Wearingeul Macbeth & The Phantom of the Opera - A Review, Part 3

(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!.)

Yes, Part 3!! I know I originally said it would be a 2-parter but I bought more Wearingeul accessories and thought it would be fun to share using the Wearingeul Macbeth & The Phantom of the Opera inks from part 1 and part 2!

The Wearingeul Four Photos Color Swatch cards are available in white and black (which is being reviewed here). Like the Instant Film cards from part 2’s review, the Four Photos cards also have a shiny, textured border around the swatching area. They measure roughly 2” x 5.75” (50 mm x 150 mm).

Shading, sheen and shimmer all show up well on the card.

I wrote the ink names on the back and there was no feathering or bleeding.

Comparison of the Four Photos cards with the Col-O-Ring; once again, the swatches matched (the Phantom swatch was a thicker/wetter swatch so the color is a bit off on this Col-O-Ring swatch compared to the others.)

Like the Four Photos Color Swatch cards, the Impression Color Swatch Book and loose leaf sheets are made with 200gsm paper, so they have a nice thickness to them without feeling like cardstock. Both have the same bottle design on them but the Swatch Book pages have 9 slightly larger bottles with two lines beneath (3 rows of 3 bottles), while the loose leaf pages have 10 bottles with two lines to the right (5 rows of 2 bottles). In addition to the bottle design, Wearingeul also makes the loose leaf sheets with Rounds, Rectangles or Ink Vials. The paper is a nice bright white, showing colors that matched what I saw on my Col-O-Ring.

Swatches of Wearingeul Macbeth and The Phantom of the Opera on both the Swatch Book (top) and loose leaf, alongside Col-O-Ring Swatches (right.)

A few thoughts/observations:

• The pages on the Swatch Book are NOT perforated, so if you prefer the 9 bottle layout but want loose leaf sheets, you’d have to cut them out yourself. Note: the paper on both are the same size, so if you cut out the Swatch Book pages, they will be narrower than the loose leaf sheets.
• I liked having the lines so I could write straight but 2 fairly short lines isn’t enough for many ink names. It was barely long enough for “Wearingeul Macbeth”. I’m not sure if I would have preferred no lines (but then my writing would be crooked) or more lines and with slightly narrower spacing between them. The loose leaf layout, where the lines are to the right of the bottle, definitely would have a lot more room for another line.
• I don’t know what to do with my loose leaf swatch page. The left margin isn’t very wide so I hesitate to use a hole punch. I wonder if Wearingeul has a binder for storing these sheets?

Wearingeul Four Photos Color Swatch Cards are available in black or white and are sold in packs of 30 sheets (4 swatches each) for $5. The 40-page Impression Color Swatch Book sells for $10.50. And lastly, the loose leaf Impression Color Swatch sheets are available in several designs and sells for $5 for a pack of 20 sheets. I like that all of these items are so reasonably priced that you can try a few different swatching items without breaking the bank.

Ok, I swear, I’m really done with this series! I hope you enjoyed the ink reviews and the various Wearingeul swatching products!

(Disclaimer: The Wearingeul Four Photos Color Swatch cards were purchased from Dromgoole’s for a discount at the 2023 Atlanta Pen Show. The Swatch Book was purchased from Vanness Pens and the Loose Leaf sheets from Pen Chalet - both of these are my purchases at regular price.)

Pairings Party: Andhand Method Fountain Pen, Van Dieman’s Mandarin Duck Wing

You know a party is a success when you are pleasantly surprised throughout the event. That has been the case with the Andhand Method Fountain Pen, inked with Van Dieman’s Mandarin Duck Wing, over these past several weeks.

Andhand reached out to me earlier this year, offering up the Method for me to check out. I received the Brass model, with a #5 Medium Steel Schmidt nib, and I have to say that they made a metal barrel pen that fits my needs perfectly.

The key for me with brass pens is overall weight. They can’t be too heavy for me to write with comfortably for medium and long writing sessions. In conjunction with overall weight, the balance of that weight has to be managed correctly with the design of the pen. Many metal pen designs don’t consider the effect back-weighting has on the writing experience. The Method pen nails the balance - unposted, of course - making for a proper writing experience.

How did they accomplish this? This is a smaller barrel, closer to my favorite ystudio Brassing Fountain Pen than some of the bigger, bolder brass pens on the market. Big, heavy, brass pens certainly have their place, and their fans. My preferences lie in the smaller and lighter builds, and Andhand did a great job with that here.

Aside from being happy with the weight, balance, and overall feel of the Method, the cap design impressed me. The cut out facets add a nice visual touch to the design, but what I enjoyed even more was the snap cap. That’s right, no metal threads on the barrel to dig in to your fingers! The section is long enough to grip comfortably, with a slight taper down from the barrel seam to the nib.

