream paper – still good looking, but the yellow tinge shines through and significantly breaks down the ink’s inherent beauty. My advice: avoid strong cream-coloured paper. I’ve also added a scanned image of some writing samples, just to give another view on the ink. The scanner captures the colour fairly well, but greatly exaggerates the contrast. That’s why I used photos to present the writing samples on different paper types. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. Muddy Swamp writes a well-saturated line in all nib sizes, showing good contrast with the paper. The EF-nib already presents hints of shading, with shading picking up with F-nibs and above. The ink looks at its best with more dry-writing pens or broader nibs. With wet writers, the ink’s shading drowns away and becomes less prominent. But no matter the pen/nib combination, Muddy Swamp delivers, and gives you a stunningly beautiful result. Related inks To compare Muddy Swamp 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. This Robert Oster creation is different from other blue-green grey-toned inks in my collection. As such, it was a wonderful discovery. I just love grey-leaning inks with a bit of colour to them, and this teal-grey is really superb! Inkxperiment – Cityscape As part of my ink reviews, I try to create an interesting drawing that showcases the ink in a more artistic setting. I love doing this part: a real challenge at times, and a great way to improve my drawing skills. And besides, it’s just fun to use inks for more than just writing. Inspiration for this drawing comes from the original Blade Runner movie that I recently revisited. I especially love the scene at the end of the movie with Rutger Hauer sitting in the rain, uttering the unforgettable words: “… All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain…” Still gives me goosebumps. Rober Oster Muddy Swamp seemed like an ideal ink to depict a gloomy dystopian cityscape. For this inkxperiment I started with an A4 piece of HP photo paper, onto which I painted a background by applying heavily water-diluted ink through a piece of kitchen towel. I then used a piece of textured carpet anti-slip material to draw the city buildings, starting with strongly diluted ink in the background and building up with more pure ink for the city blocks in the foreground. A fairly simple drawing, but the result is quite good and shows what can be achieved with Muddy Swamp in an artistic setting. 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 made a square cut-out of the inkxperiment drawing, and applied a negative colour filter to it. Nothing more, nothing less. The result shows the city at night and looks amazingly well. I’m really pleased with it. Conclusion Robert Oster Muddy Swamp has a very unusual dirty-looking teal-grey colour, that is simply amazing. A gorgeous looking ink that works equally well for writing as for drawing. I enjoyed this ink immensely and can definitely recommend it. I you like teal or grey-leaning inks, this is a must-have in my book. 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

    TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai sabimidori

    TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai sabimidori TACCIA is a Japanese stationery company, that - as far as I know - is now part of the Nakabayashi group. They offer high-quality fountain pens, inks, pen-rolls, notebooks, etc. More specifically, TACCIA produce a line of inks, inspired by the unique look of Ukiyo-e paintings from Japan’s Edo period (17th century). Ukiyo-e prints are woodblock prints where the work of an artist is carved into wood by woodworkers, and pressed onto paper by printers. This allows the production of multiple prints of an artwork with some different colours as well. In this review, the centre stage is taken by sabimidori, a rust-green ink with a strong copper sheen, inspired by colours appearing in woodprint paintings from the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Hokusai is best known for his “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” series of prints, with the mountain appearing as a central theme. In this case, the rust-green colour is inspired by the colour of the tree-leaves in the painting of “the village of Sekiya on the Sumida river”. The Met museum describes the scene as: “the speed and urgency of the galloping horsemen stand in contrast to the solitary and static image of Fuji capping the horizon like an omniscient observer and marking that which is eternal. The raised road that winds into the depths of the print directs our gaze to the mountain, as do the trees that function as a framing device.” Sabimidori is not only a beautiful green-leaning teal, but also one with a number of tricks up its sleeve. Most surprisingly: the wet ink looks bright blue, but quicky dries to a muted blue-green. It’s definitely a teal, but one that leans strongly towards the green side – I really like the colour that coalesces from the bright blue liquid. Next, sabimidori – which means “rust green” – hasn’t stolen its name: the rust comes from the heavy copper sheen that the ink shows on many types of hard-surfaced paper. This TACCIA ink is also a heavy shader. Usually, I’m not a fan of heavy shading, which can look harsh and angry, but with blue-green inks the result can work really well. With sabimidori, you get an aesthetically pleasing look with blue undertones in the light parts and a green-copper look in the darker parts. These complement each other wonderfully well. As you might guess, this ink is totally to my liking and surely one of the better inks I tried this year. The ink comes in a 40 ml bottle, that is packaged in a beautiful box showing the corresponding Ukiyo-e painting. Lovely packaging for an excellent ink. 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 strip 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. Sabimidori has a medium dynamic range, without too much contrast between the light and darker parts. The ink is special though: blue-leaning in the lighter part of the spectrum, and becoming greener the more it saturates. The red-copper sheen appears in the most saturated parts, and is even visible in a scan. The result is an ink that almost looks multichromatic, with really nice contrast in the shading. Shading is most obvious in wider nibs, but you already get some with the EF nib, which is quite impressive. The aesthetics are superb, and add tons of character to your writing. If you use high-sheen paper – like Tomoe River – and look at your writing from an angle, the “rust” component is very obvious. Sabimidori then looks like a blue ink, with a very prominent copper sheen. Wonderful stuff! TACCIA’s ink makers have really outdone themselves with this sabimidori. The ink’s chromatography shows a blue-heavy ink with yellow in the mix, which results in the green-looking appearance. From the chroma, I would have expected a more blue-leaning ink, not the rust-green teal that appears on paper. There definitely is some complex chemistry going on here! The bottom part of the chroma shows the bright blue that remains when water washes away the yellow dyes. This is confirmed in the water test: the ink is fairly resistant to water, and can survive an accident. A lot of the colour disappears, but a bright blue ghost of your writing remains that is quite readable, even after 30 seconds under streaming tap water. That makes sabimidori an ink you can use at the office – where it will certainly attract some well-deserved attention. 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 The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari A small text sample, written with the M-nib Safari Source of the quote, written with a Pelikan M405 with cursive-italic F-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Sabimidori looks good on all types of paper, but I personally like it best on the more cream-coloured variety which enhances its green complexion. No feathering in general, just a teeny tiny bit on HP multipurpose paper. Some bleed-through on low-quality paper, but nothing too excessive. The ink expresses itself totally different, depending on the paper used – from blue- to green-leaning teal. I simply love this complexity … you get totally different experiences from a single bottle! Drying times for sabimidori are on the long side, with up to 30 seconds on hard-surface paper. 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, scan & photo are very close-matched, with the photo closest to what my eyes can see. One thing that I feel obliged to mention: sabimidori is not the easiest ink to clean out of your pens. It stains a lot, and needed extra effort to completely remove. It’s devilishly difficult to remove it from non-shiny plastic: I couldn’t completely clean it from re-used cartridges using only tap water: soap and hot water were needed. This is not an ink I would use in a clear demonstrator! Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. The EF-nib already shows the shading that the ink is capable of. Depending on the nib, you get more blue or green, but always a good-looking result. Shading truly is a feast for the eyes – it is heavy, but the blue & green parts complement each other really well, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing look. Related inks To compare sabimidori 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. The ink is different from other green-leaning teals in my collection. Murky Waters is a mix of my own: 3 parts Pelikan Edelstein Jade with 2 parts Edelstein Onyx. Inkxperiment – Cradle of Life With every review, I try to create a drawing using only the ink I am reviewing. These small one-ink pieces are an excellent way to show the colour-range nuances that are hidden within the ink. And I totally enjoy the fun couple of hours these inkxperiments provide me: playing around with the ink in a creative way. Not surprisingly, the inkxperiment is for me the most enjoyably part in the making of a review 😉 Inspiration for this inkxperiment comes from the namesake Lara Croft movie I revisited recently: a fun constant-action adventure movie. Definitely not a brainy movie, but the title got me thinking about the origins of life. In puddles of nutrient-rich water on infant Earth, complex molecules arose, that – given aeons of time and billions of tries – resulted in self-replicating structures, that ultimately form the building blocks of life. And from these humble beginnings come the variety of species we know today, like the majestic pine forest… For this drawing, I started with a piece of A4 HP photo paper. I first drew the land borders, drawing them with water into which I dripped pure ink. The colours are real… bright blue, bright green, teal – all this from that single sabimidori bottle. Next I created the sky for the pine forest, printing a pattern with a piece of kitchen paper dipped in ink. I then drew the spheres where the “life cooking” happened, that created the complex molecules. All that in puddles of nutrient-rich water, which I drew with Q-tips dipped in multiple water/ink ratios. Finally I used my fountain pen to draw the pine forests, and to add some texture to the water. The final picture gives you a good idea of what can be achieved with sabimidori as a 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. Conclusion TACCIA Ukiyo-e Hokusai sabimidori is a wonderful rust-green teal. An ink with unexpected complexity, that has a lot going for it. I love its looks on paper, with the great aesthetics of shading and sheen. This is one of the nicest inks I tried this year. If you like teals, you cannot go wrong with this one: highly recommended! 