ESSRI (Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink)

[yazeh]

Essri (Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink)

 

Ink Review # 191

 

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🧾 Description

 

One of the classics of iron gall inks. 

 

Its lineage goes back to Stephens in 1834. In 1976, when the former ceased production, one of the former associates launched ESSRI (Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink), carrying on that iron gall ink tradition

 

ESSRI comes in 110 ml plastic bottles, which should ideally be decanted into smaller glass bottles, as plastic is porous and allows air exchange over time. Like all iron gall inks, it has an expiry date. A Dutch scientific website dedicated to the history and preservation of iron gall inks [https://www.irongallink.org/how-to-make-ink-trouble-shooting-chart.html] suggests that gently blowing into the bottle before sealing it may prolong the ink’s life: the expelled carbon dioxide, being heavier than oxygen, can create a protective barrier over the surface. When I mentioned this trick in some of my earliest IG reviews, a few readers mocked the idea. But a few years later, I revisited my inks and found that a quarter-full 20 ml bottle had precipitated, while a full bottle from the same batch remained perfectly stable.

 

Ink oxidizes immediately from medium/ dark blue to blue black. If one uses wet flex nibs, it oxidizes to black almost immediately. 

 

 

This is still one of the best Iron gall inks I’ve ever used. 

 

Bottom line: If you’re condemned to use cheap paper, no ink beats Essri in comfort, behavior, and ease of use. 

 

Note, as with all Iron gall inks, one should ideally use a diluted ascorbic acid solution, patience, and lots of flushing to clean the pen. Never use conventional cleaning solutions for iron gall inks.  

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 🧪 Chroma

 

 

 

 

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 ✍️ Writing Samples (scan)

Rhodia  / Iroful

 

 

 

Midori  /Tomoe River 68gsm

 

 

 

Hammermill 20lb  

 

 

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 📸 Photo

Rhodia/ Iroful

 

 

 

Midori / Tomoe River 68 gsm / Hammermill 20lb

 

 

Oxidation

 

🔍 Comparison

 I redid the Essri swatches to compare with the original swatch done three years ago. 

 

 

 

Comparison with other grey inks: 

 

 

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 💧 Water Test

 

 

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 🎨 Artwork

Mountain Dew

Essri - Talens Mixed media

 

 

Oxidation

 

Invoking Tishtar 

Cat and mouse enact a traditional Tirgan custom: the symbolic throwing of water to encourage rainfall. Rooted in ancient Persian mythology, this midsummer practice was associated with Tishtar—the celestial figure linked to Sirius and water—who battles drought to bring rain. The festival occurs shortly after the summer solstice and reflects seasonal concerns with heat, fertility, and renewal.

Fountain pen inks used:
ESSRI, Diamine Sepia, J. Herbin Bleu Calanque

 

 

Solstice

Inktober challenge

While researching the solstice in different cultures, I came upon an ancient pre-Islamic Persian tradition. It honored the midsummer battle of Tishtar—the deity of water—against the demon of drought, to summon rain. While this festivity happens a week or so after the summer solstice, it seems fitting to celebrate one of the four elements. 

Inks used: 

Essri Iron gall ink

J Herbin Bouton d'or/ Bleu calanque

Noodler's Apache Sunset

 

 

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- Pens Used:  Pilot Kakuno EF,  Lamy (EF/F/M/B/ Stub 1.1) , Ahab with a FPR ultraflex nib.

- What I Liked: Ease of use, behavior on cheap paper. 

- What I Did Not Like: Expirey date.

- What Some Might Not Like: Iron gall ink. 

- Writing Experience: Exceptional.

- Pros: Waterproof, excellent for cheap paper. 

- Cons:  It comes only in 110 ml plastic bottles and needs to be decanted into glass bottles. Expiry date. Cleaning.

 

 🧷 Ink Characteristics

 

- Shading:  Lovely

- Ghosting:  Minor ghosting with a wet flex nib. 

- Bleed Through:  None. 

- Flow Rate:  Wet

- Lubrication: Surprisingly good. 

- Nib Dry-out:  Did not notice. 

- Start-up: Excellent. 

- Saturation:  Dark charocoal 

- Sheen:  A bit on Iroful 

- Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line:  Did not notice.

- Nib Creep / Crud: Did not notice.

- Staining (Pen):  

- Clogging:  No.

- Cleaning:  Like most iron gall inks, one needs pure ascorbic acid for cleaning, Q-tip and patience.  

