Moodtape - Grand African

[yazeh]

Moodtape - Grand Africa

 

Ink Review # 199

 

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🧾 Description

 

Moodtape is a Chinese brand best known for washi tapes, PET tapes, stamps, and other journaling accessories.

 

This is their first foray into fountain pen inks. I find the naming of these inks puzzling and frankly distasteful. 

Ink is decent, with slightly below average lubrication. It comes in 15 ml bottles. It's supposed to have a faint brown sheen, which I didn’t observe.  Ink has no water resistance. 

I used a Pilot F3A, Lamy Safari (EF/F/M/B/1.1) and a Kanwrite with FPN flex nib. With a wet pen it's a dark green, with a dry pen it has teal-mint color with some shading. It worked well on all pens but Kanwrite. 

Ink has minimal ghosting with most nibs, unless with the Kanwrite, bleeding through Rhodia. I put the blame on the pen. 

 

Ink is downright ugly on Midori, so avoid cream paper. 

In washes it turns into light mint/sea foam green, which is surprisingly nice, but not a colour I would associate with their hunting theme.  

 

I liked it most in art work. 

 

 

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 🧪 Chroma

 

 

 

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 ✍️ Writing Samples (scan)

Rhodia  / Iroful

 

 

 

Midori  /Tomoe River 68gsm

 

 

 

Hammermill 20lb  

 

 

 

 📸 Photo

Rhodia/ Iroful

 

 

 

Midori / Tomoe River 68 gsm

 

 

 

Hammermill 20lb copy paper

 

 

 

🔍 Comparison

 

 

 

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 💧 Water Test

 

 

 

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 🎨 Artwork

Landscape

Talens Mixed Media paper

 

 

Hunter 

Tintenlabor Schokolade and Canson Watercolour paper

This drawing was inspired  after my cat brought a live mouse in the house to play with. I had to finally catch the mouse and release it into the nature, 3 days later. Ironic for someone who draws cat and mice.   The drawing inspired a fable; 

Once upon a time a cat played with its supper, instead of eating it. Maus was kept hostage for years, mock eaten and released. One day Maus broke free, killing its tormentor and mounting its head as a reminder. However, he couldn't stop himself from hunting and protecting his children. The Animal Rights Activists proclaimed that Maus should be more benevolent than its predators. Otherwise, he would be worse than them. But Maus didn't have to learn lessons from those hunters, had he?

 

 

Ink separation (closeup) 

 Note how ink separates into tinges of yellow and blue. 

 

 

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- Pens Used: Pilot 3A EF semi-flex, Lamy (EF/F/M/B/ Stub 1.1) , Kanwrite Ultra-flex

- What I Liked:   Ink Washes. Very complex layers. 

- What I Did Not Like: Name, No water resistance. 

- What Some Might Not Like: Name. 

- Writing Experience: Ok.

- Pros: Drawing. 

- Cons: No water resistance.

 

 🧷 Ink Characteristics

 

- Shading: With a dry pen. 

- Ghosting: Depending pen wetness and nib size. 

- Bleed Through: Same as above.

- Flow Rate: Wet

- Lubrication: Slightly below average. 

- Nib Dry-out: Did not notice. 

- Start-up: Ok

- Saturation: Depends on pen. 

- Sheen: Faint

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

- Nib Creep / Crud: Did not notice.

- Staining (Pen): No. 

- Clogging: No.

- Cleaning: Moderately easy. It's a saturated ink. 

- Water Resistance: Non-existent.

 

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 🛒 Availability

 

✔ Available in 15 ml bottle  

✘ Not available in cartridges.

 

https://soeandsoe.com.au/products/grand-african?variant=43445901361199

 

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 💬 Closing

 

This is an ok ink from Moodtape. My review was skewed by my aversion to the name. I hope I managed to review it without 

 

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.   

 

 

 

[LizEF]

Well, the chroma's cool.  Clever to use quotes from Africans.  Love the swatch card sketches.  The water test sketch made me smile - ah, the good old days.

 

I like the landscape - it could be ridges of mountains or tree-covered hills, or both.

 

Meanwhile, "Hunter" is a most sober story and drawing.  I see kitty's ghost in the water separation part.

 

The ink color itself doesn't appeal to be at all - I find these greens to be boring.  But thank you for enduring and providing us with a review of a brand I hadn't even heard of before!

[yazeh]

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

Well, the chroma's cool.  Clever to use quotes from Africans.  Love the swatch card sketches. 

Thanks!

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

The water test sketch made me smile - ah, the good old days.

I found my Mnemosyne notebooks and lost the Rhodia.  

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

I like the landscape - it could be ridges of mountains or tree-covered hills, or both.

I like it too. It was a test drawing that worked out fine.  

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

Meanwhile, "Hunter" is a most sober story and drawing.  I see kitty's ghost in the water separation part.

Yes it is   With a name like that and Kitty events, happening on the same time, it happened. Yep, you got it. When I added a drop of ink, it separated in kitty form. So, I drew a ghost of grieving kitty  

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

The ink color itself doesn't appeal to be at all - I find these greens to be boring. 

You might like the Bear. It's pink salmon.  

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

But thank you for enduring and providing us with a review of a brand I hadn't even heard of before!

I thought I'd bring something new. Though, had I noticed the hunting theme, I might have avoided it.  

[Sailor Kenshin]

Never heard of this brand!

 

Points: The ink dragon is cool; I have both your JH Verts and they are different-y greens, both useful.  

 

Cat/Maus, not for me this time.  I always see them as friends, having wacky adventures.  😸 🐭 💝

 

But I love how you introduce me to inks I would not have experienced, and review them so thoroughly.  Many thanks, @yazeh

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

You might like the Bear. It's pink salmon.  

Klaw will love it (salmon being his favorite flavor of cat food).

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Never heard of this brand!

Me neither.

3 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Points: The ink dragon is cool; I have both your JH Verts and they are different-y greens, both useful.  

 

3 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Cat/Maus, not for me this time.  I always see them as friends, having wacky adventures.  😸 🐭 💝

To be honest, I was shocked too. I usually search for innocence lost in my art. In retrospect, I realized that art is how I process, accept, and release what I cannot otherwise digest. 🙏

3 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

But I love how you introduce me to inks I would not have experienced, and review them so thoroughly.  Many thanks, @yazeh

Glad it was useful. Thank you for your kind words. 🙏🙏🙏

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Klaw will love it (salmon being his favorite flavor of cat food).

And this is how Klaw, began drawing with his food....  

[LizEF]

7 minutes ago, yazeh said:

And this is how Klaw, began drawing with his food....  

[USG]

@yazeh   Hitting the 'Like' button  😀👍

 

Cool little guy with a top hat and a mustache.... 🤠

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, USG said:

@yazeh   Hitting the 'Like' button  😀👍

I like, like, like 👍

5 hours ago, USG said:

Cool little guy with a top hat and a mustache.... 🤠

It was inspired by a famous photo of one of your early 20th century presidents.