Rating: 3.0
October 09, 2010
Pelikan has just released a new line of premium inks called Edelstein, which means “gemstone” in German. There are seven colors in the line, all intended to represent a jewel tone: Onyx, Sapphire, Topaz, Jade, Aventurine, Mandarin, and Ruby. As of the date of this review, all but Onyx are available via US retailers. Like many ink collectors, I was eagerly awaiting the line, and I ordered a bottle of Ruby as soon as I got word that they were in.
Rating: 4.0
September 21, 2010
Pelikan Blue Black is a member of Pelikan’s 4001 ink line – their standard, bottled fountain pen inks. It is a pleasant blue-grey that reminds me of denim, and is moderately saturated while exhibiting a modicum of shading. The color of the ink is not dramatically affected by the color of paper – it lays down a consistent line on both bright-white Rhodia paper and off-white Moleskine paper.
Rating: 4.0
September 14, 2010
Some inks are simply too appropriately named. Diamine Oxblood is one such ink. It is a well-behaved red-brown that falls firmly into the “dried blood” category. If you’ve ever brought a juicy steak home from the butcher and taken a look at the butcher paper, you know exactly what’s in store for you. Oxblood is highly saturated with a surprising level of shading. On both the off white of Moleskine paper and the bright white of Rhodia paper, this ink creates a bold, bloody line.
Rating: 5.0
September 07, 2010
I love red inks, and Diamine Red Dragon has just won a place in my top three. I’ve had a lot of experience with J. Herbin, Iroshizuku, and Noodler’s inks, but, up until recently, had no experience with Diamine inks. I’d read many flattering things about them online, so I figured that I should give them a shot. The lovely folks at Diamine were nice enough to send over six bottles for review, and Red Dragon is the first of them.
Rating: 4.0
September 03, 2010
In addition to writing ink reviews, I love to cook. Over the years, I’ve compiled all of my favorite recipes into a Moleskine journal so that I have my very own recipe book. For a long while, I used a Sharpie pen, which has a high degree of water resistance. After my switch to fountain pens about a year ago, though, I recorded recipes in whatever fountain pen ink I had in a pen at the time – which, as I found out the hard way last week, generally have a very low degree of water resistance.
Rating: 4.0
August 18, 2010
J. Herbin Rouge Caroubier (red carob) is a bright red the color of cherry gumdrops. Using it makes me want to run out and buy a big bag of Swedish Fish, as it has low saturation, giving the ink a somewhat translucent feel – just like gummy candy. It exhibits a moderate level of shading in both calligraphy and fine nibs.
Like other J. Herbin inks, Rouge Caroubier flows well.
Rating: 3.0
August 03, 2010
Noodler’s Widowmaker is a hard color to pin down, as it changes character based on the underlying paper. On the bright white paper of a Rhodia pad, it comes across as a very dark, earthy magenta, whereas on the cream color of a Moleskine notebook, it looks a bit like dried blood, with a brown cast to it. While the ink itself is highly saturated, and thus the hue doesn’t actually change, the contrast between the ink and the paper greatly affects one’s perception of it.
Rating: 5.0
July 25, 2010
Noodler’s Kung Te-Cheng is a beautiful, imperial ink that is the color of sapphires dipped in an indigo dye. According to the manufacturer, this ink is their attempt to replicate the characteristics of the first royal ink of ancient China – an ink was used during government exams during the age of Confucianism. Due to the connection to Confucius, they have named it after his 77th direct descendant, Kung Te-Cheng (1920 – 2008).
Rating: 2.5
June 08, 2010
J. Herbin Vert Olive should be an ink that’s the color of olives, but it is not. Instead, it is the color of extra virgin olive oil – an ephemeral, translucent yellow-green – as backlit by a fluorescent light. One could also describe it as the color of Mountain Dew. Either way, it’s a color found somewhere in one’s kitchen. Its level of saturation is very low, but it does exhibit a very high degree of shading in both fine and wide nibs.
Rating: 4.5
May 29, 2010
J. Herbin Orange Indien reminds me of the wildflowers that grew in the front lawn of my childhood home and of the tiger lilies that lined the streets of my neighborhood. It is a sumptuous, moderately saturated ink that exhibits a high degree of shading in both fine and wide nibs.
Like other J. Herbin inks, Orange Indien flows well. It is not as wet as Vert Empire or Blue Myostosis – behaving more like Café des Isles or Poussiere de Lune.
