Thank you to Dromgoole’s for letting me review this set and feel like I can be part of the cool crowd.

I never did have those markers. Either I was too old when they were introduced to the market or I wasn’t cool enough – I’m not sure. However, now I can relive that disappointment with a new set from Monteverde – Color Changing Inks.

The set comes in a nice magnetically closing box that looks great on a bookshelf, saving you space in your ink drawer. It consists of 9 colorful inks and one clear color changer bottle.

The color changer ink is a bit thicker than normal inks but has little to no odor and leaves no trace of a mark on paper.

I decided to start with filling up a few Kakimori refillable felt tip pens, but I swatched the following cards as I normally do – paintbrush and a dip pen.

This part was so fun! Each color changes differently with the addition of the color changer ink. Some, like the black and brown, change rather slowly and can take several minutes to fully change. Others, especially the Green and Blue, change as soon as the color changer touches them.

I learned through trial and error that you should let the first ink totally dry before adding the color changing ink. Also, be careful if you go back over your clear ink with a second coat as it can spread.

The color changer ink acts almost like a bleach pen, but not as harsh to the paper.

You can see in the swatch below that the color changer pushed slightly to the edges of the heavier swatch. A fun effect to watch.

As a graduate from Virginia Tech, I deeply appreciate the Burgundy to Orange color since it is the school color combination.

You can see a dark version of the color changed pink haloing the entire swatch of the Dark Blue ink below – almost like the deep blue portion shrank back to reveal the color underneath.

The Fuchsia ink was nearly bleached to white with the color changing ink, but the ink itself feathered quite a bit in the swatch below – Cosmo Air Light paper.

The Pink that came from the color changing ink on Green ink is a unique combination – the pink comes through as rather dark at first but lightens over time.

I also loved the Purple to Yellow combination – a very dark ink that lightens dramatically to Yellow.

The Red ink seemed to be closer to orange than actual red.

You can see on a few of these swatch cards that some colors performed poorly in the feathering department, although this is not enough for me to not use the ink.

Below is the Monteverde Color Changing lineup on Midori MD paper:

The Monteverde Color Changing lineup on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Finally, the Monteverde Color Changing lineup on Cosmo Air Light paper:

The set as I have shown it is available at retailers who carry Monteverde inks for $124 or $13 per ink bottle and $7 per bottle of color changer.

Which color duo is your favorite combination?

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items in this review were provided at a discounted rate for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Monteverde Color Changing Ink Set appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Frankly Walnut looks reddish brown on Col-o-ring paper but on Tomoe River it looks almost purply. Fascinating.

When compared with other brown inks, many Robert Oster were similar but different. Robert Oster Chocolate is probably the closest but is a bit more red orange in undertones where Frankly Walnut is a little more reddish in undertone.

Everyone looks for different characteristics in a brown ink: some prefer cool browns, others a warmer brown. Some want a more orangey color, or lighter or darker shades. Some might want a brown closer to black. Frankly Walnut provides a new option in the ever-growing rainbow of browns.

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

The post Ink Preview: Robert Oster Frankly Walnut (Federalist Pens Exclusive) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

My favorite feature of the Penlux line is the boxes. Each box is cut from a single piece of cardstock and folded in such a way that no glue is necessary.

Ok, I was wrong. My favorite feature of the Penlux ink line is the colors. They are fabulous! The three inks I have here are in the vintage line of the Mo inks.

Penlux Mo Pine is incredibly close to Sailor Rikyu-cha. to the point that it seems likely that Penlux may have been utilizing Sailor’s ink manufacturing skills when producing Pine.

I also love the changes in Pine on various papers. Tomoe River paper brings out a subtle coppery sheen.

Penlux Mo Pine on Tomoe River (TR7) 52 gsm paper:

Midori MD paper shows off the yellow and brown undertones.

Penlux Mo Pine on Midori MD paper:

Pine looks like a completely different ink on Cosmo Air Light paper. The shading here is amazing.

Penlux Mo Pine on Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper:

Penlux Mo Amber has a lovely combination of rusty orange and brown, again with plenty of shading.

The shading seems more pronounced on Tomoe River paper with a hint of greenish sheen.

Penlux Mo Amber on Tomoe River (TR7) 52 gsm paper:

Midori MD paper has shading but some of the depth of the color is flattened out.

Penlux Mo Amber on Midori MD paper:

On Cosmo Air Light paper, I saw a touch of feathering in some of the writing. Here, the ink looks a bit dusty as well.

Penlux Mo Amber on Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper:

Penlux Mo Rouge is not a color I usually reach for. But as part of the set of vintage colors, I couldn’t pass it up.

Tomoe River paper shows more of the blue undertones for a burgundy ink with green-gold sheen.

Penlux Mo Rouge on Tomoe River (TR7) 52 gsm paper:

On Midori MD paper, Rouge has a dusty and faded appearance.

Penlux Mo Rouge on Midori MD paper:

The change in Rouge on Cosmo Air Light paper is dramatic – the blue undertones dominate the color for more of a grape purple.

Penlux Mo Rouge on Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper:

Do you have a favorite from this trio of inks? Have you found rare or beloved inks in strange locations?

