I appreciate the minimal packaging with all Troublemaker inks – a simple card stock box and large plastic bottles that are dark enough to protect the ink from most light.

Troublemaker Nenita is a dark burgundy red – not so dark that it appears black in writing, though.

The sheen is what makes this ink pop, however. A green-gold sheen shows up in the correct light. The sheen is a bit muted – this keeps it from overwhelming the base color and keeps the ink from smearing after it dries.

Troublemaker Nenita on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Troublemaker Nenita on Midori MD paper:

Troublemaker Nenita on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Troublemaker Moon River is quite different from Nenita. This is a multi-chromatic ink that shows plenty of shading with a color somewhere between grey, pink, and green. It brings to mind other recent multi-chromatic inks like Sailor Studio 123 and Sailor Yurameku Seki, but I think it is more helpful to show it compared to other standard inks. The swatch is close to Vinta Pangtangi but in writing, Moon River appears as a dusty rose.

Troublemaker Moon River on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Troublemaker Moon River on Midori MD paper:

Troublemaker Moon River on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

I love the degree to which Moon River changes from paper to paper.

Troublemaker inks can be a bit hard to find in the US, however, it seems that more retailers are beginning to stock the ink. At $0.28 per mL, I would definitely recommend picking up a bottle!

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

The post Ink Review: Troublemaker Nenita and Moon River 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.

While Jesi and I continue to debate whether sheening inks are still going to be hot for 2020, I figured I better squeeze in one more review for 2019. Grapevine is a purple ink with a green sheen.

Jesi  has already mentioned the packaging but I agree. I like the simple but elegant paper wrapping with twine over the recyclable plastic bottle. It’s like a gift and yet all materials are recyclable or compostable.

My initial writing tests on Rhodia paper did not reveal any of the sheening effects that were evident on the swatch card. All I could see on Rhodia paper was a deep grape-y purple.

Close-up, there is no evidence of the sheening but the ink keeps a clean line with no bleeding or feathering.

I decided to go ahead and test the ink on Tomoe River to see if any of the sheening would show up on this notoriously sheen-revealing paper.  The greenish gold glow is immediately evident on this paper even though its a bit more cream in color.

In close-up, its even more evident.

Comparing the Troublemaker Inks Grapevine  to other inks in my stash, there are two Diamine sheening inks that are comparable: Diamine Robert and Diamine Manggis. For less sheen soaked colors, I would recommend Birmingham Pen Co. Boysenberry or Colorverse Einstein Ring.

In close-up, its easier to see the similarities and differences in the ink hues, and the amount of sheening. Pricewise, all of these inks are pretty comparable though Manggis is a bit harder to acquire in the US as its an exclusive for Pen Gallery in Malaysia and Diamine Robert comes from the UK. At present, these inks may all be difficult to acquire. Or at least require more patience than most of us used to 2-day Prime shipping may be able to bear.

To be honest, all the inks I tried for Inkmas, Grapevine ended up being my favorite. It performed well and the sheening was a nice bonus on appropriate paper.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 18 with 7mm guide sheet
• Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15), Wing Sung 3008
• Swatches: Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Ink:  Troublemaker Inks Grapevine ($12 for 60ml bottle)

The post Bonus Inkmas Review: Troublemaker Grapevine appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Welcome to another edition of the 12 days of Inkmas! On day 11, we are looking at another new ink.

Troublemaker Inks did not put out a lonely ink in their newest release – Sea Glass was accompanied by Foxglove. Foxglove is a lovely mediumsaturation violet or lilac colored ink. Like other Troublemaker inks, Foxglove comes in a dark plastic bottle with simple packaging of paper and twine.

One thing needs to be stated before this review goes any further. This is a BEST ink. Why? Because this ink is:

Foxglove is a perfect purple. It shades from a light lilac to a dark grape, with heavy undertones of pinkish-purple and a halo of deep blue.

The shading in Foxglove is reminiscent of Vinta Maskera, but the base color in Foxglove is darker and closer to red. The lightest portions of the ink swatch are quite close to Graf von Faber Castell’s Violet Blue but in writing, the closest match is Sailor Fuji-Musume although Foxglove is slightly darker.

In a writing sample, the various colors of Foxglove are easy to see – the title shows many shades of purple while the writing is just a perfect purple.

