Ferris Wheel Press has been shaking up the glistening (sparkling) ink world with its Fairy Tales ink line. Every foil-stamped box contains intricate artwork related to the fairy tale.

Each ink in the Fairy Tale line also comes in a small glass bottle (20mL) with a heavy metal cap.

The sparkle in Poison Envy is a purple chameleon sparkle while the ink itself is a dark purple that leans red with a bright greenish-gold sheen.

Sheen and sparkle are everywhere in this ink – both the in the swatch and in writing.

The base ink color in Poison Envy is redder than the base ink in Diamine Winter Miracle from Inkvent 2019 but they are close in writing. The difference becomes apparent when the swatches are angled into the light. The color of the sparkle is also visible here – Winter Miracle contains a bluish sparkle while Poison Envy is silver at one angle and purple at another.

Ferris Wheel Press Poison Envy on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Poison Envy on Midori Cotton paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Poison Envy on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Poison Envy on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Poison Envy does come with a cost – $22 for the 20mL bottle of ink – $1.10 per mL. However, I do believe the cost is justified for the materials and level of thought put into the ink and packaging. Thank you again to the Dromgooles for making this review possible!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us by Dromgoole’s free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press Poison Envy appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Ferris Wheel Press’s newest set is themed around New York – Lights on Broadway, Grand Central Skies, and Central Park Greens.

The three colors are quite eye-catching and bright.

The first color in this set, Grand Central Skies, is a sparkling ink with a base color of a minty green. Private Reserve DC Supershow Green is a close match but lacks the sparkle.

The silver sparkle in Grand Central Skies shows up in writing as well as the ink swatch.

Ferris Wheel Press Grand Central Skies on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

And the sparkle shot on Tomoe River paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Grand Central Skies on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Grand Central Skies on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper. Notice that the sparkle does spread easily on this paper.

The next ink in this set, Central Park Greens, is a bit less saturated than Diamine Light Green but very close. I’ve found it to be perfectly legible on any paper, even with an extra fine nib.

Ferris Wheel Press Central Park Greens on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Central Park Greens on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Central Park Greens on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

The final ink in the New York set is Lights on Broadway. This color is a less saturated version of Diamine Deep Magenta – an eye-searing ink. Lights on Broadway, however, is a gentler pink-purple ink that stays bright but not annoyingly so.

Ferris Wheel Press Lights on Broadway on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Lights on Broadway on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Lights on Broadway on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

While this set does come at a higher price – about $15 for 15mL total (full sized bottles of each are $22 for 38mL) – you do get a chance to try out all three New York inks for the price. If you would like to have a few pen fills of each ink, this is a great way to do so! Be warned, though, that the tiny bottles do not accommodate any pen nib that I know about. You can fill a converter directly from the bottle or use a syringe to fill an eye dropper. For me, the small annoyance is well worth it.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press New York Set appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Troublemaker packages their ink in 60mL dark plastic bottles. I have found some variation in price, but you can find it at Vanness for $24 (for shimmer inks) or $16.50 (for non shimmer inks).

Now for the inks themselves!

The base ink color for Butterfly Dream is an avocado green of medium saturation while Polar Lights is a dark purple-grey. Each ink shows some shading but nothing dramatic. I’ve seen a touch of sheen in each as well.

The two inks really stand out when the light is at the right angle. Butterfly Dream has a blue/purple shimmer and Polar Lights has a turquoise or green shimmer.

Polar Lights is a darker ink than Robert Oster Sterling Silver, but the two are close.

Polar Lights on Midori MD paper:

Midori MD paper at a different angle:

Polar Lights on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Cosmo Air Light paper at a different angle:

And Tomoe River (52gsm TR7) paper:

Tomoe River paper at a different angle:

Butterfly Dream is my favorite of these two inks and is incredibly close to KWZ’s Prairie Green (Galen Leather exclusive ink). Prairie Green has lots of gold shimmer, however, while Butterfly Dream is a blue/purple.

Butterfly Dream on Tomoe River (52gsm TR7) paper:

Tomoe River paper at a different angle:

Butterfly Dream on Midori MD paper:

Midori MD paper at a different angle:

Butterfly Dream on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

And Cosmo Air Light paper at a different angle:

I have kept a pen (a TWSBI Go pen, medium nib) inked with Butterfly Dream for the past two weeks with no sign of blockage or slow ink flow so far. TWSBIs are a favorite of mine with sparkle inks since the feed has a slightly wider channel than other pen feeds.

What is your take on the new Troublemaker inks? Will these be on your to-buy list?

