Krishna Thulsi

[crahptacular]

Thulsi is a ink from the Indian ink maker Krishna, and is part of their “Super Rich” ink line (as it‘s listed on many websites), or “Specialty” line (on the Krishna Pens website). I don’t have a lot of experience with Krishna inks, but I’ve seen a few interesting colors from them so I wanted to try them out. I think “Thulsi” is an alternate spelling for “thulasi” or “tulsi”, which are both words for the holy basil plant (if someone knows better, please enlighten me). I was looking for a bold, very green green, because I have a lot of blue-leaning greens and a lot of yellow/brown-leaning greens, but nothing right in the middle.

 

Thulsi is exactly the type of green I was thinking of—an in-your-face green that doesn't have any particular undertone (to my eye, at least). It also lives up to the “Super Rich” name, as it is a very well-saturated ink. The ink nearest in color in my collection is Bungbox Norwegian Wood (comparison #3, slightly yellower and darker). Norwegian Wood has a bit more character and depth, and it suits my tastes better, but Thulsi isn't too far off and is much more affordable. It is definitely not a complex color—it’s direct, straightforward, and simple. As a result, paper color has a greater effect on the ink's appearance--compare the yellow-toned Midori sample to the bluer FC sample. If I hadn’t been looking for a simple green in the first place, I would probably be more critical and call the color a little boring; those who want complexity or subtlety in their inks probably don’t want this kind of color. On the other hand, it has a strength and vibrancy that catches the eye. Plus, I had annotations and marking up drafts in mind when buying this, and I’m quite happy with the bold color. In writing, it can get relatively dark in a wet enough nib (the F nib used here is quite wet, and shows the ink pretty much at its darkest), but I prefer the middle tones you see in the broad nib writing. Shading was low in the wetter nib but quite nice in the more average one. Water resistance is poor; the ink nearly disappears with water, and also smears easily with moisture. Besides this, performance has been satisfactory; the ink is comfortably wet and hasn’t caused any issues in my pens over the course of a month. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this ink, even though it’s not a color I would normally find too interesting.

 

Flow/Lubrication: Moderate

Shading: Moderate

Sheen: None

Water Resistance: Low - seems to smear easily as well

 

Paper: Tomoe River (68 gsm/white/loose-leaf)

Pen 1: Pilot Elite (F/wet)

Pen 2: TWSBI Vac Mini (B/moderate)

Dip: Zebra G

Brush: Kuretake Menso brush (Small)

 

Inaccurate Image(s) Disclaimer: The contrast on the main review is a bit too harsh, but it’s close to accurate otherwise. The darkest parts (like the fine nib writing) are a bit too dark. Hue looks good on my monitor. Comparisons are all relatively accurate as well (for once).

 

Scan:

 

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

Visconti Green

Papier Plume Forest Green

Bungbox Norwegian Wood

Noodler’s V-Mail GI Green

Franklin Christoph Black Forest

 

 

Writing Samples (scans; some color correction), from Peter Hoeg’s The Elephant Keepers’ Children

 

Maruman Mnemosyne:

 

Midori MD:

 

Franklin-Christoph:

[Tas]

So green !

 

 

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Nice bright green, I like it.

As usual I'm in awe with your artwork!

[lgsoltek]

I love this shade! Like Montblanc Irish Green, KWZI Green #3, etc.

[Gloucesterman]

So, where can one purchase this ink? And are there other ink by the same manufacturer?

 

Thank you for the nice review...

[crahptacular]

I purchased mine from Vanness (based in the US). They carry quite a few Krishna inks, and I believe they ship internationally. I also found this list from The Pen World, which might be of use:

 

 

You can now purchase Krishna Inks from your favorite retailers worldwide!

Australia:

• My Hearty Timber Box

Belgium:

• Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery

Germany:

• Foutainfeder

Netherlands:

• La Couronne Du Comte

New Zealand:

• Pen Classics

Singapore:

• Ink Crib

Taiwan:

• Juspirit

UK:

• iZods.ink

USA:

• Hippo Noto
• Ink Journal
• Meininger Art Materials
• Pen Chalet
• Vanness Pens

 

[putteringpenman]

Great review! Thanks for writing it!

Edited August 31, 2018 by putteringpenman

[namrehsnoom]

Fantastic review as always... love your drawings.

The ink though is not for me. It looks great in your writing with B-nib, but fails to impress me when used with the finer nib (which I typically use for daily writing).

[lgsoltek]

Fantastic review as always... love your drawings.

The ink though is not for me. It looks great in your writing with B-nib, but fails to impress me when used with the finer nib (which I typically use for daily writing).

We have complementary tastes!

[amberleadavis]

Great review - wonderful drawings and OOOO I love the color.

[inkstainedruth]

I normally prefer greens that lean a little yellow, and am not overly fond of grass greens. But this one looks interesting. I may have to try a sample at some point.

Thanks for the review. And, well, not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ErrantSmudge]

I love this shade of green. It looks a lot like Private Reserve Spearmint, and I wish I had come across this ink when I was looking for Spearmint's replacement.

 

On my monitor, the comparison ink swatches look all but identical to the featured ink.

[crahptacular]

I'm sorry about that; I use two monitors, and on one of them they are all easily distinguishable, but on the other the differences are far less pronounced. Your monitor is probably calibrated more like the latter. I have never used Spearmint, but I'll give you a quick verbal description of the inks I used for comparison:

 

Visconti Green - Strong blue undertone, nearing turquoise; less saturated than Thulsi

Papier Plume Forest Green - Blue undertone; paler than Thulsi

Bungbox Norwegian Wood - Slight yellow undertone; darker than Thulsi

Noodler’s V-Mail GI Green - Yellow undertone; darker than Thulsi

Franklin Christoph Black Forest - Blue undertone; darker and less saturated than Thulsi

[ErrantSmudge]

Thank you, that summary of the various greens is helpful. I have a Macbook Air and an iPad Retina display, and the greens all look the same on both computers.

 

I understand the challenges of scanners - I've done a few blue ink reviews where a set of comparison samples all show differences on direct view, but look identical when scanned.