- Water Resistance:  Excellent. 

 

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 🛒 Availability

 

- [ ] Available only in 110 ml bottles, from Essri website. Shipping is included in the price. 

Link: http://www.registrarsink.co.uk/registrars_ink.html

 

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 💬 Closing

 

Among all the iron gall inks I’ve reviewed, Essri is still among the best, especially for those condemned to use cheap paper.  Its downsides, as noted above, are a huge volume plastic bottle and expiry date. Nothing is eternal.   

 

No fountain pens were hurt in preparing this review. 

Please don’t hesitate to share your experience, writing samples, or any other comments — the more the merrier.   

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review and fun artwork.  

Sadly, the large bottle size makes this one a hard pass for me.  I had a 60 ml bottle of Akkerman Ijzer-Galnoten go bad because I couldn't get through THAT fast enough.  There's NO way I could get through 115 ml of ESSRI fast enough -- even if that was the ONLY ink I was using.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

19 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks as usual for the comprehensive review and fun artwork.  

Most welcome. Glad it was fun. :) 

19 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Sadly, the large bottle size makes this one a hard pass for me.  I had a 60 ml bottle of Akkerman Ijzer-Galnoten go bad because I couldn't get through THAT fast enough.  There's NO way I could get through 115 ml of ESSRI fast enough -- even if that was the ONLY ink I was using.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I truly understand your dilemma. I bought mine probably 3 to 4 years ago. The full glass bottles are still thankfully good. I remember with many of my expired IG inks, I used them in artwork, when I needed a black) grey background. But, unless we're dedicated writers, unfortunately this is not the best option. However, price wise it's still affordable.

 

[inkstainedruth]

I actually looked into getting a bottle a number of years ago, but the shipping charges to the US were pretty high just for a single bottle.  I had considered adding a couple of pens to the order (I think that they were selling Parker Vectors at the time) but then, after trying a sample of Diamine Registrar Blue Black (that was already starting to go when I got it) I ended up holding off....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

I actually looked into getting a bottle a number of years ago, but the shipping charges to the US were pretty high just for a single bottle.

It's my understanding that the price is £25.50 ( $35) shipping included. It's quite decent.

5 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

 I had considered adding a couple of pens to the order (I think that they were selling Parker Vectors at the time) but then, after trying a sample of Diamine Registrar Blue Black (that was already starting to go when I got it) I ended up holding off....

I find Registrar's quite different from Essri. It's drier , the lubrication is not as good. That'll be my next review, anyway. 😊

[LizEF]

Thanks, @yazeh!   I had to go back and check out my own review to remind myself what I thought of this ink.  (And remember that it was the inspiration for creating Essri the snek.)

 

Love that first quote.   Ooh, and the TR one.

 

Yum.  It does make a lovely blue-black, doesn't it?   Checked, my swatch is still blue-grey.  Go figure.

 

🐍 Love the water-test drawing. (And wow! Great performance.)

 

Fabulous drawings. Mousey dumping his little bucket on kitty is adorable!

 

Great review!  So glad you enjoyed the ink.  And even more glad that decanting it into glass bottles worked!

[inkstainedruth]

9 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Great review!  So glad you enjoyed the ink.  And even more glad that decanting it into glass bottles worked!

Yeah.  Good to know about the glass bottles thing (I did that a few years ago with an 8 oz. bottle of vintage Quink Permanent Violet and a 2/3 full bottle of vintage Quink Permanent Blue Black), after ordering some brown glass bottles with eyedropper tops online.  Wasn't sure that it would work so well with IG inks.

Ruth Morrisson inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

Thanks, @yazeh!   I had to go back and check out my own review to remind myself what I thought of this ink.  (And remember that it was the inspiration for creating Essri the snek.)

That's one inspiration.  Glad you didn't name it 'Registrars' or.' 'Ecclesiastical  

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Love that first quote.   Ooh, and the TR one.

Yes. The quotes were inspired. And it's so true. It's like exploring one's soul from an eternal standpoint, if it makes any sense.

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

Yum.  It does make a lovely blue-black, doesn't it?   Checked, my swatch is still blue-grey.  Go figure.

Do you use Col-O-ring? 

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

🐍 Love the water-test drawing. (And wow! Great performance.)

Noblesse oblige!  

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

Fabulous drawings. Mousey dumping his little bucket on kitty is adorable!

