(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!)
Here are three more samples of Van Dieman's ink, all from their "Seasons" series. These three are not sparkly inks, so I was curious to see how they would differ from the ones I reviewed last week.
The first is Spring Native Cornflower, a bright blue. It was the best behaved of the bunch, with no feathering and a very reasonable dry time. The color is lovely, too, and it had some great shading properties. It does not have any water resistance, and washed completely away at the faintest hint of water. This was my favorite of this brand that I've tried so far. It's bright enough to be a fun ink, but still blue in a practical way. Chromatography shows a hint of lilac to its hue.
The second ink is Spring Butterfly, and this ink is perfect for if you want to whisper someone a note. It is almost unusably faint. It's a gorgeous, delicate, key-lime green, but I don't think I'd enjoy writing with it. It has a longer dry time, no water resistance, and doesn't appear to shade. Chromatography shows a balance of blue and yellow tones. It almost seems watered-down or undersaturated. I think it would make a lovely tone for illustration, but isn't great for fountain pen use.
The third color this week is Autumn Deciduous Beech. This is a lovely rich amber orange. I did experience some feathering with this color, but it also had the fastest dry time. It shows some pretty shading, and a slight touch of line is still visible after a water drip test. This color had a fun chromatography, with a defined split between bubblegum pink and bright yellow tones.
So far, all of the Van Dieman's inks have shown a lot of character in chromatography, and though I'm not loving all of them for writing purposes, they are a blast to review and play with. There are three more colors for next week, and I saved those three for last because I'm most intrigued by them. Here's to another week frolicking with inky fingers!
(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
