Ink Review: Callifolio Oliphants

Callifolio ink bottles

One of most unusual items that I picked up at the Atlanta Pen Show was to bottles of Callifolio ink in Olifants and Grenat from the fine folks at Vanness Pen Shop. Actually, the official product name is French, L’Artisan Pastellier Encre Callifolio. But can we agree to just call them Callifolio inks?

The bottles for the Callifolio inks are absolutely identical to the bottles that Diamine is using for the 150th Anniversary inks — the pie slice wedges. The labels on the bottle are simple white labels with black printing. It’s not the most interesting packaging but I’m not going to judge this particular book by its cover.

Callifolio offers over  30 different colors in either the 40ml wedge-shaped bottles or in 50ml foil refill pouches. The refill pouches can be used to refill an existing bottle of Callifolio inks or poured into any ink container (like a TWSBI ink bottle or a vintage inkwell). One of the most appealing thing about the Callifolio inks are the price — just $11 per bottle or $8 per foil pouch. I could buy FOUR foil pouches for the cost of one bottle of Akkerman ink.

Callifolio Oliphants

I picked the Olifants color because I just love the teal-y blue/blue-black inks so I wanted to try a Callifolio ink in a color I’d use regularly. There was some nice shading to the color and a bit of a halo.

Callifolio Oliphants

Olifants dried quickly and with my fine stub testing nib, there was no feathering or line softening. I did test the ink on Rhodia paper so there may be some different results on lower quality or lighter weight paper but my initial reaction is that Callifolio is making good inks at great prices.

I did not test for waterproofness but I will do a little follow-up in a few days with more of my experience with the Callifolio inks but for general performance, I’ m quite pleased with this ink.

Callifolio Oliphant ink comparison

The Olifants color is a bit more green than Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo and a bit bluer than Sailor Jentle Yama Dori. But with the wide price difference, Callifolio inks are a reasonable substitute for the more expensive Japanese inks.

I’m really pleased with my purchase so far and I can’t wait to review the Grenat color which is not a color I normally buy.

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4 comments / Add your comment below

  1. Thank you so much for this review of a line of inks I don’t know at all, but I really love the bottles! Have been hoping to find something with a classic design, a good range of colors, and an affordable price. This looks to be ALL of those. Please let us know what you think about any other colors you bought!

  2. Grenat is great, too. I have had really good experience with the L’artisan inks. I really love their golden brown series – Inti and Heure Doree and Itzamna are really nice.

  3. Oh! thanks for the direct link to the callifolio ink shop! and yes the value for ink is so much better compared to akkerman’s inks for sure. Akkerman’s ink have their allure in their bottles really…

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