Monteverde Mulberry Noir and L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen: Two Inks Reviewed

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

Today I'm reviewing two inks from two different companies. There's no special reason for combining these particular inks, other than that I love purple and green together. Plus, these inks have been languishing in my queue for awhile.

Monteverde Mulberry Noir

Mulberry Noir is a pinkish purple with good shading and green sheen. I had a difficult time capturing the true color of this ink in my photos and had to enhance the pink tones.

On Rhodia paper, the ink looks fairly flat and not much sheen or shading comes through. The ink did not dry quickly, but this is probably because I was using a large stub nib and had just inked my pen. Later, when I wrote my longer writing sample, the ink was much drier. The ink is not waterproof, but you can see in the water test how the pink tones predominate.

On the Col-o-dex card, the ink displays some shading and lots of green sheen.

Chromatography confirms that Mulberry is primarily composed of pink with a bit of lavender and some turquoise.

Using a ruling pen brings out all the lovely characteristics of Mulberry Noir--shading and a burst of rainbow sheen.

Although the ink flowed well on Rhodia paper, when I did a longer writing sample on MD Paper, it ran much drier. My sense is that the ink is rather dry and might benefit from Vanness White Lightning Ink Additive.

Mulberry Noir is a beautiful purple ink with fantastic sheen and excellent shading (depending on the paper and nib you use).

L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen (Irish Green)

Vert Moyen is a bright spring green.

On Rhodia paper, the ink displays good shading with wider nibs. It dries fairly quickly and is not waterproof.

The Col-o-dex card shows off the shading capabilities of the ink more clearly. There's no sheen to this ink--the splats dried almost black.

Chromatography indicates that Vert Moyen is comprised of light peach, lime green, and turquoise.

A ruling pen allows the ink to pool and shows off its shading characteristics. Vert Moyen is gorgeous with wider nibs.

I used my Sailor Pro Gear Aprés Ski with a fine nib to do my longer writing sample. This wasn't the best choice for Vert Moyen since Sailor fine nibs are really extra fines. Thus, the writing is light and no shading is evident.

Vert Moyen is a beautiful color that reminds me of fresh clover.

You can purchase Monteverde Mulberry Noir from Vanness Pens, 30ml for $18. L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen is also available from Vanness, 30ml for $7.

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

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P.W. Akkerman #28 Hofkwartier Groen Fountain Pen Ink Review

P.W. Akkerman #28 Hofkwartier Groen is my favorite green ink, and it’s not particularly close.

It also falls into the category of products that I love and talk about constantly, but have never reviewed. It’s time to correct that.

Akkerman #28 is a bright green ink, with a healthy dose of yellow undertones. Inks with that color definition don’t always have the best readability on the page, but I’ve never had a problem with this one. It pops off the page, even in my finest nibs.

Of course, a wide, wet nib will show off the feature that this ink is known for most: Shading. It’s subtle when you are writing, but after a few sentences, the range of shades between dark and light begin to appear on the page.

I used a Sailor 21k Medium Fine nib for this review, and the ink performed flawlessly. That’s the thing about all Akkerman inks - they behave perfectly. Good flow, good lubrication, good saturation, good dry time - good all of the things. These inks are right in the middle of all of those ranges, which, in my mind, makes for a great quality, every day use, fountain pen ink.

I think the only question left to ask about any Akkerman ink is does the ink bottle design sway how I feel about the ink itself? Yes. Yes it does. Sure, I could get a similar color ink (say, from Diamine,) in a more traditional bottle shape (like the ones Diamine uses,) at a lower price per ml (around Diamine’s price point,) and be perfectly happy. But have you SEEEEEN this bottle? It makes all the difference in the world.

And Hofkwartier Groen makes all the difference in the world to me in the world of green inks. From a usage standpoint, it is right up there with Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai and Robert Oster Fire on Fire as my most used ink. In fact, I have to actively choose not to use it so other inks get the chance. It’s that good.

At $30 for a 60 ml bottle, Akkerman inks fall on the higher side of ink prices. I find the cost to be completely justifiable for the ink quality, plus the amazing bottle that certainly comes at no small cost. At least that is what I tell myself as the owner of five bottles of this awesome ink.

(I purchased this ink at a pen show a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I probably paid full price for it.)

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Van Dieman's Wilderness Series Ink: Devil's Kitchen Review

Van Dieman's is a totally new ink maker to me, and before I received several sample vials from Vanness to try out, I had never heard of them. It's fascinating now to see so many small ink shops popping up around the world offering so much variety and vitality to the fountain pen ink market. It was tough to pick one to start, so I really just picked one at random and came out with Devil's Kitchen — part of the Wilderness Series.

The Wilderness Series is a collection of ten inks that are, in the words of the creator, inspired by the "majestic, beautiful and ofttimes humbling wonders that await in the Tasmanian wilds." The description of Devil's Kitchen had me itching to try it out in a pen.

The Devil’s kitchen, where The Great Southern Ocean smashes into scattered inlets lining the Eagle Hawk Neck cliff face on the eastern side of the Tasman Peninsular, creating a violent churn and the rich vibrantly cool teal which inspires this colour. Tasmania’s wilderness of this caliber is breath-taking.

With a description like that, I can't decide if I want to try out the ink or plan a trip to Tasmania to see this in person.

Since traveling is a joke right now, I guess my decision is an easy one. Devil's Kitchen is a lovely dark teal with a great deal of green covering up slight hints of blue. There's a good amount of shading, but not so much to be dramatic. It's well-behaved and would look great on business papers and journals alike. Using this ink has been really enjoyable because of the slight amount of drama the murky shading adds to the page.

The ink is dye-based, which makes it more robust than your typical fountain pen inks. Despite that, the ink is still very well lubricated and flows quite nicely. I haven't had any issues with dry starts or scratchy nibs. Even after being capped for a while in a pen that usually has trouble regardless of what ink I'm using, it does just fine starting after being dormant for a few days.

There's no shimmer in this ink, but there's a rare sheen that I've only noticed a couple of times in areas that the ink has a chance to pool up significantly. The sheen is hard to detect, requiring perfect lighting and near impossible conditions — but it's there if the conditions are perfect.

I've really enjoyed using this ink over the past couple of weeks. I didn't expect much because I had never heard of Van Dieman's before, but the name has quickly rocketed to the top of my list. A 30ml bottle costs $12.95 from Vanness, but you can also pick up a small sample vial for under $3 if you're unsure. If, like me, you haven't heard of Van Dieman's yet, make sure to add it to your list when you're next in the mindset to do some ink shopping.

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

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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