Monarca Arena Blanca (White Sands) : Additional Details

[Matthew TWP]

 

I spent some time yesterday playing with Monarca Arena Blanca. (If you're finding this post without context, Monarca is a new ink and stationery brand from Mexico, and I reviewed their ink "Manglar" and made a video about it a day or two ago. Monarca inks are available through Etsy.)

 

 

As usual, I started by swatching the ink on a broader range of papers, and in doing so, I discovered something interesting (but not unusual): Arena Blanca appears to be a warm-toned ink on more absorbent Western papers, and is significantly cooler in tone on less absorbent Japanese papers.

 

Below is Cosmo Air Light on the left (a warmer paper, but cooler ink tone) and Clairefontaine on the right.

 

Here is my Col-o-ring swatch (left) next to Tomoe River 52gsm.

I don't have any ink colors that are similar to Arena Blanca for comparison, but here are a couple anyway.

 

 

But of course, what everybody wants to know is: is Arena Blanca legible for everyday writing? The answer depends heavily on the pen and the paper. For me, a wet pen and a fine nib produced the most reliable results, especially on a paper that doesn't promote shading. Rhodia produced more legible but less interesting results than Tomoe River.

 

Below this point, I had some problems with color correction, so don't put too much faith in the color accuracy.

 

Overview of Tomoe River Writing Sample:

 

 

Overview on Rhodia. Ignore the B-3 sample here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This ink is not water resistant.

 

Overall, I still love the color of the ink, and I think it could be useful in certain controlled circumstances, but not for everyday use (but that probably goes without saying). I found the ink to be a little dry, but it may be that the ink was flowing fine but so pale that it seemed like the flow was thin. My inexperience with pale inks is coming through here, so I'll have to wait until I have more experience with this ink and similarly pale inks before I can give you anything more definitive 🙂

 

Hope that some of you found this useful.

[mizgeorge]

Curses! I like this even more now...

 

Thank you for the extra tests (I think!)

[LizEF]

This is a lovely ink, but as you say, not exactly practical for daily use.  It does have a sort of soft, elegant look to it though.  I like it, but can't imagine it working anywhere except my TWSBI Go broad nib, and I don't like the Go...   Meanwhile, I'm dying to see what @namrehsnoom can do with it!

 

Thank you for the review!

[Matthew TWP]

14 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Curses! I like this even more now...

 

Thank you for the extra tests (I think!)

 

🙂 Glad to be of service. I still need a full bottle of Cruel Sky.

[amberleadavis]

Great review!

[yazeh]

As elegant as always @Matthew TWP The colour reminds me of my first bottle of Gutenberg Urkundenttinten G10. A dryish iron gall ink, especially great for sketching

 

[axialix]

Beautiful pictures again! Your reviews are pure class. I probably would not buy this to write with, but the warm tones of this ink and your photos make me feel very happy.

[Matthew TWP]

1 hour ago, axialix said:

Beautiful pictures again! Your reviews are pure class. I probably would not buy this to write with, but the warm tones of this ink and your photos make me feel very happy.

Thank you! I think it's a fun ink to play with, but I agree that it's not the most practical option. 

[Uncial]

I like the look of it but it does seem a touch too pale.