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

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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.

I appreciate that Sailor has been adding more inks to this line on a regular basis and that Manyo inks are a North America-only release. It seems to make up just a tiny bit for the hundreds of inks that are only available in Japan.

The four Manyo inks in this review were recently received by retailers. All four – Koke, Fuji, Ayame, and Hinoki – are described as dual-shading inks by Sailor; they could also fall under the popular term magic inks or multi-chromatic inks.

First up today is Sailor Fuji. This is a dusky purple with grey and blue shading and reminds me of clouds that are lining up to cause major destruction.

Sailor Koke is next, a dark teal with grey, green, and blue showing up in the layered ink. While Koke is very close in color to Sailor 341, Koke has greater depth to the shading and is a touch greener.

Sailor Ayame reminded me of Sailor 123 when I first used it, but it is much darker (and easier to read). The color is closer to Sailor 224 but in Ayame, the tones are more dramatic, swinging from grey to green to purple with a halo of dark green that looks nearly black.

Finally, there is Sailor Hinoki. While it looks close to Ayame, Hinoki is much bluer, shading in grey and purple with just a touch of green in the background. It is similar to Van Dieman’s Morning Frost but Hinoki is slightly darker.

Since Sailor recently released their amazing multi-shading inks (in 20mL bottles), it may help to show these Manyo inks in comparison. Manyo Ayame is darker than Itezora, but close in the mix of colors. Ayame also shows a darker halo in the swatch.

Sailor Manyo Hinoki and Manyo Fuji are similar to Kangyou and Kyokkou in color. The Manyo inks do not show as much color variation, but they are easier to read.

Sailor Manyo Koke didn’t have a good equivalent in the “magic” ink lineup

For those who need more quantity than the 20mL Sailor “magic” inks, the Manyo dual-shading release is a great alternative.

I had a great time playing with these four inks on various paper types. First is Tomoe River paper (old stock). On Tomoe River paper, these look even closer to the “magic” Sailor inks.

The next paper type is Cosmo Air Light paper. Some of the dual-shading quality disappears, but the colors are crisper and darker.

On Midori MD Light paper, Fuji almost glows while the remaining three inks show quite a bit of the dual-shading property.

Typically, the above three paper types are the paper I use in ink reviews. This time I thought it would be interesting to see how Bank paper took the dual-shading Manyo inks. I thought it would be similar to the other paper types. I was wrong.

Where did all of this green come from?? All swatches were done with the same paintbrush and dip pen. One after another. But when the ink touched Bank paper, the result was not the same color at all.

I am also including two comparison photos so the color differences are easier to see. Hinoki and Ayame are quite different colors on Midori MD Light and Cosmo Air Light.

Hinoki on Cosmo Air Light paper versus Tomoe River paper (on the right) is again dramatically different. All four inks look softer on Tomoe River paper while Cosmo Air Light paper shows crisper lines and darker colors.

I will again say that I am a huge fan of Sailor Manyo inks. The newest four dual-shading inks are a fabulous addition to the lineup and I highly recommend them along with all Manyo inks.

DISCLAIMER: The 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: Newest Sailor Manyo appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I purchased my bottle from Yoseka Stationary where it is listed as $20 for 25mL because I couldn’t resist the color combination in Autumn Forest.

While the description of Autumn Forest calls the ink base “dark green”, I would describe the ink as a dark brown-grey.

The pearl sparkle in Autumn Forest is red and looks striking against the dark ink.

The writing sample below is on Midori MD light paper.

I started this writing sample immediately after I inked up the pen in order to best show the sparkle.

I then waited for a full week with the ink sitting in the pen. I began the second writing session with the words “I typically…” in the photo below. The pen did not have a problem starting, but the ink color was noticeably lighter and the sparkle took time to show up.

When the sparkle in Autumn Forest can be seen, it is dramatic!

There was no bleeding or feathering on the Midori MD light paper.

Comparing the color of Autumn Forest to other inks is difficult. Shifting the angle of the page brings out new colors every time. In one type of light, the base ink looks grey with strong blue undertones.

The color of the sparkle is close to the ink color in Diamine Frosted Orchid while the mixture of the ink and sparkle resembles Sailor 252.

The overall look of the ink is close to that of Krishna Pencil – at least, the first batch of Pencil.

But overall, Autumn Forest is a unique color combination. Below, the ink on Tomoe River paper looks grey and blue. There was no problem with feathering or bleed-through.

The pearl sparkle almost takes the role of sheen!

On Cosmo Air Light paper, the blue undertones of Autumn Forest almost disappear. Again, there was no feathering or bleed-through.

