Vinta Sikatuna Sandugo 1565

[LobsterRoll]

Ink Review:
Vinta Sikatuna [sandugo 1565]

In 1565, Datu Sikatuna and the Spanish Miguel López de Legazpi made a blood compact, or Sandugo, to seal their friend­ship with trust. This beautiful dark red ink sheens with green to symbolize both friendship and the lush green landscape of Bohol where the Sandugo was held. - Vinta's website



Overall Impressions:
I got this to try a sheening ink. It's a red ink with lots of green sheen. It's pretty fun to use. It sheens on just about everything. It seems well-behaved for an ink with so much sheen: the flow was good, no hard starts, it didn't take overly long to dry, and I didn't experience smearing after the ink was dry. With the sheen, it becomes an interesting color.

Shading: Yes, from a medium red to a dark brick red, but it's less noticeable than the sheen.
Sheen: Yes, lots, a green color. It may fade after time on some types of paper.
Water Resistance: Not water resistant.
Ease of Cleaning: It's saturated and not easy to clean, but it didn't seem to stain any of my converters or pens. I would still probably avoid putting it anything I was afraid of staining or that is hard to clean.
Nib Creep: None seen.

Tomoe River Paper:
Dry Time: Around 15 sec. (F nib, medium flow pen)
Water Resistance: Completely washed out with a water brush.


Writing Samples:

Sheen with all nib sizes


(You can see shading in the photos below, but it's not as apparent in person.)

EF


F


B


Back


Apica Paper:
Sheen with all nib sizes. No feathering, no bleeding. Very little showthrough.

Sheen


EF


F


B


Back


Notebook Paper:
Not particularly fountain pen friendly paper. Staples composition book, paper made in Brazil, but this notebook has inconsistent spots that can show a lot of feathering and bleedthrough.
Sheen with all nib sizes here, too, initially, but looking at it a couple weeks later, most of it seems to have faded. There was some random feathering on some pages with all nib sizes. There were occasional bleedthrough spots with F and B.

Sheen



Back

 

https://i.imgur.com/nGwm8Az.mp4

Edited January 18, 2020 by LobsterRoll

[LobsterRoll]

Just an update after I left the remaining small amount of ink sit in the three pens for almost two weeks. I did see a little nib crud. And it was a chore to clean out of the pens, but I didn't get any staining except on my hands. So, that's a minus, but, overall, I still think it's a fun ink and love the contrast of the green sheen with the red base color.

[Eclipse157]

Thank you for this review. I loved Krishna Jungle Volcano and meant to try it but it keeps eluding me on my usual shops, and this seems quite similar. I fell back on Diamine Communication Breakdown, which is a darker red base color and a slightly more green sheen. The Apica paper test looks like the ink had quite a dry flow with all nib sizes, but the Tomoe test shows a consistent and well rounded line so I'm inclined to blame the paper. I experience this "dry effect" on some papers as well, namely Midori MD (otherwise lovely paper, but the toothiness and dry feeling... ugh) and some laid papers...

[El Monstro]

Excellent review. I have a bottle of Sandugo myself. Love the ink and the sheen is out-of-this-world fantastic! Yes, I noticed the crud too, nothing heavy.

[LobsterRoll]

Thank you for this review. I loved Krishna Jungle Volcano and meant to try it but it keeps eluding me on my usual shops, and this seems quite similar. I fell back on Diamine Communication Breakdown, which is a darker red base color and a slightly more green sheen. The Apica paper test looks like the ink had quite a dry flow with all nib sizes, but the Tomoe test shows a consistent and well rounded line so I'm inclined to blame the paper. I experience this "dry effect" on some papers as well, namely Midori MD (otherwise lovely paper, but the toothiness and dry feeling... ugh) and some laid papers...

 

I don't have Krishna Jungle Volcano, but this review compares them, and they do look very similar. This is my first Apica notebook, so I'm still getting used to how the paper feels. I don't recall the ink ever really feeling dry when I wrote, so I think it was just the paper. Mountain of Ink described the Sandugo ink as a "wet, slightly sticky flow" and that matches what I remember.

 

 

Excellent review. I have a bottle of Sandugo myself. Love the ink and the sheen is out-of-this-world fantastic! Yes, I noticed the crud too, nothing heavy.

Yes, it was only a small amount, and that was after I left it in the pens untouched for almost two weeks. The sheen is amazing!