Search the Community

Octopus Write & Draw – Orange Bunny Ink Review # 214 --- 🧾 Description One of three oranges from the Write and Draw series, waterproof and lightfast. According to the Octopus website these inks were developed with Kaweco and Diplomat pens. Ink is a bright-ish orange (depending on the paper), with some shading and short dry times. Ink has below-average to average lubrication depending on the nib size. There is ghosting and bleed-through on copy paper. If you let the ink dry in your pen, you’ll regret it. For cleaning, one would need both cleaning solution and a pen jacuzzi. This is a close-up of the feed, after 12 hours of soaking in water. The pigments were softened. It's now in the pen jacuzzi, but I guess it'll need some serious ink-foliation. Octopus lists detailed usage and cleaning instructions on their website, including recommended storage and expiry information. https://www.octopus-fluids.de/en/write-draw-inks --- 🧪 Chroma --- It's a bright orange. Prepare your sunglasses. 😎 ✍️ Writing Samples (scan) Rhodia / Iroful Quotes “Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.” — A.A. Milne “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll “What would the world be without sunshine and rabbits?” — Beatrix Potter (attributed to, which I misspelled ) Midori /Tomoe River 68gsm Hammermill 20lb 📸 Photo (artificial light) Rhodia/ Iroful Midori / Tomoe River 68 gsm Hammermill 20lb Closeup 🔍 Comparison Col-o-ring paper scanned. Colors are approximative. --- 💧 Water Test Before - After --- 🎨 Artwork INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.47 GOOSE When they hear the nostalgic call of the geese flying south, Cat & mouse feel the silence in their soul; left to face the cold of the winter alone. Tintenlabor Basalt, Sakura Pigma Micron, Uniball White, Octopus WD Orange Bunny, Jacques Herbin 1798 - Diamant Bleu Sneaker sneaked in a sneaker.... INKTOBER52 PROMPT NO.46 - Sneaker Octopus W&D Bunny Orange, Tintenlabor Basalt, uni-ball Signo White, Talens Mixed Media Notebook. Blame in on Mame! Kitty had dressed to the nines. Mouse the Mac had promised to take her out to see Gilda, the Bun Fatale. As the night wore on he looked more like Mouse the Rat, drunk on cheese and bunny orange! Octopus Write & Draw Bunny Orange, Tintenlabor Basalt iron gall ink (background) Van Dieman's Here Kitty Kitty Shimmer ink, Diamine Earl Grey mixed with a bit of blue. Fabriano Mixed Media Paper. --- - Pens Used: Pilot Kakuno EF, Lamy (EF/F/M/B/ Stub 1.1) , Kanwrite Desire with FPR Ultraflex nib. - What I Liked: Bright orange colour for drawing. - What I Did Not Like: A bit harsh for lighting. Cleaning needs patience and Ultrasonic cleaner. - What Some Might Not Like: Pigment ink. Cleaning. - Writing Experience: Good. - Pros: Good if you need a waterproof orange ink. - Cons: Cleaning. 🧷 Ink Characteristics - Shading: To some extent. - Ghosting: With most nibs. - Bleed Through: Moderate. - Flow Rate: Wet. - Lubrication: Depends on nib. - Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. - Start-up: Did not notice. - Saturation: Nope. - Sheen: Silver sheen on Iroful under artificial LED light. - Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. - Nib Creep / Crud: Did not notice. - Staining (Pen): It has potential. - Clogging: No. - Cleaning: A pain. - Water Resistance: Excellent. --- 🛒 Availability - Available in 10/50 ml bottles all over the world. 10 ml bottles are not readily available. --- 💬 Closing This is a bright sunny orange. With a wet pen the colour will have more pzazz. One must use them in well-sealed pens that can be readily dismantled. No fountain pens were hurt in preparing this review. Please don’t hesitate to share your experience, writing samples, or any other comments — the more the merrier.

