Anyone Else Obsessed with Van Dieman Inks?

[Pen Ffynnon]

I ordered Blue-Ringed Octopus on an impulse and I really love this ink. The color-change in it is absolutely amazing. I admit to little-to-no experience with that sort of shine, so maybe I'm easily impressed. Watching my writing shift from blue to blue with pinkish-purply areas while it dries is entrancing.

 

I'm planning on ordering their Royal Starfish, Twilight Zone, Sea Turtle, and another bottle of BRO (I really don't want to run out any time soon). Not affiliated, but this ink really bit me. Literally. And this is after two washes in hot water, one involving a scrub brush. Why, yes, I tell my coworkers. I do love fountain pens.

[inkstainedruth]

I have a couple of bottles that I picked up at a pen show a few years ago -- Moonflower, and Black-Tongued Spider Orchid.  And a couple of samples (one of which just came in the mail today) but haven't had a chance to try yet -- Bunch of Roses (the one that just came) and and Tassie Seasons (Autumn) Blackberry.

The two bottled inks are nice enough but didn't overly wow me either.  YMMV.....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Pen Ffynnon]

And I do apologize both for the picture quality and the total lack of kerning, consistent font size, consistent style--yesyesyes, I know. I was messing around with an idea. I just wish we had more of the sun part of "sunshine and clouds" so that you could see the colors better.

[AmandaW]

I have

• Harvest Eggplant
• Harvest Nutmeg
• Midnight series Eclipse
• Cradle Mountain Grey
• Leatherwood Honey Amber
• Oakwood
• Tassie Seasons Black Truffle
• Tassie Seasons Hailstorm
• Tassie Seasons Launceston Fog
• Tassie Seasons Morning Frost
• Tassie Seasons Pepperberry
• Tassie Seasons Sweet Fig
• Tassie Seasons Tassie Salmon
• Wilderness Series Federation Peak
• Wilderness Series Hanging Lake

 

Cradle Mountain Grey has been The Ink in a Pilot 912 PO that I use for book notes in an A5 dotted Clairefontaine (which lives in a Lihit Lab cover with a pocket for the pen). The set up used to be my Bullet Journal, but I had a re-arrange. Either way it's been in daily use for years. I have about six backup bottles.

 

I adore Sweet Fig. It's a gorgeous muted grey-purple-burgundyish indefinable.

 

Pepperberry is probably still my favourite dark blue. I am flirting with others, but it has yet to be knocked off its pedestal.

 

The rest are occasional fills, rather than permanent pairings. So far.

 

 

 

[Pen Ffynnon]

Ooh! I really like Sweet Fig, Zucchini, Styx Valley Forest Green, and Blackened Seas. Added to my wish list!

 

Thank you!

[lascosas]

A bottle of each of the following:

 

Birds of a Feather

Anna's hummingbird face

Anna's hummingbird Wing

Blue Jay Tail

Blue Jay Wing

Elegant peacock ESye

Elegant Peacock Neck

Elegant Peacock Train

European honey bee eater nape

European honey bee eater wing

Laughing Kochaburra Tail

Mandarin Duck Breast

Mandarin Duck Nape

Mandarin Duck Wing

 

Feline

Cheetah chase

Emerald eyes

Here Kitty Kitty

Lion's roar

Mad Half Hour

Persian Princess

Purr

Ragdoll Kiss

Russian Blue

Tomcat

Tortoiseshell

 

Greek Heroes

Achilles

Alexander

Dr David Livingstone

Leonidas

Odysseus

Sacagawea

 

Harvest

Apple cider

Apricot

Blackberry jam

Eggplant

Peanut brittle

Pink raddish

Sweetheart cherry

Tasmanian lavender

Tasmanian safron

Wasabi

Zucchini

 

Misc

Marilyn

Elizabeth

 

Monthly

All 2023

Jan 24

Feb 24

Apr 24

May 24

Nov 24

Jan 25

 

Night

Aurora Australis

Blackened seas

Midnight

Moonlit lake

Shooting star

Tiger quail Prowl

Twilight mist

Vampire Bat

 

