Franklin Christoph – Loden

[crahptacular]

Franklin Christoph – Loden

 

I recently picked up a few more FC inks as well as some discounted paper products from their stock room (I needed another notebook for writing samples, as I’ve finished the Kokuya Campus notebook I have been using up til now). One of the inks I chose was Loden, which had both a color and a name that I found interesting. In my experience, FC inks, including this one, have been consistently good performers. I did observe slight feathering and ghosting on FC's own paper. This is the first time I've used their paper, so I'm not sure how prone it is to feather on average (their website does say that it was designed to be absorbent). Note: I wrote another page in the notebook after preparing this review, and the ink behaved just fine, with no feathering or ghosting. Additional photo included at the very bottom. My notebook is a factory second, and there were visible irregularities with the first few pages, so that may explain the inconsistent behavior. I will still include the original writing sample scan, but I believe the second scan is more representative of the ink's behavior. I think whoever created/designed their inks has a preference for more serious colors; Loden, along with a good portion of their ink lineup, has that aura of solemnity.

 

The ink is a dark green with a good deal of grey in it. It leaves a solid dark line, with little shading and (very occasionally) a slight reddish sheen. The consistency of the line contributes to its sort of dreary appearance (the term “dreary” in this case is a positive, for me). The ink dries nice and matte; combined with the grey undertone, this definitely gives the impression of a felt-like fabric texture like that of its namesake. For those of you who have tried KWZ Foggy Green, I found it similar to Loden in terms of mood; both are dark, greyish greens, although Foggy Green is more blue and saturated, whereas Loden is more grey. Personally, I prefer the color of Loden. Overall, I quite like this ink, especially as we approach the winter months.

 

 

Lubrication: Medium

Shading: Low

Sheen: Faint red; not visible in writing

Water Resistance: None

Other notes: The doodle is completely unrelated sketch; I hadn’t intended to use it for the review, but then I got too lazy to do another one…

 

The following sample was done with a Pilot Falcon (Soft Fine) on Tomoe River (52gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with pen and a size 0 liner and size 3/0 mop. Flex writing was done with a Trionfo 900 dip nib.

 

Bad Scanner Disclaimer: Scan has a touch too much blue, and I couldn’t get the grey matte appearance to show up. It also flattened out all the different darker shades. The photo does a better job, but also doesn’t have quite the right level of grey. Overall, refer to the photo over the scan, except the five comparison smears, which are more accurate on the scan.

 

Scan:

 

Photo:

 

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

Noodler’s Colorado Spruce, L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Olivastre, Robert Oster Eucalyptus Leaf, Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu, KWZ Foggy Green

 

Writing Samples (scans; no color correction), from JRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit.

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Tsubame Fool’s University:

 

Franklin-Christoph; this page had some noticeable feathering in the printed text, but as mentioned above, I believe this is due to an imperfection in the notebook, as none of the writing on other pages look like this:

 

Additional shot of a different FC notebook page. You can still see the line is not perfectly smooth due to the paper texture, but there is no feathering this time.

[Jan2016]

I am afraid my ink collection is still not complete.... :-)

Thank you for the nice review, I like the FC colors I have, but this one is missing...

[DrDebG]

Outstanding review as always. I like the three FC inks I have - Midnight Emerald, Tenebris Purpuratum and Spanish Blue. All are very well behaved, deeply saturated and slight to moderate lubrication. Yes, the colors are very "serious", and muted. Spanish Blue might be the exception.

[visvamitra]

Stunning review.

[PS104]

Thank you for your review.

I love the history of the word Loden

More than I ever knew before

And I have a bottle of the ink

And I appreciate it even more now

[ManofKent]

Great review and a nice looking green.

[Tas]

Keep these gems coming.

[rudyhou]

reminds me of my Sailor Miruai green.

[Carrau]

Most enjoyable color and review-informative as well. Thank you.

[namrehsnoom]

Missed this one ... lovely review of a really nice looking green.

[crahptacular]

I just read on the F-C website that they are retiring the Loden and Terra Firma inks. For those interested, their remaining stock is being sold in the Stock Room section of their website (and retailers that carry FC inks will probably have their own stock remaining), after which these will become "unobtainium."

 

I'm a bit sad about Loden being retired, because I thought it was more unique than their other greens, which are all blueish. I can't find a close match to this ink in my collection. If you're looking for Loden and the stock has already run out, KWZ Foggy Green is probably the closest ink I have, but they aren't all that similar when viewed side-by-side.