Graf von Faber-Castell Olive Green

[namrehsnoom]

Graf von Faber-Castell Olive Green

Faber Castell has been around for a long time. It was founded in 1761 in Stein, Germany, by cabinet maker Kaspar Faber, and remained in the Faber family for over eight generations. “Graf von Faber Castell” is the brand name for the more luxurious products in the company’s portfolio.

 

The inks from the GvFC series come in solid 75ml glass bottles with a vintage feel to them. A small label at the front of the bottle mentions the ink’s name, written in the colour of the ink itself.  The box containing the ink bottle shows a picture that reflects where the ink makers got their inspiration. 

The ink under review is “Olive Green”, and that name is certainly well chosen! If you look at the real stuff, it’s easy to see that the ink’s colour is spot-on. Olive Green is a dusty yellow-grass-green that looks fantastic. After the dark winter season, we got a couple of sunny days outside… spring is coming soon! The lovely green of this Graf von Faber Castell ink certainly fits well with this time of the year.

 

What I like about this ink is that it brings some colour to your life, but it does it with understated elegance. Nothing flashy, no frills like glimmer or multi-chromatics. Nothing of that. Just a solid delivery that looks pleasing and business-like at the same time. 

 

The ink works well with all nib sizes from an EF to broad and italic nibs. It writes wet and well lubricated, and provides good contrast with the paper. I should mention that with the Lamy Safari EF the lubrication could be better – but remember that the Safari is a dry writer. I had no issues with wetter pens and EF nibs. This Olive Green also needs some space to blossom to its full glory. A wetter pen and M-nibs or above give the ink the chance to make the most of any paper. The colour gets a bit darker, and you get some subtle shading that looks really nice.

To illustrate the colour span of this Graf von Faber Castell ink, I did a swab on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper, where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. Olive Green shows a fairly narrow contrast range with only minor colour variation between the light and darker parts. This translates to low shading that lingers in the background. The shading is definitely there, adds to the character of your writing, but remains unobtrusive and doesn’t distract. Really nicely done!

 

On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – the ink behaved really well. There is only some minor smearing of ink. Water resistance is a mixed bag. Most of the ink washes away and leaves smudges, but an olive-green residue remains that is still readable. Just enough water resistance to survive an accident. This is also clear from the bottom part of the chromatography, that shows that a fair amount of inks remains firmly attached to the paper.

And that chroma deserves some closer observation. I was surprised to find that touch of soft grey-blue in the ink’s composition. I hadn’t expected this. To my eye, it’s not apparent in the ink’s olive green colour. But it’s definitely there, and I’m sure that it contributes in a big way to give Olive Green it’s lovely dusty green look.

 

I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap 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 my M-nib Lamy Safari
• The name of the paper used, written with a B-nib Lamy Safari
• A small text sample, written with the Lamy Safari M
• Source of the quote, written with a Pelikan M400 with F ci nib
• Drying times of the ink on the paper, with the M-nib Lamy Safari

Olive Green works almost flawlessly with all my test papers. It even handled Moleskine well, with only the tiniest amount of feathering. I did notice that the ink works best with more absorbent paper, where the shading shows off its subtle beauty. With high-sheen paper (like Iroful and Kobeha Graphilo) the shading tends to become too extreme, and the ink loses much of its understated nature.

 

I used photos for the writing samples above to get the most accurate results. In scans, the contrast is exaggerated and the ink’s colour loses much of its dusty and understated looks. See the scanned image below: 

 

Below you’ll find some zoomed-in parts of writing samples. Notice the tiny amount of feathering on the Moleskine paper – a really good result for this fountain-pen-unfriendly paper. 

 

Writing with different nib sizes
The photo below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing (written on Rhodia N°16 80 gsm paper). Olive Green looks good in all nib sizes, but really starts to blossom in nib sizes M and above. With the finer nibs, the ink simply has too little room to show off the subtle shading that it is capable of. I personally liked the ink most in my wetter-writing visiting pens, where the increased ink concentration turns the colour just a touch darker, and the shading looks more aesthetically pleasing.

 

Related inks
To compare this GvFC Olive Green 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.  All these greens are of a similar vibe, but – astonishingly – they are all quite different and stand on their own. 

 

Inkxperiment – Space Flowers : Pluto
As a personal challenge, I try to create interesting drawings using only the ink I’m reviewing. I really enjoy the couple of hours I spend on these monochrome little paintings – experimenting with the ink and discovering all the shades that can be extracted from it.

This is the final part in a short mini-series of eerie-looking space flowers. For this occasion I travel to the dwarf-planet Pluto, where square silicon-based rock flowers capture the dim rays of the far-away sun. 

