Dominant Industry Decade in the Desert Fountain Pen Ink Review

Pen Chalet has their collaboration game on point, including this recent release with South Korean ink maker Dominant Industry. And by recent, I mean Summer 2023, which means that Decade in the Desert, the two inks created to celebrate Pen Chalet’s 10th anniversary, are already sold out.

My apologies.

Even though they are no longer available, I wanted to discuss these two inks - Arizona Sky Citrus and Arizona Sky Crimson - because I’m not only enjoying them individually, but also in use together.

Dominant Industry is known around the hobby for their wild interpretation of inks, including many that are made for dip pens only, less they clog up the inner workings of a fountain pen. Take one look at their Alchemist Inks for Calligraphy and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

This commitment to ink making translates well to their standard ink lineup, too, and I have been impressed with every Dominant Industry ink I’ve tried - to the point where they have become a core choice for my writing.

Cotton swabs on Yamamoto Bank Paper (left) and Sanzen Tomoe River 52 gsm.

Heavier application with a Kakimori Dip Nib on Sanzen.

As the product names indicate, these two inks were created to represent the brilliant shades seen in the Arizona skies during sunset. Even if you’ve never been in Arizona to see the beauty in person, these inks do a great job of capturing the scene.

The orange-leaning Citrus is a knockout in my book - to the shock of no one - but Crimson is the real surprise here for me. Normally, burgundy shades are not my thing, but this one has two things going for it: hints of purple, and a perfect pairing with its counterpart.

Basic testing on Kokuyo Business paper.

Both inks exhibit slight amounts of shading, and no sheen. Dry times are moderate, if not quick - at least for a fountain pen ink. Both flow nicely from the nib, although Citrus could be a little drier. That is par for the course for yellow dye inks. Overall, these inks were a joy to write with.

Line art in the Yoseka Notebook.

Joy. That’s a common term I use with Dominant Industry inks. The bottles are a joy to look at, the inks are a joy to use in my pens and on the page, and the price - $9.60 for a 25 ml bottle for standard inks - is a joy to my bank account.

What’s not to love?

(Pen Chalet provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Franklin-Christoph Ink ‘24 Review

(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!.)

I recently attended the Philly Pen Show, which is the first pen show of the year and kicks off the pen show season. Scott Franklin, of Franklin-Christoph, is co-owner of the Philly Pen Show and makes an exclusive ink for the show, along with matching pens and accessories. Some of the past years’ colors include Teal (2023), Magenta/Hot Pink (2022), and Red (2019) and this year’s color is Indigo. The 2024 PPS pens are in last week’s recap and here are the limited edition accessories. But let’s talk about the ink!

As in the past, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib and the non-brush end of a paintbrush, while writing samples were done with a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib and a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib. The TWSBI Go is a wetter writer and the Lamy is a drier writer, so these two give me a good idea of how an ink will look from different pens. This time around, I also included a writing sample with the Franklin-Christoph 45XL Indigo with a 1.4 nib. The notebook used for writing samples is from Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light or with drier or finer nibs.

Writing sample on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Notebook.

You can really see the shading from the Vista compared to the other two nibs.

Ink ‘24 Indigo, is a dark blue black ink with a greyish undertone. The grey isn’t as noticeable with wet writers like the TWSBI Go or the 1.4 nib on the F-C, but it is much more visible in the drier Lamy Vista, as well as in the chromatography, swatches and “smears”. There isn’t as much shading unless you’re using a drier writer like the Vista, and there is no sheen in writing samples and only a hint of reddish sheen in wetter swatches.

Chromatography of Ink ‘24 shows the blue grey tones but also pink, which I didn’t expect.

Inks similar to Ink ‘24: Franklin-Christoph Noir et Bleu (not surprising that these would be similar but NeB has a greenish tinge vs Indigo’s grey), Maruzen Athena Blue Black, Taccia Hiroshige Ainezu, Sailor Blue Black, Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite, Aurora Blue Black and Montblanc Midnight Blue. I think the Maruzen Athena Blue Black is probably the closest but it doesn’t have as much grey as Ink ‘24.

I was a little surprised that I didn’t have more blue black inks that were similar to Ink ‘24. I think it is the grey component that really makes this a moody BB, which I am enjoying. As with the regular line of Franklin-Christoph inks, this one behaved well and was pleasant to use in the three different pens/nibs. I liked the color the most in the Lamy Vista because the grey really comes through, and it didn’t feel super dry in that pen either. You may prefer the color or writing experience that a wetter or drier pen/nib will produce, and that preference might be different depending on the ink/pen combination too.

The ink, which sells for $8.25 for a 1 ounce bottle (~30 ml) sold out at the Philly Pen show but another batch of ink has been added to their website.

(Disclaimer: All inks and pens (and swatch cards/notebooks) were purchased by me.)

Troublemaker Inks Petrichor Review

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

There are so many combination black inks available today — blue-black, blue-green, etc. — but gray combination inks are actually more exciting for my preferences. Mixing a gray ink with another color has potential for creating some really interesting shading effects if the formula is right. Today, we're looking at a gray-purple (or gray-green?) ink from Troublemaker Inks, who are based in the Philippines.

Petrichor is from Troublemaker's Shading collection, which features inks with (you guessed it) pronounced shading characteristics. Petrichor is a gray ink with a slight purple or green hue in some light. It's described as a gray-purple, but I don't think there's enough purple in this ink to really do the description justice. In most of my samples, it looks like a dusty gray that leans more toward green than purple. I really enjoy the color of this ink; it just isn't purple.

Since this ink is part of a collection that focuses on shading, it comes as no surprise that this ink has loads of shading. Even in small nibs, this ink shades easily. The color variation goes from a light semi-translucent gray-green to a darker gray with green and purple/blue tones. When it comes to shading, this ink does not disappoint.

Dry time is on the fairly slow side of the scale for this ink. In a medium nib, the ink was dry and smudge-resistant by 30 seconds. It smudges and smears easily under the 30-second mark, so this isn't a good choice for lefties or if you need to write and close your notebook quickly/frequently.

The characteristic of this ink that makes me hesitate the most when picking it up to use is the ink flow and lubrication. More than 90% of the inks I use are either in the middle of the scale for flow and lubrication, and I tend to like inks better if they are well-lubricated and flow easily. With Petrichor, it feels like ink supply is constricted even on pens that usually have no problem delivering lots of ink to the page. This also makes the nib feel a little dry when writing, which constantly makes me stop and think that I might have an ink flow problem. No, the ink is flowing just fine; it's just the ink formula is on the dry side and doesn't provide the amount of lubrication I like for writing. That's not to say it's a bad characteristic, but it is one that you should be aware of. If you want a dry ink with very controlled flow, this is great. If you want easy flow and a glossy feel when writing, this isn't for you.

The ink behaves well on paper. I haven't noticed any feathering or bleeding, and it starts right away. It's also easy to clean out of pens with just a water flush. I haven't experienced any weirdness with long-term storage in a pen either (meaning, no weird crusty build-up or other residue on the nib after it isn't used for a few days).

I've enjoyed the inks I've tried from Troublemaker Inks so far. This isn't my favorite by any stretch, but I still enjoy the color and shading that it offers. The dry flow takes some getting used to, but once I dialed in my writing speed and expectations, it keeps up just fine.

Petrichor is available in a 60ml bottle for $16.50, or as a 4ml sample vial for just $4. This is one of those inks where I'd really recommend going for the sample first. Given the color variation and dry flow, you need to be sure you like it before committing to such a large bottle. But, if you want the bottle, it's a great deal! Looking forward to trying more inks from Troublemaker Inks in the future.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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