Aside from Brass, the Method Fountain Pen comes in a ystudio-esque Black + Brass - both for £110 - and a Stainless Steel model for £130. The Stainless model checks in a few grams lighter, too: 48g vs 52g for the Brass.

Given the all-Brass design and color of my Method, I had the run of the rainbow for my ink choice, so why did I choose a more muted shade in Van Dieman’s Mandarin Duck Wing? Because I like to test ink colors outside of my normal usage zone.

Written on the Mitsubishi Bank Paper Notebook from The Paper Mind.

Reddish-browns rank far down my list of color choices, but I have been more than happy with Mandarin Duck Wing. Impressed, even. For starters, the color is a little more brown than red, which I prefer, and the performance is outstanding. Flow has been perfect, no matter if I have been using the pen several times throughout the day, or a week between uses. That is a compliment to the cap design of the metal barrel pen, too, sealing the nib off well from the elements.

It shows off a bit of shading on most pages I’ve tested it on (Midori, Mitsubishi Bank, PLOTTER,) and has a medium dry time. There is no sheen present, and the ink is not waterproof. It bears repeating just how consistent the flow is. I will definitely be trying this ink in finer nibs to see if the performance is similar.

If you like metal pens that are properly sized and weighted, then you should check out the Method Fountain Pen from Andhand. I like the Brass one that they sent me well enough to consider ordering the Stainless Steel model, which is a favorite material of mine. And which Mandarin Duck part should you ink it up with? I went with the brownish-red Wing, but feel free to check out the classic blue Mandarin Duck Breast, or the bright green/teal of Mandarin Duck Nape. All bottles are $14.95 for 30 ml. Any combination of the above would make a great Pairings Party.

(Andhand provided this pen at no charge, and Vanness Pens provided this ink at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Troublemaker Inks Autumn Rain Gray 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 while since I've tried a new shimmer ink. For whatever reason, they just don't interest me as much as inks that shade beautifully or feature vibrant colors. In some cases, a little shimmer effect really makes an ink look like more than the sum of its parts. With Autumn Rain Gray from Troublemaker Inks, this is definitely the goal.

For the uninitiated, a shimmer ink is a fountain pen ink that features a reflective glitter material suspended in the ink. The glitter material is usually silver or gold colored, but can be other colors as well. When writing with a shimmer ink, little glitter particulates end up on the page while you write, and start to sparkle as the ink dries. It's a magical effect that took the fountain pen ink world by storm a few years ago.

In the case of Autumn Rain, the base ink color is a dark green or green-black and the shimmer effect is achieved with a silver glitter material. There isn't much in the way of shading with this ink, but there is a ton of shimmer. After inking the pen, there was so much glitter on the grip section that I was worried that I hadn't shaken the bottle enough to evenly disperse all the glitter. Nope; in this case, there is more than enough shimmer to go around in the ink while also wasting some when filling a pen.

Based on the name of the ink, I was expecting a medium gray ink with some moderate shading to imitate a dreary autumn sky full of thick clouds and streaky rain. Instead, this is much, much darker to the point that I don't think the name fits at all. When looking at the swatches, it makes me think of a star-filled night — absolutely nothing to do with autumn or rain. When writing with this ink, it looks like a really dark gray or gray-black on the page. When swatching this ink, you can tell that the main color under all the darkness is actually a beautiful forest green. The green is so much more prominent than any gray that I once again find the name of this ink to be such a bad choice. The forest green color under the dark clouds is so pretty with silver glitter on top of it. I absolutely love the color I see on my swatches. I just wish I saw more of that when writing with this ink! If it were up to me, I might name this ink something like Dewey Forest or Deep Lagoon.

Name choices aside, I really enjoy this ink. The dark color and minor shading paired with the bright sparkle is a great combination. It's a smooth flowing ink and has no issues starting or bleeding. I tend not to worry or treat inks any differently whether they're shimmering or not, but I haven't noticed any downsides to using this ink with all the glitter material floating around in the pen. Aside from behaving well when writing, it also dries pretty quickly. In my tests, normal writing normally dries between 20 and 30 seconds to the point that it is smudge resistant. Not bad, but certainly not a fast drying ink.

Troublemaker is a new brand to me (based out of the Philippines), and I'm definitely interested in trying more of their inks. I think this ink is fun, pretty, and interesting, though the name is a complete miss. If you can get past the name (and also be aware that it's a misnomer for the actual ink color), I'd definitely recommend trying it. A large 60ml bottle is just $24, though Vanness also have a small 4ml sample vial if you're not ready to commit to such a large amount of shimmer ink.

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

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