This is the last in this batch of three ink reviews, for one of my favourite red inks, Diamine Crimson.

No nonsense here from Diamine – the name is just “Crimson”, which according to Wikipedia is:

“a strong, red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose”.

Crimson is also defined as an HTML colour corresponding to #DC143C, which looks like this:

While this is fairly close to the colour of the ink it looks a little lighter to me, but a lot will depend on the device this page is being viewed on.

The ink came from a UK supplier and is currently available for around £6.00 for a 80ml bottle, which I would consider very reasonably priced.

This is the first time I have had to describe the conventional Diamine box and bottle, as opposed to the “Anniversary” boxes. Where to start? The box is almost cubical, a combination of grey and black with white text giving the absolute minimum information. Even the name of the ink has been added with a small sticker on the top of the box. Although I couldn’t find a picture of a “vintage” Diamine box (or bottle) I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t changed much since 1864. On to the bottle, which follows the retro style, with flat sides fluted up to the neck. Even the cap (which also bears a little sticker with the name of the ink) looks like it’s been made out of something like Bakelite (I’m sure it hasn’t though). The label on the front matches the grey, black and white style of the box. The only concession to ornament is the fluting on the bottle, giving an even more spartan appearance than Noodler’s version, which at least custom labels (often quite elaborate). As somebody who was born in the industrial Midlands, it’s easy for me to conjure up a mental image of the kind of factory where such a design would originate, and looking on the old factory on the Diamine website I wasn’t far off. Considering the number of times I’ve criticised more ostentatious packaging it would be churlish of me to wish there was something a little more interesting about the boxes and bottles, even just to give me something to refer to in future reviews, so I’ll keep those thoughts to myself! The one practical criticism that I do have is that I find the neck of the bottle quite narrow. I’ve not emptied a Diamine bottle yet, bit I can imagine it will be tricky getting the last of the ink out, at least using a fountain pen. Well, that’s it – what will probably be my one and only attempt at describing the standard Diamine bottle and box. I’m amazed I managed to write as much as I did.

The test pen on this occasion was the Pilot MR White Tiger with a medium nib – I really like using this pen with red inks.

Water resistance was almost non-existent, running water left very faint lines and water droplets obliterated any lines. Cleaning was easy enough but in common with a lot of red inks it can be tricky getting the last of the ink out of the feed. Drying time was fairly quick at around 30 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

This is overall a very good performing ink, but the feature I really need to mention here (and which doesn’t really show in the usual scans) is that the ink shades in an interesting way, with a “fringe” on the edge of most letters which I think adds to the way the ink appears to pop off the page. This is most evident on Rhodia paper. Here is a magnified example, even here the scan doesn’t really do it justice, neither does my atrocious penmanship, but it is visible.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Again good performance and again the scan really doesn’t do it justice,

Yellow Post-It

Another good result, this time taking on a brownish tinge.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

One of the better results on this paper, not even much dilution of the colour.

Mnemosyne Word Card

This shows the range of shading, and the fringe around the swab, especially on the top edge.

Conclusion

The colour of this ink means that it’s suitable not just for markup but also for taking the odd note. Once again water resistance would be a bonus, but even without this is a perfectly acceptable ink, if you like the colour.

Diamine Crimson - Close Up

Diamine Crimson

Diamine Crimson - Word Card

The post Diamine Crimson Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

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

A Google search for “Carnival Red” yields results which a similar to this ink colour – slightly on the pink side of red, slightly darker than a poppy red.

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 Carnival ink colour.

The test pen in this case was the Pilot MR White Tiger with a medium nib (a nice contrast).

This ink showed no water resistance and water drops obliterated text easily. Cleaning the test pen was easy. Drying time was relatively quick at around 15 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

This is a bold, deep saturated red ink, leaning slightly towards pink, which performs well on this paper. Unfortunately it’s another one in this series that smudges slightly.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Good performance but again some smudging.

Yellow Post-It

A good contrast and smudging is minimal here.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Tolerable results on this challenging paper and it appears that the greater absorbance prevents smudging.

Mnemosyne Word Card

This makes the ink look less vibrant than on Rhodia paper, but shows more shading.

Conclusion

This is a really attractive ink which is already high on my list of favourite reds. The only real drawback is the smudging, which still persists nearly a month after the writing samples were done. This suggests the ink is less suitable for general note taking and better suited to markup on more absorbent papers.

