Blackstone Brown Boronia (Scented)

[Jamerelbe]

This is the sixth and final ink in the soon-to-be-released 'Scents of Australia' series from Blackstone Inks / Just Write Pens - with thanks to Kevin Watson for providing me with these inks to sample and review! I try to be as impartial as I can in reviewing these products, but want to again acknowledge up-front that these were provided free - and that I really appreciate what Just Write / Blackstone are trying to do (especially) for the Australian fountain pen market.

 

http://i.imgur.com/LE5ZB3E.jpg

 

When Kevin first sent me three prototype samples, this ink was one of them - though it had a different scent at the time, and a different suggested name. He asked me to hold off on writing a review till I received the ready-for-market product, but the only thing that's changed is the scent. I've had this ink in one pen or another since April, and can confirm that it's consistent in its performance, has no unexpected crudding, drying, slow-starting or other issues - it's just a very reliable, well-lubricated, moderately-saturated ink. This won't be everyone's cup of tea (or mocha?) - it's a brown ink, and not everyone is keen on brown for starters! I'd characterise it as a yellow-gold leaning brown, whereas most of my other browns (Visconti Brown excepted) lean towards red. From the comparisons available to me, I'd say it's closest to KWZ Honey, though a little darker and less yellow.

 

Please forgive the scrawled lettering of this scan - I'm back to work for the week (Mondays are my regular day off), so had to put this together in a hurry...

 

Scan and photo of the review sheet:

 

http://i.imgur.com/sKgJaJH.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/3GdXX9Y.jpg

 

 

Water test, showing the ink lifting off the page into the water droplets:

 

http://i.imgur.com/lvlAyb8.jpg

 

 

And lastly, Brown Boronia on Tomoe River paper - beautiful colour, but no sheen, no-how...

 

http://i.imgur.com/0e4xY26.jpg

 

As always, comments and/or questions are welcome - let me know if I've failed to mention anything important!

[Cyber6]

Hey Jamerelbe... (is that your name?)

 

 

I do like Brown Boronia A LOT!!.... But not in TOMOE RIVER...

 

 

This ink is very paper dependent. I have it on three papers... Tomoe, Rhodia and Stalogy (japanese paper) and it looks quite different on each.

 

 

On Tomoe it looks FLAT... on Rhodia and Stalogy it looks much better (on Rhodia much darker)

 

 

 

C.

[Jamerelbe]

Hey Jamerelbe... (is that your name?)

 

 

I do like Brown Boronia A LOT!!.... But not in TOMOE RIVER...

 

 

This ink is very paper dependent. I have it on three papers... Tomoe, Rhodia and Stalogy (japanese paper) and it looks quite different on each.

 

 

On Tomoe it looks FLAT... on Rhodia and Stalogy it looks much better (on Rhodia much darker)

 

 

 

C.

 

Hi Cyber6, no Jamerelbe is not my name (my parents weren't that imaginative, thankfully!): it's an online pseudonym I created by jumbling together 3 letters from the first and middle names of each of my 3 children. Is Cyber6 your real name ?

 

I agree, Brown Boronia is darker on Rhodia - and I imagine it would look great on buff or yellow paper. I use Reflex Ultrawhite paper for all my reviews because it's a good copier paper that's readily available in Australia (I also use it in my laser printer and work photocopier) - but maybe I should branch out and try some different paper stocks in future reviews!

[Cyber6]

HA HA... No Cyber6 is not my real name... But honest to the truth, I have ran into some interesting online names that happen to be the person's real name..... LOL.. So, no judging here... :lol:

 

Your paper is good... I was just commenting how amazingly Tomoe River does not help this ink to look its best.

 

It looks quite amazing on Rhodia, Stalogy and even on my Mnemosyne cards... ;)

 

 

 

C.

 

 

Hi Cyber6, no Jamerelbe is not my name (my parents weren't that imaginative, thankfully!): it's an online pseudonym I created by jumbling together 3 letters from the first and middle names of each of my 3 children. Is Cyber6 your real name ?

 

I agree, Brown Boronia is darker on Rhodia - and I imagine it would look great on buff or yellow paper. I use Reflex Ultrawhite paper for all my reviews because it's a good copier paper that's readily available in Australia (I also use it in my laser printer and work photocopier) - but maybe I should branch out and try some different paper stocks in future reviews!

[Jamerelbe]

Thanks @Cyber6 - again, look forward to seeing you do your own reviews of these inks?

[Jamerelbe]

For anyone who's interested, the full range of Blackstone Scents of Australia inks is available at http://justwrite.com.au/. I believe they should soon be available (if they're not already) from their American and European distributors too.

[visvamitra]

Nice one.

[NicolausPiscator]

When it comes to scented inks I always become mistrustful although the scent of ink is an important quality of inks for me. But I really don't understand: Why should an ink be scented? Scented love letters, ok, but I scented them with my perfume... Anyhow, I have the impression that this ink - I just recently discovered Blackstone inks - although it is brown and I'm ungracious with brown could be interesting as it seems to have a variation in colour saturation.