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.

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.

Ferris Wheel Press’s newest set is themed around New York – Lights on Broadway, Grand Central Skies, and Central Park Greens.

The three colors are quite eye-catching and bright.

The first color in this set, Grand Central Skies, is a sparkling ink with a base color of a minty green. Private Reserve DC Supershow Green is a close match but lacks the sparkle.

The silver sparkle in Grand Central Skies shows up in writing as well as the ink swatch.

Ferris Wheel Press Grand Central Skies on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

And the sparkle shot on Tomoe River paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Grand Central Skies on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Grand Central Skies on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper. Notice that the sparkle does spread easily on this paper.

The next ink in this set, Central Park Greens, is a bit less saturated than Diamine Light Green but very close. I’ve found it to be perfectly legible on any paper, even with an extra fine nib.

Ferris Wheel Press Central Park Greens on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Central Park Greens on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Central Park Greens on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

The final ink in the New York set is Lights on Broadway. This color is a less saturated version of Diamine Deep Magenta – an eye-searing ink. Lights on Broadway, however, is a gentler pink-purple ink that stays bright but not annoyingly so.

Ferris Wheel Press Lights on Broadway on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Lights on Broadway on Midori MD paper:

Ferris Wheel Press Lights on Broadway on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

While this set does come at a higher price – about $15 for 15mL total (full sized bottles of each are $22 for 38mL) – you do get a chance to try out all three New York inks for the price. If you would like to have a few pen fills of each ink, this is a great way to do so! Be warned, though, that the tiny bottles do not accommodate any pen nib that I know about. You can fill a converter directly from the bottle or use a syringe to fill an eye dropper. For me, the small annoyance is well worth it.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press New York Set appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

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.

Both Seiheki and Yurushiiro come in 40mL glass bottles priced at $28 a bottle bringing the ink to $0.70 per mL – not an inexpensive ink, but far from the $1 per mL of some recent Sailor inks!

As soon as I opened the package, I noticed that the ink looked almost cloudy. Not opaque like pigmented ink, but not as clear as I would expect.

You can see a bit of particulate in the ink – it isn’t sparkling though.

Swatching the inks, it became obvious that the consistency is unusual – there is definitely an opaqueness present. This didn’t translate into an actual thickness of the ink while writing, however.

The first ink I’ll look at here is Kyo-no-oto Seiheki. From the Dromgoole’s site:

“SEIHEKI is a dull blue-green color that would look similar to the daytime sky. ‘Sei’ means blue and ‘heki’ means green-blue stone which originates from ancient times

The color of nature, especially the sky, would stay in the briefest instant. The shorter the time remain, the memory of the color may even be more beautifully remembered. Especially in the middst of the change of the seasons, the color will change every moment. ‘Shogyo-mujo’ is the Japanese word to describe the transience of all phenomena. Many things are impermanent and change with short lives. Those new colors are our message to describe such momentary colors with lyrical images based on traditional Kyoto colors.

*This is a new type of ink combining fine pigments and dyes. The hue changes at the beginning and end of writing.

To realize the special effect, this ink contains small particles of pigment. Please wash the ink feeder and pens completely before you will use other ink with the same pen.”

Seiheki and Yurushiiro are pigment inks, but only a small amount of pigment. While I have inked up pens with each of the inks here today, I have not yet had enough time to report on the writing experience.

Seiheki is a lovely blue-green close to Wearingeul Resurrection with a touch more blue.

On Midori MD paper:

On Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

On the same CAL paper as above, but angled to show a bit of the texture on paper:

And finally on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Tomoe River paper seems to bring out an almost pebbled texture in the swatch of ink.

The second ink in this review is Kyo-no-oto Yurushiiro. Again from the Dromgoole’s site:

“During the Heian Period, there was a color that was not allowed to use except for certain social statuses such as royalty. Safflower red was one of those colors because of its preciousness. ‘YURUSHIIRO’ means ‘allowed color’ for everybody. ‘YURUSHIIRO is a much lighter version of Safflower red. The ink color shade was allowed for every person and was often used for daily life during the Heian period.”

Again, Yurushiiro has the same consistency and comes with the same warning that the ink contains both pigment and dye and that pens should be cleaned out well before refilling with a different ink. In writing, Yurushiiro is close to Pilot Iroshizuku Hana-Ikada (one of the three new inks from Pilot)

On Midori MD paper:

On Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Again the CAL paper but angled to show the color and texture of the ink:

And finally on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Again, the pebbled texture shows up only on the Tomoe River paper.

What do you think of this new type of ink? I’m thrilled to get a chance to play with it for a while and I’ll report back on the writing experience soon!

DISCLAIMER: The ink in this post was provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of this review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: New Kyo-no-oto Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The external packaging for the Taisho inks is almost identical to some of the Taccia inks, perhaps giving hints to the actual ink manufacturer. The bottle contains 40mL of ink and has a small tag attached with space for a tiny swatch of the ink although the paper used for the tag is too absorbent to show the ink color accurately.

The three ink colors I have here are Gentle Green, Smoky Navy, and Opera Rose.

Opera Rose is an interesting color – a bit under saturated terracotta or salmon orange/pink/brown. It shades but not dramatically.

Papier Plume’s 011 ink is a few shades darker than Opera Rose, but the color is a match.

Smoky Navy has some great shading and is a lovely blue-black ink. Occasionally a hint of sheen shows up but only in the swatch.

I had a hard time finding a match to Smoky Navy in my collection. The lightest portion of the swatch is a match with Diamine Prussian Blue, and the darker areas appeared to match Robert Oster Thunderstorm, but the camera brings out much more green in Smoky Navy.

