Pennonia Vattacukor Cotton Candy Fountain Pen Ink Review

Pennonia is an ink brand born in Romania, and still based there, with the owner, founder, and ink maker - Máté Bikfalvi - currently residing in Hungary. Make sense? It doesn’t have to. What you need know is this: I really like the first bottle I’ve tried.

I chose Vattacukor, which is Hungarian for cotton candy, and learned something interesting along the way. When growing up, Máté had only ever seen white cotton candy, only discovering the pink variety from watching the Cartoon Network as a kid. How cool is that for an ink name origin story?

Vattacukor is on the darker side of standard pink shades, but doesn’t cross over into the Magenta/Hot/Purple shades that I am so fond of (see Akkerman #12 Mauritshuis Magenta.) This is a pink with a hint of red, but not enough to take it over. It’s a great writing color, which to me means it is easy to read.

On top of that, there is some decent shading going on with Vattacukor. If you look at my writing with the TWSBI 1.1 mm stub, you can see a good top half/bottom half color differentiation in the letters. It looks fantastic, and would make a great letter writing ink - if I wrote letters.

Since this is my first Pennonia ink I can’t compare Cotton Candy to the rest of the lineup, but I will say this ink leans towards the dry side. It could be because red/orange/yellow inks tend to lean that way from the jump, or it is part of the formulation. Either way, if you have a preference for wet, lubricated inks, this wouldn’t be a great choice for you. Otherwise, that hint of dryness does lead to a quick dry time, and it is definitely wet enough to not cause any issues when writing.

The ink bottle and packaging are simple but effective. Pennonia uses 50 ml amber glass pharmacy-type bottles, giving you good stability in the base, and a wide opening for filling any pen type you wish. The bottle also uses a label printed on a white Claiefontaine 60 gsm paper, making the the small swab on the front reasonably color accurate. These bottles are perfect across the board for me.

And finally, the price. $13 for a $50 ml bottle is almost impossible to beat. Not only do you get a great ink, you also support a small maker with a dream. That combination is hard to beat in my book.

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

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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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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!

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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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!