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. Earlier in 2020, Diamine released the 25 ink colours that it produced and included in its Inkvent (2019 advent calendar) product as separate retail products in four-legged 50ml Blue Edition bottles. The inks in the series are categorised as standard, sheening, and shimmering — and each is priced accordingly. Seasons Greetings is one of the sheening inks. Base colour: Dark teal Flow: Moderate Feathering: Not observed on Rhodia Dotpad 80g/m² paper, looking closely at the thinnest hatching lines, and words/glyphs ‘reverse-written’ with the nib upside-down (i.e. the bottom of the feed facing up) Show-through: Low to nil Bleed-through: Not observed Drying time: A smidgen over 20 seconds Smudging after fully dry: A small amount; this ink is slightly susceptible to being re-wetted by the moisture on one's fingertips. I rubbed my dry thumb over the stippling dots (just after the scan shown above was done), and that caused some very minor streaking that took a loupe to spot. However, just now when I was handling the ink review sheet over 48 hours later, I managed to smudge some of smaller Japanese characters Water resistance: So apparently poor that I don't think I need to soak some part of the sheet for an hour or so Shading: Negligible. In spite of the apparent shading in the image above, the darker parts are actually manifestations of sheen; see image below. (I confirmed it by checking the ink review sheet under a loupe and a bright LED lamp.) Sheen: Plenty of pink sheen, evident in almost every ink mark on the page, other than the thinnest and driest of the hatching lines I did by ‘reverse-writing’ (with nib upside-down and the bottom of the feed facing up) which apparently this pen-and-ink combination, or maybe just the pen, doesn't support Shimmer: None My thoughts: Now that I have detected a bit more susceptibility to smudging with this ink, I might have to rethink whether I feel comfortable using it to write in my journals and notebooks of which the content I intend to revisit. Nevertheless, the degree of smudging doesn't seem to be quite as severe as with some other Diamine (ultra-)sheening inks such as Iridescink Herbert or November Rain.
  6. Comparison of two inks with a similar teal-like color, the Noodler's ink brands itself as a Blue-Black, while J. Herbin's is called a Grey-Green. Vert de Gris is very gentle and shades very well, while Prime of the Commons can be a bit temperamental on the page, but both flow very well. Prime of the commons is "Bulletproof, Eternal, Forgery Resistant and Waterproof", and will change it's color to a light blue when tampered with. I've got both inks and the Tomoe River Nebula Notebook at PurePens, so if you like them be sure to check them out! Great service and shipping prices to Brazil, where I live. Writing sample on a Nebula Notebook with Tomoe River paper, Noodler's PotC is on a Sailor Lecoule with a MF nib, and Vert de Gris is on a Pilot Puckish 500 witha fine nib: Here's some dry time and resistance tests on Rhodia dotpad, PotC dries in roughly one second: And here's some ghost/bleed through and smear tests on a 56g school notebook paper. PotC dried instantly! Couldn't smudge while writing if I wanted to.
  7. Diamine Dark Forest (150th Anniversary II) The ink maker from Liverpool is one of the staple brands in ink-land. They consistently produce solid inks for a very reasonable price. In 2017, Diamine released their second ink series to commemorate their 150th Anniversary. I obtained my set shortly thereafter, but more or less forgot about them when my attention drifted to Japanese inks. About time to do the reviews. Fortunately, these anniversary inks are still easily obtainable, so if you like what you see you can still get them. Diamine Dark Forest is another lovely ink in this Anniversary series. A dark & saturated green with strong blue undertones. My first reaction when seeing the ink was “definitely a dark green”. And then I got like “hmm… maybe a dark teal… lots of blue in there”. And after preparing the review material, I got to “well… not a teal yet, but going there.” I love it when inks leave the well-trodden path, and meander between the colour lines. More often then not they gain in complexity and beauty. Dark Forest is no exception – I find it to be a very interesting ink with lots of depth. This Diamine ink is very saturated and lays down a dark blue-green line when writing. With a wet-writing pen, the colour can almost turn black. Where the ink gets overly saturated, you can often glimpse a reddish sheen. I like it that the ink looks totally different, depending on the wetness of the nib/pen combination. Teal-leaning in drier pens, and going dark green to green-black in wetter pens. To illustrate the colour span of this Diamine ink, I did a swab on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper, where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. Dark Forest has a broad colour span, with a substantial difference between the light and darker parts. This translates to strong (even harsh) shading when writing. Shading is present in all nib sizes, even the finer ones. Personally, my preferences go to soft & muted inks, and this Dark Forest is quite the opposite. But still, I like the complexity of its character. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – the ink behaved badly. Tons of smudges, although the text itself remains very readable. Water resistance is almost zero in practice – from the bottom part of the chromatography, I had expected a better result. But no, this ink is very prone to watery accidents. This makes it - for me at least - unsuited for use in the workplace. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. 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 a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with the Lamy Safari M-nib Source of the quote, written with my Yard-o-Led Viceroy Standard with F-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) The multi-paper writing test shows that Dark Forest can cope with a wide range of papers. With the lower-quality papers (Moleskine, copy paper) there is just a tiny bit of feathering, and a small amount of bleed-through. Drying times are in the 10-15 second range on harder paper, and around 5 seconds on the more absorbent low-quality papers (with the Lamy Safari M-nib). This dark blue-leaning green works well with both white and creamy paper. Because scans don't always capture an ink's colour and contrast with good precision, I also add a few photos to give you an alternative look on this Diamine ink. In this case, the real colour seems to sit a bit between the two. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing (written on Rhodia N°16 80 gsm paper). All samples were written with a Lamy Safari. I also added a couple of visiting pens: a wet-writing Yard-o-Led Viceroy Standard Victorian, and a Pelikan M120 (which writes quite dry for a Pelikan). As you can see, the ink can look quite different depending on nib/pen combination – almost a teal in the 1.9 calligraphy nib, almost black in the Yard-o-Led. But in all cases quite saturated and with heavy shading. Related inks To compare Diamine Dark Forest 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. The ink that comes closest in comparison is the 2017 LE ink Lamy Petrol, which has just a touch more blue. With Lamy Petrol being unobtanium these days, this Dark Forest could be the replacement you were looking for. Inkxperiment – excalibur With each review, I try to create an interesting drawing using only the ink I’m reviewing. This is often quite challenging, but it has the advantage of showing the ink’s colour range in a more artistic setting. I enjoy doing these little drawings immensely – it’s quite a fun extension of the ink hobby. Always good for a fun couple of hours. For this inkxperiment, I had zero inspiration. So I started with word associations to get me going: English ink, dark forest… medieval woods… runes and druids… Avalon… King Arthur… Excalibur. OK - good enough to get the drawing started... I used an A4 piece of HP photo paper, that I covered with a paper towel on which I dripped water-diluted ink to create the textured background. Next I used pure Dark Forest to paint in some darker patches for the stone & sword, and as a background for the runes. With the side of a piece of cardboard dipped in ink, I added the branches of the medieval forest. Finally, I used cotton Q-tips with bleach to draw in the runes and Excalibur. The result is not a masterpiece, but it gives you an idea of what can be achieved with this Diamine ink in a more artistic context. Conclusion Diamine Dark Forest is a saturated blue-leaning dark green that can look substantially different depending on your nib/pen combination – it can span the whole range from green-leaning teal to dark green black. A heavy shader that shows a bit of a reddish sheen in heavily saturated areas. For me personally, this Dark Forest is a bit too dark & harsh, but it’s certainly a complex and interesting ink. I enjoyed playing around with it. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types
  8. Mont Blanc - Petrol Blue For the past few years, Mont Blanc has followed the tradition of bringing out a Limited Edition "Colour of the Year" ink. These come in a 50 ml square bottle, and are typically available for a limited time only. In this review, I take a closer look at Petrol Blue, the colour of the year 2019. The ink's packaging is both stylish and functional, and gives an idea of the ink's colour. In the box you'll find the nice square bottle, with a decent amount of ink (50 ml). Not so nice is the ink's price point - at about 35 EUR for a bottle, this definitely is an expensive ink. To my eye, Petrol Blue is a teal-leaning blue, and one that looks quite nice. Also well saturated - which is quite a relief after some of the more recent watered-down MB colours. I personally like teal-style colours, and this one is different enough from my other teals to make it interesting. The ink writes rather wet, even in my typically dry Lamy Safari test pens - no complaints there. The ink shades strongly... very noticeable even in finer nibs. The contrast between light and darker parts is prominent, but still aesthetically pleasing. Overall, I quite like what I see. Petrol Blue has a rather broad dynamic colour span. To illustrate this, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This beautifully illustrates the ink's colour range. The ink moves from a light-blue to a very dark teal. You'll also notice a reddish sheen in very saturated parts. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved reasonably well. There is quite some smudging, but the text itself remains perfectly readable. Water resistance is totally absent though. All colour quickly disappears from the page, leaving almost no residue. Definitely not an ink to use in the workplace. A word of warning: this ink will stain your fingers, requiring quite some scrubbing to remove it. On the positive side, I found it easy to clean from the syringe-filled cartridges that I used for my test pens. Petrol Blue is a fast-drying ink - with typical drying times in the 5-10 second range with my Lamy Safari (M-nib). As such, this ink is also suitable for lefties (when using finer nibs). I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. I have recently expanded my paper testbed to include 20 different paper types. As such, you will get a good idea of the performance of this ink on a broad range of papers. 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 a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with an M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib) This Mont Blanc ink looks really nice on all my test papers. This is an ink that looks good on any type of paper, both the white and more yellow ones. With the exception of Moleskine and the HP 80gsm printing paper, I didn't notice any feathering. With lower-quality paper, you get some see-through and even a bit of bleed-through. All-in-all though, this is a well-behaving ink. 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 M200 Classic Green-Marbled with an F-nib. Here the ink leaves a much more saturated line, with somewhat less pronounced shading. The ink works well with all nib sizes I tested it with. Related inks To compare Petrol Blue with related inks, I use a 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 hope that you'll find this way of presenting related inks useful. It's a bit more work, but in my opinion worth the effort for the extra information you gain. Inkxperiment - the eagle has landed (celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing) As a personal experiment, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing, keeping things simple and more-or-less abstract. For me, this broadens the scope of the hobby, and allows me to stretch my drawing skills. It is great fun to explore an ink's colour range in a more artistic context. For this drawing, inspiration comes from the first moon landing fifty years ago, with Neil Armstrong announcing that "the Eagle has landed". So in this drawing, you also get an eagle ;-) I started off with a 10x15cm piece of HP Premium photo paper, on which I painted multiple layers of ever more saturated ink to create the background. I then used my Lamy Safari with pure Petrol Blue to pencil in the trees and the eagle. Overall I'm quite pleased by the use of the photo paper as a medium for ink paintings - the ink's character shows off really well. Conclusion Mont Blanc's Petrol Blue "Colour of the Year 2019" LE ink is quite a good-looking teal-leaning blue, that is at home with all types of nibs and all types of paper. I really enjoyed using it. My only real complaint is that the ink is too expensive - it's not different enough from similar inks like Diamine Eau de Nil to warrant the hefty price tag. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types
  9. namrehsnoom

