Nemosine – Alpha Centauri

[crahptacular]

Nemosine – Alpha Centauri

 

Despite the fact that I have some other purples in a similar range, I wanted to give Alpha Centauri a try because I saw some pictures that hinted at a nice golden sheen (which apart from looking cool also usually implies a nice, heavily-saturated ink). My high hopes weren’t entirely satisfied, but I’m still pretty happy with the ink, all things considered. Along with Aeolis Palus, this is my first experience with Nemosine’s line of inks, and so this is more of a first impression review.

 

This ink is a darker violet purple which is closer to blue than to pink/magenta. It is on the more saturated side, but not as saturated as I expected. Instead of just an intense purple color, there’s some grey in it as well, and it dries flatter than it appears when wet, which slightly disappointed me (I like the wet color more). It does have a little bit of sheen to it, but not much in regular writing. It looks great in the splash and flex, though! Behavior has been good so far; the ink writes relatively wet, but lacks some lubrication. I think it’s a nice enough purple, but I’m not sure it stands out from the crowd much. The slight sheen to this ink, albeit weaker than I hoped, does add some interest, and if I didn’t have a similar shade already (Callifolio Violet is pretty close), I would be more thrilled. I just wish this ink were slightly richer, like its wet look, and showed off its sheen more readily.

 

Lubrication: Moderate-Low

Shading: Moderate

Sheen: Some

Water Resistance: Moderate-Low (leaves a faint line; should be legible)

Other notes: So far, I’ve only used this in pens with western M nibs or larger. I would expect this ink to do well in a finer nib, as it’s fairly dark, but I haven’t actually seen it yet.

 

The following sample was done with a Namisu Nova (wet Medium) on Tomoe River (52gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with a size 3/0 mop in addition to the pen. Flex writing was done with a Leonardt Principal dip nib.

 

Bad Scanner Disclaimer: The hue of the scan is pretty close to what I see in person, while the photo and the writing samples have too much blue. The scan is somewhat oversaturated, and the photo undersaturated, so the true appearance should be somewhere in between the two. You can see from the writing samples that the ink color is somewhat muted compared to the review scan, which is only partially due to paper differences.

 

Scan:

 

Photo:

 

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

Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki Shikibu, KWZ Gummiberry, L’Artisan Callifolio Violet, J Herbin Poussiere de Lune, Sailor Shigure

 

Writing Samples (scans, no color correction) from Ted Chiang’s “The Evolution of Human Science”

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Tsubame Fool’s University:

 

Kokuya Campus:

 

Bonus shot of the sheen (unfortunately, hard to see in regular use):

[namrehsnoom]

Great review - I really appreciate your creativity in always finding a theme to match the ink. As for the ink itself - didn't make my wishlist, because 1/ I already have similar purples, and 2/ purple is not a colour I'm drawn to.

Edited September 25, 2017 by namrehsnoom

[hh1990]

Thanks for sharing. I am behind the times and didn't know that Nemosine was making inks now. The space theme to them is very cool, and I had fun reading the text in your review.

[ENewton]

This is exactly my kind of ink, if it flows well. Thank you!

[VivaTerlingua]

Another awe-inspiring review. Bravo!

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. I picked up a bottle of this, but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

Love your drawings that show your talent. So cool. I just put this ink in my newest pen, a Retro 51 Zodiac. I picked it at random from my samples of the Nemosine inks.

 

It seems a bit of a gray purple, but I might not have totally dried out the pen. I like the color.

 

Edited to add the gray reference was on cheap paper. On Clairefontaine the ink looks purple.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Misfit

[KellyMcJ]

How'd I miss this post? I love this ink. I love your drawing more!

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

The color is nice. The artwork is gorgeous as usual.

[Intensity]

Always a pleasure to read your reviews! Thank you for your dedication to making such an effort and a thorough description.

I like the color and the dusty quality in your description. Normally I'm not a "purples person" at all, but blue-purples seem to be the exception. I've found one such ink I enjoy using but keeping an eye on potential "upgrade" replacements.