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L'artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Sepia


namrehsnoom

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L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio - Sepia


L'Artisan Pastellier is a small company in southern France that specialises in natural pigments, and offers customers authentic and reliable products in beautiful colours based on mineral or vegetable pigments. In a collaboration with Loic Rainouard from Styloplume.net, the chemist Didier Boinnard from L'Artisan Pastellier created the line of Callifolio fountain pen inks. These pastel-coloured inks are traditionally crafted, and can be freely mixed and matched. Overall these inks are only moderately saturated, and have low water-resistance.The inks were specifically designed to work well with all types of paper, and all types of fountain pens.


Being pastel-tinted, these inks have a watercolour-like appearance, and are not only fine inks for journaling, but are also really excellent inks for doodling & drawing. I only recently discovered them, and they are already the inks I gravitate towards for personal journaling.



fpn_1574186208__callifolio_-_sepia_-_tit


In this review the center stage is taken by Sepia, one of the ochre-type inks of the series. This one is an earth-toned pastel-type sepia-brown, that is great for drawing, but - in my opinion - too undersaturated for writing in many of my pens. In finer nibs with dry pens, the ink lacks character for writing. Only with wet pens does the ink obtain decent saturation and starts to look good on paper.


I found the ink to be a bit on the dry side in my Lamy Safari test pens, with lubrication being somewhat subpar. A wet pen solves this problem. The ink shows little shading with fine nibs or wet pens. With broader nibs in dry pens (like the Lamy Safari) Sepia becomes a strong shader, even a bit too harsh for my personal tastes. As a writing ink, this one does not really convince me.



fpn_1574186231__callifolio_-_sepia_-_det


To show you the impact of saturation on the ink's look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles on Tomoe River where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. As you can see, this ink has a fairly wide colour span ranging from a very light pastel-like sepia to a reasonably dark brown. This explains the harsh shading you get with broad nibs in dry pens. With wet pens, you get the darker version (right part of the saturation swab), with very little shading.



fpn_1574186241__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sat


On the smudge test - rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab - Sepia behaved very good. There is limited smearing, and the text remains very sharp and readable. Water resistance is quite good for a non-waterproof ink. An easily readable brownish residue remains even after longer exposures to water. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography.



fpn_1574186254__callifolio_-_sepia_-_chr


I've tested the ink on a wide variety of paper - from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On every small band of paper I show you:


  • An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip
  • 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation
  • An ink scribble made with an M-nib Lamy Safari
  • The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari (B-nib)
  • A small text sample, written with an M-nib (also Lamy Safari)
  • The source of the quote, written with a wet Pelikan (F-nib)
  • Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib Safari)

Sepia behaved fairly well on most paper types, but did show some light feathering on papers where I didn't expect it (like the 100 gsm Optiimage printing paper, which usually works really well with fountain pen inks). Drying times are around the 10-second mark with the M-nibbed Lamy Safari. The ink looks best on pure white paper, and looks fairly underwhelming on more yellowish paper.


At the end of the review, I show you the back-side of the different paper types, in the same order. With the low-end Moleskine there is prominent show-through and a bit of bleed-through. The GvFC paper also suffers from some show-through - a characteristic I have seen with several inks, and which you wouldn't associate with 100 gsm premium paper. With the other papers, Sepia's behaviour is impeccable. Overall, the ink copes well with a wide variety of paper types.



fpn_1574186297__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam

fpn_1574186312__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam

fpn_1574186325__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam

fpn_1574186341__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam


Writing with different nib sizes

The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen - a wet-writing Pelikan M101N Bright Red with a fine nib. With this wet nib, the ink writes much more pleasantly. It also shows a substantially more saturated line. Personally I prefer the ink's more saturated look with the wet Pelikan pen.



fpn_1574186351__callifolio_-_sepia_-_nib


Related inks

To compare Sepia with related inks, I use my nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test - all in a very compact format. I have only a limited number of browns in my ink collection, and no close match to this ink. This Callifolio ink is the most pastel-tinted brown that I own.