Even in normal writing, the shading is incredible. Not that Foxglove shades dramatically, but it shows several colors during the shading. Violet to blue to lilac with spots of pink where the ink has pooled most heavily.

Have you ever seen so many purples all in one ink before? Have I mentioned this ink is PURPLE? Perfect purple.

There should be no doubt about purchasing this ink – if you love purple, write with purple, like purple or have ever thought about purple, buy this ink. Perhaps we can get the message to all ink manufacturers that PURPLE is the number one choice for ink.

The drawing below was ripped off from inspired by the artwork on the label of the Foxglove ink bottle.

Tools:

• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Refill ($30-35 USD)
• Ink:  Troublemaker Inks Foxglove (Troublemaker Inks, $12 for 60mL)
• Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring ink testing cards ($10 for 100 card pack)

DISCLAIMER: All materials used in this review were purchased by me. Please see the About page for more details.

The post 12 Days of Inkmas: Day 11 – Troublemaker Foxglove appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

It’s no secret – I love finding new inks.  New and exciting colors and bottles, new ink properties and behaviors to analyze and sometimes new adventures in finding, ordering and waiting for the delivery.

Troublemaker Inks is a small and relatively new ink manufacturer located in the Philippines.  I say relatively new because they have been around for a while, they have just exploded in popularity due to their newest batch of inks described as shading colors.  These shading inks are Kelp Tea, Petrichor, Abalone, and Milky Ocean.

I first heard about these four inks on Instagram, immediately went to the Troublemaker Inks website and placed an order.  For all of them.  The website is bright and well-designed and the ordering very simple.  The ordering was so seamless that I didn’t even realize that I was ordering from a different country until PayPal showed me a currency conversion. Easy-Peasy.

For this review, I’m going to talk about Petrichor.

Petrichor is an ink not unsimilar to Sailor 162 or Sailor 123.  The ink contains several colors together which show in differing ratios depending on the width of your nib and the paper being used.  Below are several comparisons to show the various colors in the ink.

First, the greys:

Then the teals, the dominant color:

Lastly, dusty pink, present in the center of the shading in Petrichor:

So what color is Petrichor when writing?  I used Tomoe River, 52gsm paper (from Curnow Bookbinding and Leatherwork) to try to show as many colors as possible.

Here, the main color seems to be a medium grey with an undertone of teal.  Later in the writing, the grey is still dominant, and the shading is more noticible.

In a large glob of ink, all the colors are present plus a bit of dusty purple.

On my hands, the various colors are still there!

Luckily, Petrichor is relatively easy to wash off.

Although it is very difficult to show in photos, the overall impression of the ink on Tomoe River paper is a grey ink with teal and purple undertones.

The best part? ALL SHIPPING IS FREE.  Anywhere. In the world.  No international shipping charges.  No minimums to hit. Not that I would have had a problem hitting a minimum order amount.

Now for the tough part of any online ordering. The waiting. And waiting. And waiting. This was the only negative part of my experience with Troublemaker Inks.  The waiting.  I placed my order on June 5th, received a shipping notification on June 13th and then nothing.  The tracking number provided did not update for weeks.  I heard from pen friends that Troublemaker had a tough time keeping up with the sudden increase in demand and had needed to restock bottles! I can absolutely understand why.

Suddenly, I opened up the mailbox and a ray of light shone down on me.  It was here!  The inks were packaged safely in paper and bubble wrap, sealed with a thin layer of plastic wrapped around the bottle opening.  Rather than paying for the shipping in one chunk, the package was covered with various stamps from the Philippines.  I do mean covered.  Every inch of the front side of the envelope was either the address or stamps.

For the review above, I threw the ink in the first available pen I had that was uninked – a Moonman C1.  I had ordered this one thanks to Joe at the Gentleman Stationer. It’s a great pen for watching ink.

The bottles for these inks are dark plastic, square and include a small example of the ink color printed on the label.

Some inks made by Troublemaker are offered in various viscosity choices from dry to lubricated.  When I was presented with a choice when ordering, I chose the suggested: wet. It was #3 on a scale of 1-4, 1 being the driest and 4 described as lubricated. I would say that while writing, this feels a tad on the wet side of normal – not noticeably different from my typical ink choices.

Would I recommend these inks?  Absolutely.  These are wonderful additions to the ink world in every way.  Be prepared to wait about a month, though.  This wait might become longer as popularity increases, though, so act soon!

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