Diamine 150th Anniversary Carnival - Word Card

Diamine 150th Anniversary Carnival

Diamine 150th Anniversary Carnival - Close Up

Diamine 150th Anniversary Carnival - Word Card

The post Diamine 150th Anniversary Carnival Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

So after a brief hiatus I’m back to familiar territory – an ink review. I’ve postponed the Diamine reviews a little longer because the opportunity arose to review Noodler’s Park Red, courtesy of Pen Chalet (penchalet.com).

So here comes the disclaimer. This ink was supplied free of charge by Pen Chalet. I was not paid to write the review, which is my honest assessment of the ink, and is not influenced by the fact it was supplied free of charge.

As is often the case with the more politically charged Noodler’s inks, there is YouTube video giving the significance of the name of the ink and of the symbolism of the label:

I won’t therefore repeat the backstory here, but there also a Wikipedia page for Park Sang-hak.

The ink normally retails at $12.50 for a 3oz bottle (excluding shipping), which would put it into the modestly priced category. From this review onwards I will disregard shipping costs in the value for money assessment – this varies so much with supplier and location that it distorts the results.

The box and bottle are the standard Noodler’s 3oz offer, and the bottled was filled to the brim.

The test pen on this occasion was a yellow Pilot Prera.

The ink showed some water resistance, leaving a pink line under running water, but text was obliterated by water drops. Cleaning was easy. Drying time was (by my standards) fairly quick at around 20 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

This ink is unusual in that it looks pinkish-red while still wet, which can be seen on the inside of the cap in the photo above, but this changes slowly on drying to take on a more orange tint (as shown on the Word Card). I was still struggling on how to describe the final colour when I did the writing test, and have now settled on coral (i.e pinkish orange). Again the photos give a fairly truthful representation of this colour. The moderate shading adds to the interest.

Overall the ink performs well without any flow issues or hard starts.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Again good performance on this paper.

Yellow Post-It

On the first of the tricky papers flow and coverage were good, even over the top of the Post-It where there are traces of adhesive. The ink also looks good on the yellow background.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Surprisingly good performance on this paper too – only minimal feathering, bleed and spread.

Mnemosyne Word Card

A fairly accurate representation of the colour, although the greater absorbancy of this paper seems to have masked the shading somewhat.

Out of curiosity I decided to run the “cotton bud on a Ryman Memo Block sheet” shading test, which I haven’t used in a while. The result wasn’t as dramatic as with inks known for their shading properties, but at the right angle it did show a green sheen which had not been apparent before.

Conclusion

This is a good performing Noodler’s ink, without the quirks of some of more interesting colours, such as long drying times our cleaning issues.

Suitable for markup, the more subdued red is easier on the eye than many, and the unusual shade means this ink could still be useful for general note-taking (at least if you want those notes to be eye-catching).

I would definitely restock when the time comes.

Thank you to Pen Chalet (penchalet.com) for the opportunity to review this ink.

Noodler's Park Red - Shading Test

Noodler's Park Red - Close Up

Noodler's Park Red

Noodler's Park Red - Word Card

The post Noodler’s Park Red Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

The third in this batch of reviews is for Kaweco Ruby Red ink.

This is a slightly more complicated disclaimer than usual. I received one bottle of Ruby Red free of charge by Kaweco, but I already owned a bottle which I had paid for. I was not paid to write this review, which is my honest assessment of the ink, and is not influenced by the fact it was supplied with a bottle free of charge. I hope that makes sense, but the next paragraph should clarify a little more.

I originally purchased a bottle of Kaweco Ruby Red ink around a year ago from a US supplier – at that point in time there were no suppliers I was aware of in the UK. The ink cost $16.95, and the shipping $24.95 (a total of over $40). It was a moment of madness – the only time I had paid that much for a bottle of ink before was for Pilot Iroshizuku, and that was before I knew where to get it for a better price. Although I was pleased with the colour and performance of the ink, I couldn’t justify to myself paying that much again, so I hadn’t planned to try the other Kaweco inks until they were available in the UK. The kind offer from Kaweco rendered that unnecessary, and means that I also have a nice pristine bottle of Ruby Red safely stored in its plastic box, with its seal still intact. It also explains why the picture above shows a sealed bottle with an open cap and and swab – I didn’t go to the trouble of steaming off the seal and reattaching it – the swab and cap are from the first bottle that I bought, the sealed one is the bottle supplied by Kaweco. I’ve dwelt on this too long.

