EFNIR: Robert Oster Grün-Schwarz

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Robert Oster Grün-Schwarz

This is review #355 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink was gifted to me by a generous FPGeek. Some online reviews make me wonder if my sample has suffered from evaporation (their images are more green). Others look similar to mine: black with a green undertone. The consistency of the ink in the vial is within the range that I consider normal for FP inks, so I'm going with it.

While there's technically shading, the ink is so dark that I didn't notice it unless I went looking. Ditto the sheen.

Cleaning was easy with plain water, but expect some extra flushes - lots of dye in there.

Zoomed in photo (My eyes see a little more green than is here, but only under bright lights and if I look closely...)

Screenshot (Sorry, not sure why the focus isn't better. It's too dark and desaturated, as usual.)

Scan of Completed Review (Even this doesn't show quite as much green as I see. It and the zoom are closest.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (My brain thinks it sees a smidge of green on the copy paper, but it might be imagining things.)

Line width (The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. The line width for this ink is roughly 307µm. With 355 inks measured, the average line width is 298µm.) (You can see a few spots of sheen.)

Microscope image (100x. Taken with phone. Van Gogh came and visited my slide. :D)

Sheen (Writing in a Hobonichi - Tomoe River 52gsm.)

Swatch card comparison

Previous Review: Cross Blue/Black.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Want to influence the inky sequence? Take the "next ink" poll.

View a list of my inks, complete with review results in a google sheet.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh? Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Whoa!  There is a party goin' on inside someone's brain!  Cool micro.

 

(Could it be Ethhri's?). 🐍

 

And am I seeing sheen flakes in the line width?  Or just hallucinating after another sleepless night?

 

 By the way, @LizEF, thanks for the swatch card.  It's often tricky to stop the video and look.  I can report that I have none of them, but I like murky greens.  

 

And thank you once again for Magical Tuesdays! 

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Whoa!  There is a party goin' on inside someone's brain!  Cool micro.

 

(Could it be Ethhri's?). 🐍

Something be screwing with his "find" magic!   It's all chaos.

 

7 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

And am I seeing sheen flakes in the line width?  Or just hallucinating after another sleepless night?

Yes, you are seeing sheen in the line width.  That part, at least, is not a hallucination.  Sorry about the sleepless night.

 

7 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

By the way, @LizEF, thanks for the swatch card.  It's often tricky to stop the video and look.

The thanks goes to @yazeh, who drove me to it! (Joking, just joking.)

 

8 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I can report that I have none of them, but I like murky greens.

I think of these as green-grey and green-black more than murky.  In my mind, murky has brown in it.  But yeah, that's just my personal definition.  Taste in colors is such a strange thing...

 

9 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

And thank you once again for Magical Tuesdays! 

You're most welcome!

[InkyProf]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Some online reviews make me wonder if my sample has suffered from evaporation (their images are more green). Others look similar to mine: black with a green undertone.

Thanks for this review! I don’t have any record of having inked a pen with this, but I specifically recall opening the bottle and trying it, so I must have just dipped. And for whatever it’s worth, my recollection of it is that that newly opened bottle showed like your sample: black with a green undertone. (That might be why I declined to do a whole fill at the time.)

[LizEF]

5 minutes ago, InkyProf said:

Thanks for this review! I don’t have any record of having inked a pen with this, but I specifically recall opening the bottle and trying it, so I must have just dipped. And for whatever it’s worth, my recollection of it is that that newly opened bottle showed like your sample: black with a green undertone. (That might be why I declined to do a whole fill at the time.)

Thank you!  Glad to hear it.  I always worry about samples, especially when I don't know how old they are.

[yazeh]

 Thank you four such a detailed review and adding the new comparison swatches @LizEF. So helpful.   🙏

Funny thing, I just finished an in depth review of a similar Diamine Graphite. 

The microscopic images reminded me of tapestry, probably woven by the Blizzard People, who are "protecting" Professor Eenness.  

Or maybe she has been whisked off by Andorians/Aenar. 🖖

But you won't be mixing universes would you?  

 

I'm not sure what to think of the ink. I'm guessing it would be interesting for artwork, but as a writing ink, it seems kind of bland.   

 

Thanks for bringing magic and blizzards, even though fall hasn't started yet.  🌨️❄️

[InesF]

I have never seen a grün-schwarz blizzard! (check ✅, writing about blizzards)   

 

Thank you, @LizEF, for this ink review, for the exciting story part, for the microtome-cut through vanGogh's grün-schwarz ear 🫣 and for the swatch images!  This all combined feels like a luxury review 👍  , especially produced for us lazy, spoilt consumers.  

