Deatramentis Pearlescent Inks - Brilliant Violet

[DrDebG]

Dr. J. has developed a new line of pearlescent inks. I received samples of Brilliant Violet with each of the four "sparkly-effects": bronze, copper, gold and silver.

 

DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet, dip pen, Clairfontaine paper

Photos taken with iPhone

For this "mini-review" of these 4 samples, I have used a Venetian dip pen and a Chinese M&G fountain pen with medium fude nib. The fude nib allows for thick or thin lines depending upon the angle of which the pen is held. The papers I used included Clairfontaine, Tomoe River and Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper.

Overall, the ink flow was excellent. The ink itself is a highly saturated color with some water resistance. There was very little feathering on the inexpensive notebook paper, but the ink bleeds through on the notebook paper and the Clairfontaine paper, and even the Tomoe River paper when used heavily. For me, however, this would not be a problem, since I would likely only be using this ink for special occasions and would not write on the back of the page anyway. The ink did need to be agitated frequently to see the full effect of the sparkles. All of the four "sparkle-effects" were quite nice. The most pronounced effect came from the Gold sparkles, which I used for the rest of this review.

Drops on standard paper towel

DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet Gold, Chinese M&G with fude nib, Tomoe River cream paper

DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet Gold, Chinese M&G with fude nib, Tomoe River cream paper

I left the ink, undisturbed, in the pen for a couple of days, then began to write. The Chinese M&G pen does have a history of starting hard when not used regularly. But the ink flowed immediately from the nib. There was also no sign of clogging or "nib crud". The ink does require agitation to re-suspend the sparkly particles, however.

DeAtramentis Brilliant Violet, Gold, Cyan Blue Silver and India Blue Copper ink, Cambridge spiral bound notebook paper

I love the color of the ink with the copper sparkles, but all of the sparkles compliment the ink very nicely. And as a wonderful bonus, cleaning the sparkly ink from my pen was fairly easy - as easy as an highly saturated ink.

This ink is made by DeAtramentis, and is worthy of that illustrious name.

Edited October 29, 2016 by DrPenfection

[visvamitra]

Here's some sample (ink splash + writing and macro close-up) of the ink.

 

[amberleadavis]

WOW, those are awesome pics, Vis.

 

Dr.PenFection, this is a great review. Thank you.

[ENewton]

I received a bottle of this ink as a gift, and, having read a review that said it is challenging to clean out, I decided to try it in a Dollar 717i pen. (This is the same pen in which Noodler's Kung Te Cheng behaved beautifully.) The first line after inking was rich in color and lubricated in feel, the second was less saturated, and by the fourth line the pen stopped writing. I flushed out the pen and inked it with something else.

 

I'd be interested in hearing more reports of pens in which this ink behaves well. In the meantime, I think I will reserve it for use with dip pens.

[amberleadavis]

I used it in a drier writing pen and the next ink still has glitter. However, I do like it.

[ENewton]

Indeed, it seems to work better in a drier pen. Right now I have it in my Kaweco Sport F, and not only is it flowing consistently, but it makes the Kaweco nib feel much wetter and smoother!

[Detman101]

Very encouraging Amber and ENewton, I'm definitely picking up some "PearlEx" to experiment with next week! 

[raucous]

I have a sample of the bronze version of this ink. I put it in a pen with a slightly dry nib (Franklin-Christoph 14K M) and liked the way the combination wrote, but started seeing railroading and then hard starting within half a page. It's a beautiful ink, but the behavior is a disappointment for me so far.

[inkstainedruth]

I only have only tried one of the Pearlescent series inks -- Indian Blue Copper, which was interesting....  

I have a sample of Pearlescent Brilliant Violet, but have never gotten around to trying it.  Part of my problem with any shimmer ink is finding a pen that they work well in.  And I've discovered that some of the shimmer particles do not stay on the page after the in dries....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

@inkstainedruth If you have a Pilot Paralell it is perfect for shimmer inks.