My Year in Ink - 2025

[namrehsnoom]

My Year in Ink – 2025

 

I got relatively few new inks this year, working my way slowly-but-surely through my stash of unopened ink bottles. I’ve enjoyed the journey of exploring these inks a lot. Some of them were excellent writers. Some were wildly beautiful… but nerve-wracking bad for writing (yes, I’m looking at you kyo-no-oto usugumo). And some of them were just “meh”, and didn’t excite me.

I had fun savouring all of these different inks, but some I obviously preferred more than others. This end-of-year comparison shows off my inks of 2025, and I select my personal top 3 in multiple categories. Enjoy… and maybe you’ll even find an ink you weren’t aware of, but that ticks the right boxes and yearns to be bought 😉

Category 1 : most beautiful writing ink
Inks are primarily designed for writing in fountain pens. Here I select the top 3 inks that I loved most for personal journaling. This proved to be more difficult than I thought, because I enjoyed so many of the inks I used. Below I present swabs & writing samples (in B-nib) of all 13 inks.

 

And the winners are:

1. Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite
2. Graf von Faber-Castell Olive Green
3. Wearingeul Mad Hatter

In 2025, I did a more thorough re-review of Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite. In my opinion still the best blue-black out there. It’s one of the few inks that started me on my inkxplorations journey, and it still remains one of the best I ever used. One you cannot go wrong with, and still easily available. Technically a solid ink, and a beauty on paper. As such, it rightfully deserves first place for 2025.

Graf von Faber-Castell is a well-known ink brand, but I hadn’t explored them yet. The first of their inks I tried was Olive Green. Wow… that is one beautiful yellow-leaning green! Good writing properties, looks beautiful on all types of paper, and also a superb drawing ink. A wonderful first experience. I’m sure going to explore more of their inks. This Olive Green certainly deserves second place.

Third place proved to be a difficult choice: so many inks I enjoyed, and then to be forced to make a decision. This essentially became a toss-up between Teranishi Orchestra Tangerine, Taccia fukaki hanada and Wearingeul Mad Hatter. I finally decided to go with Mad Hatter. A dusty, melancholic and muted green that totally won me over. 

Worst of the bunch: kyo-no-oto usugumo. Oh so beautiful. Oh so badly executed: lubrication, flow, saturation… this ink made me cry in desperation. An ink for drawing. But a grief-inducing experience in most pens when trying to use it for writing.

Category 2 : lovely dissection
Inks are built from dyes and can differ greatly in complexity. When doing a chromatography, you get two results: you get to see how easily the dyes dissolve in water, plus you get an idea of the component dyes that are used for constructing the ink. Useful information, but these chromas are also beautiful objects of art. Here I select the top 3 inks with the loveliest chroma. 

 

And the winners are:

1. Sailor Manyo ukikusa
2. Teranishi Orchestra Tangerine
3. Wearingeul Mad Hatter

Sailor Manyo ukikusa is a delicate yellow-green, and that frail beauty is reflected in its chromatography. I like the way that the chroma expresses the dies used in its composition. Teranishi Orchestra Tangerine is a fiery red-orange at heart, but tamed down a bit with a grey component in the mix. The chroma shows the passion simmering beneath this ink’s surface. Finally, Wearingeul Mad Hatter’s chroma is just that: a mad mix of dyes, that together manage to coalesce into that wonderful muted & dusty-looking green. 

Worst of the bunch: J. Herbin Iris Sagesse. A beautiful purple-leaning blue, but the chroma doesn’t add anything new. Not much going on there.

Category 3 : artsy inkxperiment
With every ink review, I try to do an “inkxperiment” where I simply enjoy myself exploring the colour range nuances of the ink while making a more or less abstract drawing. Some of these worked well, others less so.  But all of them were fun to do, and allowed me to stretch my drawing skills. Here I select the top 3 inks with the most successful inkxperiment (my personal opinion). Inks are obviously for writing but are also excellent material for drawing. I’ve found that these inkxperiments show quite well what can be achieved with the inks in a more artistic setting. HP photo paper has become my medium of choice for these drawings: this is a combination that works really well and makes almost any ink look good.

 

And the winners are:

1. TAG Kyoto kyo-no-oto usugumo
2. Teranishi Guitar Orchestra Tangerine
3. Jacques Herbin Shogun

Kyo-no-oto usugumo is a horrible writing ink, but it is a real gem when used for drawing. This grey ink shows lots of depth with hints of blue, green and red just below the surface. It’s a joy to draw with, and I really like the way it worked out in the “skyscrapers” inkxperiment. The “spaceflowers” inkxperiment with Teranishi Orchestra Tangerine shows off the ink in all its fiery beauty. I like the composition of this one. Finally, the steampunk airship in the Jacques Herbin Shogun drawing gets third place. I like the gritty feel of this one.

Worst of the bunch: Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite. I did the drawing without a concept in mind, just doodling around. And it shows… I don’t like the composition of this one. Tanzanite deserves better. 

Category 4 : inkxpired computational art
For some time now, I am exploring computational art based on the ink drawings I do with my ink reviews. Using digital techniques, I tweak my monochromatic ink paintings. The original painting often dictates the direction of these digital manipulations: abstracting it a bit, shifting the colour tone, emphasizing some details. In many cases, that works quite well – and the resulting pieces are often great as screen-savers on my laptop.

 

And the winners are:

1. Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite
2. Jacques Herbin Rouge d’Orient
3. The trilogy – J. Herbin Terre de Feu, Teranishi Orchestra Tangerine, GvFC Olive Green

Some heavy digital manipulation saved the Tanzanite drawing. I lifted out a small detail, blowing up contrast and shifting the colour a bit to arrive at this abstract “blue moon rising”. I made a 90x90cm canvas poster of this one, and it looks great on a white wall. Second place goes to the Jacques Herbin Rouge d’Orient drawing. Again an abstract interpretation, starting from a detail in the original inkxperiment. Third place goes to the trilogy of “spaceflower” paintings. I like the common theme across these paintings, and the colour-palettes work well together.

Worst of the bunch: Sailor Manyo ukikusa.  I couldn’t manage to digitally create something worthwhile. It’s just the original drawing with a different colour theme.

 

I’ve enjoyed myself immensely doing these ink reviews. And there are still lots of inks on my shelf to continue doing reviews in 2026. I will certainly explore more of the Sailor Manyo series, and will also add some of the remaining TACCIA and Teranishi inks. I continue to be surprised by the broad variety of inks that are available for us to enjoy: so much inks to choose from! Great job and a big thank you to all ink makers across the globe! Let’s keep our fingers crossed, and hope that 2026 will bring us some other great new inks to play around with.

Best wishes for 2026.
 

[LizEF]

Thanks, @namrehsnoom! It's a joy to look through these again.  I can only comment on the writing inks, but I completely agree, Tanzanite and Olive Green are great for writing (and the only two from your set I've tried)!

[lamarax]

I love these inkxperiment compendiums. They remind me of postage stamp sheets how they're put together   

[yazeh]

Wow, what an amazing gallery.  Hope your journey this year would be as creative and artistically satisfying. 

I enjoyed all your art work and found many of the chromas satisfying. 

I also found your Tanzanite artwork very pleasing. And Iris sagesse computational art, complex and satisfying. Looking forward to this year. 🙏

[Misfit]

J Herbin Terre de Feu is a great writing ink too. It didn’t dry quickly enough out of a vintage pen. It seems to be made for my True Writer French Impressionists pen. It and the Edelstein Tanzanite are the only inks I share in common with your list. The Jacques Herbin Rouge d’Orient swatch stood out to me. I like the looks of the Sailor Manyo Ikikusa. 

[inkstainedruth]

@namrehsnoom -- Thanks for the year-end roundup/compilation/overview.  I don't always remember what inks have been tested, so seeing all of them together as swabs and writing samples and artwork is extremely helpful (except of course to my wallet... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth