You know I love a good blue, and if it’s got a hint of teal to it, I’m always in! Flying Squid Blue is a rich, deep, dark ocean blue.

The ink is lovely. It’s very Goldilocks-like, not too wet, not too dry. At points it is very, very dark, but I do think you could get some shading in this one, as you can see a bit in my tests of different dip nib sizes.

In terms of comparisons, there are many that are close, but nothing that is quite right? Robert Oster True Blue is a bit of a match in the lighter sections, but doesn’t have the same depth. Colorverse Supernova is bang on in the lighter sections, but it’s dark aren’t rich enough. Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue is not quite right either. And Organics Studio Nitrogen Blue obviously has the sheen going on, but it comes close. It may be hard to tell, but I don’t have anything that’s exactly the same shade.

The Cephalapod Series has a bunch of other wonderful colors – I’m going to swatch Flapjack Octopus Orange and Bobtail Squid Green before I give them back to Ana. The only color I would love to add is something purple!

• Papers: Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50), Crossfield Journal ($24.00)
• Pen: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Inks: Anderillium Inks Flying Squid Blue ($14.50 for 1.5oz).

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

The post Ink review: Anderilium Inks Flying Squid Blue appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

First, a comparison of colors. Blue-ringed Octopus blue is a bright cyan that sheens red occasionally. It reminds me of Pelikan Edelstein, but when I compared the two, Blue-ringed Octopus is noticeably darker.

Bobtail Squid green is a bit brighter than Robert Oster Jade, and not quite as yellow. I love the shading in this ink – the difference between the dark and light shades is dramatic.

Vampire Squid red is a wonderful bright red that is dark enough to not hurt your eyes. You can see a touch of the gold sheen in the lower right corner of the swatch card below.

Cuttlefish brown is a very interesting ink – when used with a wet-writing pen or nib, it appears off-black. When Cuttlefish is used in a fine pen or a dry pen, it appears as a light, muddy brown with hints of yellow. Montblanc Wood & Tobacco is the closest color I have to Cuttlefish and even the Montblanc ink isn’t quite as dramatic.

Below are the four inks on wheat straw paper from my swatch booklet. There was no feathering and no show-through but also no sheen on this paper.

Below is Tomoe River paper. I’ve slightly smeared each ink below to show some of the properties of the ink although please note that the green in the Blue-ringed Octopus smear is from inky fingers, not from the ink itself. TR paper shows the Bobtail ink shading and a bit of the shading in Cuttlefish, but the nibs that I used for Blue-ringed Octopus and Vampire Squid were too narrow to show sheen. You can see a hint of sheen in both in the smeared ink at the bottom of the page, however.

Shading is better on the Cosmo Air Light paper below, especially in Bobtail Squid. Cuttlefish showed no real shading here and I continued to not see sheen in Blue-ringed Octopus or Vampire Squid. The smear tests with the blue and red both showed the sheen, however.

Midori MD paper light seems to have a flattening effect on each of the four inks although you can see more of the color variation in the Cuttlefish smear. I saw no sheen on this paper.

Out of the four types of paper I used in these tests (five if you count the Col-o-ring cards), there was no feathering, no bleed-through, and no smearing (except where I smeared on purpose!). Out of the four inks, Cuttlefish and Bobtail Squid are absolute favorites because of their unique colors. Blue-ringed Octopus is a beautiful cyan and I am going to try a wider nib for better sheen. Vampire Squid red is one I would probably pass on – the color is not quite saturated enough for my taste and was too dry.

All four inks I have shown in this post do feel slightly dry on paper but flow well through the pen. I didn’t experience hard starts or railroading, but the feel on the page was similar to writing on slightly toothy paper. I rather enjoyed the feel of the drier ink! I have several wet-writing pens that will be great to use with Anderillium inks to balance the flow.

Check back next week for more Anderillium ink testing!

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

The post Ink Review: A Closer Look at Anderillium appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

This post today will be giving a first look at the two ink lines: the Cephalopod Series and the Avian Series. I will dive deeper into reviewing the characteristics of the inks in further posts, but I wanted to give an overview of the colors as soon as I could.

The first Series is Cephalopods. This line consists of Bobtail Squid Green, Colossal Squid Dark, Flapjack Octopus Orange, Vampire Squid Red, Blue-Ringed Octopus Blue, Spirula Green, Cuttlefish Brown, and Flying Squid Blue.

The Avian Series consists of Common Loon Black, Shoebill Stork Grey, Roseate Spoonbill Pink, American Goldfinch Yellow, Purple Gallinule Purple, Green Kingfisher Green, Pompadour Cotinga Burgundy, and Indigo Bunting Blue.

I was sent 0.5 ounce bottles of each ink – these are sold for $14.50 in 1.5 ounce bottles at various retailers.

Cephalopods:

Avian:

On Col-o-Ring cards, the only smearing I noticed was from my own clumsiness.

• Above: Cosmo Air Light paper

• Above: Cosmo Air Light paper

I attempted to remove the sticker that was used to close the bag ofCepholapod samples, but my clumsiness showed up again. I did want to show off the wonderful drawing on the sticker, however. Just ignore the fact that it is in pieces…

The Avian Sticker came off in one piece, though!

Cosmo Air Light shows plenty of shading and hints of sheen in Flying Squid, Blue-Ringed Octopus, Vampire Squid, Roseate Spoonbill Pink, and Common Loon Black. Haloing is also showing up in several colors.

• Above: Tomoe River Paper

• Above: Tomoe River Paper

The same five inks sheen on Tomoe River paper as well where the colors are softer and shading is less pronounced.

• Above: Midori MD Light paper

• Above: Midori MD Light paper

I love the depth of these inks on Midori MD Light paper. Vampire Squid sheens quite a bit here and Cuttlefish has a fascinating variety of layers.

As I said above, this is only meant to be a quick teaser of the Anderillium ink lines. In the coming weeks, I will dive deeper into how these inks perform. Don’t forget to check back next week!

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

The post Anderillium Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.