EFNIR: Ostrich Green Robinia

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Ostrich Green Robinia

This is review #385 in my series. Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: This ink from China was gifted to me by a generous FPNer. My apologies for not including the Chinese name of this ink-my database language doesn't support double-byte characters, nor do I know how to write them properly. Please see my inks spreadsheet which now has a tab with both the Chinese and English ink names. This is a chroma-shading ink. Since this attribute can be less stable over time, I'm reviewing all of them out of sequence.

The scanner and the camera turn this ink from a muted green to a less-muted blue. The images look nothing like the ink, and my efforts to correct for the color failed. Garden Stroll is more blue and saturated. Green Robinia has more pink and grey in the mini swatch. If you want to know what this ink looks like, you'll have to buy a bottle.

Cleaning was ridiculously quick and easy with plain water.

Erratum: There's an end quotation mark missing.

Zoomed in photo (Miraculously, this is fairly close, and it's the best I've got to show the color of the ink.)

Photo (formerly screenshot) (The ink in the image is undersaturated (even though the ink itself is quite greyed), and is too dark.)

Scan of Completed Review (Corrected, but still too blue, possibly a little too pale.)

Absorbent Paper Close-up (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper) (AP: Too blue. CP: Too saturated and possibly the wrong shade.)

Line width (Roughly 312µm. The "I" in "Ink:". Magnification is 100x. The grid is 100x100µm. The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each. With 385 inks measured, the average line width is 299µm.)

Swatch card comparison (The colors are wrong, but could be worse. I see hints of pink and bluish-grey in the CRENA mini swatch card. The swatch on the big card should be less saturated and a different shade of green, but it's hard to describe.)

Alternate Papers

Previous Review: Caran d'Ache Cosmic Black.

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

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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. Or read Part 8: The Ice Fields Adventure.

Hope you enjoy. Comments appreciated!

[Sailor Kenshin]

It's pale.  It's green.  So pale, I couldn't easily read the text. (Maybe that's why I hear groaning.)  

 

But thanks for the review and story!  Always enjoy those.  You go, @LizEF.  😸 🐍 💝

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah, a bit too pale for me as well (but it is kind of a pretty color).  Now wondering whether a broader nib would be better....

@LizEF -- Thanks as usual for the review.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

Oh boy that's the danger zone colour. I'm a sucker for these grey-greens. Thank you not so much for a very tempting ink. 

I need Quin or Makhabesh to help me repel my ink-obsession Where's that t"hnek-loving thpinx" and it's magic fireballs when one needs it.  

 

I was so intrigued by the storyline. The enchanted-ice dragon? It reminds me of Marion Zimmerman Bradley's Zandru's Hell. 

 

Lovely and fun review. Thanks for bringing magic and Professor Eenness to this grey, Tuesday. 🙏🙏🙏

 

 

[LizEF]

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Yeah, a bit too pale for me as well (but it is kind of a pretty color).  Now wondering whether a broader nib would be better....

I'm sure a broader, reasonably wet nib would leave this looking much nicer.

 

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@LizEF -- Thanks as usual for the review.

You're most welcome!

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

Oh boy that's the danger zone colour. I'm a sucker for these grey-greens. Thank you not so much for a very tempting ink. 

You're most welcome!   Shall I write you a letter when this ink makes it into one of my wider-nibbed pens?  

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

I need Quin or Makhabesh to help me repel my ink-obsession Where's that t"hnek-loving thpinx" and it's magic fireballs when one needs it.  

 Perhaps if you make bacon cheeseburgers they will come.

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

I was so intrigued by the storyline. The enchanted-ice dragon? It reminds me of Marion Zimmerman Bradley's Zandru's Hell. 

Thanks!  I haven't read the story, but a dragon enchanting things is probably a fairly common event.

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

Lovely and fun review.

Thanks!

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

Thanks for bringing magic and Professor Eenness to this grey, Tuesday. 🙏🙏🙏

You're most welcome!

[yazeh]

On 4/14/2026 at 5:33 PM, LizEF said:

You're most welcome!   Shall I write you a letter when this ink makes it into one of my wider-nibbed pens?  