 

I have to admit that I love using deAtramentis Black-Green and Diamine Green/Black and considered buying Robert Oster Grün-Schwarz to complete the collection. With Colorverse Do-dong Forest and Wearingeul Mad Hatter I have also the diluted variants, now called Grey-Green. But there was this strange situation about the ink drawer that let me hesitate (I still believe there was magic involved when I remember how unnaturally FAST it suddenly filled up  ). Yeah, maybe some time in the future ... 🙄

Btw: I'm wondering about the German name of the ink. That is, somehow, making it a must-have. 🫢

 

Looking forward to learning about how to catch a quickly moving Alchemist Professor.  🏃‍♀️  

[InesF]

38 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The microscopic images reminded me of tapestry, probably woven by the Blizzard People, who are "protecting" Professor Eenness.  

  +1 👍

[LizEF]

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thank you four such a detailed review and adding the new comparison swatches @LizEF. So helpful.   🙏

You're most welcome.  (And starting with yesterday's review, I moved the swatch cards to the top and the Pantone CMYK card to the bottom. ETA: To clarify, I meant the review I recorded yesterday, not the one I posted yesterday.  So you won't see this change for another 4 weeks.)

 

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

Funny thing, I just finished an in depth review of a similar Diamine Graphite. 

  I'm sure yours will reveal more about what's underneath than my review of Graphite (which revealed that from a Japanese EF, it can basically pass for black).

 

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

The microscopic images reminded me of tapestry, probably woven by the Blizzard People, who are "protecting" Professor Eenness.  

The winter of a thousand swirling suns, when strange red plants grew out of the ice.

 

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

Or maybe she has been whisked off by Andorians/Aenar. 🖖

But you won't be mixing universes would you?  

Nope, no universe mixing!

 

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

I'm not sure what to think of the ink. I'm guessing it would be interesting for artwork, but as a writing ink, it seems kind of bland.   

From a nib this fine, it's basically black.  Something that spreads it wide and thin might get a very dark green.  To each their own, I guess...

 

8 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for bringing magic and blizzards, even though fall hasn't started yet.  🌨️❄️

You're most welcome!  (I'm just reminding people to budget for new snow boots and a beanie!)

[LizEF]

6 hours ago, InesF said:

I have never seen a grün-schwarz blizzard! (check ✅, writing about blizzards)   

  I think that would be a nightmare if you did see it!  I'd be checking for the zombies to follow.

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @LizEF, for this ink review, for the exciting story part, for the microtome-cut through vanGogh's grün-schwarz ear 🫣 and for the swatch images!  This all combined feels like a luxury review 👍  , especially produced for us lazy, spoilt consumers.  

  You're most welcome!

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

microtome-cut through vanGogh's grün-schwarz ear

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

I have to admit that I love using deAtramentis Black-Green and Diamine Green/Black and considered buying Robert Oster Grün-Schwarz to complete the collection. With Colorverse Do-dong Forest and Wearingeul Mad Hatter I have also the diluted variants, now called Grey-Green. But there was this strange situation about the ink drawer that let me hesitate (I still believe there was magic involved when I remember how unnaturally FAST it suddenly filled up  ). Yeah, maybe some time in the future ... 🙄

Well, if the magic makes some space, then the RO ink will be the blackest of those other supposed green-blacks - all of which, based on an internet image search, actually show the green part...

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Btw: I'm wondering about the German name of the ink. That is, somehow, making it a must-have. 🫢

Stealthy marketeering.   (I don't remember the details, but RO has some connection to Germans - perhaps a community of Germans living in Australia?  Too lazy to google... )

 

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Looking forward to learning about how to catch a quickly moving Alchemist Professor.  🏃‍♀️  

[yazeh]

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

You're most welcome.  (And starting with yesterday's review, I moved the swatch cards to the top and the Pantone CMYK card to the bottom.

Neat. Thanks.  🙏 

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

 

  I'm sure yours will reveal more about what's underneath than my review of Graphite (which revealed that from a Japanese EF, it can basically pass for black).

Very versatile for creating different shades, and gradients of grey, but we have to wait utill Inktober starts.

 

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

 

The winter of a thousand swirling suns, when strange red plants grew out of the ice.

Poetic. ✍️

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

Nope, no universe mixing!

Qapla!

 

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

 

From a nib this fine, it's basically black.  Something that spreads it wide and thin might get a very dark green.  To each their own, I guess...

 

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

You're most welcome!  (I'm just reminding people to budget for new snow boots and a beanie!)

I buy my boots for life.

 

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

 

Stealthy marketeering.   (I don't remember the details, but RO has some connection to Germans - perhaps a community of Germans living in Australia?  Too lazy to google... )

https://scrively.org/inside-stationery-pt-03-robert-oster-ro-signature-ink/

 His parents immigrated from Austria in 1950s. That's why @InesF finds a kinship and now has to buy a new set of inky drawers.

