This is the fourth in this batch of ink reviews, for Cult Pens Deep Dark Orange.

For a description of the bottle and box, please see the review of Diamine Crimson ink and for the Cult Pens variants please the review of Cult Pens Deep Dark Blue ink. In this case there were small labels on both the box and the bottle cap. The sole supplier is Cult Pens and the ink is low priced.

The test pen in this case was a yellow Pilot Prera with a medium nib.

Water resistance was minimal again, only very faint lines were left under running water and lines were obliterated by water drops. Cleaning was easy and the drying time was around 45 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

The scan shows the attractive deep brownish-orange colour which really pops off the page. The slight restriction in the flow was really only noticeable in comparison to the other inks in this series.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Decent results on this paper despite the feathering.

Yellow Post-It

Perhaps the slightly drier flow contributed to the patchy overage, but the results were still acceptable.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Feeling dry on this paper but the end results are still okay.

Mnemosyne Word Card

This shows the range of shading possible although the darker shading is only likely to be achieved with a wet pen. No sheen is visible in this case.

Cult Pens Deep Dark Orange – Conclusion

The brightest colour in this series is also possibly the most attractive of all and the most suitable for markup. Although all the Deep Dark inks are meant to be appropriate for business use this is the least sober of all the inks so may not suit note-taking in a business setting. I’ll leave the reader to be the best judge of that.

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This is the seventh in this batch of ink reviews, for Diamine 150th Anniversary Terracotta ink.

Terracotta is a form of earthenware and the name is Italian for “baked earth”. According to Wikipedia, Terracotta is “brownish orange” making this a good fit for the colour of the ink.

The ink cost £7.75 (including VAT), for a 40ml bottle, from a UK supplier, which along with the other inks in this series I would class as moderately priced.

I gave descriptions of the box and bottle of the 150th Anniversary series in my review of Diamine Anniversary 1864 Blue Black Ink, so I won’t repeat them here. The only difference is that the backgrounds of the box and bottle labels are a close approximation of the Terracotta ink colour.

The test pen in this case was the Pilot Metropolitan Violet Leopard (maybe the worst colour match possible) with a medium nib.

This ink showed minimal water resistance and water drops obliterated text easily. Cleaning the test pen was easy. Drying time was around 25 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

This is an attractive ink which shades to dark brown where the ink collects. A small amount of smudging is present where the ink did collect.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Some feathering, but good performance overall.

Yellow Post-It

The ink takes on an interesting sepia tone on this paper, maybe due to the slightly thinner coverage than on the others.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Not too bad but moderate feathering and bleed.

Mnemosyne Word Card

A fairly accurate representation but doesn’t show the darker shading possible, around the top extreme edge.

Conclusion

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not really into brown inks, but this one sits in the sweet spot of reddish or orangish brown inks which I do like. As such, I would find it useful for informal note taking.

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The third in this series of ink reviews is for Noodler’s Habanero. I originally bought an ink sample on Ebay a few months ago, loaded a pen with it, and recall thinking it was a very attractive colour. I flushed it before really running it through its paces though. When I saw the ink was available from a UK supplier (at £10 for a 3oz bottle), I though I would stock up while I had the chance. Google tells me that 3oz equates to 88.7206ml (the labels say 87-90ml), so I would consider this ink to be modestly priced (cheap sounds wrong).

The test pen used on this occasion was a Pilot Kakuno. All the Pilot MRs were already inked up, the colour suited the pen, and the nib is similar to that of the Pilot MR.

The box is the usual white cardboard Noodler’s one with black line art. The bottle too is the standard no-nonsense type, with a simple “Catfish” label. The neck of the bottle is comfortable and the bottle was filled to the brim.

This ink showed no water resistance, with only faint staining left on the paper. The text was also easily obliterated with a few drops of water.

Cleaning was easy.

The drying time on Rhodia was a real surprise. I had noticed that the writing sample on Rhodia smudged easily, but I put this down to clumsiness. When I actually tried to time the drying time after a few attempts I gave up after five minutes. I even checked a sample well after 10 minutes and it still wasn’t fully dry. I test the drying time by drawing a series of vertical lines, leaving them for a set period, then dragging my finger over them to confirm the line has dried – nothing radical there. The issue here is that ink would pool at the bottom of each line – this is not unusual in itself, but in this case the rest of the line would dry, but the small pool would not (at least not for ages). Of course it must dry eventually (otherwise the Rhodia writing sample would still be wet), but this is something to be cautious about.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

Overall the writing experience was good, although I did experience some hard starts. I really like the colour, which shades from orange to red. This is the root of the problem in describing the colour – I will settle on deep rich orange. This was the first time I noticed the tendency to smudge easily.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Again the writing experience was good. Smudging was less an issue here because the ink soaked into the papaer.

Yellow Post-It

Coverage was okay, and overall the experience was good.

Field Note – Pitch Black

The ink feathered and bled on this paper. It also took on a brownish tinge not seen on the other papers.

Mnemosyne Word Card

This also gives an idea of the shading range – it also took ages to dry.

Conclusion

This is a really attractive ink with lovely shading. The problem is that the shading in this case comes at a cost – the drying time. If I didn’t use Rhodia for most of my note taking I could see myself using this ink regularly. I’ll have to try it in a drier pen sometime to see if this has an effect, but I won’t be using it for the time being.

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The first of this block of four ink reviews has no special backstory. I saw other reviews for Sailor Jentle Apricot, and thought I would give it a try. It cost £10.80 from a UK supplier, which for 50ml I would consider “mid price”.

The box is functional. Most of the text is in Japanese, although the pictorial instruction on how to use the filling system are simple enough to understand.

The thick, heavy, squat, glass bottle is also functional although its too early to tell if the filling system (designed to get to the very last drop) works as well as intended. The neck of the bottle is nice and wide. The label has the make in English, but not the colour of the ink, but the glass is clear so this is relatively easy to check.

The ink itself has no water resistance – in fact there was almost no staining on Rhodia paper after 10 seconds under running water. Text was also illegible after a few drops of water. The converse of this is that cleaning was easy.

Drying time was quick – around 15 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

The writing says it all really. This ink is a pleasure to write with – if you like the colour it’s a good option. Straight out of the nib it looked like a true apricot colour to me, but on drying it went slightly darker.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Also a good experience – the ink actually dried a little lighter on the memo block sheet.

Yellow Post-It

Flow was hindered by the adhesive / coating, and the poor contrast means this is not a great combination.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

I was surprised by the lack of feathering. If the colour was more suited to general note-taking then this would be a viable option for use with this paper.

Mnemosyne Word Card

The Word card shows shading which ranges from the colour on Rhodia paper at the top, to the Ryman Memo Block at the bottom. This suggests that flow may have been different on the two papers – not that I could sense any difference when writing.

Conclusion

The is an attractive ink which is a good performer and is well behaved. It’s colour really restricts it’s use to markup/highlighting, which means the lack of water resistance isn’t a great issue.

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