All the comments that I made regarding the bottle, box and cost of the ink in my Kaweco Pearl Black Ink Review apply again here, so I shall not repeat them, except that in this case the front and top labels have white text on red (which matches the ink colour).

The test pen in this case was a Pilot MR White Tiger with a medium nib.

Water resistance under running water was almost nil, and water drops obliterated any text. Despite the lack of water resistance, cleaning was more of a challenge that expected and it took longer than usual to clear all the ink from the feed, but it didn’t require anything other than water.

The dry time was relatively quick at around 20 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

Looking carefully at the ink again it does lean sligthly towards pink, but not too far for my taste. Otherwise it’s a good performing ink.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Fine on this paper, although there was more feedback than expected – not enough to be a problem.

Yellow Post-It

Good here too.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Okay performance on the “great leveler”.

Mnemosyne Word Card

This shows the lean towards pink.

An updated image of the Word Card is here:

Conclusion

When I first bought the ink I probably let the high price I had paid for it overshadow the fact that it is a good performing ink with a bold but attractive colour. Once again (and this may become a constant theme with the Kaweco inks) if you want a red ink suitable for markup (less so as a note taker) and are happy to pay the premium price for it, you will be rewarded with good performance. It may be a while before I get to break into the second bottle, but it won’t be out of dislike.

Kaweco Ruby Red - Word Card

Kaweco Ruby Red - Close Up

Kaweco Ruby Red

Kaweco Ruby Red - Word Card

The post Kaweco Ruby Red Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” ― Marilyn Monroe

What the heck brought that on?

The second in this batch of ink reviews, for Noodler’s Black Swan in English Roses, that’s what!

I will defer to Mr Tardiff again for the story behind this ink (which bears more significance than normal this year):

This 3 oz bottle came from my preferred Ebay supplier and so I would consider it moderately priced. The bottle and box are the usual fare. The test pen on this occasion was a Pilot MR White Tiger with a Medium nib – a nice match it was too.

There was partial water resistance. Cleaning was easy enough, but with the same sooty deposits as Black Swan in Australian Roses. Drying time was on the long side at 1 minute – this really does seem to be a feature of deeply saturated reds.

As this is another shading ink, I tried the snappily titled “cotton bud on a Ryman Memo Block sheet” test again, to great effect. Not only did it show up the full range of colours this ink is capable of, but also revealed a greenish gold metallic sheen in some areas. Very nice too.

I like it so much you get to look at it twice.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

On this paper it’s a rather nice, if a little understated, brownish red, with a hint of burgundy. A very nice notetaker, and the shading shows. I checked the smell again, and its still fruity but the vinegar hint has gone.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Nice shading again, a good experience.

Yellow Post-It

Good again, with a nice contrast, despite a little skipping.

Field Notes – Pitch Black

Some feathering, but little bleed through and spreading. A good experience. I was expecting the colour to mute a little, but it didn’t.

I originally messed this review sample up – I mislabeled it and it appeared on the wrong review first time around. When amending the sample for rescanning I used a pen with a different nib – resulting in more feathering and more bleed through, showing how sensitive this ink is to the pen used.

Mnemosyne Word Card

Truly bizarre – this looks like a different ink – and not a very nice one either. More brown than red, like a washed out terracotta. If I had seen this before buying the ink I probably wouldn’t have bothered.

An updated image of the Word Card is here:

Conclusion

I have tried this ink with other pens (including flex), and the results can be as variable as with different papers.

I wish this ink was waterproof, and quicker drying, but I will embrace those imperfections with good grace. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if this ink had to be reformulated to change it’s colour and behaviour it would be a tragedy. I’m more than happy to live with its foibles, and it has become easily one of my favourite inks.

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses - Word Card

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses - Sheen

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses - Close Up

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses - Shading

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses - Word Card

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses - Close Up

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses

Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses

The post Noodler’s Black Swan in English Roses Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

For the last in this batch of ink reviews, I have chosen Noodler’s Tiananmen, which according to the label is a “Specialty Issue”. This isn’t the only Noodler’s ink that is so described, and I’ve already reviewed a few others, but I’ve only picked up on the description now. I’ve not been able to find out what “Specialty” actually means, but the inks from this series I’ve reviewed so far (Ottoman Azure, Ottoman Rose and La Couleur Royale) have all had attractive colours and been good performers.