fpn_1574186361__callifolio_-_sepia_-_rel


Inkxperiment - a day at the farm

As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I'm reviewing. For me, this really brings extra fun to the hobby, and these single-ink drawings are great for stretching my drawing skills. With these small pictures, I try to give you an idea of what the ink is capable of in a more artistic setting. For this drawing, the earth-toned colour of the ink triggered memories of childhood holidays at my grandparents farmhouse. I started off with 300 gsm watercolour paper, on which I painted a background with water-diluted Sepia. The fields in the foreground were drawn with Q-tips, and multiple water/ink ratios. I then added the farmhouse and tree on the horizon line with a B-nibbed fountain pen. Finally I painted in the wheat stalks, and added some texture to the fields with my M-nibbed Lamy Safari filled with Sepia. The resulting picture gives you an idea of the colour range you can expect when using Sepia as a drawing ink.


fpn_1574186374__callifolio_-_sepia_-_ink


Conclusion

Callifolio Sepia is a pastel-toned sepia-brown ink, that is at its best in wetter pens where it produces a dark and saturated line, and where it doesn't suffer from the subpar lubrication present wih dry pens like the Lamy Safari. Sepia fails to impress me as a writing ink, but shows some promise for use in pastel-toned drawings.


Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib


fpn_1574186390__callifolio_-_sepia_-_wat


Back-side of writing samples on different paper types


fpn_1574186403__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam

fpn_1574186419__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam

fpn_1574186434__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam

fpn_1574186449__callifolio_-_sepia_-_sam
Edited by namrehsnoom
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With this review I've worked my way through the complete Callifolio line of inks - all 36 of them. It's been a very pleasant and satisfying journey, that took me a little bit over 2 years. And I have enjoyed doing every one of these reviews. Of all my inks - and I have acquired over 200 of them over the years - the L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks remain my favourites. I just love the soft tones of these inks, which make them excellent choices for both writing and drawing.

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Another outstanding review!

 

Thank you so much for taking so much time to do this! And thank you for all of your reviews of the Callifolio ink line. I too love the Callifolio inks for the same reasons.

"Today will be gone in less than 24 hours. When it is gone, it is gone. Be wise, but enjoy! - anonymous today

 

 

 

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With this review I've worked my way through the complete Callifolio line of inks - all 36 of them. It's been a very pleasant and satisfying journey, that took me a little bit over 2 years. And I have enjoyed doing every one of these reviews. Of all my inks - and I have acquired over 200 of them over the years - the L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks remain my favourites. I just love the soft tones of these inks, which make them excellent choices for both writing and drawing.

 

 

~ namrehsnoom:

 

The L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Sepia ink is one about which I knew nothing.

Your review brings it to my attention, for which I'm grateful.

My introduction to the L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks was through the Fritz Schimpf Web site.

When first buying a Pelikan fountain pen through them, I noticed the L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio inks.

After reading what was explained about them, I ordered a few.

Liking them, I ordered more, which continued throughout the year.

In fact, the final shipment of the year from Fritz Schimpf may arrive soon, with more L’Artisan Pastellier Callifopio inks.

As for you, the soft tones appeal to me for sketching, as well as handwriting.

I'd never read your reviews until mid-year, when I became more interested in the L’Artisan Pastellier Callifolio ink line.

While there has never yet been any circumstance wherein I thought about water solubility of inks, the other information you provide has been a delight to read.

Thank you for your sustained effort to review all of these inks for Fountain Pen Network.

May they continue to bring you much pleasure in both drawing and writing.

Tom K.

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Another outstanding review!

 

Thank you so much for taking so much time to do this! And thank you for all of your reviews of the Callifolio ink line. I too love the Callifolio inks for the same reasons.

 

~ 5Cavaliers:

 

I'm in full agreement that namrehsnoom's Sepia review is outstanding.

The Callifolio ink line has been the highlight of 2019 for me, as far as inks go.

I'm glad to know that you like them, too.

Tom K.

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