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Troublemaker 2022 New Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

2023 New Year is a fabulous bright green ink with lots of sparkle – the closest I have in my collection is Anderillium Spirula green although 2023 New Year is darker.

2023 New Year surprised me with the amount of shading – that isn’t something I usually expect with sparkling inks.

The sparkle is a bit wild – both gold and silver particles. I had no issues with 2023 New Year clogging or even hard starts – ColorVerse uses a small enough particulate that the ink flows well.

Now for the paper. The first paper here is Tomoe River paper (TR7). Lots of shading on TR paper and a bit of a black halo sheen as well.

I’ve angled the same swatch so you can get an idea of the sparkle!

Cosmo Air Light paper, as usual, brings out the blue undertones of the ink, making it more of an emerald green

Sparkling inks have a great time on Cosmo Air Light paper, although the sparkle has the tendency to drift across the page.

Midori MD paper shows ColorVerse 2023 New Year much closer to a true green.

However, the sparkling characteristics of the ink are wasted on Midori MD.

2023 New Year is a 30mL bottle and is priced at $24 MSRP which works out to $0.80 per mL. While not as expensive as Sailor’s small bottles, it is a bit pricey, but I do think the novelty of both silver and gold sparkle makes this ink worth grabbing while it is around.

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: ColorVerse 2023 New Year appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I do love the detail in the packaging for all of Ferris Wheel Press inks and Lapis Lullabies is no exception. This is the first ink that starts into the tale of Sleeping Beauty, so the heavy bed curtains are surrounded by roses with spinning wheels carved into the bed posts.

As with all of the FerriTales inks, Lapis Lullabies is in an adorable bottle – a miniature version of the full sized inks in the normal ink line.

Lapis Lullabies is closer to a deep sea or dark teal color than a true lapis. The ink has a reddish-copper sheen with gold sparkle added – not unlike Emerald of Chivor (although Lapis is bluer).

The base color of Lullabies is close to Lamy Petrol.

Even the sheen in Lullabies comes close to the same sheen in Petrol.

My writing below is on Tomoe River 68gsm paper in a notebook from Odyssey Notebooks.

I love the more coppery tone in Lullabies’ sheen rather than a bold metallic red.

The FerriTales inks each come in a small, 20mL bottle for $21 at most ink retailers which places the ink at about $1.05 per mL – rather expensive on my charts. It is, however, a beautiful ink for a special treat. As with each of the small bottles from Ferris Wheel Press, I must warn about the small opening – large pens will not fit into it. The largest diameter pen I can fit into the bottle is a TWSBI Eco – this pen is a tight fit. Please keep this in mind when deciding to purchase!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purposes of this review by Ferris Wheel Press. Please see the About page for more details.

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I have recently seen a few store exclusive inks from Wearingeul – Pen Chalet and Cult Pens have each had one. Each ink is named after a Shakespeare play and each has an unusual sparkle color. Twelfth Night has a light blue sparkle within the light rose ink.

The base ink color is close to a light version of Robert Oster Cherry Blossom with plenty of shading while the pink and sparkle are a darker version of Vintage Julia.

On Cosmo Air Light paper, Twelfth Night pops off the page. One note with this paper, however – sparkle on Cosmo Air Light tends to spread across the page.

Tomoe River (TR7) paper also shows the ink popping off the page, but the sparkle stays put. The sparkle also looks a bit lighter.

Finally, Midori MD Light paper shows a slightly toned down sparkle, showing more of the play between the ink and sparkle colors, resulting in an almost purple-ish look in places.

What do you think of the new ink mixture? Have you purchased any other Wearingeul store exclusives?

The post Ink Review: Wearingeul Twelfth Night appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

There are three inks in the set: Glimmering Greige, Chidori Cherry Blossom, and Dearest Navy.

Dearest Navy is a strong blue-black ink with a touch of purple undertone and just a hint of a red sheen occasionally – it is very close to KWZ’s iron gall blue-black (a gentle iron gall).

Hints of the red sheen show up on Midori MD Light paper:

Cosmo Air Light paper shows no sheen at all, and the purple undertones drop out:

Tomoe River paper (TR7) shows the sheen clearly in a swatch and haloing in the writing.

Glimmering Greige is a lovely warm grey with gold sparkle. The base color is close to Kirk-same – Kaweco Smokey Grey was the next close grey I could find in my collection. It isn’t very close.

Glimmering Greige on Midori MD Light – the glimmering portion didn’t show well here.

Cosmo Air Light paper shows the gold sparkle very well and brings out the blue in the ink base. On CAL paper, this ink looks like a cool grey rather than warm.

