De Atramentis Black Edition Green Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

De Atramentis, the German ink company comprised of Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen, is an ink brand that I'm getting more accustomed with. As I try more of their inks, I've found a lot that I like, as well as things I don't care for. In the case of Black Edition Green, I came away a bit disappointed with the color and behavior of the ink. But, as they say, you can't win them all.

From looking at the name of the ink, I was expecting a rich, deep ink that had hints of green hidden away under a black shroud. Instead, the ink looks like a medium gray-green. It's not a bad color, I just don't think the name matches up with the actual ink color. The green is definitely there, but the black is pretty light. It's an interesting color, for sure, but not what I was expecting.

The next thing I noticed about the ink was how quickly it soaks into the paper when writing. In the 1.1 mm Monteverde stub nib, it felt a bit dry, but some papers soaked up the ink like a sponge, while others behaved normally. This probably has something to do with the coatings on different papers. For example, the ink did great on Rhodia and Clairefontaine, but looked terrible on Baron Fig paper. On the latter, the ink had zero shading and a bland gray-green hue that didn't look very attractive. Overall, the saturation of this ink is on the low side.

On the plus side, there's a fair amount of shading if you're using the right paper. It shades between a dark green and a lighter gray-green, but it's not dramatic. It's business friendly, especially in finer nibs.

Dry time is somewhere in the 15-second range, depending on the nib and paper. This is fairly standard and positive as far as drying times go for most inks.

I didn't detect any amount of feathering in my testing, with only minimal cases on cheap copy paper. It does an excellent job in that department. Show-through was also minimal, which is pretty impressive for a darker and somewhat wet ink like this one.

Like I mentioned before, I'm not sure what to make of the lubrication qualities in this ink. The pens I've tested with this ink do fine, but they feel slightly less smooth. And, there's the tendency for the ink to soak in on uncoated papers, which is something you need to keep in mind if that's primarily what you use. If I used Baron Fig exclusively with this ink, I would be disappointed. This isn't a knock on Baron Fig — most of my inks perform great on their paper. This has something to do with the formula of this particular ink.

When it comes down to it, it's difficult to recommend De Atramentis Black Edition Green. Dark greens are plentiful, and I can think of 5 inks from memory I'd rather use than this one, let alone if I went ink shopping. Given the price of the De Atramentis inks (about $15 per 35ml bottle), I'd suggest looking at some of the options that Diamine offers as a start. After that, most ink brands have a dark green or gray-green that looks great and performs well.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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De Atrementis Red Roses Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The De Atramentis ink brand is made solely by the one and only Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen in Germany. I've tried a few inks from De Atramentis over the years, and I've always been impressed by how they behave and act on the page. I was recently rummaging around the ink shelf when I found an old test vial from Goulet Pens that I had never inked up: Red Roses. Being that Valentines Day is right around the corner, I decided to give it a shot.

Red Roses is a reddish pink ink that flows beautifully in all three pens I've used it with. On some papers, it shows up more pink than the Rhodia I used in this example, but it's a beautiful color either way. One thing is for sure: this ink is not meant to be subtle. It pops off the page like tiny flowery explosions. Oh, and it has a strong scent of roses, which I both enjoy and dislike. More on that in a bit.

Hands down, my favorite part of this ink is the shading. It swings back and forth between a medium dark pink and lighter, more neon pink in some places. It's a delightful color that brings a smile to your face. Someone opening a letter that was composed with this ink will be greeted by a lovely scent and the exciting color that grabs your eyes and gently refuses to let go. In this 1.1mm stub nib, it really shows off the shading qualities, but it shades pretty nicely in smaller nibs as well. But, like most inks that shade well, I really recommend using this ink in a larger nib size.

Something that really surprised me about this ink is how fast it dries. I'm not well-versed in the world of pink and purple inks, but I had an assumption that this ink would take around 20 seconds to completely dry. I was completely wrong. In most cases, the ink is dry in about 10-15 seconds in this 1.1mm stub nib. In a medium nib, it dries consistently in under 10 seconds. This is phenomenal for any ink. 10 seconds is a hard number to break, but it does it somehow.

The flow and lubrication of the ink is right where I like it: the middle. It's lubricated and wet enough to make scratchy nibs feel a bit smoother, but not too wet to cause issues with the paper. Again, for how quickly this ink dries, I'm shocked by how well it flows.

Being a fairly saturated ink, there is some show-through on most papers. On the sheet of Rhodia I used here, it's almost unusable on the back side of the sheet. For other thinner papers, this will only be worse. Still, it doesn't present any real problems apart from making it a bit difficult to read if you write on both sides of the page. Bleeding is non-existent.

Like I just mentioned, it's a very saturated ink, so cleaning can take some time to properly remove all the little particles. Still, it's not difficult to clean in any sense.

Now, the scent of this ink catches me on two different opinions depending on what I happen to smell. I don't know why this happens, but sometimes I smell lovely roses, and other times I smell baby wipes. I have no explanation. There's nothing in our house that smells anything like baby wipes, so I'm sure it's not a non-ink scent. Still, it hits me one out of three times when I smell the ink, and I'm not sure I like it. Overall, the roses smell really nice when that's what I smell. I prefer the smell of roses that the J. Herbin rose ink exhibits, but the color of this Red Roses ink is much better.

Finally, the price of this ink is a bit high, but that's not unusual for a scented ink. At fifteen bucks for a 35ml bottle, I'd recommend trying a sample before committing to the entire bottle. While you're at it, try several other De Atramentis inks! They're fantastic inks, and ink samples are more fun if you buy more at a time.

Red Roses is a fantastic pink ink that looks stunning on the page and adds a delightful scent (mostly) to go along with the passionate color. It behaves well, dries extremely quickly, and is bound to put a smile on the face of the reader. Just in time for Valentines Day!

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De Atramentis Black Edition Black-Brown Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

To be honest, I didn't know brown-black inks were a thing until one showed up in the January Ink Drop shipment. I wasn't excited about it because brown is usually associated with drab and boring. It ended up being the last one I tried in the group, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the ink.

The ink in question is the De Atramentis Black Edition Black-Brown. Long name, right? Let's break it down. The maker is De Atramentis — German. This ink belongs in a special edition (Black Edition) that come in a black glass bottle to keep the light from affecting the ink. Finally, black-brown is the color.

How do you make a brown ink non-boring? You add shading properties to it. Now, there isn't a ton of shading going on here, but it's enough to add a lot of interest to the ink as you're writing. Also, the hue of the ink is a really pleasant color. It's a warm, calm brown. It's dark enough to be inconspicuous, but has just enough character to attract attention from the more detail-oriented eye.

Another lovely quality is the lubrication. This ink is smooth. My Monteverde Artista is a smooth pen to begin with, but this ink makes it feel like the nib's had a new polish. The feel of the ink is very pleasing.

Strangely, the ink does has a smell when writing. I can't quite place the smell because my sense of smell is atrocious, but it reminds me of crayons and watercolors. It's not a bad smell, but it makes me think of art supplies and art class.

The ink is easy to clean out of the pen, which is always a nice bonus and something I've been more aware of after trying J. Herbin's Rouge Hematite.

I don't normally do this, but I was curious as to the water resistant nature of this ink, so I did a drip test. It actually did really well for being a colored ink. I guess that is thanks to the black in the ink that makes it more permanent. I can't say anything about the archival properties of the ink, but I would assume it's better than average compared to other brown inks.

If you're interested in a dark brown ink that has some unique characteristics, definitely give this one a try. I know I was certainly surprised by how much I liked it.