Van Dieman's Tassie Season Sweet Fig Fountain Pen Ink Review

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

It's really difficult for me to believe, but winter is just a few days away (the official date anyway). I live in an area that rarely experiences the spring and fall seasons, so I'm more than happy to enjoy some of those seasons through ink colors and baked treats. In this case, I'm using Van Dieman's Tassie Season Sweet Fig — a luscious dark red ink that you could easily mistake for a blank ink in certain light. It makes me think of autumn weather and changing leaves, and I really appreciate it for that.

I generally need to be in the right mood to enjoy a dark ink, but Sweet Fig is just light enough in the thinner areas to really tickle my fancy. On first writing with this ink, I was a little disappointed with how dark the ink was. After using it a little more, I noticed all the little nuances that this ink has to offer. It's dark, but it also has depth.

The dark red tone is the most prominent, but I love the small hints of purple that come through from behind. This mixture of deep red and dark purple are just fabulous, and they complement each other perfectly. The shading of this ink from deep red and purple is really fantastic.

Along with the interesting shades and layers of colors, there's also an interesting sheen effect that you can notice in certain light. I've never used an ink with a black sheen before, but I'm somewhat blown away by how it behaves now that I've seen it with my own eyes. In the right light, this ink looks black — but it changes back and forth from black to deep red/purple like someone switching a light on and off. It's so cool.

The dry time for this ink is fairly average at around 10 to 15 seconds. I was using a large nib for the sample here, and I'd say the dry time is closer to 10 on smaller nibs. Not an incredibly fast-drying ink, but pretty good nonetheless.

Like all Van Dieman's inks I've tried before, this one behaves elegantly. It's well lubricated, starts easily, doesn't bleed or feather, and cleans out quickly. The more of these inks I try, the more they teeter into my favorite brand of inks.

A 30ml bottle of Sweet Fig is available from Vanness for $12.95, which is an excellent deal. If you'd rather try a small sample instead, you have that option. But if you like dark inks that have a few secrets to share, this ink is well-worth the small investment. While you're at it, browse the other inks that Van Dieman's offer and see what else tickles your fancy.

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

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Birmingham Pen Co. Pincushion Moss Ink Review

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

A few weeks ago, I reviewed my first ink from the Birmingham Pen Company — Pennsylvania Slate. I was really happy with that ink and surprised by the color. I've been enjoying it ever since. Later, I broke out the other ink I currently have Birmingham Pen Co.: Pincushion Moss. This ink is quite different than the previous one for one main reason (aside from the color!) — Pincushion Moss uses their Everlasting ink formula, which means it is a pigmented ink that is highly water-resistant.

In my day to day usage of pens and ink, I never use archival or water-resistant inks on purpose. I really don't have any requirements for using these types of ink in my daily routines, but I still enjoy using them. These types of ink can tend toward the dull side of the color spectrum due to the necessary ingredients that make an ink resistant to washing away. There really aren't many examples of bright or poppy archival inks for this reason. This is why Pincushion Moss really caught my eye. It's an organic green color that really reminds of my soft moss that you find in the forest. It's not bright, but it definitely draws my eye. It's light enough in color to stand apart from the typical dark office colors, but not bright enough to cause any problems. Plus, it's not a typical blue, black, or red which means you can use it alongside those colors if you need some kind of color coding system.

There's a fair bit of shading that makes the ink even more interesting to look at once it's dried on the page. It varies between a dark medium green to a lighter thin green. In a lot of lighting situations, it also looks gray and brown. This just makes the moss connection even stronger for me because those are the same colors you'll find around moss in the wild when it's on the forest floor or up against some gray tree bark. The color isn't exciting in a pop-off-the-page way, but it's certainly an eye-catching and interesting color.

The archival quality of the ink is stellar. In my rudimentary tests, there's only a slight decrease in saturation after the paper sample is totally submerged in water for a bit. I couldn't get the ink to smudge either, proving that the chemical bond took place and the ink is now one with the paper. If archival ink is your thing, this one certainly does the trick.

The most astonishing think about this ink that I discovered is the dry time. This is seriously impressive. In most cases, the ink was dry in as little as five seconds. I couldn't do any tests that resulted in smears at the ten-second mark. This ink dries incredibly fast. I'm not a left-handed writer, but I'm pretty sure this dry time should catch the attention of the lefty crowd. I haven't been this surprised by a dry time for quite a while. Seriously impressive!

The only downside I've noticed with this ink is the tendency for it to feather a bit at the edges when it's drying. It's nothing major, but you can see it when you look closely. It feels like a fairly wet ink, and I assume this has something to do with the water content that allows the pigments to suspend properly until they come in contact with paper. It feels great while writing — not scratchy at all — but the feathering does show up here and there, unfortunately.

