Troublemaker Ink Butterfly Dream 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 her latest book, Root Rot, is now available for pre-order!)

What do butterflies dream of? Enchanted gardens, probably. Milkweed and big blossoms. Bottle that, and you have Troublemaker Ink Butterfly Dream, which has some enchantment of its own.

At first glance, it's a lovely dark green. Mossy, shady, dark enough to look nearly black, but with enough character to be interesting. In its lighter shades, it's a gem tone, like tourmaline or moldavite, an elegant green with an art nouveau attitude. And then you see the pop of blue shimmer, and look at the chromatography and fall even more in love. Rose pink, gold, lime green, and emerald all hide in this subtle tone. It drives home that tourmaline impression--like watermelon tourmaline. This is a complex color with a lot of subtlety in plain writing, but wildness when you turn it loose. It makes me want to fill pages.

The ink is on the dry side, with a bit of a dry feel and a super-fast drying time on the page. By 15 seconds, it was almost smudge-free, which would make it a great option for lefties. It was not unpleasantly dry to write with, though, and it flowed well, looking fabulous in any nib size.

There is a fair bit of shading to this ink, from that light bottle green to an almost black tone where it pools, and in the pools there's a deep blue shimmer that looks like magic.

When sprinkled with water, the green tones wash away, but the rose-colored undertones remain, so a tea spill may not eradicate all trace of writing, which is always good insurance.

The ink comes in a 60 ml plastic bottle. The rectangular shape makes it great for storage, but it can be a little tippy when filling, and the opening is on the narrower side. The bottle costs $24, which is an excellent deal.

This is the perfect blend of playful complexity in an ink that can be used in practical applications at work or for fun. It has merit for writers and artists alike. No wonder the butterflies like it so much.

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

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Troublemaker Ink Mango 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 her latest book, Root Rot, is now available for pre-order!)

I had to chisel my car out of ice this morning, so let's #KillWinterWithOrange. And this is a glorious orange.

Mango is the first ink I've tried from Troublemaker, so I was excited to dive in. The ink comes in a tall, rectangular plastic bottle with a narrow top. It may be a bit narrow for very wide pens, but it fit a standard width pen. The plastic bottle is lighter than glass ones, so it is a wee bit easier to knock over, which I almost did once, when filling. The bottle's shape is very convenient for storage, though. One could line up a lot of bottles in less shelf space than with thicker glass bottles with low profiles. The bottle looks small, but contains a whopping 60ml of ink. So while it's not my favorite bottle, it is one of the most practical for ink hoarding purposes.

Of course, it's what's inside the bottle that really counts. This ink is one for the stunningly shading, fiery, peppery, sunset family of oranges. The ones everyone goes bananas for, and for good reason. Where the ink is shallow, it's a pale mango color, but where it pools, it's a rich red-orange, and where it really pools, it's blaze red. Even where it's pale, it's very readable, and the shading makes for a visually fun effect. There is no shimmer, but that would be too much, given how much character the ink already has.

Chromatography showed what looked like an actual sunset--some soft peach hues with golds and orange.

The ink has very good flow, on the wetter side. It moves with less viscosity than some inks I've used, with drops of ink behaving more like water than many inks. Despite this, it didn't seem any more prone to feathering or bleeding.

Dry time was a bit long, close to 30 seconds. With dry times that long, I tend to reach for blotting paper more, but blotting this ink takes away some of that fabulous shading, so it's one of those times it's worth exercising a little ink-patience.

There was no water resistance, with the lines totally wiped out by a drop of water. Keep your cuppa tea away from these pages.

The 60ml bottle sells for $16.50 at Vanness Pens, which is a very good price. I will definitely be trying more Troublemaker inks. In fact--I inked up another today that looks just as promising. At this rate, I might just have to see how many of those bottles I can fit on a shelf.

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

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Dominant Industry Soleil Couchant à Etretat Ink Review

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

Named after a Monet painting, Dominant Industry's Soleil Couchant à Etretat ink is a lovely shimmer ink with a dark blue-green color that looks fantastic.

I love when an ink is named after something else that it draws inspiration from. Whether it be colors found in nature on animals, in landscapes, or from famous works of art, I really like see what colors and other properties an ink maker focuses on when matching a name to an ink. In this case, the Monet painting of a famous French coast landmark is a beautiful starting point to draw inspiration for an ink color. To me, the color and subdued shimmer quality echo the peaceful water in the painting.

The blue-green ink color presents like any other ink — meaning the shimmer effect isn't immediately noticeable. The medium green-blue hue looks great on paper. Since it isn't a dark color, it's easy to see the greens and blues when writing with a normal nib. But you get more shading between medium to dark greens and blues when using a larger nib. The shading isn't dramatic, but there's enough of it there to mimic the characteristics of moving water.

This ink is part of Dominant Industry's Pearl Series, which is a line of shimmering inks. I'm not a huge fan of shimmering inks, but they're fun in small doses. With the shimmering inks I've tried in the past, there's no way you can miss the shimmering quality when using the ink — regardless of how small the nib is. With Soleil Couchant à Etretat, the shimmer is minimal. You have to search for it under a good light to find it in normal writing. But, it somehow still manages to catch just enough light to make one of two spots twinkle as your perspective changes in relation to the piece of paper. This intangible "is it shimmering or not" effect is really cool. Since this is the first ink I've experienced with such a dialed-back sparkle factor, I'm second-guessing my original stance on shimmering inks. The effect is subdued and only pops out every once in a while. Again, this really echoes the source material in my mind.

Writing with the ink is also a great experience. It's a touch on the dry side in terms of flow, but it can keep up with fast-paced writing. It just doesn't feel as slick or lubricated as most inks. In terms of performance, I can't point to any degradation — just the sense of the nib dragging just a hair.

In what seems like forever, this is an ink that actually dries fairly quickly. In most cases, the ink is dry to the touch and smudge-proof in a 20-second window. Some spots may need 30 seconds to fully dry, but it's mostly dry in 20 seconds or less, making this a good choice for quick notes in a notebook that you plan on closing shortly after writing something down. It's not quick enough to really qualify as a good ink for left-handed writers, but it's worth consideration if the color and shimmer qualities speak to you.

Soleil Couchant à Etretat comes in a 25ml bottle for $17, and there are several other inks in the Pearl Series as well. I'm really curious if the other inks in this series are also minimally shimmery or if it's just this one. Either way, this is such a lovely color that shades well and dries quickly — it's worth picking up just for those properties alone.

(Goldspot provided this product at a discount 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!