L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio – Gris De Payne

[crahptacular]

L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio – Gris de Payne

 

I have a handful of inks from the Callifolio line, and they all behave pretty similarly—somewhat watery, but not that lubricated. In my experience, this gives them a tendency to flow a little worse than average in certain pens (specifically, the ink will get “stuck” at the top of converters that don’t have agitators, and will skip/railroad more often on flex nibs). They also tend to drip out of my Pilot Parallels for some reason, although that's not normally an issue. All that being said, the vast majority of the time I do not have issues using these inks, and they haven't caused any problems like nib crud or drying out. I do like the colors from this line though, as they tend to be more subtle and understated, which I usually find interesting. Plus, they’re quite affordable—as I recall, they cost something like $8/50mL in pouches from Vanness (no affiliation), so I don’t feel (too) guilty buying various colors to play with

 

This ink is a blue-grey that when seen alone seems definitely grey and when seen next to a “true” grey or black looks quite blue. In the first comparison, you’ll see Fuyu-Syogun (which I’d call a cool grey), and Gris de Payne is much, much bluer than that. Compared to Lexington Grey (which I think is close to a neutral grey), it might seem to belong in a different color category entirely. (To be clear, it’s definitely a grey, not a blue; my eyes are just easily fooled). For those familiar with Payne’s Grey as a watercolor, I think the ink is a pretty good match for the ones I've seen, but I'm definitely no expert.

 

Lubrication: Moderate-Low

Shading: Moderate

Sheen: None (A very slight bit on heavily pooled ink, but I haven't seen it show up in writing)

Water Resistance: Virtually None

Other notes: Very little show-through with this ink. Normally on TR paper I expect to see some show-through due to the thinness of the paper, but this one did not show at all (apart from the ink splatter/smears, which were heavily pooled).

 

The following sample was done with a Pilot Falcon (SF) on Tomoe River (52gsm, white, loose-leaf) and a water brush for the doodle. Flex writing was done with a Leonardt Principal dip nib.

 

Bad Scanner Disclaimer: The scan is relatively accurate, but is a little bit too blue. Also, the smears all show up with a reddish tint, which is not accurate. Photo is pretty much spot-on for my monitor.

 

Scan:

 

Photo:

 

Comparison inks from left to right (big smear is the featured ink):

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun, Noodler’s Lexington Grey, Noodler’s Black, Kyo-Iro Aonibi, Robert Oster Summer Storm

 

Two writing samples are included on Kokuya Campus paper (photos, not color-corrected). In the print sample, you can see a lot of feathering in one spot on the left side; I rotated the nib weirdly and the tines cut into the paper. The ink normally does not feather to that extent.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. I have a sample of this but haven't had a chance to try it yet (I'll admit that I mostly bought it for the name -- back when I was a painting major, I really liked Payne's Grey as a color).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tas]

Another visual feast.
Thank you.

[namrehsnoom]

Super review ... great drawing

And the ink looks great - I already have a bottle of it, but haven't used it yet. High time to ink a pen with this beauty !

[Sakura FP Gallery]

Very nice drawing ! Thank you for this review.

[ENewton]

A lovely drawing, and an elegant color.

[Carrau]

Terrific review and sketch-I like blue-greys and green greys.

[lapis]

Sorry but I have to support the above post. My favourite greys have blues and/or greens in them, too, and your drawings are awesome!

 

Mike

[DrDebG]

Wonderful review! I have many Callifolio inks, including this one. I am underwhelmed with the grays and black. They are dry and are pretty lifeless. Their blues and blue-greens are much better.

[ethernautrix]

I love the drawing. I will have to find all of your reviews!

[rudyhou]

this bluish grey reminds me of Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Shogun.

[NicolausPiscator]

Ah! This is an interesting grey going into blue. In the Callifolio series I just tried Byzanz which is very a blackish grey. I think I will try it.

[fountainpagan]

Another spectacular review, and drawing.

 

I like this colour.

 

Thank you.

[Jan2016]

Thank you for your great reviews!!!

[crahptacular]

this bluish grey reminds me of Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Shogun.

I thought they were similar, too. But as you can see in the comparison inks (Fuyu-Syogun is the left-most smear) Gris de Payne is slightly darker and significantly bluer--definitely less similar than I was expecting. They're definitely both "cool" greys, though, and in writing the differences are not as obvious as in big smears of ink.

[rudyhou]

I thought they were similar, too. But as you can see in the comparison inks (Fuyu-Syogun is the left-most smear) Gris de Payne is slightly darker and significantly bluer--definitely less similar than I was expecting. They're definitely both "cool" greys, though, and in writing the differences are not as obvious as in big smears of ink.

 

yes, you're right. and both are nice.