Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Kaweco Smokey Grey Ink Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I’ve been hunting for a beautiful grey ink to put in my new (to me) Montblanc Alexandre Dumas fountain pen. I originally filled the pen with Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun, but I find that ink too watery, especially with an italic nib. As I was going through my list of things to review, up popped Kaweco Smokey Grey ink.

I don’t own many Kaweco inks, so I was interested to see how this one performed in my Dumas. I did my usual ink tests, and found that the ink is light grey with a little bit of shading. Like Fuyu-Syogun, it’s quite wet. Although it’s not waterproof, it held up better than many of the inks I’ve reviewed in my water test.

Chromatography reveals a rather uninteresting spectrum of colors: grey, some dark blue, and a little lavender.

Kaweco Smokey Grey is a flat color. Although it offers some shading, it has no sheen whatsoever.

Compared to Fuyu-Syogun, Kaweco Smokey Grey is what I would call a true grey, whereas Fuyu-Syogun is more of a lavender-grey.

Unfortunately, Kaweco Smokey Grey is not the solution to my grey ink dilemma. I find it boring and much too light for everyday writing. It might work as a nice wash for painting or a background color for other inks.

Next up on my search for the perfect grey ink for my Alexandre Dumas: Kyo-no-oto 05 Aonibi-iro, a blue-grey ink that looks very intriguing.

You can purchase a 30ml bottle of Kaweco Smokey Grey from JetPens for $13.50.

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

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Posted on September 4, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Kaweco, Ink Reviews.

Platinum Citrus Black Ink Review

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

When it comes to yellow inks, I can't say I have much experience. It's not a color that I've been attracted to so far in my ink journey, but it doesn't mean I have anything against it, either. So, when I received a bottle of Platinum Citrus Black to try out, I was intrigued. The color of the ink that's visible through the bottle is very light and mostly transparent. I didn't expect this ink to surprise me as much as it did.

Upon inking up a pen and taking it to paper, the light, highlighter yellow ink was barely visible as I wrote. My impression was, "this is a useless color," but that's when things started to change. I hadn't researched the ink before trying it, and I discovered very quickly that Citrus Black is an iron gall ink that Platinum offers. To my surprise and delight, I watched the highlighter yellow ink transform into a deeper yellow with green tones, followed by an even deeper green/yellow that looked closer to olive. Needless to say, my initial impression was blown away.

*Drying characteristics taken over a 30 second timeframe*

If you've never tried an iron gall ink before, you're missing out. They have a unique characteristic (the iron) that causes the color and shade to change drastically as it dries. In every iron gall ink I try, this trait fascinates and delights me. With Citrus Black, it's no different.

Apart from the obvious color-changing trick, this ink also packs a pretty significant shading characteristic that makes it even more fun to use. Once the ink dries (which is a fairly quick process), you're left with a medium yellow/green/brown color on the page. It's technically an off-black, but it's not nearly dark enough in my mind to qualify for that name. Either way, it's an attractive color both wet and fully dry.

Being an iron gall, it's also very water-resistant if that's something you look for in inks. It's also worth pointing out that iron galls can cause some damage to your pens if left inked and unused for extended periods of time, but just make sure you clean it out after a month to ensure your pen keeps functioning as expected.

If there's one downside to this ink, it's the fact that the wet ink is just so darn difficult to see while writing. It really is a shade similar to highlighter, which makes it nearly illegible when wet. After about five seconds, that problem no longer presents, but it can be difficult if you're trying to keep your handwriting steady and legible. It's almost like writing with invisible ink.

Platinum Citrus Black, and all of the Platinum Classic Inks, are available in 60ml bottles for $25 at JetPens. The price is a bit higher than what you might normally expect, but it's a large bottle and a fascinating ink wholly worth the extra couple of dollars.

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

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Platinum, Ink Reviews.

Monteverde Canyon Rust Ink: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Canyon Rust is one of the many new inks Monteverde is producing. It is a rich red/brown that definitely reminds me of canyons—Caprock Canyons in particular.

I compared Canyon Rust with a few other browns in my ink collection. I expected it to be a close match to Diamine Ancient Copper, but the Diamine is much darker. Iroshizuku Tsukushi is more of a cool red/brown, Montblanc Toffee is a dark brown, and Kyo-Iro Moonlight, but is much lighter than Canyon Rust.

I tested the ink with my Pelikan M600 Grand Place which has a medium italic nib. The ink flowed well and is quite wet on Maruman Septcouleur paper. In the medium italic, it showed some good shading, but no sheen (but see below). It is not waterproof.

The chromatography shows that the ink contains pink, light orange, dark orange, and brown shades.

I also tested the ink with my Handwritmic Pen. Boy, does a wide nib show off the shading and dark green/brown sheen of this ink.

Monteverde’s inks claim to have lubricating properties (see more on that here). I’ve certainly not had any problems with their inks in my pens. If you’ve had trouble with Diamine Ancient Copper gooping up your nibs, you might give Monteverde Canyon Rust a try.