 

[Mercian]

8 minutes ago, yazeh said:

now has to buy a new set of inky drawers.

 

I am perhaps too acculturated to the language of Olde England...

 

...because I am now mentally-picturing a Professor who has been writing-up her nocturnal scientifick insights while wearing only her undergarments, and has accidentally spilled iron-gall ink over her thigh 

 

I'll get me coat.

[yazeh]

2 minutes ago, Mercian said:

 

I am perhaps too acculturated to the language of Olde England...

 

...because I am now mentally-picturing a Professor who has been writing-up her nocturnal scientifick insights while wearing only her undergarments, and has accidentally spilled iron-gall ink over her thigh 

 

I'll get me coat.

 I was thinking of that interpretation, whilst writing. Glad I didn't go for infinity drawer(s).

 

[Mercian]

6 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Glad I didn't go for infinity drawer(s).

 

The older I get, the more I find that 'modern' clothing manufacturers are 'decreasing the dimensions' of their products...

In my younger days, the clothes that fit me were marketed as 'L', but these days I am increasingly finding that the clothes that fit me are marked 'XL', or even 'XXL'!

 

I live fear that I shall find myself needing to buy 'Infinity drawers'

[yazeh]

20 minutes ago, Mercian said:

 

The older I get, the more I find that 'modern' clothing manufacturers are 'decreasing the dimensions' of their products...

In my younger days, the clothes that fit me were marketed as 'L', but these days I am increasingly finding that the clothes that fit me are marked 'XL', or even 'XXL'!

 

I live fear that I shall find myself needing to buy 'Infinity drawers'

Ah what a wry and witty sense of humor. These days humor has become more of an XXL unfunny affair. It maybe, in 50 years GenZ and Millenials will moan about bad AI puns.

 

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Neat. Thanks.  🙏 

I added clarifying text:

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

And starting with yesterday's review, I moved the swatch cards to the top and the Pantone CMYK card to the bottom. ETA: To clarify, I meant the review I recorded yesterday, not the one I posted yesterday.  So you won't see this change for another 4 weeks.

 

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

https://scrively.org/inside-stationery-pt-03-robert-oster-ro-signature-ink/

 His parents immigrated from Austria in 1950s. That's why @InesF finds a kinship and now has to buy a new set of inky drawers.

Thank you! And Make room, drawer! RO inks inbound!

 

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I am perhaps too acculturated to the language of Olde England...

 

...because I am now mentally-picturing a Professor who has been writing-up her nocturnal scientifick insights while wearing only her undergarments, and has accidentally spilled iron-gall ink over her thigh 

 

I'll get me coat.

 

55 minutes ago, Mercian said:

The older I get, the more I find that 'modern' clothing manufacturers are 'decreasing the dimensions' of their products...

In my younger days, the clothes that fit me were marketed as 'L', but these days I am increasingly finding that the clothes that fit me are marked 'XL', or even 'XXL'!

 

I live fear that I shall find myself needing to buy 'Infinity drawers'

 

Thank you for the laughs, gentlemen.

[Baggins]

As usual thank you for your work in making this review.
 

You can’t really give an opinion based on what you see on a screen. Looking at my screen though I do think this ink should be called “black with homeopathic green”.😁

There are nice green blacks out there where you actually see green. This doesn’t seem to be one of them.At least on rhodia paper.

[LizEF]

18 minutes ago, Baggins said:

As usual thank you for your work in making this review.

You're most welcome!

 

18 minutes ago, Baggins said:

You can’t really give an opinion based on what you see on a screen. Looking at my screen though I do think this ink should be called “black with homeopathic green”.😁

  My opinion is that it's a black ink with vague notions of green, somewhere.

 

18 minutes ago, Baggins said:

There are nice green blacks out there where you actually see green. This doesn’t seem to be one of them.At least on rhodia paper.

Exactly. @InesF provided us a nice list of some.  And this isn't one on any paper - it's just black with suggestions of green if you press your nose to the paper under bright lights.

[InesF]

14 hours ago, yazeh said:

His parents immigrated from Austria in 1950s. That's why @InesF finds a kinship and now has to buy a new set of inky drawers.

Thank you, @yazeh, for rising my desire for this R.O. ink!  🙄  😭  Now I have to buy it ...  

 

14 hours ago, Mercian said:

...because I am now mentally-picturing a Professor who has been writing-up her nocturnal scientifick insights while wearing only her undergarments, and has accidentally spilled iron-gall ink over her thigh 

I love how this story develops and how it can be extended with spin-off episodes.

Good job, @LizEF; good job @Mercian!