Thanks! This was a step-by-step drawing. Like going down in the mine, quote, without knowing.  

6 hours ago, LizEF said:

Great review!  So glad you enjoyed the ink.  And even more glad that decanting it into glass bottles worked!

I ordered my empty bottle on the same time as the ink. I got a big & small Sailor (not our @Sailor Kenshin  ) and one Kyoto-Tag.  

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Yeah.  Good to know about the glass bottles thing (I did that a few years ago with an 8 oz. bottle of vintage Quink Permanent Violet and a 2/3 full bottle of vintage Quink Permanent Blue Black), after ordering some brown glass bottles with eyedropper tops online.  Wasn't sure that it would work so well with IG inks.

Ruth Morrisson inkstainedruth

I didn't have empty ink bottles. So, I ordered a few ink bottles. I kept the plastic bottle as a memento for the ink review. But in the end, I didn't post it.  

[LizEF]

32 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Do you use Col-O-ring? 

No. I use some cheapo cards from Walmart.

[InesF]

Ooohhh, here comes the snek ink! 🐍

(Sorry to the Essri ink producer - after following @LizEF's story for such a long time and hearing about the Essri ink later, the name is definitely occupied in a magical context!  )

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for this ink review, for finding the nice quotes from Ovid and from ancient China, for providing Persian background to your impressive drawings (that makes them even more special) and - very important - for the oxidation photos! 

 

While re-discovering IG inks again (long after ending some own experiments with average success) and experiencing the fascination of visible ink reaction on paper, I still prefer inks that are not black. Essri will not be for me - while I highly appreciate what you did with it in this review! 👍

 

[Lithium466]

Nothing lasts forever, but ESSR ink is for sure a staple of an ink  

Thank you @yazeh for that review that shows that even such an old formulation can still be relevant today!
 

(ESSRI is said to contain phenol, which wouldn't be necessary based on the rest of the ingredients and well, relatively short shelf life - phenol smelling inks always bring me back some "cool nostalgia")

[yazeh]

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

No. I use some cheapo cards from Walmart.

Intriguing. A few years ago, when I first bought my Diamine Registrar's (before Essri), I was surprised by the oxidation process until I sketched on Midori's watercolour paper. The ink retained the sky blue quality for almost 6 months. Different papers react differently to inks. The writing samples on Essri are nearly black now. Maybe professor @InesF can shed some light on this inky discussion I had with ChatGPT: 

 

Iron gall inks oxidize differently depending on the paper. On smooth, well-sized paper like Col-o-ring, oxidation happens mostly on the surface, allowing the ink to darken within days. But on more absorbent or textured papers, especially when using wash techniques, the ink can sink below the surface and retain its original dye color—often a pale or sky blue—for weeks or even months. This delayed transformation is typical of IG inks when applied wet on thick, porous papers: air exposure is initially limited, and only the surface layer oxidizes. Over time, as moisture and oxygen gradually penetrate the fibers, the deeper iron salts begin to oxidize and the full grey or black tones emerge—if they do at all. On some highly absorbent papers, the ink may remain blue-black indefinitely, sealed too deeply for full oxidation.

[yazeh]

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Ooohhh, here comes the snek ink! 🐍

The word Snek, for some reason, reminds me of the song, Shake, shake, shake, though, like Makhabesh, I sing, Snek, snek, snek...

4 hours ago, InesF said:

 

(Sorry to the Essri ink producer - after following @LizEF's story for such a long time and hearing about the Essri ink later, the name is definitely occupied in a magical context!  )

Maybe they can do a limited edition, for Snek lovers.  

4 hours ago, InesF said:

 

Thank you, @yazeh, for this ink review, for finding the nice quotes from Ovid and from ancient China, for providing Persian background to your impressive drawings (that makes them even more special) and - very important - for the oxidation photos! 

Thanks. Glad it was creative enough. Each ink review takes me to uncharted territory, and that's the fun of it.  

4 hours ago, InesF said:

 

While re-discovering IG inks again (long after ending some own experiments with average success) and experiencing the fascination of visible ink reaction on paper, I still prefer inks that are not black. Essri will not be for me - while I highly appreciate what you did with it in this review! 👍

 

I get that. I'm having IG overload, myself.  I was checking a plethora of IG inks, for fountain pen and dip pen. It's a pity I didn't scan some of them when I got them, but the oxidation of some borders on different shades of brown.  After Diamine Registrars, we'll go back to summer colours.  

