Penbbs #183 – Platycodon Grandiflorus

[crahptacular]

PenBBS #183 – Platycodon Grandiflorus

 

Platycodon Grandiflorus is one of the inks from the Flowers series of PenBBS inks, of which there are currently about a dozen. This release was part of the Season 13 batch of inks, numbered 175-184. I often find flower-inspired inks are a mismatch for me in terms of the Ink color versus what I imagine the flower to look like, because most flowers have a wide variety of colors within the same genus or species. This is one of those cases; I personally would expect a blue with less green and more purple. Normally, this doesn’t really bother me, as long as I like the color in the end, but it is a bit of an issue when there are not a lot of pictures of the ink available to check out pre-purchase. In any case, I’ve used this ink in an extra-fine nib and a broad nib, and have been pleased with its performance in both pens. The flow is not particularly generous, but it’s not so dry as to cause issues while writing.

 

This ink is a medium blue, both in hue and saturation. It has more green in it than cerulean blues like Souten or Kon-Peki, but less than turquoises or teals. Rather than calling it particularly green, it might be more accurate to note the absence of purple that you would generally find in deeper blues. If I were to see this ink without knowing its name, I would guess that it was some sort of marine-inspired color. There is some typical red sheen when pooled, but not an excessive amount. It’s more sheeny than the nearest comparable blues in my collection, but not the sheeniest blue when compared to other, more highly saturated inks. The sheen is easily observable for me when writing with the broad nib, and slightly visible with the extra-fine on TR paper (if you look closely for it). For me, besides the sheen, this ink is relatively unremarkable. There are a huge variety of blues available for purchase, making it quite difficult for a singular ink to stand out. In this case, I see Callifolio Omi Osun as a much cheaper and more easily procured alternative to this one, despite the fact that Platycodon beats it in the sheen department. Fans of Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo would probably enjoy this one.

 

Lubrication: Moderate

Shading: Moderate

Sheen: A good amount of red sheen, visible in writing with wet pens

Water Resistance: Moderate; drip test left behind a legible blue line

 

The following sample was done with a Pilot Elite (Extra Fine) and a Franklin Christoph 31 (Broad) on Tomoe River (52gsm, white, loose-leaf). Doodle was done with size 0 liner and size 3/0 mop. Flex writing was done with a Trionfo 900 dip nib.

 

Bad Scanner Disclaimer: My scanner has some type of blue-green colorblindness, I think. After a lot of struggling, the scan came out looking relatively accurate for the top half of the review, but the splash and smears less so. Photograph is much better, especially for the bottom half. Unfortunately, neither scan nor photo was able to accurately represent all of the comparison inks. I also touched up the writing samples this time.

 

Scan:

 

Photo:

 

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

Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Bleu Atlantique, L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Omi Osun, Noodler’s Navajo Turquoise, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Haruki Murakami’s “Town of Cats”

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Tsubame Fool’s University:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

[visvamitra]

Not my volor, but it's not banal.

[lgsoltek]

Oh I have a bottle of this. I quite like it.

[ehemem]

too much teal for me...

 

but, as always, beautiful artwork...

[namrehsnoom]

I like the colour. Great review, as usual!

[bobje]

‘Not my color, but it’s not banal’ is the highest praise I have read from Visvamitra for any ink resembling aqua or teal in any way. This is praise that makes history!