Each of the inks in the Write & Draw line come in a 50mL glass bottle for $17.33, about $0.35 per mL.

The Write & Draw inks are all named for the color and an animal – none that match the usual color of the animal, however! Yellow Zebra, Brown Penguin, and Brown Colibri are up first.

Red Duck, Orange Skunk, and Pink Gazelle:

Pink Alpaca, Red Turtle, Pink Owl:

Violet Raccoon, Violet Bee, Violet Lion, and Blue Chameleon:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Midori MD paper:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Octopus Write & Draw inks on Midori Cotton paper:

Next week I’ll show the remaining 12 Write & Draw inks along with a look at the level of water resistance offered by these pigment inks.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided at a discount by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Octopus Write & Draw Inks Part 1 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Of course, I couldn’t resist an ink themed around cats! I was able to get three out of the four bottles and a sample of Cat at Dawn which was sold out at the time I ordered.

Each cat suggests the light at a given time of day. Cat at Dawn is bright blue morning, Cat at Noon is radiant hot red-orange, Cat at Dusk is a watery blue grey and Cat at Midnight is a black though not a super-dark black.

I totally get the colors and naming for Dusk and Midnight but the Dawn and Noon are a bit of a stretch for me. I tend to think of morning light being more coral, pink or even golden. And, to me, Noon is more likely to have a vivid blue sky with a white hot sun. Naming discrepancies aside….

The colors of these inks are pretty unique. Noon is probably the most unusual being a slightly color-shifting shading coral red. The color is very reminiscent to the juice from fresh tomatoes to me. Dusk is the next most unique color being a color shifting pale grey-blue-violet. Because of its mutable nature, Dusk can look more like a pale violet or more grey. Midnight is a light black. It’s not a grey or a blue-black but a black with a greenish-teal undertone. Finally, Dawn is a bright ultramarine blue, though not as saturated as other ultramarine blues on the market. Dawn shades but has no sheen.

Ink ring swatches above are on Tomoe River paper. The colors look pretty consistent to the results on Col-o-ring paper.

On Rhodia paper, when writing with EF nibs, Midnight is the most usable. Dawn, Noon and Dusk are readable but would benefit from wider nibs like a stub.  None of these inks are water-resistant. Dusk vanished completely when wet. Midnight and Dawn leave some traces behind of the original lines and Dawn just leaves a wet, bluish residue. (My water samples here are still a bit damp but the results are accurate.) This ink should clean up easily in your pens and the lighter nature of the colors is unlikely to stain most pens.

When comparing the inks to other colors, the Ink Institute inks proved a challenge to find similar shades. Cat at Noon was particularly challenging to find similar colors. The unusual shade/sheen to the color leans red and then more orange-y pink. Most of the inks I have that are anywhere close in color are much more saturated.

When looking at the colors close-up, the shimmer inks were probably the closest in color similarity. The advantage of Cat at Noon is that it does NOT have shimmer in it making it  a lovely alternative if you want an unusual color but do not want shimmer in your pen.

Both Starry Ink Melon Summer and Small Endowment Melody of Sandy Creek are shimmer inks but are the closest in color. The darkest shade of Cat at Noon is similar to J. Herbin Corail des Tropiques but Corail lacks the lighter orange-y tones. Diamine Coral is the opposite to Corail des Tropiques when compared to Cat at Noon. Coral has the brighter orange tone, though more saturated, but not the deeper reddish coral color. Finally, I included Sailor Sakura Mori to provide a counter balance — an ink with a good deal more pink. I would not describe Cat at Noon as pink at all.

With Cat at Midnight, I looked for other “almost black” inks to compare. Standard Bindery Luna Tone is clearly more of a blue-black and Robert Oster Smokescreen has much more of a brownish undertone. Birmingham Pen Company Alternator Crimson is probably the closest in color despite its name.

I included Platinum Carbon Black to show that Cat at Midnight is not a true black.

Cat at Dusk is one of those wonderful magic inks that looks a bit different depending on how dry it is, your nib and paper choice and the lighting in your room. It makes it comparable to things like Troublemaker Petrichor and Sailor 123 even though it is not at all in the same color family.

Cat at Dusk is more similar to J. Herbin Gris Nuage and Kobe #53 Kitano Pearl Silver though it looks like a marriage of the two other inks. It’s more bluish than Gris Nuage and more purple than Kitano Pearl Silver. Of the four inks from the Cat series, it’s my favorite.

