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L'artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Byzance


namrehsnoom

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L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Byzance

 

L'Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L'Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance. The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens.
Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling.
fpn_1499540345__callifolio_-_byzance_-_t

In this review the spotlight is on Byzance, one of the many blue inks of the series. Callifolio blues are typically named after bodies of water, but in this case the naming seems to refer to the old Greek city at the banks of the Bosphore river. It should come as no surprise that both Callifolio inks (Byzance and Bosphore) are quite similar. Byzance is a quite nice blue-grey ink, that shifts character with the light. In some conditions it looks bluish, with different lighting you see almost a true dark grey. Myself - I don't consider blue-blacks boring at all, and I truly appreciate this ink's appearance. You could almost consider it as a blue-black that has faded with time.
The ink is nicely saturated and works well with all nib sizes. Even with finer nibs, there is good contrast with the paper. There is some subtle shading present, which requires broader nibs to become clearly visible. I like the narrow shading range, resulting in not too much of a contrast between the light and dark parts in the line. The result is aesthetically pleasing.
fpn_1499540392__callifolio_-_byzance_-_d
On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - Byzance exhibits some smearing, but without impact on the readability of the text. Water resistance is quite low though - all the colour quickly dissipates, leaving only a faint greyish ghost image. The good thing is that this ghost image remains just readable, so you will be able to reconstruct your writing. Overall though, this is NOT a water-resistant ink by any definition.
fpn_1499540380__callifolio_-_byzance_-_c

I have tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. For the Callifolio reviews, I'm using a new format to show you the ink's appearance and behaviour on the 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)
Callifolio Byzance behaved perfectly on all the paper types I used, with a very consistent look across the different paper samples. Drying times are also quite short at about the 10 second range on most papers, even on smooth paper like Tomoe River.
At the end of the review, I also show the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. The ink behaved superbly on all paper types. Only with Moleskine did I notice a tiny bit of bleed-through.
fpn_1499540411__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s
fpn_1499540425__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s
fpn_1499540439__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s
Conclusion
Callifolio Byzance from L'Artisan Pastellier is a really nice blue-grey ink, that behaves exceptionally well on all paper types. A pity about the poor water resistance - this would otherwise be a great ink for use at the office. Byzance has a bit of a faded look, resulting in a vintage feel. The ink looks like a blue-black that has faded with time. If you like blue-blacks (or in this case blue-greys), this ink will be right up your alley. Try it ... I’m sure you'll like it.
fpn_1499540457__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s
Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib
fpn_1499540472__callifolio_-_byzance_-_t
fpn_1499540490__callifolio_-_byzance_-_w
Backside of writing samples on different paper types
fpn_1499540502__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s
fpn_1499540514__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s
fpn_1499540525__callifolio_-_byzance_-_s

 

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  • namrehsnoom

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Thorough review, nice drawings (particularly the first one) lovely color. Thank you.

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Byzance, Bosphore, Botany Bay, Gris de Payne... Aren't they all quite the same colour?

I agree that these are quite similar - with small differences in the blue/grey ratios. I love them all :-)

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Superbe review! Thank you! I also love the Callifolio series, this grey is wonderful but also Itzamna and Olivastre are really great colours.

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I really enjoy reading your reviews! All Callifolio's are wonderful. They have a special feeling, same as Robert Oster, well in a different way, but they all share a same feeling....sortof bit muted, vintage vibe. Really nice! thank you!

好记性不如烂笔头

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Thank you for another splendid review! I used to be a grey inks fan and I wish I discovered Callifolio earlier. By the way, I like the way the tested inks look on the Fantasticpaper, its design and the ecological theme behind. Visvamitra mentioned in his review that they are not very fountain pen friendly. What is your experience and how would you rate it? I hope you don't mind me asking.

Edited by birchtine
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Another top review!

Thank you :)

 

I agree that these are quite similar - with small differences in the blue/grey ratios. I love them all :-)

 

Yep. Same. :wub:

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Thanks for the review.

This is one I would definitely consider.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Visvamitra mentioned in his review that they are not very fountain pen friendly. What is your experience and how would you rate it? I hope you don't mind me asking.

Well, overall the inks are a bit undersaturated, which gives them a bit of a watercolour / faded look. This is something you like or don't like - I happen to like it a lot ;-) In my opinion, they behave really well on all types of paper - feathering/bleedthrough occurs only on really bad paper (like Moleskine). In this sense, these inks are just great !

One thing to take into account : L'Artisan Pastellier is an artisanal ink-maker, and Vis has mentioned that he noticed differences across batches. For me, that's part of the charm. Considering the quality they delivered, I don't mind that they don't have the reproducibility of a large-scale ink-maker. I'm just glad that they produced such lovely inks. Another thing which has caused some irritation on this forum: L'AP is not known for the quality of its website ;-) The pictures they have on their site are not really great, and not something to base your buying decision on. Well... that's what reviews on FPN are for, so you can get opinions of fellow ink users.

 

-- herman

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Thanks Visvamitra! Indeed I meant the Fantasticpaper notebook :) I could have been more clear about it though.

 

Namrehsnoom, thanks for the reply anyway. Callifolio inks are already my favourite. However, since I only tried few of them it's fun to learn about the others.

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Thanks Visvamitra! Indeed I meant the Fantasticpaper notebook :) I could have been more clear about it though.

Namrehsnoom, thanks for the reply anyway. Callifolio inks are already my favourite. However, since I only tried few of them it's fun to learn about the others.

OK, my mistake :-)

I use Fantasticpaper myself only as part of my paper test set. Haven't noticed any problems there, good ink behavior, and a wonderful deep look - the ink looks more vibrant on this paper. I don't care for the notebook itself much. I use the smaller version (150x200mm), which I consider too small a size as a journal. I've been using Paperblanks journals (180x230mm) for some years now, and they fit my preferences: just the size I like, fountain pen friendly paper, and a large choice of covers.

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Thanks! I did think that the inks on Fantasticpaper looked deeper and sharper. I feel so limited regarding the choice of notebooks here where I live.

Edited by birchtine
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Oh, I meant to ask -- how does this one compare to Baikal, which I have in a pen at the moment?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Oh, I meant to ask -- how does this one compare to Baikal, which I have in a pen at the moment?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Baikal has a lot more blue in it. They both got an A from me - I like them equally well. But if you forced me to choose, I would go for Baikal... I think it's just a little more interesting.
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