Pennonia Vattacukor Fountain Pen Ink Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Romanian ink brand Pennonia is making a big splash in the pen world with its lovely colors and fun formulas. I was excited to try them for the first time with this bottle of Cotton Candy ink.

The ink comes in a generous 50ml dark glass bottle that's perfectly shaped for pen filling. It's wide enough to be stable, but deep enough to fill your pen easily. The label on the bottle is made of fountain pen friendly paper and includes a swab of the color, so you get an honest idea of what the color looks like.

This color is, if you ask me, the perfect pink. It's not too red or purple, it's not too pale. It's readable, rich, definitely pink, and shows some incredible shading. The color is exactly the color of cotton candy.

It looks great in writing and in swabs, and the swab color even looks like the writing color, which is rare in samples. Chromatography shows a pure pink color, which is not surprising. It dries fairly quickly, and does have a dry feel to it when writing, but it flows well and doesn't dry out in the nib. I set this pen down for a week, then picked it back up and the ink flowed right away.

There is not much water resistance. Writing may survive a quick, light splash, but where I let the water sit for a minute, the ink is totally gone. It does not show any sheen or shimmer--just the lovely shading from sugar-pink to deep pink.

I will definitely be using this ink often in my rotation. I love pink, but many true pinks are too pale to read in low light, and I'm usually writing in low light. This is a winner from Pennonia, and now I'm even more excited to try more of their colors. And since they're only $13 for 50ml, I can afford to do that! I highly recommend giving this brand a try.

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

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Pennonia Tihanyi Lila Ink Review

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

Purple inks have always been a favorite of mine, and I'm always excited to try out new and interesting shades. The latest purple ink I've been playing with lately is from a Hungarian maker: Pennonia. Tihanyi Lila is an understated and somewhat dusty purple that I just can't get enough of.

One of my all-time favorite purple inks is KWZ Gummiberry because it's rich, bright, and explosive. It's a vibrant purple that pops off the page and demands your attention, and it makes me smile every time I see it. Tihanyi Lila is way more subdued, but just as beautiful and enjoyable. It's the more pale tone that really speaks to me and possibly the in-between blue/gray hints that really intrigue me. It's unique in that way, and I guess that's why I can't put it down.

This is definitely the most gray-toned purple I've ever used, and I really don't have much to compare it against. It really looks to me like a gray ink that someone added just enough purple to in order to shift the balance just the slightest bit toward the purple spectrum. It's pale and a little pastel, seems thin in places, but rich in the thicker parts where the ink pools. The shading is what sets this ink apart and makes it so interesting. If it didn't have the shading aspects, it would be a fairly dull ink.

And while it doesn't have an intense amount of shading, it's just enough to add the right amount of character to transform this ink into something more than the base tone. According to the marketing information, this ink color is inspired by the lavender fields that are found near the town of Tihany in Hungary. The purple tone in this ink really does a great job of capturing the organic nature of a field of lavender waving gently in the wind. It's a beautiful characterization.

Getting on to how it performs as an ink, Tihanyi Lila hits all the usual goals without any trouble. It's a smooth and well-lubricated ink that flows easily and works well in all the pens I've tried so far. It washes out easily and doesn't dry up in the nib or feed in between uses.

The dry time can be a little long depending on the nib. Smaller nibs like EF or F aren't a big deal — the ink is normally dry after 10 - 15 seconds. In the 1.1mm stub I used for the review pictures, it took between 20 and 30 seconds to dry. Once the ink is dry, though, it's water resistant. Not archival quality, but pretty close.

If you're interested in picking up a bottle, they come in at $13 for a generous 50ml bottle, and just a few bucks for a small sample. The bottle isn't anything special, but I was extremely thankful for the large mouth. I wish all ink bottles had wide openings like this one — makes it so easy to fill!

Overall, I've really enjoyed using this ink. It's not flamboyant, but that's okay. It's beautiful for what it is, and I just keep coming back to it. Not all inks need to be bright and loud. I like those too, but the subtle inks hit a different spot for me. Pennonia Tihanyi Lila is a lovely purple ink that you should definitely try.

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

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Birmingham Pen Co. Eroded Bronze Ink Review

“Brad, if you start with one ink from Birmingham Pen Co., make it Eroded Bronze.”

This was the advice I was given when I was shopping for my first batch of Birmingham Inks. I heeded that advice, right up until I gave my first bottle of Eroded Bronze away. If you have ever joined me on Twitch, that’s how I roll. Get a bunch of new stuff in to test, give some of it away to viewers. I’m glad to do it!

I had plenty of other Birmingham Inks to choose from anyway, like another classic BPC ink, Antique Sepia. But I was anxious to get Eroded Bronze back in hand, which I did on a recent order. And this time, when all of the inks came in, I held that one back for myself!

Eroded Bronze is a blue grey - I think. That’s what I like about it. That’s what I like about a lot of Birmingham inks, in fact. The colors have some complexity to them. Ink swabs of Eroded Bronze not only show blues and greys, but purple, pink, and green. It’s wild and strange, in the best way possible.

What ink swabs show don’t always translate to the line from the nib, and that was my expectation with this ink. It is a fantastic writing blue ink with character, even coming from this extra fine steel nib in my Diplomat Aero. The wider and wetter the nib choice, the more difference in color you will see on the page.

Eroded Bronze is part of the Crisp formula group, meaning this ink is designed to be a good all-around writing ink, which works well on a wide variety of paper types. I’ve tried it on three or four types of paper so far, and it writes wonderfully, with no featuring or bleeding. If anything, it leans to the drier side of the spectrum, which is in line with the formulation, and hence the performance.

I’m enjoying what I’m using from Birmingham Pen Co. so far. I’m two-for-two on keeper Crisp formula shades, so next time, I’ll branch out into one of the other ink formulations to see if the quality continues.

(Birmingham Pen Co. 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!