Tasmania

Autumn morning

Bass Strait

Queenstown Goldmine

Tamar pinot noir

Tamar Wine Red

Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian pink robin

 

Tassie Seasons

Cloudburst

Hailstorm

Huon midwinter

Launceston fog

Morning frost

Native cornflower

Pepperberry

Sweet fig

Tiger Snake

Wineglass Bay

 

Underwater

Bioluminescence

Blue ringed Octopus

Deep sea diver

Fire coral

Ghost ship

Moon jellyfish

Neptune's necklace

Royal Starfish

Sea turtle

Sea Urchin

Sunken treasure

Twilight zone

 

Voyagers

Gudrid Far Traveler

Heemskerck and zeehaen

Kay cottee

Woollarawarre Bennelong

 

Wilderness

Black-tongued Spider Orchid

Devil's Kitchen

Firetail Finch

Hanging Lake

 

Black Friday Ink Luster: orange, blue, gizma

Fusion kits: all five

 

 

[Penguincollector]

  I have just one bottle, Tassie Seasons Native Cornflower. I also have a sample of Neptune’s Necklace. Both were given to me by a kind pen club friend. I really liked the latter in my Sailor PGS Mini. 

[yazeh]

I have a few samples, I beleive they have feline thematic 😸 I still have to review them  

[Pen Ffynnon]

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

I have a few samples, I beleive they have feline thematic 😸 I still have to review them  

I haven't used it yet, but one color I got was Kitten Paws. I'm waiting for a couple pens I cleaned to try that and the "Night" series, Vampire Bat.

[Pen Ffynnon]

20 hours ago, lascosas said:

A bottle of each of the following:

 

Birds of a Feather

Anna's hummingbird face

Anna's hummingbird Wing

Blue Jay Tail

Blue Jay Wing

Elegant peacock ESye

Elegant Peacock Neck

Elegant Peacock Train

European honey bee eater nape

European honey bee eater wing

Laughing Kochaburra Tail

Mandarin Duck Breast

Mandarin Duck Nape

Mandarin Duck Wing

 

Feline

Cheetah chase

Emerald eyes

Here Kitty Kitty

Lion's roar

Mad Half Hour

Persian Princess

Purr

Ragdoll Kiss

Russian Blue

Tomcat

Tortoiseshell

 

Greek Heroes

Achilles

Alexander

Dr David Livingstone

Leonidas

Odysseus

Sacagawea

 

Harvest

Apple cider

Apricot

Blackberry jam

Eggplant

Peanut brittle

Pink raddish

Sweetheart cherry

Tasmanian lavender

Tasmanian safron

Wasabi

Zucchini

 

Misc

Marilyn

Elizabeth

 

Monthly

All 2023

Jan 24

Feb 24

Apr 24

May 24

Nov 24

Jan 25

 

Night

Aurora Australis

Blackened seas

Midnight

Moonlit lake

Shooting star

Tiger quail Prowl

Twilight mist

Vampire Bat

 

Tasmania

Autumn morning

Bass Strait

Queenstown Goldmine

Tamar pinot noir

Tamar Wine Red

Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian pink robin

 

Tassie Seasons

Cloudburst

Hailstorm

Huon midwinter

Launceston fog

Morning frost

Native cornflower

Pepperberry

Sweet fig

Tiger Snake

Wineglass Bay

 

Underwater

Bioluminescence

Blue ringed Octopus

Deep sea diver

Fire coral

Ghost ship

Moon jellyfish

Neptune's necklace

Royal Starfish

Sea turtle

Sea Urchin

Sunken treasure

Twilight zone

 

Voyagers

Gudrid Far Traveler

Heemskerck and zeehaen

Kay cottee

Woollarawarre Bennelong

 

Wilderness

Black-tongued Spider Orchid

Devil's Kitchen

Firetail Finch

Hanging Lake

 

Black Friday Ink Luster: orange, blue, gizma

Fusion kits: all five

 

 

Holy cow!! How do you like them, in general, and do you have a favorite?