I saved my favorite of the batch for last. Gentle Green. It immediately reminded me of Taccia Sabimidori with the way is wrote blue but dried to a definite green.

When comparing Gentle Green to Sabimidori, though, the colors were further apart than I had imagined. The heavier applications of Sabimidori are close to the color in Gentle Green, but the overall color is quite different. Wearingeul Mad Hatter is a good match.

The first page below is Tomoe River (TR7) paper

Next is Midori MD paper – this paper is cream rather than the white of the other two examples.

Finally, Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper.

Here’s another shot of the Cosmo Air Light paper, turned to catch the sheen in both Gentle Green and Smoky Navy.

Scrolling through the photos of the paper types, you may have noticed how different the Taisho Roman inks appear on each. Gentle Green is the most obvious, but all three colors change between papers. I’ve photographed pairs of notebooks to show how much they can change.

Tomoe River 52gsm is on the left with Cosmo Air Light 83gsm on the right.

Cosmo Air Light 83gsm is on the left with Midori MD on the right. These don’t even look like the same inks.

So which ink and paper combination is your favorite?

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: Taisho Inks, Part 1 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The color is solidly richly cranberry reddish pink with a red wine undertone. While the ink does not appear to sheen, it is a good shader showing a range of tones from red wine to pinky, saucy cranberry jelly.

Surprisingly, I was able to find many similar colors in my ink collection but many are discontinued or pricey. Colorverse Conjecture was part of the Johannes Kelper set, Birmingham Pen Company’s Gerbera Pink is from their previous ink-carnation, Montblans’ Antoine de Saint-Exupery is, well, a limited edition Montblanc ink. Oster Dusty Pink is a bit more purple-y and Ferris Wheel Press Royal Rhubarb is a little more brick reddish. So, if you’re looking for a sweet, tangy cranberry color, Vanness Cranberry Sauce will have you craving seconds.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm 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), James Finniss Serendipity Nib Holder ($79 AUD) with Franklin-Christoph SIG fine nib
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Brush: Silverwhite 1500S Round #2

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 Inkmas Day 2: Vanness Exclusive Cranberry Sauce appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I have recently seen a few store exclusive inks from Wearingeul – Pen Chalet and Cult Pens have each had one. Each ink is named after a Shakespeare play and each has an unusual sparkle color. Twelfth Night has a light blue sparkle within the light rose ink.

The base ink color is close to a light version of Robert Oster Cherry Blossom with plenty of shading while the pink and sparkle are a darker version of Vintage Julia.

On Cosmo Air Light paper, Twelfth Night pops off the page. One note with this paper, however – sparkle on Cosmo Air Light tends to spread across the page.

Tomoe River (TR7) paper also shows the ink popping off the page, but the sparkle stays put. The sparkle also looks a bit lighter.

Finally, Midori MD Light paper shows a slightly toned down sparkle, showing more of the play between the ink and sparkle colors, resulting in an almost purple-ish look in places.

What do you think of the new ink mixture? Have you purchased any other Wearingeul store exclusives?

The post Ink Review: Wearingeul Twelfth Night appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

There are three inks in the set: Glimmering Greige, Chidori Cherry Blossom, and Dearest Navy.

Dearest Navy is a strong blue-black ink with a touch of purple undertone and just a hint of a red sheen occasionally – it is very close to KWZ’s iron gall blue-black (a gentle iron gall).

Hints of the red sheen show up on Midori MD Light paper:

Cosmo Air Light paper shows no sheen at all, and the purple undertones drop out:

Tomoe River paper (TR7) shows the sheen clearly in a swatch and haloing in the writing.

Glimmering Greige is a lovely warm grey with gold sparkle. The base color is close to Kirk-same – Kaweco Smokey Grey was the next close grey I could find in my collection. It isn’t very close.

Glimmering Greige on Midori MD Light – the glimmering portion didn’t show well here.

Cosmo Air Light paper shows the gold sparkle very well and brings out the blue in the ink base. On CAL paper, this ink looks like a cool grey rather than warm.

Tomoe River Paper (TR7) shows the sparkle through the swatch and the writing plus a warmer grey than the CAL paper.

The final ink today is Chidori Cherry Blossom. It seems to be exactly in between Strawberry Macaron and Lady Rose Gold (this one was a limited edition).

Again, the sparkle doesn’t show well on the Midori MD Light paper. The base ink color also comes out very pale.

Cosmo Air Light paper shows plenty of the rose gold sparkle. CAL paper also seems to let go of the sparkle fairly easily – not rubbing off, but rather spreading on the page. I’ve noticed this with other sparkle inks in the past.

Tomoe River (TR7) paper doesn’t spread the sparkle like CAL paper, but it doesn’t show as brightly, either.

Here is an overview of the three inks (plus a bonus ink that I will be reviewing soon) on Midori MD Light paper.

The inks together on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Finally, the inks together on Tomoe River Paper (TR7)

It is interesting how a change in paper can drastically change the base color of an ink. Glimmering Greige is a great example of how Cosmo Air Light paper draws out the blue undertones more than Tomoe River paper:

The three inks colors I’ve shown here today are each $22 for a 38mL bottle (or about $0.58 per mL), a price per mL comparable to Sailor Manyo inks, Montblanc standard line inks, or Diamine Shimmertastic inks. I love the idea of ink collections that celebrate special events of stationery stores and bring attention to retailers that I don’t yet know about! Glimmering Greige is also a unique grey to my collection. Thank you to Ferris Wheel Press for sending these for review!

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 Curious Collaborations: Paper Tree 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.

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