Octopus Write & Draw Green Crane It's a one lovely murky green. It sings on Japanese paper. A few inks of this series (Green Ostrich/ Brown Seahorse), I have reviewed sport a Silver sheen on Iroful paper (artificial light only). A waterproof, lightfast green, with slightly below average lubrication and very fast dry times. Chroma: Writing Samples: I used a reverse Ef for the Ultra Extra fine line. Disclaimer: One of the side effects of reviewing inks, is having too many pens inked on the same time and then forgetting which pen is which. This was one of them, all the time, while testing I thought it was Brown Seahorse, hence all the striking out you see and the reference to horses Photo: Comparison: Here you have the 6 greens of Octopus Write and Draw. Water test: Left side 10 seconds under running water. Art Work: Both drawing are on Canson Mixed media paper. A Day in the Savannah This was more of a doodle, brainstorming idea, but in retrospect I kinda liked the childlike quality of it. Plus you can admire the quality of Octopus Brown Seahorse. The grey ink is Noodler's Lexington Gray. Bird Fight When cat and mouse were on vacation they were got into a bird fight where the two ladies were fighting over why each was wearing the other one's colour This is one joke that only ink nerds might get. The Lady Crane is "wearing" Octopus Ostrich Green, and Lady Ostrich is wearing Green Crane. Blue is Jacques Herbin Turquoise de Perse and as usual Noodler's Lexington Gray with a touch of Eel Red Rattler's Red. · Pens used: Lamy (Reverse EF/Ef/F/M/B/ Stub 1.1), vintage Sailor Deluxe flex · What I liked: Colour. Shading/ sheen on Japanese paper, drawing cranes · What I did not like: On Rhodia (I’m nitpicking) · What might some not like: It’s a pigment ink? · Shading: Gorgeous. · Ghosting: No · Bleed through: No. · Flow Rate: Wet · Lubrication: Slightly below average. · Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. · Start-up: Ok · Saturation: Medium · Shading Potential: It’s there, but paper dependant · Sheen: Faint silver sheen on Iroful. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice. · Staining (pen): No. · Clogging: Did not notice. · Cleaning: Surprisingly ok. But it’s a pigment ink, so YMMV. · Water resistance: Excellent. · Availability: 50 ml bottles Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Octopus Write and Draw – White Polar Bear I was really excited trying this ink, hoping that it’ll be better than the ever clogging De Atramentis Document white. Unfortunately, as you will see in the writing sample it became invisible after a while, and I couldn’t write anymore. I could see a wet, bluish tinge on the black paper. Thinking maybe, I had not cleaned my pen correctly, I tested the pen on normal paper, and it was still invisible. I contacted Octopus but they didn’t say anything concrete only about shaking the bottle and using dip pens So, I'm hoping that maybe my sample wasn't well shaken or stirred, but I doubt it as you'll see further on If anyone has had a better experience I'm curious to know. Writing Samples: It's very difficult to photograph clearly this page. The paper is a pure black. I didn't colour correct, as I wanted to show off the blue tinge of the ink. And finally you can see how I couldn't finish the last line but you might be able to discern a bit of invisible ink. Comparison: Note how pale it is compared to the De Atramentis Document White: I finally did a sketch with a Prismacolor white pencil. I used a water-colour brush directly in the sample bottle for the White Polar Bear. Then I used a water brush to drag some ink from the fountain pen. You can see the blush wet tinge of the cat's body. When it dried it was invisible. This is the final work, when I finally emptied the pen on the"cat's" body and spread it with the water brush, and the mouse. As you can see it's quite pale compared to the bear · Pens used: Lamy Safari (Ef/F/M/B) · What I liked: Using a brush to “paint” on the black paper. · What I did not like: I couldn’t sketch with it. · What some might not like: Same as above. · Shading: n/a · Ghosting: n/a · Bleed through: n/a · Flow Rate: wet · Lubrication: Does it really matter? · Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. · Start-up: Ok · Saturation: Non-existent. · Shading Potential: n/a · Sheen: n/a · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: n/a · Nib Creep / “Crud”: n/a · Staining (pen): No. · Clogging: Did not notice. · Cleaning: It seems easier than the Document White. · Water resistance: There was nothing in the first place. · Availability: 50 m Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