The Chinese consider red to be an auspicious colour, which is stated on the label for this ink. The name and label evoke the protests of 1989. While those protests led to the deaths of hundreds (or possibly thousands) the image on the label shows a symbol of hope, the so called “Tank Man” confronting a column of tanks. The label also states “One day, China will be free!” One could argue that while Western businesses continue to rely China to keep costs down and so maximise profit, that day will be a long way off but as I’m not about to start a boycott and throw away my Apple products I won’t get on my high horse just yet.

This 3 oz bottle came from my preferred Ebay supplier so I would consider the price moderate. The box and bottle are as standard. The test pen was a Pilot MR White Tiger with a medium nib.

Water resistance was minimal. Cleaning was easy enough, which was a bit of a surprise for a saturated red. The drying time was extended at more than 2 minutes, leading to easy smudging. This was less of a surprise – long drying times are something I am starting to associate with saturated inks, reds in particular.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

Performance on this paper was good. The only downside was the long dry time which led to easy smudging. The colour is a deeply saturated red with a slight hint of brown – I really like it.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

No complaints on this paper – performance was good.

Yellow Post-It

Good performance from this ink on the Post-It too.

Field Note – Pitch Black

Another ink falls at the feet of Field Notes paper – lots of feathering and bleed.

Mnemosyne Word Card

The saturation of this ink shows through, with more than a hint of shading.

Conclusion

Another “Specialty” ink that proves to be a good performer. The only downside is the dry time, but that is starting to become as feature of red inks that I like (and more saturated inks in general). I really like this one, and is already near the top of my list of “good” reds.

The post Noodler’s Tiananmen – Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

The next in this batch is a bit of an oddity – a ink of the colour seen on the terra cotta warriors of China. It also reacts under UV light, although I have no means of testing that at the moment.

I’m not even going to try to cover the story behind this ink – I will leave it to Mr Tardiff instead:

The video also gives details of the intricate label and showcases the UV properties, so I won’t attempt to describe those any more here either. Yes, it’s been a long week and I’m feeling tired.

This 3oz bottle was ordered through a US website, not my usual Ebay supplier. The bottle itself cost $12.50 but the slightly higher than usual shipping cost pushed it into the moderately expensive category. The bottle and box were the standard 3oz combo. The test pen on this occasion was a Pilot MR with a medium nib.

Water resistance was limited and handwriting was obscured by the droplet test. Cleaning was slightly trickier than normal with residue hanging around in the feed longer than usual. I wouldn’t call it difficult though. Drying time was quick at less than 10 seconds.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

This ink feathered on Rhodia, which is unusual – not to a great extent but it is there. There was also some bleed through. Otherwise performance was okay, except for some occasional dryness. Oddly to my eyes the ink looks a little redder than on some other papers, although the scan doesn’t show it, and it’s still too pink for me. In fact all the scans look pinker than in reality.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

Performance was okay, but still some feathering.

Yellow Post-It

That’s some serious feathering.

Field Note – Pitch Black

More feathering and bleed.

Mnemosyne Word Card

Even the Word Card photo looks slightly pinker than in reality.

Conclusion

This ink is just slightly too pink for my taste. While it would otherwise be good for markup the feathering even on high quality paper limits its usefulness. Maybe one to play around with more when I have some spare time – and a UV light.

The post Noodler’s Qin Shi Huang – Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

For the last in this batch of ink reviews I have chosen Noodler’s Ottoman Rose. I originally bought this ink as I thought it would be the natural partner to Ottoman Azure. Pink or rose inks would not normally come high up my list, but the completist in me wouldn’t let me buy one without the other.

I take the label to depict the Sultan in his harem. However, I’m not so sure if the colour of the ink is meant to echo roses, or maybe Turkish Delight. The Noodler’s website is silent on the matter.

This was another Ebay purchase, so all the normal comments about price (moderate), 3oz bottle (generously filled) and the box (black line art on white) apply.

The ink showed no discernible water resistance (lines were obliterated by running water and droplets), but was easy to clean out of the pen. Dry time was very long at about 2 minutes.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

The writing experience was great (so much so I clearly forgot which ink I was using for a moment). I also really like the deep saturated rose colour. The long dry time is apparent in the smudging on the right hand side.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

This was also a good experience, although the left was slightly less saturated on this paper.