Tomoe River Paper (TR7) shows the sparkle through the swatch and the writing plus a warmer grey than the CAL paper.

The final ink today is Chidori Cherry Blossom. It seems to be exactly in between Strawberry Macaron and Lady Rose Gold (this one was a limited edition).

Again, the sparkle doesn’t show well on the Midori MD Light paper. The base ink color also comes out very pale.

Cosmo Air Light paper shows plenty of the rose gold sparkle. CAL paper also seems to let go of the sparkle fairly easily – not rubbing off, but rather spreading on the page. I’ve noticed this with other sparkle inks in the past.

Tomoe River (TR7) paper doesn’t spread the sparkle like CAL paper, but it doesn’t show as brightly, either.

Here is an overview of the three inks (plus a bonus ink that I will be reviewing soon) on Midori MD Light paper.

The inks together on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Finally, the inks together on Tomoe River Paper (TR7)

It is interesting how a change in paper can drastically change the base color of an ink. Glimmering Greige is a great example of how Cosmo Air Light paper draws out the blue undertones more than Tomoe River paper:

The three inks colors I’ve shown here today are each $22 for a 38mL bottle (or about $0.58 per mL), a price per mL comparable to Sailor Manyo inks, Montblanc standard line inks, or Diamine Shimmertastic inks. I love the idea of ink collections that celebrate special events of stationery stores and bring attention to retailers that I don’t yet know about! Glimmering Greige is also a unique grey to my collection. Thank you to Ferris Wheel Press for sending these for review!

DISCLAIMER: The ink in this review was provided free of charge by Ferris Wheel Press for the purpose of this review. The other items in the review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press Curious Collaborations: Paper Tree appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

First, take a look at these boxes! In San Fransisco, I was stationed at a table near a window with direct sunlight shining through for part of the day. I had to move the FerriTale inks out of the sunlight to keep the reflections from blinding anyone!

The FerriTale inks are on the expensive side – 20mL bottles for $21. The bottles are adorable – a miniature version of Ferris Wheel Press’ large 85mL bottles. The bottle lid is heavy – solid metal rather than plastic.

Today I’m covering Adventurtine, Blue Beryl Tonic, and Blushing Mushroom.

First, Blushing Mushroom. The base ink color is a slightly under-saturated dusty purple with medium shading and rose gold sparkle. In keeping with most Ferris Wheel Press sparkle inks, the shimmer is fine enough that it doesn’t easily clog a pen. I had a bit of a tough time finding a second matching ink – Pen BBS #404 is close but Blushing Mushroom is darker.

On Midori MD Light paper, Blushing Mushroom is a bit lighter and it shades even more. I love how many layers this ink can show in a single swatch.

The second paper in my tests is Tomoe River paper Tomogawa #7. This is the “old” Tomoe River paper and you may see it labeled as TR7 as the paper types become more differentiated. I’ll review the newest Sanzen Tomoe River paper in a future review.

In the meantime, Blushing Mushroom ink on Tomoe River paper. The shimmer was a bit out of control here! I’ve found that shimmer and Tomoe River paper don’t agree with one another as well as other paper types. I don’t mind shimmer all over my page, but it may be something to keep in mind!

Finally, Cosmo Air Light paper. Blushing Mushroom shows a greater amount of blue on CAL and the edges are crisper – the shading isn’t as dramatic as the two previous papers in my review, but it is still present. I love how easy it is to read the lettering I did on through the swatched ink. The color isn’t greatly different, but the letters still stand out nicely.

When I first saw the three inks I am reviewing here, I thought Adventurtine was the least exciting, but it became my favorite of the three once I swatched them. It is a light grey with undertones of pink and blue plus rose gold shimmer. With a dip nib, the ink resembles graphite, while wider nibs shade beautifully.

On Midori MD Light paper, the pink undertones show clearly and the ink swatch is haloed in a dusty blue. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the shimmer showed up on this paper.

Adventurine on Tomoe River paper (TR7) is fairly unsaturated in the swatch but shows up well in writing. TR7 gives the ink a watercolor character to the swatch.

Cosmo Air Light paper brings out more of the blue undertones in Adventurine while the pink nearly disappears. The first layer of the ink looks like a watercolor wash, but the writing is easily legible – it also looks less like graphite.

Blue Beryl Tonic also shades well, with several shades of sapphire blue and grey and pink undertones and rose gold shimmer. It reminds me of Troublemaker’s Milky Ocean ink in the swatch, but in writing, Blue Beryl Tonic is closer to grey.

Midori MD Light paper shows the layering Blue Beryl Tonic can lay down. This ink can get fairly dark around the heavier areas in the swatch and haloing is dramatic.