    Jacques Herbin - Bleu austral

    Jacques Herbin – Bleu austral La Société Herbin, Maître Cirier à Paris, was established in 1670. This makes J. Herbin probably the oldest name among European ink makers. Today, Herbin produces a range of beautiful fountain pen and calligraphy inks, writing instruments, gift sets and accessories. Herbin inks are made in France, and the finishing touches on the bottles are still done by hand in Paris. Like so many others, the company jumped on the premium product bandwagon, and started to release more high-end inks under the Jacques Herbin “Les encres essentielles” label. Nicer boxes, nicer packaging, much higher price (18,50 EUR versus the 7,50 EUR for the J. Herbin inks from the “La perle des encres” series). Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist and decided to test these new inks – are they really better than the standard J. Herbin inks? In this review, the spotlight is on Bleu austral, a strong blue leaning teal. The colour is really nicely done, and looks great on paper. The ink itself is wet-flowing and heavily saturated – in broad nibs it can even turn into a gusher. In my opinion, this is more of an ink for finer nibs and/or dry pens. Technically, the ink disappointed: it has a tendency to feather on more absorbent paper (even the one of high quality). You really need hard-surface paper for acceptable writing performance. Bleu austral is a heavy shader, and this in all nib sizes. Shading is never harsh and always looks aesthetically pleasing, due to the fairly small contrast range between light and darker parts. With wet pens, the ink really tends to oversaturate, which pushes away the shading. I therefore recommend using Bleu austral in combination with drier pens and/or fine nibs. To illustrate the ink’s colour span, I did a swab on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This clearly demonstrates the ink’s dynamic range. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – there was lots of smearing. The text itself remains very readable though. Water resistance is fairly low. There remains a greyish residue of the text on the page, that is still easily readable, but most of the colour disappears. This is clearly visible in the chromatography: the blue colour dissipates with the water, leaving only a grey residue behind. Not what I would call a water-resistant ink. Drying times for this Jacques Herbin ink vary with the type of paper, ranging from less than 5 seconds on absorbent paper to 10-20 seconds on hard-surfaced paper (all with my Lamy Safari M-nib test pen). With the absorbent paper, I see quite some feathering – even on higher quality paper. You also get a fair amount of see-through and bleed-through. This ink is definitely picky in the type of paper it prefers. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. 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 a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with the M-nib Lamy Safari The source of the quote, written with an Edison Collier with 1.1 stub Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari) Bleu austral looks equally good on white and more creamy paper. For my personal taste, it is way too saturated though – I definitely prefer a softer look in my inks. Since scans alone don’t tell the complete story, I’ve added some photos of the same writing samples to give you another view on the ink. 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 Edison Collier with a 1.1 stub. With the wet pen or with broad nibs in dry pens, the ink leaves an overly saturated line, and loses much of the shading. I personally prefer this ink in combination with a dry pen (M-nib or below) – it simply looks nicer: a blue-heavy teal with subtle shading. The wetter the pen, the darker and more one-dimensional the ink becomes. Related inks To allow for a good comparison with related inks, I employ my nine-grid format, with the currently reviewed ink at the center. Each grid cell shows the name of the ink, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test – all in a very compact format. As you can see, there is quite some competition in this colour segment. Personally, I would rather avoid the technical issues of this Jacques Herbin ink, and go for one of the other options. Inkxperiment – river goddess As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I’m reviewing. With these monochromatic pieces, I get to explore all the colour-range nuances that are present in the ink. This is my favourite part of the review: experimenting with the ink, and trying to be creative… pure quality time! We recently had some severe flooding in our part of Europe. Rivers, that are normally leisurely meandering in a peaceful landscape, turned into wild and angry monsters that threatened lives and property on their shores. In ancient times, such behaviour was usually attributed to the whimsical mood of the river goddess. Wild waters were a sure sign that the goddess was displeased with her people. I tried to capture this idea in the inkxperiment, that shows the goddess against the background of a wild and choppy river. For this drawing I used an A4 piece of HP photo paper, which is my favourite medium for doing inkxperiments. The photo paper really brings out the best from the ink. I first created the river background with the wood flotsam. I used painter tape to cover up the flotsam part, and used a cut-out piece of kitchen towel to paint in the choppy river. For this I sprinkled different water/ink ratios on top of the kitchen towel, which then pressed through to the underlying photo paper. I then used a piece of cardboard and pure Bleu austral to paint in the flotsam. Next, I painted in the river goddess with a fine brush, and used a small triangular potato cut-out to stamp in the different triangles. I finally used my B-nibbed Safari pen to add some finishing touches. The resulting piece gives you an idea of what can be achieved with Bleu austral in a more artistic setting. Conclusion Jacques Herbin Bleu austral is a nice blue-leaning teal. The ink is very saturated though, and – in my opinion – too much so in wet pens or with broad nibs. The ink also has technical shortcomings, and doesn’t cooperate with more absorbent paper. For a premium product, I had higher expectations. In my opinion, this ink is not really worth the premium price: there are lots of other inks to choose from in this colour spectrum. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types
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  15. Below is a written review of Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo. The name stands for 'Moonlight' and is a teal leaning deep blue. I quite like this pen for work related writing (little though that is); but it is a tad unsaturated in quite a few of my pen, so not quite a favorite - I'd rather it was a tad darker - the Krishna Sea at night is a similar teal leaning blue, but one with lot more sheen and leans the other way on the saturation spectrum - the color is dense! I find it works best in a wet fine nib, though for this review I used a Sailor Sapporo with a B nib, to highlight the beautiful shading.
  16. Reportedly, Private Reserve is one of the companies that paved the way to the overabundance of ink colors we have now, as early on there were mostly the basic inks available, such as basic blue-black, red, green, turquoise, brown, black, and blue. PR inks come in a multitude of different hues. The original creator and owner of the ink company passed away, and the company is now under new ownership and management. Ebony Blue has been on my radar for a while. I love dark teal inks, but I'm usually pretty picky about them in person. Ebony Blue is a kind of turquoise mixed with black, and possibly some other hues in between, which results in a dark but more "clean" hue teal-black. What I mean by clean is that it's not muddy, brown-tinged like, say, Sailor Jentle Miruai. Depending on pen, paper, and illumination this ink can look more blue-teal or more green-teal. The flow is one of the interesting characteristics of this ink: it feels "creamy" to write with. I like this tactility of the ink. It does not feather nor bleed through any of the decent-to-good paper I've used it with. It has pretty decent water resistance too: while it won't look neat if you splash water on your writing, a clear, dark gray line remains behind to salvage content. There is metallic magenta sheen. This ink will work in all types of nibs: from ultra extra fine to broad. Shading becomes increasingly more prominent with broader nibs. If you use broad nibs with this ink, I recommend uncoated and more absorbent paper. It's more smear-prone on Tomoe River with broad nibs. Scan: on Fabriano Bioprima 85g ivory-toned paper with 4mm dot grid Scan: on Tomoe River 52g White Scan: on a 100g A6 uncoated paper (the first GvFC Gulf Blue should read "Cobalt Blue" instead) Scan: on Tomoe River 52g Cream paper (the first GvFC Gulf Blue should read Cobalt Blue instead) Close-up photographs:
  17. namrehsnoom