 

I started with an A4 piece of HP photo paper, and used square cut-outs from a kitchen towel to create the textured background. To create the effect, I cover the photo paper with the kitchen towel, and drip water diluted ink on it, which I then press onto the underlying paper using cotton pads. Next, I painted the sky with heavily water diluted ink, applied with cotton pads (keeping the sun covered with a circular piece of cardboard). Against this backdrop, I used a glass dip-pen to paint the flower stems, and a small potato stamp to print the rock flower petals. The resulting drawing shows quite well wat can be achieved with Olive Green as a drawing ink.

 

Inkxpired – computational art
I love experimenting with pen/ink/paper and have added another layer as part of the hobby. I’m exploring computational art, inspired by the ink drawings I do during ink reviews. Another fun offshoot of the hobby… and all that starting with a few drops of dye-coloured water on paper.

 

I  started by applying a colour filter so that the resulting painting better complements the other drawings from the series, and then followed up with a polygon filter. With this final drawing, the space flowers series is complete. I like the concept of multiple pieces evolving over a couple of ink reviews, and resulting in a triptych that brings them all together.

 

Conclusion
Graf von Faber Castell Olive Green is a wonderful ink. Technically solid, but first and foremost a very good-looking colour that is classic and understated, without any frills. This ink works well with every combination of pen and paper that I tried it with. And the dusty green colour is just different enough from other greens of similar vibe to make it worth it. You should definitely give it a try.

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

 

Backside of writing samples on different paper types

 

 

[yazeh]

Thank you four such an excellent review @namrehsnoom  I really like the colour and at the mention of olives I was taken to the Mediterranean coast. 

What I like most is your Pluto artwork.

You have managed to create & capture an "alien" style landscape in a movie and now I'm Trekking with captain's log and a visit to Pluto  

I think with you computational art, you are giving movement and dynamism to said art. 

 

Nothing is better than waking up with art and creativity 🙏🙏🙏

 

 

[VillersCotterets]

5 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

What I like about this ink is that it brings some colour to your life, but it does it with understated elegance. Nothing flashy, no frills like glimmer or multi-chromatics. Nothing of that. Just a solid delivery that looks pleasing and business-like at the same time. 

 

Well said. Your ink reviews are always a delight to read, filled with useful photos and insightful information. I thoroughly enjoy your blog. I eagerly await your photo uploads on FPN, as they signal that new posts will soon appear on WordPress.
 

21 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

This ink works well with every combination of pen and paper that I tried it with.

29 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

The shading is definitely there, adds to the character of your writing, but remains unobtrusive and doesn’t distract.

After a few years of exploring exotic inks with special effects like glitter and color changing dyes, I now appreciate moderate inks that consistently perform well across various papers. While classical Parker and Waterman ink are renowned for their quality, they lack diversity, which is where GvFC excels by adding interesting colors without compromising on elegance. Initially, I assumed that GvFC inks would be more expensive than most, given their luxurious bottles. They are often overlooked for that reason. However, they are surprisingly affordable per ml compared to brands like Jacques Herbin, Montblanc, or Pilot Iroshizuku.

 

 Thank you for posting those in-dept ink reviews.

 

[LizEF]

I love this ink - have a full bottle of it!  It's perfect in my Cross Wanderlust Malta, F (kinda makes me wish I'd gotten the Borneo, as the colors would go better, but whatever ).

 

Both forms of the drawing are fabulous, and that trio together is even better!

 

Thanks for a fabulous review of a great ink!

[InesF]

On 3/15/2025 at 12:51 PM, namrehsnoom said:

For this occasion I travel to the dwarf-planet Pluto, where square silicon-based rock flowers capture the dim rays of the far-away sun. 

For all the past years I was convinced that your ink reviews are among the most comprehensive to be found online and that you put a lot of effort and time into them. However, travelling to Pluto to study on-site and make plein air (?) drawings, let me drop my jaw.  😮 

 

Thank you, @namrehsnoom, for another beautiful ink review. The ink is a nice one in colour and in behaviour - a clear recommendation! 

[AmandaW]

I have GvFC Olive Green in a Faber Castell Neo Slim EF in the same colour. It works. In every way, it just works. Looks good. Writes well. Behaves on every paper I've tried. 💚

[senzen]

Great review; why do I have to like super expensive ink??!!

[joebloggs13]

I just picked up a bottle of GvFC Olive green and Cobalt blue, as I wanted some indelible/waterproof inks in my stable. Both of them do not disappoint. Great review! I went for this ink after reading this. Thanks. 😁