Robert Oster Muddy Water sure doesn't sound like it's going to be a good color, but thank goodness, it is. It's part of Robert Oster's Mudpack series--a set of inks designed to be used for ink art as much as writing, and which exhibit fun qualities in shading and sheening. The series includes Muddy Crown, Muddy Wine, Muddy Swamp, Muddy Sand, Muddy Bucket, Muddy Dragon, and this one, Muddy Water. I'm all for it.
This color is a smokey denim blue, almost a dark teal, that takes on a lot of different colors in its shading. It really does display some of the best shading I've seen in a long time, and it can even sheen with a bit of rose color, when it pools and catches the light right. It didn't show any sheen in writing, but if used for ink art, I imagine its full effect would be seen. Its best trick is appearing perfectly normal while simultaneously being very fun.
It has a typical dry time of around 20 seconds, does not feather or bleed, and while it isn't water resistant, some faint trace of line remains even after a spill.
Chromatography shows the different tones that come out in its shading, from soot to sky blue. It's not a complex color, but it's a good staple color with the kind of character and elegance that draws us to our inks in the first place. Something about its tone and behavior gives it a very vintage feel and it makes my handwriting look like it was composed with a dip pen by candlelight. I love it.
All standard Robert Oster 50ml bottles of this ink cost $18.00, and come in the signature plastic bottle with the gold foil label. It's a fair price for a great quality ink.
(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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