Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Private Reserve Infinity Turquoise 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.)

We're still in full-on winter mode for a few more weeks (at least), so I figure it's high time to break out some bright and cheery inks to lift the somber tone that cold, bleak days tend to bring. For me, a happy turquoise or bright blue ink always does the trick.

Private Reserve Infinity Turquoise is a shade that fits the bill perfectly. It's bright, happy, and does a great job at shading between blue and turquoise to add that extra character that I love so much in my inks. I'm not new to Private Reserve, but this is my first ink that features their Infinity formula. According to their description, this is a special formulation that provided "extended cap off" time, which means you can leave a pen uncapped for "hours" with no adverse effects. This is a bold and interesting claim, and I was happy to test it out.

Before getting into the Infinity behavior of this ink, let's look at the more usual aspects. The ink is a bold cobalt blue with plenty of lighter blue and hints of green mixed in. The color is ideal in my mind in terms of what turquoise means in my mind's eye. It's just a happy, bright color that makes me smile.

Private Reserve Infinity Turquoise Fountain Pen Ink

The shading is plentiful, which adds a lot of character to the ink. The more inks I try, the more I come to believe that shading is a must-have for any non-black inks. The fluxuation of color adds so much visual interest and character as you write, and this is what makes fountain pens so much fun to use. Infinite Turquoise does a good job of showing of its different shades.

Unfortunately, this ink has a couple of downsides. The dry time is incredibly long. By my estimates, it takes this ink anywhere from 25 to 35 seconds to fully dry, and these tests happened in incredibly dry weather (like 28% RH). I had trouble not smearing this ink with my hand as I wrote through a full page, and I use a "traditional" right-handed grip. This ink will not suite left-handed writers very well.

The other negative that I noticed almost immediately was the ink's tendency to feather in areas where the ink pooled. I noticed this a lot more with the 1.1mm stub nib, but it also happened frequently in a stock fine nib (German sizing). The paper made a difference, but nothing completely got rid of the feathering tendency. Coated papers had less bleeding, while uncoated papers had a lot more feathering effects.

So far, the ink is firmly in the slightly below average category in my mind. Great color and shading, but poor dry time and feathering behavior. How does that claim on extended cap off time hold up? Actually, it holds up rather well.

If you've ever left an uncapped fountain lying on your desk for more than a couple of minutes, you probably had to draw a few lines to make the ink start flowing again. This normally isn't a problem if it's only been a few minutes. A few scribbles is enough to make the ink flow again; worst case, running the nib under some running water will fix any dried ink clogging issue. This problem is exactly what the Infinity ink formula is trying to solve. In my testing, I left my pen uncapped for 2 hours, came back to use it, and it wrote perfectly immediately. I wasn't honestly surprised because this defies everything I already know about fountain pens. Pretty impressive!

Private Reserve Infinity Turquoise Comparison

I also left the pen uncapped for 12 hours, and I had to scribble a bit to make it write again, but that was easy compared to fixing that issue with any normal ink. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this feature works as promised.

I can only assume that the magic that went into the ink formula to allow it to sit uncapped for hours and still write properly had some negative side effects. Long dry time once the ink is on the page? Makes sense! Feathering on my papers? Also seems like a plausible side effect.

Either way, the main feature of this inks works as expected. If you're shopping for an ink that will work great after being uncapped for hours, you should check out Private Reserve Infinity Turquoise (or any of the other Infinity ink colors). While there are some downsides to the ink, it all depends on what you need in certain circumstances. That's what makes this hobby so fascinating! Inks that can write after being uncapped for hours, pens that can write under water, paper that can withstand the elements, and plenty of other fringe use cases. It's wild!

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

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!

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Private Reserve, Ink Reviews.

Sailor Tea Time Series Fika Coffee Ink Review

There are many fountain pen inks in the world, and Sailor Tea Time Series Fika Coffee Ink is one of them. It just so happens that, at the time of this writing, you can’t have it. Easily at least.

I’m sure it’s out there, somewhere, but don’t let the FOMO get to you. I was able to get mine from JetPens, where, at $18 for 20ml it lands in the “expensive per ml but I’m glad it’s a small bottle” category that I love.

Fika Coffee is a color that I have fallen in love with. I’ve raved about it on the podcast, and on stream. But don’t let that sway your thoughts of chasing it down, and I’ll tell you why right now: This is a basic ink color. Good performance, good flow, minimal shading, no sheen. Basic.