    Ink Mix : Murky Waters

    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
  18. gsgill112

    Monteverde California Teal

    Hi Everyone, DISCLAIMER : This is my Second Ink Review on this forum so please comment and any Suggestions are Most Welcomed. First of all, A Big Thanks to LIVTEK INDIA for providing me the sample of this lovely Teal Ink, Do check them out at the link given above , That being said This is an Honest Review and I DO NOT REPRESENT LIVTEK OR MONTEVERDE IN ANY MANNER WHATSOEVER. 1. Sample So, I received this sample in a Monteverde 30ml Ink Bottle and was immediately impressed with the lovely Teal Colour with some awesome Red Sheen. Shaking the bottle and seeing the beautiful teal colour is just awesome. I was also impressed with the amount of sheen this ink has right ON the bottle and cap 2. Comparison ​SO to understand the Colour profile, I have classified them to similar inks I Own:- You can see right out that the ink is quite similar to Jacques Herbin 1670 Émeraude de Chivor (Emerald of Chivor ) and the Monteverde D.C SuperShow Teal (2019 Special Edn from Monteverde). All three have the same Red sheen and this ink falls somewhere in between the above two colours. It is slightly light than the Monteverde D.C SuperShow Teal (2019 Special Edn from Monteverde) and comparable to the J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor less the Golden Sparkles. 3. Writing Samples I am using a DIP PEN this time as --> This would be a standardised in my future reviews, --> It puts out good amount of Ink on paper, --> and I can test the cleanliness and staining factors easily. You can see the ink on the nib as well as the beautiful red SHEEN on the macro shot of the nib. and after letting the nib Dry for 5-10 days, dipping it in water and swirling the nib for 3-5 sec, the nib comes out squeaky clean ONLY in ONE DIP, without any traces of stains. So, This ink is VERY EAST TO CLEAN AND DOES NOT STAIN ANYTHING. Following is how the ink performed on different papers. (a). Ink Resistant Paper:- Writes perfectly with NO BLEED THROUGH OR FEATHERING, It does not shade at all and leaves a lovely Reddish Sheen on paper clearly visible COOL. The ink is very well behaved and lubricated and has the Monteverde ITF Technology . Though I experienced Huge Dry times on such paper but it looked Beautiful and It has a Beautiful Reddish sheen as found on Jacques Herbin 1670 Émeraude de Chivor (Emerald of Chivor ) and the Monteverde D.C SuperShow Teal (2019 Special Edn from Monteverde). This Ink DOES NOT SHADE WELL. NOTE : -- > I am using a very thin paper with wax kinna coating/ lubrication on paper making the paper highly ink resistant, although you can see the text on reverse, It is NOT Bleed through but rather the thin nature of the paper. ( . FP Friendly Paper The Ink writes perfectly and does NOT BLEEDTHROUGH even after putting a lot of ink on paper. It is really Saturated and the Colour just Pops out. Dry Times are really good. I does sheen even on the copy paper. (c ). Recycled Paper Well frankly speaking this is a (beep) of a paper very close to a News paper but the ink performed really well, I won't talk about the Dry Time on this paper as It is close to ZERO. The ink is immediately absorbed by the paper and you can see huge Feathering and Bleed Through, but taking into account the paper, it performed really well and the text is clearly visible. 4. Additional Properties I am a curious guy so, I did chromatography using a Tissue paper and it was Awesome, You can clearly see the Blue poking out even before I soak the tissue wet and once I do that the Light Blue / Turquoise crawls on a tangent to the Subtle Green tones (I am very bad with colours so please correct me if I am wrong here). Water Resistance:- The ink is NOT AT ALL WATER RESISTANT and completely fades out. On the brighter side it is really easy to clean from the pen. It is Advertised as a safe ink to use and I did not face any issues while enjoying this ink.It behaves really well. Don't think of keeping the big nib saturate with this colour for longer (say > 10 Min or so), It will dry up but somehow not completely, If you touch it once it is dried, it will definitely stain your hands and everything you touch BEAWARE. This is a water Drop Test on cheep Copy paper This is a 10Sec running tap water test :- Sheen Test :- As mentioned before the ink sheens quite well here are some shorts of that:- 5. Final Thoughts So, for about 1100 INR for a 90ml bottle you are getting an enormous and a well performed ink for very Cheep. I would definitely recommend this ink for daily carry purpose (Provided you like the colour) and anyone interested in a Teal Saturated colour (More towards green) with a hint of Gorgeous Red Sheen. All in all an wonderful ink to work with. Once again I would like to Thank LIVTEK INDIA for giving me this opportunity to test the Ink. Do visit them for some more interesting Inks from various brands such as Stipula, Monteverde, Etc.. and do click their Awesome Fountain Pen Collection. Thanks a lot for making through, please do comment if you have any other opinions, Stay Safe, Keep Enjoying the FP Journey, and Stay Curious Thanks & Regards, GS Gill Attached Images
  19. I love the in-between-ness of the tertiaries; they're complex, blended, impure, not one thing, nor t'other. Those yellow-oranges, red-oranges, red-purples, blue-purples, blue-greens, and yellow-greens. So all you ink lovers out there who love the tertiary colors: let's hear / see your favorites in the in-between ranges. Here are the colors I have loaded in pens at the moment:
  20. Cursive Child