Yellow Post-It

Good again, with a rather nice contrast with the yellow paper.

Field Note – Pitch Black

The great leveler strikes again, but not so severely as with some other inks I can think of. Feathering and bleed through were apparent, but just about tolerable.

Mnemosyne Word Card

This shows some of the colour variation the ink is capable of, plus the deep saturation and purplish tones. Maybe that’s why I like it.

Conclusion

This in was another pleasant surprise, allowing me to break out of my usual preferences. The long dry time is a slight negative, but I would be unlikely to use this in a work environment so the occasional smudge won’t be a particular problem. Definitely one to use from time to time as an unusual note-taker.

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The final review in this set does have some backstory. This Organics Studio ink is named after Edgar Allan Poe, the American author “well known for his contributions to science fiction, mystery, and macabre” (according to the label of the box). It’s often difficult to determine why particular inks are named after notable people, but in this case it’s easy – if you wanted to write a gothic poem or novel in long hand, then why not use an ink that is best described as looking like dried blood?

This was the first Organics Studio ink I ordered – and I must confess it was based purely on the name and colour combination – I am that shallow. I couldn’t find a supplier in the UK (although there is a supplier for the Elements series). Although the ink itself was cheap from the US, the shipping costs pushed the total cost almost into the “expensive” category.

The box is functional brown cardboard, with a label that (for a charge) is more elaborate than the label on the bottle). The bottle is plastic (unusual for inks in my experience), but reminiscent of the Noodler’s 3oz bottles (albeit smaller). The neck of the bottle is adequate (difficult to see how is could be larger, given the size of the bottle. All the packaging reflects the modest price of the ink, and I have no problem with this.

The test pen in this case was a Pilot MR White Tiger, which I decided to try with this ink as soon as it arrived. It’s a strange combination, and wasn’t originally intended to serve as full blown ink test, so the ink stayed in the pen for much longer than normal for one of my ink reviews – and I regularly found myself picking up the pen to take notes.

The ink has little water resistance (leaving a little staining on the paper) and text was easily obscured by a few drops of water. This is a paradox, because the ink proved to be one of the most difficult I have ever tried to clean out of a pen. Water alone would not remove it from the MR feed (neither would diluted ammonia). It only finally succumbed (after copious washing to clear the ammonia) to the pen flush formula by Stephen Brown. No more staining on a kitchen towel after that.

Another feature of this ink is that its after a few days in the pen, what I can only describe as a “crusty gunk” started to appear on the nib either side of the slit and around the edges of the feed. Flow was not affected at first, but it was eventually and I had to push a few drops of ink through the pen, after which flow was restored.

Drying time was around 50 seconds, which if anything seemed a little short compared to the tendency to smudge on Rhodia. However I ran the test again and got the same result.

All of the writing tests exaggerate a red wine tinge, which is present but not so pronounced in reality. If anything the rusty brown notes are less pronounced in the scans.

Rhodia Dot Pad No 16

The ink writes well (when flow is not compromised) and I really like the colour, but the handwriting sample shows my mixed feelings about the ink. I’m not sure why I was so equivocal about it looking like dried blood – of course it does. Whether is is really brownish (rusty?) red (or reddish brown) is still up for debate, although there is a strong hint of red wine. Some smudging was apparent.

Ryman Memo Block 9cm x 9cm

After getting to the Field Notes paper I realised the ink was actually running out, so I refilled the pen and re-ran some of the writing tests, bit flow on this a paper was not so good.

Yellow Post-It

After refilling performance was okay, although the ink smudged easily, so I’m still surprised by the drying time.

Field Note – Pitch Black

This is the test where I realised something was off – and refilled the pen. The contrast at the bottom of the page is clear (along with the extra feathering) – you’ll have to take my word for the increased bleed.

Mnemosyne Word Card

The red wine tinge is less pronounced than in the writing samples.

Conclusion

This ink is a real mixed bag. The gunk and poor flow would be enough to put me off, and if it wasn’t for the colour I wouldn’t use it again. I will give it another try though, but only in a pen that is as easy to clean as the Pilot MR. When I do I’ll post any updates as comments.

The post Organics Studio Edgar Allan Poe – Ink Review appeared first on Stationary Journey.

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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