Now, to compare Cat at Dawn which is the most similar to other inks. Remarkably, it’s probably closest to Cross Blue. There is a similarity to Montblanc Lapis Lazuli and Sailor Jentle Sky High as well though they are considerably more saturated. Sky High has a great sheen if that is something you prefer. Cat at Dawn or Cross Blue would work if you prefer shading. Montblanc is great if you want to spend a truckload of money for your inks.

I like Ink Institute inks and the Cat Series is a strong first showing for this brand. It’s different though some of these inks may be too pale for some users. To me, Ink Institute Cat Series is a great change to the sheening and super sheeners that have flooded the market lately. Now if they do Cat at Naptime (ginger like our feline mascot) and Cat at Supper (tawny like a tortie cat) and add some shades that feel more feline in hue, I’ll be happy.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Line Review: Ink Institute Cat Daily Line appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Have you ever considered inks to be perfect for a season or time of year? Pastels for the spring, dusty colors in the winter, rusty oranges and browns for the fall? Kelly over at Mountain of Ink does a lot with seasonal palettes (I love those). Lennon Tool Bar seems to think this way as well – each season they release a small group of limited edition inks that are perfect for the said season.

Recently I was sent three bottles of Lennon Tool Bar ink from Shigure Inks – thank you, Alex! Two of the bottles belong to the Summer 2020 group. I also had a sample of the third ink in the set so I’ve included it in the post.

The inks shown below are Hue-Kim-Koo (fireflies) and Pacific Ocean. The third ink, Watermelon, is shown further down. The boxes are card stock with a flower emblem pressed under the labels. The name of each ink is on the top of the label and on the bottle label (so you won’t forget even if you don’t keep boxes). The boxes are a tad tough to open – but I did win in the end.

The bottles themselves are glass and 30mL each. The color on the labels is a bit darker than the actual ink, but a very close match.

Watermelon is a dusty rose color or possibly a slightly unsaturated red that leans towards purple a bit more than towards orange. Fireflies is a bright spring green that is plenty readable while Pacific Ocean is a blue-leaning blue-black.

Pacific Ocean is very close to Robert Oster Tokyo Blue Denim and a bit brighter than Sailor Shikiori.

Fireflies reminded me of Diamine Meadow but is lighter when writing with it. The swatch looks very close to Noodlers Dragon Catfish but the textures of the inks are completely different. All three Lennon Tool Bar inks here are not lubricated but are wet writers. While using a dip nib, the flow was too fast but I loved that quality when in a fountain pen.

Watermelon is close to both Pilot Iroshizuku Momji and Papier Plume Garden District Azalea but writes darker than either ink.

My favorite part of the three inks was using them together. The contrast between the three inks sets off the colors beautifully. I was surprised at the readibility of Fireflies. I used a Pilot medium nib and loved it. The wet flow of the ink was perfect, especially at covering up my mistake spelling limited. Maybe I’m the one who needs to go back to school instead of the kids!

The smearing below came from adding the firefly wings before the ink was totally dry. Pacific Ocean and Fireflies each had nice levels of shading while Watermelon didn’t show much. It is a good medium red that is not eye-searing. Pacific Ocean is a great blue-black. On Tomoe River paper there was no feathering but the dry time was long- over 45 seconds for Fireflies, slightly under 40 seconds for Pacific Ocean and Watermelon. Show through on the back of the paper was normal for Tomoe River and there was only spots of ink that came through where I had pooled ink while writing.

I love the huge varieties of ink colors that are available at this point in the fountain pen world! With so many inks, it’s hard for me to fulfill my quest to collect all the inks. I’m grateful that Alex at Shigure Inks offers not only a huge variety of hard-to-find inks but also offers samples of the inks he carries – I would be much more limited if I had to purchase bottles of each ink!

To order the samples you fill out the super-secret ink sample page (not really secret – it’s on the Ink dropdown menu) and samples can be ordered by the mL typically 1-5 mL. I also learned that earlier this month, Shigure hit the one-year anniversary! Congratulations!

• Notebook: Musubi Tomoe River Folio (~$35 for 384 pages)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10)
• Ink: Lennon Tool Bar Limited Edition Summer colors (30mL, $24)

DISCLAIMER:  Some of the items in this review (Pacific Ocean and Fireflies ink bottles) were provided for free for the purpose of review. Other items were purchased by me. Except for the Col-o-ring which was provided to me by a wonderful person who pays me to write blogs by keeping me supplied with Col-o-rings, Dippers and occasionally stickers as well. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Lennon Tool Bar Summer Collection appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

These colors have been around for decades. Yet, they are still lovely.