    Diamine Aurora Borealis

    Nice, well behaved, ink from Diamine. Well lubricating, vivid blue-green closer to the green end of the spectrum. The significantly compressed scan is showing a greener and lighter tinge than it is. E.g. the Ku-Jaku comparison I have shows up bluer than on the scan.
  21. Penbbs #286 幽山向晩 (Remote Mountain By Nightfall -- not an official translation) comes in a "60±5ml" bottle with a octagonal horizontal cross-section. It's damn difficult to come by a bottle. It's isn't so easy just to come by an image of a bottle of it! Source: eBay (I'm trying to rediscover my enthusiasm for reviewing inks by doing one, and move to an easier procedure by using just one or two pens instead of five or more. Alas, no joy, but what's done is done, so here it is.) Drying time: Astoundingly fast. I don't think I've tested any other ink that almost completely dried on Rhodia Dotpad 80g/m² paper in five seconds. Lubrication: I can't comment on that, since I don't have a large number of data points as to how much friction my tester frankenpen usually generates when writing on a Rhodia Dotpad. Saturation: I haven't figured out how to test that. The ink does appear to have a moderate-to-heavy dye load. Feathering: None observed when writing on the Rhodia Dotpad or in a Leuchtturm1917 hardcover A5 journal. Ghosting: None observed from writing on 80g/m² paper of various types. Japanese paper of a lighter weight could be a different matter. Bleed-through: None observed from writing on Rhodia 80g/m² paper. Even where I did four passes with a Pilot Parallel 6.0mm pen, as long as there was no pooling of ink, there was no bleed-through. No bleed-through in this Muji A5 Notebook SKU#4550182108910 either, even when I'd written with a dip pen that was so wet the letters haloed with sheen. I did see some tiny spots on the reverse of a page in a Leuchtturm1917 hardcover A5 journal, at some (but not all) intersections of pen strokes using a wetter pen. Shading: There is shading when using either a broad enough or just moderately wet pen. Look at the mark left by one pass of the Pilot Parallel 6.0mm pen. Of course, it's up to your pen and your penmanship to distribute the ink unevenly to get visible shading. Sheen: This ink sheens a dull purplish black, usually around the edges of wet pen strokes causing a 'halo' effect. Water resistance: Some. Leaving the ink to dry for 60 minutes instead of just 10 minutes before soaking did not appear to increase the ink marks' water resistance on Rhodia 80g/m² paper, but soaking the paper for 20 minutes instead of 10 minutes made a difference. Accidental spillage or random raindrops on writing will not eradicate it from the page, provided it is treated promptly. Otherwise, the colour that escapes from the page into the droplet could settle back onto the paper and obscure the writing.
  22. namrehsnoom

    Lamy Petrol (2017 Le Ink)