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Nothing lasts forever, but ESSR ink is for sure a staple of an ink  

It sure is.  

2 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

Thank you @yazeh for that review that shows that even such an old formulation can still be relevant today!

It has stood the test of time.  

2 hours ago, Lithium466 said:

(ESSRI is said to contain phenol, which wouldn't be necessary based on the rest of the ingredients and well, relatively short shelf life - phenol smelling inks always bring me back some "cool nostalgia")

 Ah la nostalgie. 

[LizEF]

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

as moisture and oxygen gradually penetrate the fibers

Which might suggest that here in the desert, oxidation is slowed...  (Which should not be surprising - take a piece of iron outside in New Orleans and it will rust before your second foot is out the door.  Here in the desert, it could take quite a while.)

 

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

7 hours ago, InesF said:

(Sorry to the Essri ink producer - after following @LizEF's story for such a long time and hearing about the Essri ink later, the name is definitely occupied in a magical context!  )

Maybe they can do a limited edition, for Snek lovers.  

Yes!  All in favor, say, "Aye!"  The label can feature little green snek.  The insert can tell the story of Essri (aka Eththri), the snek with a lisp....  Links to the review where Essri is introduced...

 

Now, how do we convince people whose chosen career consists of writing names in registers to live a little and have some fun!? 🤔

[yazeh]

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Which might suggest that here in the desert, oxidation is slowed... 

If you feel inclined, you can put a scrap of IG ink in an enclosed humid environment or even better, take your boys to a road trip to Voodoo Country and ask a local gator to report back on how fast it oxidizes. 🐊  

Ironically, humidity and paper manipulation is the number one cause of IG deterioration. I often wonder why Europeans used IG inks, whilst in the Middle East, with its dry climate, carbon ink was most popular. 

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

(Which should not be surprising - take a piece of iron outside in New Orleans and it will rust before your second foot is out the door.  Here in the desert, it could take quite a while.)

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Yes!  All in favor, say, "Aye!"  The label can feature little green snek.  The insert can tell the story of Essri (aka Eththri), the snek with a lisp....  Links to the review where Essri is introduced...

Aye! 

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Now, how do we convince people whose chosen career consists of writing names in registers to live a little and have some fun!? 🤔

Thnek, thnek, thnek, thnek your suit-ee!  

[LizEF]

16 minutes ago, yazeh said:

If you feel inclined, you can put a scrap of IG ink in an enclosed humid environment or even better, take your boys to a road trip to Voodoo Country and ask a local gator to report back on how fast it oxidizes. 🐊  

Or I could just put the sheet in the bathroom, close the door without the exhaust fan on, and turn on the shower...

 

17 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Ironically, humidity and paper manipulation is the number one cause of IG deterioration. I often wonder why Europeans used IG inks, whilst in the Middle East, with its dry climate, carbon ink was most popular. 

Huh.  Good question.  There's probably a historian somewhere who could answer that.

 

18 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Thnek, thnek, thnek, thnek your suit-ee!  

[yazeh]

17 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Or I could just put the sheet in the bathroom, close the door without the exhaust fan on, and turn on the shower...

No need. It's done already: 

17 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Huh.  Good question.  There's probably a historian somewhere who could answer that.

 

Until some pitches in, here's what ChaGPT said: 

 

Where Iron Gall Ink Came From—and Why Europe Used It

Iron gall ink was developed around the 3rd to 5th century AD, likely in the Mediterranean or early European regions. While ancient civilizations like the Egyptians and Greeks used carbon-based inks (soot and gum), these could easily be smudged or erased, especially on parchment or in humid conditions. Iron gall ink changed that: it bonded chemically with the page, oxidized to a deep black, and became water-resistant and tamper-proof.

This made it ideal for Europe, where parchment was common and archival durability was essential—for legal, religious, and bureaucratic records. It soon became the standard ink for over a thousand years. By contrast, the Middle East and East Asia continued using carbon ink, which was better suited to polished paper, brushes, and dry climates.

Iron gall ink became Europe’s solution to the limitations of erasable carbon inks: it wrote lighter but darkened permanently, couldn’t be washed off, and left a lasting impression—literally and historically.

 

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

No need. It's done already: 

Of course it is!

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

Where Iron Gall Ink Came From—and Why Europe Used It

Well, all that sounds reasonable!    Thanks!