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I just filled the replacement Dark Dusk Safari LE with Van Dieman Bunch of Rose, and while it's an interesting color (and that surprised me since I tend not to like dark reds/burgundies) it also seem to have a pretty slow dry time on the paper in the cheapie mini-composition book I got in some dollar store, especially given that the pen has a B nib....  But also has "haloing" along the edges of the pen strokes that look almost blue-black, the haloing is so dark.... 

Ruth Morrison aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

13 hours ago, Pen Ffynnon said:

I haven't used it yet, but one color I got was Kitten Paws. I'm waiting for a couple pens I cleaned to try that and the "Night" series, Vampire Bat.

Same here  

[lascosas]

Obviously I'm a big fan of their ink.  A couple of times a year they have big sales where the percentage discount goes up with the number of inks you buy, topping out at 30%.  I live in California, and it is the shipping that gets very expensive.  And when you place an order of at least 10 inks, they give you their 100 ML ink of the month for free.  My favorite series is definitely Underwater.  My favorite ink is probably Blue Ringed Octopus.

 

Saturated, shading, some glitter.  I tend to like those inks, and Van Dieman has tons of those.  But...with many of their deeply saturated inks I need to place a sheet of paper over the ink to keep it from smearing (I'm a lefty). 

[Pen Ffynnon]

48 minutes ago, lascosas said:

Obviously I'm a big fan of their ink.  A couple of times a year they have big sales where the percentage discount goes up with the number of inks you buy, topping out at 30%.  I live in California, and it is the shipping that gets very expensive.  And when you place an order of at least 10 inks, they give you their 100 ML ink of the month for free.  My favorite series is definitely Underwater.  My favorite ink is probably Blue Ringed Octopus.

 

Saturated, shading, some glitter.  I tend to like those inks, and Van Dieman has tons of those.  But...with many of their deeply saturated inks I need to place a sheet of paper over the ink to keep it from smearing (I'm a lefty). 

I'll have to keep an eye out for their sales. I've only gotten them from Vanness so far and am obsessed with Blue-Ringed Octopus. So pretty.

[lascosas]

I have wasted ENDLESS time on this site trying to get my photos right-side-up.  I give up!

[Pen Ffynnon]

Wow! Thank you for sharing that. Pics on websites are fine, but it's nice to see them in a nice broad line. Now? To add to the wishlist. 😁

[Pen Ffynnon]

On 5/24/2025 at 3:54 AM, yazeh said:

Same here  

Just loaded Kitten Paws into a Safari (unfortunately, a fine nib). I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's like a slightly darker version of "Flesh" Crayola crayons. It has a surprising amount of green in it--you can see it when you wipe off the nib and it shows a bit in the writing. It also winds up too pale to read comfortably, at least with a fine nib. I think this one's going to be a "no" for me. 

[yazeh]

10 hours ago, Pen Ffynnon said:

Just loaded Kitten Paws into a Safari (unfortunately, a fine nib). I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's like a slightly darker version of "Flesh" Crayola crayons. It has a surprising amount of green in it--you can see it when you wipe off the nib and it shows a bit in the writing. It also winds up too pale to read comfortably, at least with a fine nib. I think this one's going to be a "no" for me. 

Sorry to hear that. I usually test inks with a different array of nibs &  pens to get a feel of it. But there are inks I cannot save

[Pen Ffynnon]

I'll give it another try dipping it with a broad nib, but swabbing it on a swatch card....

 

A reminder to myself that between their camera and both our servers and my computer, colors are apt to be off. To me, it looked more of a dusty pink online. Blue-Ringed Octopus, though, did what it said on the tin....er...looked like it did online.

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, Pen Ffynnon said:

I'll give it another try dipping it with a broad nib, but swabbing it on a swatch card....

 

A reminder to myself that between their camera and both our servers and my computer, colors are apt to be off. To me, it looked more of a dusty pink online. Blue-Ringed Octopus, though, did what it said on the tin....er...looked like it did online.