    Lamy Petrol (2017 LE ink) For quite some years now, Lamy has brought a Limited Edition Safari pen with accompanying ink colour to market. This is a trend with many other pen/ink makers these days. Often, these limited editions are quite beautiful, and worthy of your attention. This is certainly true of the Lamy 2017 Limited Edition Safari Petrol, with the accompanying Petrol ink. I got me a pack of 5 ink cartridges with the pen. To this day I regret not having bought a full bottle of Petrol, which I really like. When I purchased the pen, I tried one of the cartridges and discovered the lovely dark teal colour of this ink. The cartridges then got lost somehow in my ink drawer, and only recently resurfaced. To be honest: when doing a review of Mont Blanc Petrol Blue, it jogged my memory that I had another "Petrol" ink lying around. You probably won't be able to obtain this ink anymore, but I'm still doing this review purely for comparison purposes. This is a very saturated dark teal, that can look almost black in wet pens. The ink's colour lies right on the border between blue and green. When looking at it, I sometimes see more of a green, sometimes more of a blue. To get a better idea, I diluted the ink heavily with water and this resulted in the watery blue of the image below. Not a scientific test, but for me that makes it a slightly blue-leaning teal. When writing, Lamy Petrol leaves a very dark and saturated line. Contrast with the paper is very good, even with the finest nibs. With fine nibs or wet pens, the ink shows little shading. Use broader nibs in dry pens and some beautiful-looking shading emerges. This would be a very good ink to use at work, even for more formal writing occasions. Petrol has a rather limited dynamic colour span. To illustrate this, I did a swab on Tomoe River paper where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This beautifully illustrates the ink's colour range. The ink moves from a fairly saturated to a really dark teal. You'll also notice a reddish sheen in very saturated parts. On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - the ink behaved reasonably well. There is quite some smudging, but the text itself remains perfectly readable. Water resistance is a mixed bag. With the soak test - submerging the ink in still water for 15 minutes - you get some ugly smudges, but the original writing is still visible. With running tap water, the ink shows a remarkably good water resistance. A lot of the ink flushes away, but a very readable residue remains. Another plus if you want to use this ink at work. A word of warning: this ink will stain your fingers, requiring quite some scrubbing to remove it. Petrol is a fairly fast-drying ink - with typical drying times in the 5-10 second range with my Lamy Safari (M-nib). I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. As such, you will get a good idea of the performance of this ink. 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 a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with an M-nib Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib) This Lamy ink looks really nice on all my test papers. This is an ink that looks good on any type of paper, both the white and more yellow ones. The ink even looks great on the horrible Moleskine paper, without any noticeable feathering (but still with a fair amount of bleed-through). Petrol is a very well-behaving ink! 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 Lamy Dialog 3 with M-nib. The ink works great with all nib sizes I tested it with. Related inks To compare Lamy Petrol 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 – twinkle, twinkle little star As a personal experiment, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing, keeping things simple and more-or-less abstract. For me, this is a fun way to explore an ink's colour range in a more artistic context. It's challenging at times, and a great way to stretch my drawing skills. For this drawing, inspiration comes from some Bauhaus period stick-figure paintings I recently saw on Pinterest. And because Petrol is such a dark ink, a night-theme with stars seemed in order. I started off with 300 gsm rough watercolour paper, on which I painted the background with pure Petrol using Q-tips. Thanks to the rough paper, you get a nicely-textured background. I then used a B-nibbed Safari pen to draw in the stick figures, enjoying the starry night. Even with the limited colour span of this ink, the result looks quite nice, and shows off the ink's character really well. Conclusion Lamy's Petrol 2017 LE ink is a great dark teal ink, that I quite like. This ink works really well as a writing ink for use at work. I enjoyed the ink very much while doing this review. A pity that it is no longer available. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types
  23. Bennett

    Surfing The Fountain Pen Teal Wave

    I have noticed over the past year or so, a significant but growing number of fountain pens produced in the teal or turquoise family of colors. Here is a listing of entries that fall under this wave. Please add others that I have missed. My guess is that this color is selling well, otherwise, all these manufacturers would not have jumped on board. This a bit of a retro color event. I believe that the last time teal was popular may have been when Parker 51's were at their height in the 1950's and blue/green teal was a frequent color choice. Pelikan 205 Aquamarine Pelikan 600 Turquoise-White Pelikan 805 Ocean Swirl Pilot Custom 74 Teal Platinum 3776 Kumpoo Sailor Pro Gear Ocean Sailor 1911 Stormy Sea Diplomat Aero Turquoise Kaweco Sport Turquoise Pilot Vanishing Point LE Tropical Turquoise Montegrappa Elmo Turquoise
  24. I just got this ink. I didn't get to go to DC, but really liked the look of the color when I first saw it. I kinda like Teals and kinda don't. I'm better when they are on the bluer side. This one is about right in the middle. You can see this from my ink sample paper. I think I still like the color of Ku-Jaku more, but this is starting grow on me. One thing I noticed with this ink was that, depending on the pen I used, it did shade quite a bit and looked really cool. It seemed to me like the finer point better flowing pen allowed for more shading than just a wider nib would. I tested this on a couple different types of paper and it was reasonably well behaved with a faster than normal dry time. After about 5 to 7 seconds it was dry unless I laid down a lot of ink. On really wet strokes it dried still by 10 seconds. Its interesting that the paper towel blotch looks very green while there were several spots on the paper where it looked very blue. I hope you enjoy the review. I would love to hear what everyone thinks.
  25. A Smug Dill

    Kwz Ink Walk Over Vistula

    I haven't done a 'quickie' ink review in a while, and some of my thoughts on the approach have changed in the meantime. Drying time: Long. Exceeds 30 seconds on Bloc Rhodia 80g/m² notepad paper. At 45 seconds (not shown), where the horizontal and vertical strokes in the digit '4' intersect, colour still came off and smudged readily. Water resistance: Mild. There's a fair chance you'll be able to read what was there before, after a minute or so under the tap or in a bath, but the colour that come off already dried writing into a water droplet or onto a wet cotton swab could well render that faint shadow illegible. Flow: I'd say more wet than moderate, when you compare the colours seen in the writing and the long straight lines against the multi-pass bar done with a Pilot Parallel pen; the 'single-pass' colour is not often seen. Feathering: Not on Rhodia paper, but because of the ink's 'wetness', I've seen it leave 'woolly' lines on other types of paper. Shading: Some, and the potential is definitely there, but because of the ink's 'wetness', it's more of a case of the 'two-pass' colour transitioning straight into sheen territory, overwhelming the shading effect unless one is using a very 'dry' pen. Sheen: Evident even in narrow lines coming out of a 'Japanese fine' nib, on various types of paper I tried. Show-through: Not enough to warrant mention. Bleed-through: Evident with three or more passes of the ink. Interestingly, it's not just the amount of ink left wet on the surface of the page to dry over time; there is no bleed-through where ink pooled at the end of a stroke with a Pilot Parallel 6mm pen ever with two passes. Contact with moisture/water for 60+ seconds did not cause any (more) bleed-through. See also: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/346552-kwz-walk-over-vistula/?p=4210293





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