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: PenLux Mo Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Tinterias is a Spanish language podcast run by Jeffrey Coleman who is a professor at Northwestern University who also seems to have excellent taste in ink. He teamed up with Sailor to create a group of exclusive inks – Spicy Chipotle, Homemade Tortilla, Blue Corn, and Agave. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get to the Tinterias table, they were sold out of one bottle, Spicy Chipotle, but that only means I have one more bottle to hunt down…

The first ink is Homemade Tortilla. This is a beautiful golden brown ink that shades dramatically and is very close to KWZ Honey with a touch less yellow in the mix.

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Midori MD paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Midori Cotton paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Homemade Tortilla on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

The next ink is Blue Corn, a deep blackberry purple. I love how well this ink matches the actual color of blue corn – although I don’t think blue corn sheens at all. I could be wrong, though. Blue Corn is a touch bluer than Robert Oster Claret, but it is close and it is a few shades lighter than Vinta Ubi Mulberry.

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Midori MD paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Midori Cotton paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Blue Corn on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

The last ink today (due to being too slow on Spicy Chipotle), is Agave. Agave is a wonderful blue-grey ink that could be classified as a light blue-black ink. It is close to Wearingeul Mature but is better at shading and is slightly darker than Akkerman Koninginne Nach Blauw.

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Midori MD paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Midori Cotton paper:

Sailor x Tinterias Agave on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

I’ve been enjoying these three inks thoroughly since picking them up. Homemade Tortilla and Agave shade gorgeously! I played around with Agave and a Sailor Fude nib for a while – not artistically, but it was fun seeing what the color can do!

I highly recommend all three inks I’ve shown here today. You can find them on the Tinterias podcast website where they are listed for $30 each (although both Homemade Tortilla and Spicy Chipotle are sold out currently) – I did not find shipping costs, however. The square glass bottles are 50mL each, so you’ll have plenty to play with as well, and at $0.60/mL, these inks are very well-priced for Sailor!

The post Ink Review: Sailor x Tinterias Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

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.

Oyster Hour, Steeped Umber, and Spruce County Post feel like perfect fall colors in my state – we don’t get many colors in autumn, but we do have plenty of cozy fires and hot chocolate that I can imagine with Steeped Umber:

And there are more than a few evergreen trees, the color of Spruce County Post:

Oyster Hour (we have no oysters here) brings to mind the leaves that are already heaping up here. I personally love crunching them outside:

I’m very ready for cold fall nights that will soon lead to snow.

The three inks in this fall lineup have a flow that is a bit on the dry side but that isn’t bothersome. They contain no glitter and I saw no bleeding or feathering.

Oyster Hour is a fascinating color – darker and less pink than Sailor Studio 273, a bit more yellow than ColorVerse Soul. Even on the slightly yellow MD Light Paper, it was completely legible and it looks even better on Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light paper.

Steeped Umber looks reddish on Midori MD Light paper but Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light paper flatten out the color to a more neutral brown. The change between paper works differently on the Spruce County Post ink. Midori MD Light shows a slightly unsaturated, dusty forest green, Tomoe River paper shows a much darker green that appears a bit bluer, and Cosmo Air Light paper shows dark haloing and a greyish-blue tone in heavy swabs.

Midori MD Light paper:

Tomoe River paper (TR7):

Cosmo Air Light paper:

Oyster Hour, Steeped Umber, and Spruce County Post can be found at retailers that carry Ferris Wheel Press inks for $22 for a 38 mL bottle or $16 for the charger set with 5mL of each ink.

Do you have a favorite color?

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 Fall Collection 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.

These inks are still a bit hard to find although I have been assured that more retailers will be carrying Monarca but the ink has not yet arrived. In the meantime, you can find this ink at Dromgoole’s.

The first ink today is Arena Blanca. This is a strange color, somewhere between brown, orange, and gold. Arena Blanca shades beautifully and in large swatches, it shows a peach halo. I didn’t have a great match for it. Krishna Oak is close in color but can’t compare in the shading category.

Nopal is a pleasant yellowish-green – a medium avocado green that shades from light green to very dark, almost black, at its darkest. This darkest green shows up as a halo when writing as well.

The third ink today is Manglar. This one is a bit wetter in writing, as seen with a few blobbish letters from my dip pen. The closest color I had was Robert Oster Graphite – Manglar isn’t quite green and isn’t quite gray. The shading is beautiful, however. It reminds me of storm clouds in Kansas – the kind that could turn into a tornado at any minute! This is a perfect office ink that is still interesting enough to be fun.

And here we have all three inks together! They are strange colors to be in the first round from a new brand, but I do find them a refreshing change from the normal first colors. The three I’ve shown here today are wonderfully earthy and all amazing shaders.

These are the same photos from Part 1 on Tomoe River (top) and Cosmo Air Light (bottom) papers. I love how Arena Blanca changes between the two paper types. I love finding inks that surprise me every time I write.

Don’t forget that each bottle of Monarca is accompanied by a holder for the ink complete with a cutout for a pen rest!

