Ink Review: Robert Oster Fire & Ice

Robert Oster Fire & Ice

I could not wait to get my hands on Robert Oster Signature Fire & Ice ink ($16). It was sold out on Vanness Pens as soon as it was available so I had to wait a couple weeks to get a bottle of my own. It was totally worth the wait. This is one of the Oster inks with a lot of sheen so if that’s something you like in your inks, this is definitely a color to consider.

Robert Oster Fire & Ice Ink Swab

Fire & Ice is a blue ink that leans to the dark turquoise (ice) side with a red/magenta sheen, hence the “fire”.

Robert Oster Fire & Ice Writing Sample

The Oster inks still comes in the tall, slender 50ml plastic bottles, for better or worse, depending on your perspective. Its the only sticking point I have with their inks. I don’t mind the plastic part, since the inks ship all the way from Australia, I appreciate the overall weight reduction of the plastic and the dark material of the plastic. I even don’t mind the slender shape for storage but I know I’m going to get to a point with every single one of my Oster inks where I’m going to need to transfer them to other containers in order to get the inks out of the bottle. I’ll be buying lots of empty glass bottles from Vanness to store my inks for sure.

Robert Oster Fire & Ice Ink Swab comparison

I hope the swatch comparison above helps show where Fire & Ice falls in the “blue and sheen-y” ink category — at least in my ink collection. I also included all the other bluish Robert Oster inks. Callifolio Omi Osun is very close in color but does not have the sheen. Oster’s Aqua, Torquay and Blue Denim all sheen as well but are different colors of blue. Torquay is much more turquoise, Blue Denim is a darker blue and Aqua looks more teal comparatively. Sailor Yama Dori and Pilot Iroshizuku Ku Jaku both have sheen but are closer in color to Oster Aqua than Fire & Ice. And finally, I included Private Reserve Daphne Blue and Akkerman Treves-Turquoise which both sheen a bit but are much lighter, brighter cool blues.

So… if you collect blue inks, sheening inks or turquoise inks with the same wild abandon that I do, you’ll not want to wait a second to order a bottle of Fire & Ice. It’s pretty magical and mesmerizing to write with. But if this kind of inky trickery is not your cup of tea, then you’ve been sufficiently warned. Oster makes many other ink colors that are beautiful colors that I’ll be reviewing soon that may be more to your taste.

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11 comments / Add your comment below

  1. Very pretty! Going on my wish list for sure… I have to say I’m pretty dazzled by all the Robert Oster I’m seeing!

  2. Season blessings to you and thank you for your kindness. The filling concerns at low level bottle content are in our minds. We’re looking at it, being mindful of end user pricing.

  3. This review convinced me to try some, and after using up only half of my sample, I ordered a bottle. Still using my sample and I am not sorry I ordered a bottle! I love all the shading and sheen I’m getting from this ink. Today I tried it on white Rhodia paper in a bright light, and OMG, it was phenomenal. I’m getting about 3 shades of blue plus the red sheen. Very happy I ordered this ink. Once I get my bottle, I’ll be trying it in about 4 different nibs to see the variations I can get.

  4. Is this similar to Diamine’s Shimmer Ink? As much as I love them, the only nibs those inks won’t clog up for me is my Sheaffer 2.0 Bold nib, then they will still clog it, but not as quickly as with a medium or fine nib.
    The fire in this ink is unbelievable! I LOVE Turquoise inks and I will be ordering this one, keeping my fingers crossed that it won’t clog up anything.

    1. Fire & Ice is not a shimmer ink. It’s a sheening ink. So when it catches the light it will shift from one color to another without the addition of metallic flecks. It will not clog your pen though some Oster inks are a bit dry and some find them to be a bit hard starting. I’ve not noticed that to be the case with Fire & Ice but it is highly saturated so it is more likely to be hard starting in finer nibs. You may just need to prime it on paper or dip the tip in water to get it started. I think you’ll really enjoy this ink.

  5. I became quite intrigued when you said that L’ Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Omi Osun is very close to Robert Oster Fire & Ice without the sheen as I have been looking for exactly that blue hue that is in Robert Oster Fire & Ice. I bought a bottle of each and can unequivocally state that they are not anywhere near the same colour, nor saturation. My Omi Osun is a pastel greyish blue, hardly any better than the blue cartridges one gets with new fountain pens and which promptly get thrown into a small box, never to again see the light of day. Omi Osun may work well in a Corporate environment but across Rhodia #16 Dot and Graph, HP printer paper and Claire Fontaine Pupitre, Mnemosyne notebooks and a $3 Journal the end result was the same – Omi Osun is nowhere near the same colour as Fire & Ice.

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