I love that Birmingham Pen Co. prints some guidance on the ink bottle packaging that explains how to use the Everlasting ink. Tips like, "don't allow the ink to dry inside the pen," and "do not use in demonstrator pens" may sound scary, but it's just part of the territory when using pigmented inks. I appreciate that they've printed some clear and concise tips for the uninitiated. Even with those warnings, you shouldn't be scared to try out this ink! Just make sure you use the pen regularly to avoid any drying/clogging issues, and wash it out when you're done! If your pen does get a little clogged, a thorough cleaning will restore it in no time. But you shouldn't use this ink in a clear pen as it might stain the plastic.

Overall, I've been really pleased by this organic-looking ink! The color is exactly what I'd want in an ink that has "moss" in the name, and the super fast dry time is such an unexpected treat. Throw the everlasting nature of the ink on top and you've got a winner.

Pincushion Moss is available in three size: 30ml, 60ml, and 120ml for $19, $29, and $39 respectively. This is a little more expensive than their normal inks, but the Everlasting formula comes at a (well-owed) premium. If you're looking for a lovely green, a quick drying ink, or an archival ink for your collection, add this one to your list!

(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!

Ink Swatches and Diamine Inkvent Day 1

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

(Don’t worry, there won’t be any spoilers until way further down, so if you haven’t busted out Day 1 of the Diamine Inkvent 2021 Calendar yet, you can read most of this article without seeing the swatches, though good luck avoiding the spoilers on Instagram!)

I wanted to give a quick overview of how I swatch my inks which will also be a part of my future ink reviews (so many things to review, so little time!). Everyone does this differently so do whatever works for you! I love seeing the variety that is out there but I also know how (1) not remotely artsy I am and (2) extremely lazy I am.

As mentioned in the gratitude article, one of the things I love and use A LOT are the Col-O-Ring Ink Testing Books from The Well-Appointed Desk. The rings make it easy to sort, flip through, and they are very portable too. After swatching a couple dozen inks when I first got my samples, I quickly realized I wanted two sets so I could sort by brand and by color. For example, I may want to find out what color “Cult Pens Robert” is without flipping through the colors to guess what color it might be. Or I may also want to see what colors match my pen (we all know this is one of my favorite parts of this hobby). Having two sets makes it easy to do both.

A while back, one of my packages had a leaky bottle which leaked over an Endless Recorder notebook with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Shout out to Pen Chalet for replacing the notebook, but what was I going to do with a notebook that had an inky cover? Why not use it as an ink journal of sorts? So that’s what I set out to do. And while I was at it, why not also use some 52 gsm Tomoe River notebook inserts from Curnow Bookbinding too? And as of a few days ago, why not add the Cosmo Air Light (CAL) 75 gsm notebook insert to the mix? Anyway, you can see how quickly this can escalate if you’re not careful, lol.

Here’s my setup for doing the swatches.

I have my trusty LEGO Ink Miser holder, (for holding sample vials), Col-O-Ring cards, glass dip pen, pen rest, paintbrush, ruling pen, cups, syringe, Avery circle labels, notebooks and paper towel/ink rag (not pictured).

L to R: 52 gsm Tomoe River notebook, Endless Recorder with 68 gsm TR, 75 gsm Cosmo Air Light notebook.

I like to use a glass dip pen but you can use a regular calligraphy dip nib or dip a fountain pen, but I find that the latter results in more cleaning because the ink gets into the feed, and you may dilute the next writing sample because there’s water in the feed from cleaning. I like the glass dip pens with caps that you can get on eBay, because I can put them in my accessories pouch without worrying about breaking the tip. You can also use fountain pen dip pen holders like the Serendipity from Pensive Pens (prices in AUD and there are several models) which has a friction-fit nib/feed or from Red Dragon Pen Co which allows you to screw in a Jowo 6 nib unit.

Serendipity (left) and Red Dragon Pen Co (right) dip pens.

I dip my glass dip pen into the ink and always drag it against the lip of the vial/bottle to remove excess ink. The resulting writing sample is pretty close to what I would get from a western medium nib, which is my sweet spot. If you prefer finer or broader lines, consider a dip nib with a finer point, or even an italic nib. Just know that they have to be thoroughly cleaned and dried when you’re done so they don’t rust, and even then, they have a shorter life span than glass dip nibs (unless you break the tip).

I write the brand/name of the ink as well as figure 8s and Xs which sort of simulates cursive and print. The brand swatch is a small rectangle and the color swatch takes up the lower half of the card. I use the “wrong” end of a paintbrush to swab the ink. I’ve also used plastic dip pen holders, chopsticks (only plastic ones) and I know folks who use straight letter openers, palette knives and basically any long, thin, non-porous implement that’s easy to clean. I don’t use cotton swabs because they soak up a lot of ink, they don’t release said ink as thoroughly, especially the shimmer particles and sheen, and I don’t like the waste. I also don’t use paintbrushes because I’m usually swatching multiple inks in a session and it takes a long time to clean the brushes and there is always some water left in the brush so I don’t want to dilute the next swatch. Again, what I use/don’t use is personal preference, so use whatever tools that work for you.

