Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Ferris Wheel Press Ink Charger Set 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!)

Ferris Wheel Press inks have been catching my eye a lot lately and I even bought a bottle at the Chicago Pen Show, despite my resolution to not buy more ink until the stash diminishes a little. It's even more tempting to cave in when the inks come in these adorable 5ml sample bottle sets.

The Fashion District Ink Charger Set is just that--adorable and tempting. It includes three tiny bottles of FWP ink in themed color sets. This one has Bathurst Blue Denim, Spadina Rose, and Queen Allium. The bottles come packaged in a nest inside of a box, but heads-up that mine were leaky. You can see the ink stains on the inside and outside of the cardboard, and two of the bottles were about 1/3 empty. They continued to leak a bit as I worked with them, and now I have a rose-colored ring on my desk mat. The bottles are also very narrow--made to fit a converter, but not a pen nib. So they won't work with any pens that have internal fillers, like piston or vacuum-fill pens.

Inside the adorable-but-kind-of-annoying bottles are three lovely ink colors. The Bathurst Blue Denim is a very nice grey-blue with a fine gold shimmer. The shimmer really comes through, even in finer lines, and the blue tone is just different enough to be more fun than a standard blue. The Spadina Rose is a really lovely dusty pink color, no shimmer, that looks like the perfect shade for a Victorian tea party. It's on the pale side for writing with very fine nibs, but has excellent shading with broader writing. The Queen Allium is a pink-toned purple shade with gold shimmer. It is also a pale, soft color that might be difficult to see in a fine nib, but it is also very rich where the ink shades and pools. The shimmer is slightly less visible in the finer/paler areas, but looks excellent with heavier application.

All three shades are beautiful and go really well together. The set costs $16 at Vanness Pens, which is just over a dollar per ml of ink, which is fairly standard for sample sizes. However, as I mentioned, I lost a few ml to a leak in the bottle's cap seals. In general, I'm a big fan of these inks. I like the softer colors, and I have had no issues with the full-sized FWP ink bottle I own. So while I'm not sure I'd recommend this wee set, I do recommend the inks themselves.

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

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Posted on July 7, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Ferris Wheel Press, Ink Reviews.

Monarca Tierra Colorada Ink Review

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

While it certainly feels like a desert some days in the Southeast US, it's far from accurate. The humidity alone is an undeniable factor, but it also has a lot to do with the colors — or lack of colors — that you find in this area. I've never been to Mexico, but I've been to New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado where it's easy to find desert-like conditions. There's certainly a unique beauty in the tan/brown dominated palette, and it's one I find myself wanting to visit more often than not.

Monarca inks are made in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, and feature several different collections that draw inspiration from the area. Tierra Colorada is a red-brown ink from the Semi-Desert collection, and it's quite a beauty.

This collection consists of 4 colors inspired by the semi-desert of Mexico, their names are inspired by Bizarra Capital poem by Ramon Lopez Velarde, born in Zacatecas, Mexico, who describes the landscape in an exceptional way.

Tierra Colorada is inspired by the red soil of northern Mexico, and I love the way it dries on paper. It's rich and has a wonderful earthly look. There's also a golden hue that comes through in certain light that adds some character to this red-brown ink.

While this ink behaves really well on nice paper, it tends to feather and bleed a lot on cheap paper. Since this is true for a lot of inks, I wouldn't let it dissuade you from trying it out unless you plan to exclusively use it on copy paper or cheap notebook paper.

The red-brown color is pretty strong through the ink, and it does exhibit some shading in some areas. The shading is mild and goes from medium red-brown to a darker red-brown. It's just enough shading to add visual interest and character to the dominant rich red-brown color.

In case you're curious, Monarca includes the Pantone code and RGB values of each of their inks! Tierra Colorada is Pantone 7594C and 12,58,45 in RGB. The actual ink has a lot more personality than the rigid and single color dimension of a color code, but this at least gives you a hint of what the dominant color is in digital terms.

The aspect of this ink that surprised me most is the dry time. It's a fast one! In my testing with different nibs, it easily dries before the 15-second mark when used in a wide nib (such as a medium stub or Monteverde's Omniflex), and under 10 seconds when used in a Medium or smaller nib. If fast dry times are your thing, this one does a great job.

Another interesting thing that Monarca does involves their packaging. The 30ml ink bottles come in a box, but they also come affixed to a wood base that holds the ink snug in the box during shipping. Best part of this is that you can use the wooden base to hold and display your ink! The additional sturdiness from the base and the small foam inserts that keep the ink bottle snug mean that you're less likely to tip the bottle over when using it. Plus, it has a groove in the front that can also hold a pen. One downside, though, is the diameter of the bottle's mouth. It's quite small, and some pens just simply won't fit into the opening. You'll have to resort to a syringe if your pen section can't clear the opening.

If you're interested in this ink company, check them out! The ink is well-behaved, looks great, and features unique colors inspired by natural beauty. Vanness Pens stocks the entire Monarca lineup, where you can find inks starting at $20 for a 30 ml bottle.

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

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Posted on June 29, 2022 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Monarca, Ink Reviews.

Anderillium Avian Series: American Goldfinch Yellow Ink Review

A relative newcomer to the fountain pen ink scene, Anderillium has some exciting lines of nature-inspired ink colors. Anderillium are based in Tampa, Florida and currently have two collections of inks: Cephalopod and Avian. The Avian series features eight colors that represent different feathered creatures. The ink I've had the opportunity to test out first is called American Goldfinch Yellow.

American Goldfinch Yellow is a happy, cheery color, which is representative of the bird. The color is fun, but it's so light that it has difficulty showing up on white paper. As such, I can't really see myself using this ink very often since it's difficult to read what I've written on white paper.

The behavior of this ink is fantastic, though. The ink flows well and hasn't shown any bleeding or feathering on the several types of paper I've tried. The edges of the lines are crisp and sharp, which is something I particularly enjoy with any ink.

There's no shading to speak of, but that is probably a good thing if you intend to use this ink for highlighting — which is also the exact purpose I'd recommend this ink to anyone. It's a lovely highlighter yellow! Load it up in a broad-nibbed pen and use it to highlight printed words or even hand-written passages as long as the dark ink is fairly permanent. In my writing example, I've highlighted over a black gel pen ink. Looking at the sample closely, you can see that the underlying dark ink is still crisp and un-smudged or diluted. And, the yellow highlight is bright and transparent to call attention to what's beneath!

Anderillium American Goldfinch Yellow Highlighter

The main downside to this ink, aside from it being a non-starter for me in terms of normal writing situations, is that the dry time is extremely prolonged. In my tests with this 1.1 mm stub nib, it took the ink between 45 and 80 seconds to fully dry to the point that it didn't smudge with light pressure. Pretty sure I can say that this is the longest dry time I've encountered so far. This will be problematic if you're using this ink in a notebook where you intend to close it up after jotting down some notes or making some highlights with this ink. The yellow ink will transfer to the page on the opposite side of the notebook. While this might not be a disaster due to the super light shade of the ink, it still requires a concerning amount of time to properly dry.

While American Goldfinch Yellow won't be in my regular rotation, I'm intrigued to see what else Anderillium have to offer with their other inks. If you'd like to give this ink a try, head over to their website to pick some up. A 1.5 fl. oz. (44 ml) pot of ink is just $14.50. The glass pot that the ink comes in reminds me of a small jam jar, which is an instant bonus. The wide mouth makes it really easy to fill your pen.

(This ink was purchased directly from Anderillium at full retail price at the 2022 Atlanta Pen Show.)

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