On Tomoe River Paper, Tomogawa #7, the sparkle in Blue Beryl again gets carried away. The tone is bluer and stands out well from the page in writing.

On Cosmo Air Light paper, the ink is again even bluer. The lettering below the swatch almost pops off of the page but the shading is scaled back.

I’ve been enjoying all three of these inks since I first received them. It took a while to obtain all three since they have been selling out at several retail stores each time a shipment is received! While the FerriTale inks are quite pricy ($1.05 per mL), I do think it is worth picking up one or two of the colors. The shimmer particles are small enough that the ink flows smoothly in medium nibs or wider, all colors are clearly legible, and the bottles are adorable. Which one of the three is your favorite?

DISCLAIMER: The Blue Beryl Tonic included in this review was provided free of charge by Ferris Wheel Press for the purpose of review. The other items in the review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details

The post Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press FerriTales appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The ink was first sold on the first day of the pen show, 9am Friday. By 9am Saturday, the entire show was sold out of this new ink set (don’t worry, retailers are now restocked) and there is no question why it flew off the ink racks. The artwork on the box is the gorgeous Butterfly Nebula.

ColorVerse reversed their normal glistening/non-glistening arrangement for this set; the large, 65mL bottle contains the sparkle while the smaller, 15mL bottle is a standard ink.

NGC 6302 is an interesting teal that reminded me of Robert Oster’s Muddy series, but Muddy Swamp is much darker and much less green. I would call NGC a dark version of Lennon Tool Bar Plastic Sky.

Butterfly Nebula was the big surprise of the set – a dusty, under saturated periwinkle with a beautiful pink sparkle! The sparkle is difficult to see until the paper is angled like the photo below.

I’ve had a TWSBI Eco inked up with ColorVerse Butterfly Nebula for a full week – I have had no issues with dry starts, the ink continues to flow well through the feed. I had a bit of a problem with NGC 6302, however. It turned out that I forgot how dry my Ritma can be! The ink itself is not dry at all.

The paper shown above and below is wheat straw paper – the sparkle shows well and is a touch darker than the ink on Tomoe River paper.

Below are ink swatches on Tomoe River paper (original):

And the beautiful sparkle angle:

Again, the same inks on Cosmo Air Light paper:

And the sparkle:

Finally, ColorVerse NGC 6302 and ColorVerse Butterfly Nebula on MD Light paper:

The sparkle here is not quite as dramatic:

Here at the end of the post, I wanted to include a photo of the ink when the sparkle has settled to the bottom of the bottle:

Since I don’t have a video of the clear view of Butterfly Nebula, this photo was the best way I could show the sparkle in the pen:

Again, thank you to Dromgoole’s for the ink shown in this review!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: ColorVerse Butterfly Nebula and NGC 6302 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

This is an ink that can be ordered from their store, though! So if you missed out on Prairie Green, take a look at the color and order online. The ink sells for $15 for a 60mL bottle.

As usual, the KWZ ink comes in a dark brown glass bottle, packaged in a simple white box. I’ve noticed that the normal faint vanilla scent is not present in this sparkly ink or it is so faint that I can’t detect it.

I inked up a Wing Sung 698 with a fine nib to really push the chance of the ink clogging in the pen. The demonstrator barrel is a huge plus – I love watching the particles inside.

I allowed the ink to sit in the pen for two days before writing this entry, again to see the extreme limits of the ink. I did need to dip the nib in water to get the flow going again, however, once I did that, the ink had no problem.

Prairie Green has two colors – the ink color is a green gold that looks perfect for the name.

It also has a brilliant, bright gold sparkle that is visible at the correct angle.

The ink color is close to KWZ Green/Gold, but slightly less yellow. Birmingham Arugula is a great match.

Prairie Green looks even closer to KWZ Green/Gold when the sparkle shows. You may notice that there isn’t much sparkle in the writing on the Col-o-Ring card below – I swatched the card without shaking the bottle again which led to non-sparkly writing. I have not run into the same issue while writing with a fountain pen.

Cosmo Air Light paper:

Cosmo Air Light paper at the sparkle angle:

Tomoe River paper (old):

Tomoe River paper (old) at the sparkle angle:

I don’t know if KWZ has ever created a sparkly ink before – I have never seen one. Let me know in the comments if you have knowledge of one! I am enjoying playing with Prairie Green this week; it is a great color and so sparkly. At $0.25 per mL, this may be the best priced sparkle ink currently on the market – I highly recommend ordering some soon! I will be reviewing additional Galen Exclusive inks in the near future, so check back soon!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Galen Leather for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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