PenBBS #507 Lily of the Valley: A Light Teal With Some Shading

[Matthew TWP]

I imported about 20 bottles of ink from China last winter. It was crazy, and fun, and not a great idea, but the PenBBS inks direct from the Chinese website cost just a few dollars per bottle, and I couldn't resist. I grabbed this one pretty much at random from my shelf a couple of days ago and thought that since I was inking a pen with it, I might as well also post some info about it here.

 

This bottle is from the botanical collection of inks that come in cube-shaped heavy glass bottles which are labeled as 35 +/-2ml . Each of these has beautiful label art on the bottles depicting some sort of plant or flower on an ivory background. Needless to say, the look is very reminiscent of Sailor's "Manyo" series, but there's a very good assortment of colors in the line.

 

This particular color is a light, low-saturation teal that can lean towards turquoise on warmer papers or in warm light.

 

I swabbed the ink on a variety of different papers, as usual. In this photo, I've included Col-O-Ring, HP Premium32 copy paper, plain Rhodia paper, Clairfontaine Triomphe, Cosmo Air Light, and 52gsm Tomoe River. The lower-right portion of the HP and Triomphe swabs are the best representation of the color with only one pass of ink.

 

 

The ink can be quite pale when it's thin, but it darkens up quickly, which gives it some nice shading on the right paper. Below is a swab on Cosmo Air Light:

 

I have plenty of colors that are similar, but most of them are actually more saturated than the PenBBS, and the colors differ slightly.

 

 

I didn't get any feathering or bad behavior on any of these papers. It's a well behaved ink, with average characteristics and dry time.

 

If I have any problem with the ink it's that it's not quite dark enough when writing with a fine nib. Below I've written with broad, medium and fine nibs on Tomoe River 68gsm and ruled Rhodia.

 

 

 

Hope someone finds this useful!

 

- Matthew

[LizEF]

Thank you!  So not my color, but I love how it matches your pen, and that swab on CAL is gorgeous!

[mizgeorge]

A very useful review - thank you

 

The colour doesn't instantly grab me - and I have enough similar inks not to feel the need to own this one, but I agree with @LizEF - that swab is just beautiful!

[PithyProlix]

8 hours ago, Matthew TWP said:

I grabbed this one pretty much at random from my shelf a couple of days ago and thought that since I was inking a pen with it, I might as well also post some info about it here.

 

Ah, so this was just a casual review? 😉 It's fantastic! As @mizgeorge, wrote: very useful. (OMG, I think I will never post a review.)

 

It isn't my kind of color but I'm finding a certain softness to PenBBS's brighter colors that is really appealing. Maybe part of the Chinese ascetic. (?) I just started playing with #397 'Breakfast Time' (from a series of inks named after different times of the day), which is a green-leaning turquoise. Again, not my kind of color but it also has a appealingly soft look.

 

I've just started with PenBBS inks over last couple months and I am now at eight bottles. Every one of them has been at least very good - interesting colors and solid performance - the one exception being #344 Mulberry, whose only problem seems to be some bleed-through (perhaps I will just have to avoid wetter pens with it). May I ask, what's your overall impression of their ink?

[Matthew TWP]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Ah, so this was just a casual review? 😉 

 

Not casual, exactly, but I didn't choose this particular color because it's my favorite or because it's new and exciting or interesting in some way. It was just there 🙂 But the name does remind me of my mom singing me that little Lily of the Valley song when I was a little boy, and I guess that's worth something.

 

I don't think that I have enough experience with using PenBBS inks, yet, to have formed an impression of their inks. So far, I love their colors (at least, the ones that I've tried) and I really like a lot of their packaging, and that's a good start. Beyond that, I'm reserving judgement. 

[yazeh]

@Matthew TWP I like your causal reviews... but more so the story of a name that evokes a song .... That's a colour I would like on my walls.... and I'm sure I would crave the colour in the dead of the winter

 

[DrDebG]

Excellent review!  Thank you for taking the time to do this.