Using the back side of a paintbrush to get the ink onto the cards.

Swatch cards done - digging the shimmer in this beautiful purple ink!!

If I’m swatching samples, I also slap a circular label on the top and swab the vial cap too. And depending on the bottle, I may also put a label on the bottle cap if they aren’t easily identifiable from the top (Diamine and Birmingham bottles are the two that come to mind). Putting the tables on vials/bottles also makes it easy for me to tell if I’ve swatched them without checking on FPC.

These labels make it easy to find ink samples later.

I can see what’s been swatched AND have an easier time finding the bottle I want.

Once the Col-O-Ring cards are done, it’s on to the notebooks. I use the ruling pen to do a wide line in the Endless Recorder and use the glass dip pen for the other two inserts. The notebooks are roughly sorted in ROYGBIV order but since I never seem to have enough pages between colors, so it’s a bit all over the place right now. I don’t try to group colors too closely, so there might be a light lavender ink just before a dark purple on the same page. Since I don’t really use these notebooks for quick reference, like I do with the Col-O-Rings, it’s less important to me that similar shades are next to each other. I’ve also done some other groupings like all Iroshizuku, since there aren’t that many colors, or the 2019 Diamine Inkvent colors.

Ruling pens make it easy to do wide swatches of ink. You can control the width via the knob on the side.

Sometimes you will see a big difference in how inks can look on different papers, sometimes they’re almost the same. And sometimes little subtleties show themselves more on some papers, like chromashading/multi-shading inks on Tomoe River, for example.

If you’re doing more than a few inks, it’s handy to be able to clean your dip pen at your desk instead of getting up to clean them at the sink (I did mention that I’m lazy, right?). This is where the syringe and two cups come in handy. I use plastic cups because they clean easily, are light, don’t absorb the ink and so I don’t stain our drinking cups, lol. I put these cups and syringe (with the tip safely tucked into the barrel) into my accessories bag when I go to pen meetups and have time to swatch inks.

I love being able to clean my tools without leaving my desk/table.

Before I jump into this year’s Diamine Inkvent calendar, if you missed out on the calendar (though it’s still available out there!) or just felt like you already have too many samples you haven’t swatched, consider making your own Inkvent calendar! I’ve repurposed (ok, stolen) my son’s opened LEGO advent calendars and put random, unswatched samples and voila, Inkvent calendar! You can also just put 25 samples in a baggie, close your eyes, and grab one - easy peasy!

My friends and I did an inkvent swap in 2019 and I reused the 2018 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar box for my own samples.

Spoiler Alert: Alright, Diamine Inkvent calendar time, swatches ahead!

Diamine released their first Inkvent calendar for 2019. The calendar included 24 - 7ml samples of inks and a 30 ml bottle for day 25, all housed behind closed doors in a beautifully decorated blue box. There were a wide variety of inks including saturated, shading, shimmer and sheening inks. They eventually released all 25 inks in adorable glass bottles, dubbed the Blue Edition (this was one of my favorite Inkvent 2019 ink. Due to the pandemic, they did not release an Inkvent calendar for 2020, but they came back this year with the Red Edition for 2021. This year, the bottles are now plastic 12 ml square-ish bottles and the day 25 ink is still 30 ml. Retail price for the Inkvent Calendar is $110 in the US, though prices are often lower from the EU.

Time to take Diamine 2021 Inkvent Calendar, Red Edition, off the bookshelf and get swatching!

What’s lurking behind door number one?

2019 and 2021 Inkvent bottles (glass, 7ml and plastic 12 ml, respectively.)

The ink goes down like a dark purple, much like the Esterbrook Lilac Shimmer that I just swatched but then it dries to a more muted color. On the Col-O-Ring, it almost looks brown, but there’s some purple tone to it. There is also some gold sheen in the swatch but it wasn’t really visible in the writing sample. On both the Tomoe River and CAL papers, it is a very dark purple and you don’t really see the brown nor the muted tone. You do get a bit of the sheen in the thick line of ink on 68 gsm (and I suspect you’d see a bit more sheen on 52 gsm if I did a similar swatch). The closest ink swatch card I have to this is Robert Oster Smokescreen, which is a brown ink that has a touch of purple. Hard to gauge flow from such a limited writing sample and swatching but it felt average for wetness/flow.

Doesn’t look like a purple when it’s dry.

You can see some sheen but it’s not over-the-top.

Very similar to Robert Oster Smokescreen which is a bit more brown than purple.

Top to bottom: Tomoe River 52 gsm, TR 68 gsm and CAL 75 gsm.

You can see more of the purple in the notebook papers but even then, this ink doesn’t scream purple to me. It seems fine but doesn’t wow me. But since I don’t have many other inks like this one, I’ll put it in a pen at some point down the road. That’s it for now. I’m still eager to see what the remaining 24 inks look like and look forward to seeing your Inkvent swatches, whether they’re from the Diamine calendar or your own swaps or stashes! Stay inky!