This is a very well behaved waterproof black ink. The more I used it the more I enjoyed it. It’s well lubricated, well behaved and a lovely shiny black. If you’re looking for a waterproof black ink this could fit the bill. Octopus has a host of warnings and does not recommend you using it in your favorite shiny fountain pen. And recommends a well-sealed pen, which is a no brainer. They also suggest that the shelf life of their ink is two years, which is a bit surprising. This ink is ISO 12757-2 and DIN ISO 14145-2 and it's vegan in case you want to drink it Here is the list of complete line up: https://www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/creative-inks/write-draw-ink/?p=1 Let's start with the chroma: Writing Samples: There was a hint ghosting and bleed through with the B nib Photo: Comparison: Watertest: Nothing came off. Impressive. and finally an artwork: I sketched this from a black and white photo. · Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef,/Stub, Kaweco Sport (EF/F/M/B/), Osmiroid with a copper plate nib · What I liked: Almost everything. It’s an understated black that grew on me. · What I did not like: Nothing much. · What some might not like: There’s a list of warnings, not to be used in expensive pens. · Shading: No. · Ghosting: Only with B nib on Hammermill paper. · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Nice and wet. · Lubrication: Excellent. · Nib Dry-out: No. · Start-up: No. · Saturation: Saturated · Shading Potential: Dismal. · Sheen: No. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: No. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not noticed. · Staining (pen): No. · Clogging: No. · Cleaning: Relatively easy · Water resistance: Excellent · Availability: 50 ml Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Octopus Write and Draw Petrol Axolotl This belongs to Octopus' Write and Draw line of nano pigment inks. They are waterproof, light fast, and ISO certified. The complete line up the 38 inks are here: https://www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/creative-inks/write-draw-ink/?p=1 Octopus has a host of warning on their site, basically recommending their inks only in cheap, well-sealed pens. In my limited experience they have been much more well behaved than many other waterproof inks. https://www.octopus-office.de/info/en/write-draw-ink/ The naming of the inks is whimsical, the colour followed by an arbitrary animal. The ink is well behaved, wet, and well lubricated teal. Surprisingly it looks paler with Ef / B nibs (Maybe the ink level was low) and darker when I tried it in the Kakuno with a Medium nib. I'm a bit ambivalent about the colour. Let's start with the chroma: Writing Samples: Not bad with Hammermill: Photo: Comparison: Water test: My apologies for the art work. I was not so inspired: The prompt was Forrest for the yearly Inktober challenge: The red ink is J Herbin's Rouge Caroubier. · Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef/ Stub, Kaweco Sport (EF/F/M/B), Osmiroid Copperplate nib · What I liked: Intriguing colour, well behaved ink. · What I did not like: Nothing, but the name. Petrol associated with an endangered amphibian, is a bit of a bad taste. · What some might not like: It’s sold out on Vanness, so I guess we’ll see. · Shading: Yes · Ghosting: Only with a flex nib on Hammermill · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Wet. · Lubrication: Good. · Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. · Start-up: Did not notice. · Saturation: Nope. · Shading Potential: With medium /broad nibs. · Sheen: Did not notice. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice. · Staining (pen): Did not notice. · Clogging: Did not notice. · Cleaning: It’s a pigment ink. But in my experience so far, Octopus inks can be easily cleaned with water and a bit of soaking · Water resistance: Excellent · Availability: 50 ml bottles. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

Octopus Write and Draw Red Koala This belongs to Write and Draw line of nano pigment inks. They are waterproof, light fast, and ISO certified. The complete line up the 38 inks are here: https://www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/creative-inks/write-draw-ink/?p=1 Octopus has a host of warning on their site, basically recommending their inks only in cheap, well-sealed pens. https://www.octopus-office.de/info/en/write-draw-ink/ The naming of the inks is whimsical, the colour followed by an arbitrary animal. It's a well behaved, lubricated and wet coral red ink. It's not a colour I really appreciate. Chroma: Writing Samples: Color seems off on Hammermill. Photo: Comparison: Water test: à and finally an uninspired artwork: There's a hint of Platinum Carbon Black and Akkerman's Delfts Blauw · Pens used: Pilot Kakuno Ef, Stub, Kaweco Sport (EF/F/M/B/Stub 1.9), Kanwrite with an Ahab nib · What I liked: Waterproofness · What I did not like: The colour. · What some might not like: Same as above. · Shading: Nope. · Ghosting: Yes on copy paper, depending pen, nib, pressure. · Bleed through: Same as above. · Flow Rate: Wet. · Lubrication: Good. · Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. · Start-up: Did not notice. · Saturation: What do you think? · Shading Potential: Mmmm! · Sheen: Did not notice. · Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice. · Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice. · Staining (pen): No. · Clogging: Did not notice. · Cleaning: It’s a red pigment ink. Emphasis on both colour and type. However, it was quite easy to clean. · Water resistance: Excellant · Availability: 50 ml bottles. Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier