Levenger Raven Black

[rudyhou]

very nice . on my screen it looks more like dark charcoal, which how i prefer my black inks to be. is it really more towards deep dark grey or is it just my screen?

[Runnin_Ute]

Just checked (still have my bottle in its original box) - 50 mL. They are beautifully designed bottles and work well.

[Runnin_Ute]

Shipping on Levenger pens & inks:

 

Shipping Savings

Pens: Shipping is just $6 for any number of pens or pen stations

Ink Refills: Cartridges and other refills ship free (bottled ink is $4)

[GeekyGirl]

I realize that this is a very old thread now but I would love it if any that have used this ink can comment on how waterproof it is. The Levenger website says that this ink is "semi-permanent" and that none of the other colors are. However, a customer support rep told me today that all of their inks are waterproof. Then again, I know that the reps are not necessarily fountain pen experienced.

 

I'd love anybody's feedback on this.

 

Thanks!

[mrcharlie]

I just wrote with four Levenger inks on the back of a page-a-day calender sheet, held it under a running cold water faucet for 30 seconds, and scanned. This is what it looks like now. I should have done a "before" scan; didn't think of that until it was done.

 

 

None of them is waterproof in the sense that they look basically the same after washing, but they are all mostly readable. Rain on your mail or coffee on your document won't prevent it from being delivered/read.

 

FWIW, Raven Black does very well in a long term lightfastness test. Over a year in a window, it did fade just a little, but not much.

Edited June 24, 2014 by mrcharlie

[GeekyGirl]

mrcharlie - Wow, thank you so much! That was both incredibly kind and helpful and I really appreciate your taking the time to attack your writing with a torrential faucet storm.

 

I really appreciate it. There aren't a lot of images of how Levenger inks withstand water, and not really a lot of images of Levenger inks in general.

[mrcharlie]

I bought "Levenger Classic Six-Pack of Ink" which includes the Raven Black. I give them a big thumbs up.

[Goodwhiskers]

This is Levenger's best-behaved ink on bad paper, almost as well-behaved as Sheaffer Skrip Black's (current production, "Slovenia" bottle), and the bottle is one of the world's best for filling fountain pens (the shape is superbly stable, and the inner cup is easy to fill before one opens the bottle).

 

I can also vouch for Raven Black's water resistance, almost as strong as Skrip Black's: I was teaching at a private institute here in the USA where most of the students came by student visas, so their attendance was (and still is) regularly reported to the Dep't. of Homeland Security, and we as an institute prided ourselves on staying on DHS's good side. My classroom attendance codes in Raven Black, on a form that holds a whole month's attendance, remained legible after a whole-page water spill at the end of a month. The paper turned somewhat purple-gray, but the marks were still easily legible, preventing a figurative avalanche of troubles.

 

For even better behavior on bad paper, Dilute Raven Black a little bit.

[fireant]

Thank you for the great review!

[ca49reber]

Suddenly I was in the mood to use black ink. I haven't used black in years. I ordered Raven Black & am using it now. It isn't black. It is olive green. I am going to order black in a different brand.

[GeekyGirl]

Suddenly I was in the mood to use black ink. I haven't used black in years. I ordered Raven Black & am using it now. It isn't black. It is olive green. I am going to order black in a different brand.

 

 

I don't remember it looking olive but I haven't used it in a long time. My two favs are Iro Take Sumi & Sailor Kiwa-Guro, which are both great inks, but Aurora Black tends to be the quintessential black for a lot of people and it's less expensive than the Iro & Sailor inks. I have Aurora Blue and really like how it flows and behaves, as well as the color itself. Happy ink shopping!

[thudthwacker]

I've read a couple of claims that Raven Black has a golden sheen, but alas, I haven't been able to find any pictorial evidence. Have you folks seen such a sheen? The only black ink (well, black-ish -- I think it was Skrip Blue-Black, but the cartridge I had in the NoNonsense pen I was using put down a very broad, dark line) I ever used that I enjoyed, I only enjoyed because of its gold sheen. If Raven Black has a sheen, I'm definitely up for giving it a try.

[thudthwacker]

I filled a pen with Raven Black earlier, and wow, what a nice ink. Wonderfully dark and glossy, with a huge amount of sheen (which looks silvery to me, but I suspect that could be down to light angle, and it would look more like gold in other circumstances) -- sort of like a raven's feather, as I think about it. I generally prefer more vibrant colors, but I'm enjoying this black quite a lot. And it's got decent water resistance, so I'll have no fear when I want to use it on envelopes and post cards.

Edited February 21, 2017 by thudthwacker

[Runnin_Ute]

I was going through some things tonight, found a BizMart, Inc. composition book (Made in Brazil) that I had laying around. In it was a spill of the last of the bottle of Raven Black. I have done scans of both sides of the page. The spill dates to sometime in 2013.

 

 

 

 

You need to keep in mind this was a pretty large spill. Normal writing wouldn't have this kind of bleed through. And Levenger calls Raven Black "Semi Permanent".

Edited January 19, 2018 by Runnin_Ute