I won't be holding my breath. Hint, hint. 😛 

On 4/14/2026 at 5:33 PM, LizEF said:

Thanks!  I haven't read the story, but a dragon enchanting things is probably a fairly common event.

Zandru's hell is an expression in the Darkover series. It's frozen hell supposedly, like the arctic. 

 

The Darkover series is a long science-fantasy saga about a lost human colony on a harsh planet, where feudal clans, psychic powers, alien influence, and Terran outsiders collide over centuries. While a bit uneven, I enjoyed them in my younger years.  

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

I won't be holding my breath. Hint, hint. 😛 

That's good - I wouldn't want you to pass out.

 

2 hours ago, yazeh said:

Zandru's hell is an expression in the Darkover series. It's frozen hell supposedly, like the arctic. 

 

The Darkover series is a long science-fantasy saga about a lost human colony on a harsh planet, where feudal clans, psychic powers, alien influence, and Terran outsiders collide over centuries. While a bit uneven, I enjoyed them in my younger years.  

Thanks for the summary!  Maybe I'll see if the library has book 1.  

[yazeh]

46 minutes ago, LizEF said:

That's good - I wouldn't want you to pass out.

Quin made me me a special "Don't hold my breath spell. Special delivery by Makhabesh".

 

46 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Thanks for the summary!  Maybe I'll see if the library has book 1.  

I don't remember if the books were chronological. They remind me of the many ancient myths that often contradict each other and the same God, character has multiple roles or different endings.

 

[inkstainedruth]

An early "date" I had with my husband was to go to a Darkover Con in IIRC Baltimore (we shared the hotel room at the site hotel with one of the people who rode out from Pittsburgh with him (the other being his then housemate, who dated the other person for a while -- his housemate was on the con staff I think).  And my mom, who'd read some of the books in the series, said, "Oh, Darkover?  You should get a red wig!"  And I said, "Wigs are expensive!  I'll just dye my hair, instead...."  The problem was that I got the lightest shade of red I could find (basically "strawberry blonde"; and when she helped me with the test, it didn't seem to change the color much.  So when I dyed my hair for real?  I left it in a LOT longer than suggested, and as a result?  When I went back to work the following week, my co-workers all thought I'd BLEACHED it....   And because it was a permanent hair dye, and my hair grows slowly?  After about a year and a half, there was basically a line delineating between what had been dyed, and what had grown since them, just below the tops of my ears.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 I'll just dye my hair, instead....

  Lessons learned.  Good story, Ruth!  Hope you enjoyed the convention.

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah, it was fun for the most part.  My mom and I sort of butchered the bridesmaid's gown I had to wear when my brother got married and I ended up wearing the "altered" dress in the Regency Ball; my stupee (then) sister-in-law thought that maybe we could then "re-alter" it back to its original look -- but that wasn't happening because the dress was a PoS to start with, and I had bloody war with the place I had to buy it from for them to do the ORIGINAL alterations to make the thing fit in the FIRST place (the dress was so tight in the waist I almost couldn't breathe, while the netting about the shoulder flounce hung like a sac 🤮); the ONLY good part was that I got to pick what color I wanted -- I didn't even get to pick the style, because the OTHER bridesmaid did that .  

But for Darkover, I also had to wait for everyone to roll in from Pittsburgh, and had to have my suitcase put behind the front desk because my name wasn't actually on the room reservation....  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LizEF]

16 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Yeah, it was fun for the most part.  My mom and I sort of butchered the bridesmaid's gown I had to wear when my brother got married and I ended up wearing the "altered" dress in the Regency Ball; my stupee (then) sister-in-law thought that maybe we could then "re-alter" it back to its original look -- but that wasn't happening because the dress was a PoS to start with, and I had bloody war with the place I had to buy it from for them to do the ORIGINAL alterations to make the thing fit in the FIRST place (the dress was so tight in the waist I almost couldn't breathe, while the netting about the shoulder flounce hung like a sac 🤮); the ONLY good part was that I got to pick what color I wanted -- I didn't even get to pick the style, because the OTHER bridesmaid did that .  

But for Darkover, I also had to wait for everyone to roll in from Pittsburgh, and had to have my suitcase put behind the front desk because my name wasn't actually on the room reservation....  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Life with people is a life full of adventures.