I am happy I’ve purchased an entire bottle of Autumn Forest and I look forward to seeing how the ink and sparkle act over a longer period of time.

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

The post Ink Review: Dominant Industries Autumn Forest 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.

Lakambini has a base layer close to Sailor Peache with pink sparkle.

Vinta Pangtangi was a difficult color to match – in certain lights, it looks very close to ColorVerse Anti-Matter Glistening or even Mermaid from Dream Ink. But the base ink color is absolutely closest to Bookbinders Ground Rattler with gold sparkle on top.

Vinta Saysay may be the darkest sparkling ink that I have seen in a while. It is a blue-based black with silvery-blue sparkle.

Vinta Salimbay is a wonderful blue-purple complete with multi-chromatic shading and purple sparkle.

Last in the Fairytale line is Lakbay – a light ocean blue with pink-copper sparkle.

On Tomoe River paper, the Fairytale inks are beautiful at any angle:

But the five inks are amazing when the light hits them just right:

Cosmo Air Light paper shows the Fairytale inks differently:

I love the color combinations in these five inks – especially Salimbay and Lakbay. The sparkle in the Fairytale inks can spread from the ink to other surfaces – hands, paper, blotting paper, face. However, I do believe sparkle is extremely under-represented in everyday life, so that’s not a negative!

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 Vinta Fairytale Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Now on to show the ink I’m actually reviewing!

Scribo Cannella recently came to my attention when I ordered a sample from Vanness. Cannella is a wonderful light caramel, golden brown ink that has huge shading potential.

Cannella is darker than Robert Oster Honey Bee or Van Dieman’s Peanut Brittle. Close to Jacques Herbin Ambre de Baltique (much better behaved than Ambre, though).

Below is a writing sample on Tomoe River paper – the shading is great even in this extra fine nib.

In heavy drops, Cannella is a deep brown and golden brown.

No true sheen. The shading is fabulous.

Scribo packages their ink in heavy bottles that contain 90mL of ink for $35 ($0.39 per mL). You can also pick up a sample at Vanness priced at $3.10 for 4mL. The price is a good deal – ink and a paperweight in one! The price per mL is low for the quality of the ink, but the quantity of ink may deter some. However, if you find a Scribo color that you love, grab a bottle! But be careful not to drop it on your toes!

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

The post Ink Review: Scribo Cannella appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Vinta Parol is a deep green with blue undertones, bright reddish-purple sheen and gold glitter. It almost reminds me of Emerald of Chivor but the underlying ink color (if you can see it!) is not as blue as Emerald.

The photo below is the same card as shown above – this is a very directional sheen.

Vinta Carol is a deep red with a green-gold sheen and gold sparkle. It is a bit calmer than Parol but is quite flashy.

Parol is quite close to Diamine Holly from the 2019 Inkvent calendar with added sparkle.

Cinta Carol is quite close to Sailor Virginia with added sparkle.

With such flashy, sparkly ink, I decided Pilot Parallel pens were the way to go! I used a 6mm nib for Carol and a 3.8mm nib for Parol.

This photo is Cosmo Air Light paper:

This is Tomoe River paper:

Cosmo Air Light paper, tilted to show sheen and sparkle:

Tomoe River paper tilted to show sheen and sparkle:

The next two images are my favorite up close photos on Cosmo Air Light paper.

The purple sheen is my favorite!

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

The post Ink Review: Vinta Holiday Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Forest Green is a bit misnamed. I picture forest green as much darker, dustier. TWSBI’s take on forest green is a bright emerald green.

Forest Green fits right in with the standard green from several other lines – Lamy, Aurora, Monteverde, and Rohrer & Klingner are close matches.

The shading from Forest Green is great. I’ve used a medium nib from Narwhal for my writing samples and it produced the shading you see below.

Sheen! The best kind of sheen in my book – it only shows up occasionally and is never overwhelming. I’ve also never had smearing issues with this level of sheen.

As I showed with TWSBI Purple last week, the bottles are beautiful. They are made of thick, frosted glass and feel heavy for their size. Every bottle is clearly marked with the color and name.

I’ve included all five new TWSBI colors swatched on Tomoe River paper:

And on Cosmo Air Light paper:

The finish of Forest Green on the two paper types is quite different. Cosmo Air Light paper shows the ink as a bit chalky or dusty.

The entire set of new TWSBI inks can be purchased at most ink retailers. Even with the small bottle size, I’m glad I purchased a full bottle of Forest Green – a great standard green that looks even better with the shading and sheen.

DISCLAIMER: The items in this review were purchased by me and I was not compensated for writing this review. See our About page for more information

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