The great thing about a classic ink like Sheaffer is that it is safe for your vintage pens. So, having a bottle of Sheaffer ink around is wise just for the vintage pens you have — or might one day have.

Another great aspect of Sheaffer inks is the reasonable price. Compared with a lot of other ink brands, $10 for 50ml is a great deal.

Let’s get into each color. I’ll start with black ink. We should all have at least one bottle of black ink. If you are not brave enough to keep a bottle of Platinum Carbon Black as your “one true black”, here’s a comparison of Sheaffer Black against some other water soluble black inks and Platinum Carbon Black. From top to bottom, left to right: Pelikan Edelstein Onyx, Waterman Intense Black, Sheaffer Black, Platinum Carbon Black, Colorverse 20 Blackhole, Monteverde Raven Noir, Monteverde Coal Noir, Kaweco Pearl Black, Lamy Crystal Obsidian, Colorverse 1 Sunspot, Robert Oster Black is Black.

It’s challenging to see the subtle differences between the blacks on screen but I tried to compare Sheaffer Black to other similar blacks. Sheaffer Black is a rich, dark black. Monteverde Coal Noir is probably the closest black to Sheaffer Black as both feel genuinely neutral black and very dark. Monteverde Raven Noir is close but a little warm with a hint of red. Pelikan Onyx has a hint of green. The remainder of the blacks are definitely warm blacks. It would be hard to tell the difference between these blacks if I didn’t have all these swatches side-by-side to compare. Sheaffer Black is a good flat black.

When it comes to blue-black inks, they run the gamut in the dark blue hues: indigo, midnight blue, deep sea blue, blue-black, and anything else that is not turquoise or bright blue. That said, to find good comparisons for Sheaffer Blue-Black which leans a little more dark greenish-teal, these are the inks I find: Callifolio Olifants, Sheaffer Blue-Black, Sailor Shikiori Shimoyo, Robert Oster Great Southern Ocean, Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris. Clearly, I didn’t find other inks that were clearly described as “blue-black” but really fit the same look-and-feel as Sheaffer Blue-Black. Sheaffer Blue-Black has lovely shading.

Sheaffer Brown is a very warm, brown so it was hard to find a comparable color. Instead I tried to find familiar, popular browns. From top to bottom:  Diamine Ancient Copper, Sheaffer Brown, Ackerman SBRE Brown, J. Herbin Cafe des Iles. All of these browns are warm browns but all feel like they accomplish different things. Sheaffer Brown shades beautifully.

With Sheaffer Blue, it was pretty eye opening that the blue was pretty comparable to so many other blues that are beloved and considerably more expensive. From top to bottom: Sheaffer Blue, Monteverde Capri Blue, Sailor Jentle Sky High, Colorverse 14, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Sailor Jentle Souton. Looks like there’s no reason to drop twice as much money on the same color anymore, huh? Sheaffer Blue has some rockin’ red sheen.

Oh, turquoise! I have so many bottles of turquoise ink and I marvel at how similar they all are. From top to bottom: Sheaffer Turquoise, J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche, Lamy Pacific Blue, Franklin-Christoph Spanish Blue, Monteverde Caribbean Blue. None of these turquoise inks are crazy expensive but that’s okay. It just means its okay to have more than one bottle. Sheaffer Turquosie has a delicious, pinky sheen.

Sheaffer Green is not a crayon green or Kelly green that you might expect from a basic line of inks. It’s actually more of a teal. For comparison, from top to bottom: J. Herbin Bleu Calanque, Robert Oster Torquay, Sheaffer Green, Diamine Marine, Colorverse #23 Photon. I have recommended Robert Oster Torquay so many times and Sheaffer Green is similar, just a little more green. It’s a really pretty color. Don’t discount it just because it has a simple name. Think of it as “Vintage Pyrex Aqua” instead of Green. Sheaffer Green sheens with a little reddish.

Red ink is a hard color to agree upon. To compare, from top to bottom: J. Herbin Rouge Opera, Diamine Matador, Sheaffer Red, Colorverse 49 Felicette, Taccia Aka Red. Sheaffer Red is a slightly warmer red like Taccia Aka Red but Taccia has way more sheening. There is a little sheening in the Sheaffer Red though. Colorverse Felicette is a slightly pinky red and Diamine and J. Herbin are both a darker red.

Sheaffer Purple is a lovely shading bright purple. Compared to other inks, from top to bottom: Sheaffer Purple, Pilot Iroshizuku Mirasaki Shikibu, Pilot 100th Anniversary Jurojin, Papier Plume Violet. Sheaffer Purple is very similar to Pilot 100th Jurojin which is really surprising. Pilot Iroshizuku Mirasaki Shikubu is a little warmer and Papier Plume Violet is a little cooler.

I hope this overview gives you a little more of an appreciation for Sheaffer Inks. I really think they are a great option. They are reasonably priced, the colors are great AND safe for vintage pens.

Tools:

• Pens: Tachikawa Comic Pen dip nib holder ($8.25) with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack)
• Swatches: Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Brush: Blick Synthetic Round #0
• Ink:  Sheaffer Fountain Pen Inks ($10 for 50ml bottle)

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Overview: Sheaffer Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Last week I presented a post featuring an overview of the Taccia Lip color ink collection, rather than focusing on a single ink in the line. Since several new ink collections have come out recently, I decided to again present an overview – let me know if you enjoy this type of post!

This week I am focused on the new Manyo collection made by Sailor. This is an ink manufacturer that seems to put out a new ink almost daily, especially store-exclusive inks for small stores in Japan. Their Sailor Studio inks are so popular that certain colors are still very difficult to find in stock.

However, the Sailor Studio inks were surprisingly small (20mL). That makes this newest line up even nicer – large 50mL bottles ($21.33 for 50mL at Pen Chalet).

These Manyo inks are surprisingly large compared to the Sailor Studio bottles – 2.5 times as large. That’s not where the similarities end, though. Two of the Manyo inks (Haha and Nekoyanagi) have been compared to Sailor Studio 162 and 123 (two of the more popular colors). I found these colors to be similar and to demonstrate similar multi-chromatic characteristics, but not similar enough to choose one over the other.

Other Manyo inks remind me of Sailor Studio colors – Akebi and Sailor Studio 653 are similar although Akebi is brighter. I love the brightness of Yamabuki.

Nekoyanagi is the first Manyo ink that I knew I had to get. However, Yomagi has been my favorite to use for taking class notes. It shades beautifully and has mid-level red sheen.

Kikyou has an understated sheen – not shiny, though. The sheen presents more as a secondary color than a shine. Sumire is a beautiful cerulean blue with a hint of sheen as well.

Kuzu is another ink that has a muted sheen. Haha is the best name ever for an ink. The halo color is a greenish teal – a color that is all around difficult to describe.

Here’s a big family photo of the Manyo inks!

As I stated above, Haha is a very difficult ink to compare and to show. It does have many of the same properties of Sailor Studio 162, but the halo colors remind me more of Sailor Studio 264. Shading is in line with Papier Plume Lake Michigan Winter, but the purple is close to Vinta Maskera (the photo two below).

Manyo Nekoyanagi is closely related to Haha, but less confused. Nekoyanagi is very close to Vinta Maskeraand Ya Ching Eternal Love, but it contains quite a bit of teal in the undertones. The teal does show as a halo in some writing.

Manyo Akebi is a beautiful bright purple-ish pink with a huge amount of muted sheen. The sheen moved between greenish-gold and dark brown and is very present in all writing. The underlying bright color is almost surprising when it peaks out.

Manyo Yomagi is a favorite of mine for writing. it moves from dark to light quickly and has a bit of a red sheen. I’ve been writing with it for three weeks now and I love it.

Manyo Kikyou is a close match to Monteverde Blue Velvet Cake but the sheen is very muted. A great work-safe blue-black.

Sumire is not quitet as bright at ColorVerse Supernova, but a deeper color than Pelikan Edelstein Topaz. The shading is beautiful.

Manyo Kuzu is close to Akebi is writing, but the color underneath is burgundy rather than a purple-ish pink. The muted sheen is gold-brown.

Yamabuki is a highly shading orangish-yellowthat reminds me of Diamine Amber butt the darker portions (and in writing) looks more like Diamine Marigold.

All of the Manyo inks are on the wet side of normal (only slightly) and behave like other Sailor inks I have encountered – easy to use, beautiful colors and shading, not water-resistant, no feathering or bleeding on fountain pen friendly paper. I am very happy that I own the whole set now! I’m also thrilled with the larger bottle size. One of the best differences between the Sailor Studio inks and the Manyo inks – Manyo inks are much easier to obtain in the US!

Tools:

• Ink:  Manyo inks by Sailor (Pen Chalet, $21.33 for 50mL)
• Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring ink testing cards ($10 for 100 card pack)

DISCLAIMER:  Some of the inks used in this review were purchased by me, while others were provided for the purpose of this review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Overview: Manyo Inks by Sailor appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.