The cost of Monarca inks varies from $20 to $29 for 30mL (and a pen rest), bringing the ink to $0.67 to $1 per mL. While still not as expensive as some specialty inks, the price is on the higher end. However, the color and quality of the ink will not disappoint!

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Monarca Part 2 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I’m starting with the first three inks: Cielo Cruel, Rey Jaguar, and Tierra Colorada.

According to their packaging, the colors chosen by Monarca were inspired by Mexico. The first ink today, Cielo Cruel, represents a cloudless day that will bring no rain – a “cruel sky”. Cielo Cruel is a rich, shading medium blue that leans toards the purple end of the color. It is in the same group of colors that include many blue-black inks but a few shades lighter.

The second ink today is Tierra Colorada, referencing the red soil of Northern Mexico. Every time I’ve written this out, I need to force myself not to spell out Colorado instead! Tierra Colorada is a bit lighter than Monteverde Canyon Rust and is a good shading ink. The reddish brown ink is subtly different from most office inks but would still be appropriate in a professional setting.

Monarca Rey Jaguar is the last ink I’ll be covering in this post. This is a special edition ink, named in reference to the King Jaguar, is a a run of only 600 bottles and Monarca states that a significant portion of the profits from Rey Jaguar will go to habitat restoration campaigns.

Rey Jaguar is a lovely shading golden brown ink with gold sparkle. It is a bit more saturated than Callifolio Yalumba and lighter than Diamine Golden Brown. The sparkle in the ink fell out of suspension a bit quicker than I expected, but didn’t need much aggitation to resuspend. The flow was a bit on the wet side – a pleasant change from sparkle inks that tend to run dry. My dip nib was the issue with the blob on my card below!

The sparkle in Rey Jaguar is bright when it catches the light. This swatch is shown on Tomoe River paper:

This swatch is on Cosmo Air Light paper.

Although I’ve only covered three inks today, I’ve included all nine Monarca inks, first on Tomoe River paper:

And again on Cosmo Air Light paper.:

In order to see the difference in color, shading, and texture between the two paper types, here is a photo of Monarca inks on both Cosmo Air Light paper (left) and Tomoe River paper (right).

There is a little surprise Monarca includes with each ink . Each bottle is packaged with it’s own wooden bottle holder/pen rest. A small bit of foam has been attached to the inside of the bottle holder so it keeps the bottle held securely – I was able to lift both the holder and bottle out of the box together. I appreciate this innovative detail that makes the packaging useful!

The cost of Monarca inks varies from $20 to $29 for 30mL (and a pen rest), bringing the ink to $0.67 to $1 per mL. While still not as expensive as some specialty inks, the price is on the higher end. However, the color and quality of the ink will not disappoint!

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Monarca Part 1 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Cult Pens is an amazing store located in Great Britain with a huge selection of inks, pens, paper, storage containers – everything to delight a fountain pen user. Cult Pens recently celebrated a big anniversary – 16 years. To celebrate this event, they released a new line of inks that are made by Diamine and expanded another line of highly sheening inks (the inks are each named after Cult Pens staff members). While ordering, I found that they had also received new Sailor inks exclusive to their store.

The three inks are Nori, Suiseki, and Momiji. The boxes are labeled on the side with Green, Brown, and Yellow. Helpful.

The ink is available at Cult Pens for $27.95 for a 50mL bottle – just a bit more than $0.50 per mL. Quite reasonable pricing for Sailor inks lately! Free shipping to the US is available with a $135 spend and shipping is available to anywhere.

The three inks all behave like the Sailor Manyo inks although I did find the brown (Suiseki) to be a bit on the dry side. I wouldn’t classify it as a dry ink, but it was different than the other two inks.

The first ink is Nori – seaweed. This color is closest to Sailor Epinard (Spinich) but a bit softer. Maybe the word should be dustier? Even in writing, the color is soft – a bit less saturated – giving it a vintage feel.

Suiseki is the word for small landscape rocks – meaning rocks that look like a natural landscape in and of themselves. (I’m not a translator and cannot speak or read Japanese but I can use Google and this color is supposed to be rock color). Kobe #40 is very close but doesn’t shade as nicely. It is a soft greyish-brown with a hint of peach.

Sailor Momiji (a Japanese maple tree) is a honey gold color with beautiful shading. It is closest to Robert Oster African Gold but a bit darker – less of a green undertone than KWZ Honey. With the steel nib I used for the swatch, the writing varied from medium gold to dark brown.

I was surprised by these colors – they don’t seem to fit in with current ink trends which seem to be towards multi-chromatic or color-shifting inks. These are, however, color groups that do not have many options already available. When the group of three is seen together, there is a calm tone – nature in ink.

The first swatches below are on Tomoe River paper:

And then again on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Finally, Tomoe River paper on the left and Cosmo Air Light paper on the right. Suiseki shows the most change between the two papers. Nori looks so much softer on the CAL paper!

I’m very happy I found this trio and I’ll be presenting more Cult Pens exclusive inks in the near future. Do you have a favorite store-exclusive ink?

The post Ink Review: Sailor inks exclusive to Cult Pens appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.