For some reason, I have found basic brown inks that meet my description of basic brown inks hard to find. What is my idea of a basic brown ink? Medium roast coffee. 72% cacao dark chocolate. No signs of caramel, toffee, orange, or red. Rich ink color, but not mixed with black ink. Simply, a pure dark brown line.

My issue, and why I’m fawning over this ink, is that I didn’t put in the work to find this shade of ink before Fika Coffee fell into my lap. This shade HAS to exist somewhere, right?

The first place I went to look is the amazing resource that is Mountain of Ink. On the sidebar, scroll down to Ink by Color, click on Brown. Scrolling through the samples, you can eliminate 95% of the inks shown as it relates to my ideal brown ink. The rest, say Papier Plume Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Kaweco Caramel Brown, or Kobe 03 Kyu-kyoryuchi Sepia deserve a click through to the review and a decision on whether to explore them further.

That there are so few inks that represent my ideal brown is disheartening. Am I asking too much?

Step two involves the mega-database that is Fountain Pen Companion. I pulled up the page for Sailor Tea Time Fika Coffee (all of 8 entries) to see what matches there might be in the digital color spectrum. You are unable to click through the color square to see which other inks are tagged with he same color (feature request!) but I could at least go to the Brands page and search for “Brown” and “Coffee” to see what other colors are assigned the same color space as Fika Coffee - inks like Laban Greek Mythology Demeter Brown.

With those two resources, I now have a list. I also have the wisdom of the crowd on my side as well. Readers with much more experience than myself will certainly have some great recommendations to take into account.

Sailor Tea Time Series Fika Coffee Ink Writing — *The Paper Mind Mitsubishi Bank Paper.*

Why am I telling you all this? Fountain pen ink FOMO is the most pointless FOMO out there. I get it. I’ve been there. I FOMO’d plenty of Sailor Apricot back in the day, and later, Montblanc JFK. And it was pointless, as Sailor just reproduced it later, and Montblanc, well, Montblanc’ed themselves time and time again. Plus, plenty of other inks launched that are close enough matches by other brands.

I love Sailor Tea Time Series Fika Coffee. I’m fortunate to have a bottle. I don’t need to chase another bottle down, because I have endless options out there right now that are just as good. I just have to find them.

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

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

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Sailor, Ink Reviews.

Dominant Industry Citrus Yellow 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 been quite a long time since I've used a yellow ink. Yellows aren't something you can use every day due to how light they appear on the page. But, when you find the right opportunity to use a nice yellow ink, it never fails to brighten your day.

I've recently been using Citrus Yellow from Dominant Industry, which is a bright yellow with little hints of green and orange if the light hits it just right. The bright color is accented by a mild sheen that makes the ink appear like it's still a bit wet. In all, it makes for a really special and fun ink to use.

While the main color in this ink is a bright yellow, you can also detect small hints of orange and green under the surface. This allows the ink to have a shading effect that gives it just enough character to differentiate it from a standard highlighting ink.

When writing with this ink, it appears extremely light — so light that it's pretty difficult to read. But as the ink dries, the color darkens a bit and exposes some of the other undertones of green and orange. Bear in mind, I don't really see any true green or orange in this ink — just yellow shades that lean toward green and orange. Either way, the dried ink is easy to read and has a happy, bright character that pops off the page. It's the opposite of gloomy.

Being my first ink from Dominant Industry, I was curious to see how it would behave in my pens. Delightfully, this ink works like a champ. There's plenty of lubrication to allow the nib to glide effortlessly across the page. The ink has no trouble starting after a break, and I can't detect any feathering or bleeding. It also washes out really easily — likely due to the light color.

One area that this ink really drags is when it comes to drying. It dries really slowly. In my testing (and in my super dry office where it's currently about 30% relative humidity), it took between 20 and 35 seconds for this ink to dry to the point where it wouldn't smudge when I ran my finger across it. That's definitely long enough to stop and consider before deciding to use this ink in certain circumstances.

Another minor downside to this ink is the bottle. While it's a beautiful and unique shape, the opening is quite small. You won't have any problem with most pens, but large nibs or large sections might have some trouble clearing the opening enough to draw up ink. If this is the case for you, Dominant Industry has included a small pipette in the box, or you can use your own syringe or bottle if needed.

Dry time aside, I've been really pleased with Citrus Yellow and look forward to trying other inks from Dominant Industry. A 25ml bottle of this boutique ink from South Korea will run $17. This is a fair price for the small shop and imported market — not to mention the high standard of quality. Can't wait to see what else they have to offer!

(I purchased this ink from Yoseka Stationery at full price for review purposes.)

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