Van Dieman's Midnight Series Bonfire Night Ink Review

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

After a long stretch of not trying any shimmer inks, I've now settled into a pretty extensive phase of almost exclusive shimmer ink usage. 80% of the ~ 6 pens that I have inked right now have some sort of shimmer ink in them. I don't think this will last forever, but it is certainly a fun detour from the normal inks I have in pens most of the time.

The latest shimmer ink on my desk is also from Van Dieman's Midnight Series. This series is made up of eight inks that are inspired from the "dark and sombre hues that come out when the sun has gone away." Bonfire Night is not one that I'd describe as a dark and sombre ink, though. This vibrant red ink is exactly what you expect when you're congregated around a large bonfire in the pitch-black night. It's bright and captivating as the sparks dance and the flames lick at the low sky. This ink does a great job of capturing the dancing flames due to the subtle silver shimmer that hangs out on top of the punchy red/orange ink.

Like other Van Dieman's inks I've tried recently, this is one is well-behaved. It's a well-lubricated ink that dries within 20 seconds most of the time. I noticed that it did manage to bleed through a bit on Rhodia paper when I did an ink swab, but that's an edge case that most people aren't doing often. For normal writing with fountain pens, there's no bleed or feathering. The color stays vibrant and the shimmer does a great job at dispersing evenly as you write. With normal writing, the shimmer effect is much more subtle. If you look closely, you can see it very clearly in a line, but it's the random few bits that catch the light just right that draw your attention in. It's sparkly and delightful — brings a smile to my face every time.

In places where the ink pools, the shimmer stays on top of the ink to create a magical pearlescent sheen once everything has dried. It's really difficult to catch with a photo because of how reflective it is. The shimmer is really good its job: reflecting light.

This is certainly a red ink, but it does have shades or orange in it. Plus, the silver shimmer on top of the ink adds to the orange hues. The small amount of shading that does show through is a great comparison to the red and orange colors seen in a flame.

Washing out this ink is incredibly easy. I was worried about it being difficult due to how shimmery it is when writing, but it was no trouble at all when it was time to clean up. The ink washed out easily and I was done flushing it in less than a minute. As far as inks go, it behaves with the best!

It's not in stock currently, but when it's back in stock you can pick some up for the very reasonable price of $14.95 for 30ml. Of course, you can always pick up a small 4ml sample if you just want to try it out first.

Van Dieman's Bonfire Night is a bright and shimmery ink that really caught my fancy. It doesn't look like much in the bottle — I was worried it would be too thin and unsaturated. But after inking it up and using it for a while, I'm completely sold. It's such a vibrant and pleasing ink due to the warm red and orange tones paired with the silver shimmer that lays on top. Whether or not this shimmer ink phase sticks, this ink will stay in my collection just the amount of enjoyment I get from it.

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

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Laban Greek Mythology Ink in Apollo Orange: 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.)

Laban Ink is made in Taiwan by the Laban Pen Company. This is their first ink series and it is named after five Greek gods from mythology: Poseidon, Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Demeter. Each god represents different characteristics. For example, Apollo represents healing. The color of the ink depicts Apollo as the sun:

I bring light and warmth, The color of the sun — Bold and true.

Apollo Orange is a bright pinkish orange with excellent shading but no sheen.

Chromatography reveals lots of pink, peach, and bright yellow.

On Rhodia Dot Pad paper, the ink offers good saturation and some shading, although in fine nibs the ink is less visible. The ink is wet and takes about a minute to dry if you're using a flex nib or a wide nib. It is not waterproof.

The ink's best character is displayed in wide nibs. You can see beautiful shading and pooling on the MD Cotton Paper with a ruling pen.

For my longer writing sample, I used my Musubi Cosmo Air Light Notebook (reviewed here) and a TWSBI stub nib. The paper definitely brings out the pink tones of the ink, and when you look closely you can see the excellent shading.

Compared with my other orange inks, Laban Apollo Orange is closest to Iroshizuku Yu-Yake, but Apollo is darker. It is not as bright an orange as Scribo Arancio di Sicilia, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. And it is much pinker than TWSBI Orange.

I love wet inks and I was especially pleased at how Apollo Orange behaved in my TWSBI stub nib. It's a beautiful orange reminiscent of a pale sunset.

You can purchase a 50ml bottle of Laban Apollo Orange from Goldspot Pens for $20.00.

(Goldspot Pens provided Laban Apollo Orange to Pen Addict free of charge for review.)

Birmingham Pen Co. Antique Sepia Fountain Pen Ink Review

Better to be late to the party than to never show up, right? That’s how I feel about Birmingham Pen Company. Specifically, their inks.

For years, Birmingham worked with outside vendors to manufacture their products, including what seemed like 100’s of fountain pen inks. As the business grew, brothers Nick and Josh decided to forge their own path, bringing the manufacture of their inks completely ink house.

And the results are stunning.

As someone who loves ink and has (retracted)’s of ink bottles on hand, even I want to try every single formulation Birmingham offers. Just look at the colors!

I’m sure Birmingham would be happy for you to try them all as well. The colors are fun, have character, are packaged nicely, and come in at a more than reasonable price. They are functional in more ways than one, too, as Birmingham has created six different ink formulations to help narrow down your choice from “All of them!” to “Ok, maybe just a few.”

Antique Sepia is defined by Birmingham as a Crisp ink. What does that mean? I’ll let Birmingham explain:

“Crisp Formula inks are designed to maximize range and personality while minimizing characteristics such as feathering and bleeding on variety of premium, mid range, and discount papers.”

To me, that means Crisp inks are the best choice for all around usage. They perform well in all types of nibs and on all types of paper, while providing excellent character in your lines. Antique Sepia is the first Birmingham Ink I’ve tested, and I’d say it matches up to that description perfectly.

On the page, Antique Sepia has a good bit of mossy green mixed in with the traditional brown I’m used to in a sepia ink. In wetter nibs, or with heavier applications (I used a dip nib to color in my ink bottle stamp,) you get a huge range of those two colors, and see a decent amount of shading. The longer you look at it, the wilder it appears.

In the Jowo Extra Fine nib (yes, that’s the Leonardo Momento Zero Mango) I used for the writing sample and line art, you’ll see a smaller range of color, with only slight shading. Performance wise, the ink flowed well and dried quickly. I found it to be just as expected from the definition of the formula.

If there is one issue with Antique Sepia, I’ll refer you back to the beginning of this post: It makes me want to buy more Birmingham inks. I have a couple more in hand already - including an Everlasting formula, which is their pigmented/archival ink - to try out.

I’ll be testing that one out next, and then who knows? If Birmingham Pen Co. keeps making inks, I’ll never be lacking for choice.

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

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