If you’ve been following The Well-Appointed Desk for awhile, you might have noticed that green is my favorite color, particularly chartreuse, yellow-greens. However, over the years, I’ve found that chartreuse colors are challenging in fountain pen inks. They either get too bright or too light. Not dingy enough for me, nor do they hit the perfect olive-y juice color that I love.
So, when I stumbled upon Sailor 50 States Wyoming ink ($20 per 20ml bottle), I think I found my perfect green.
In writing, the color is a bit lighter when writing but darkens as it dries. The ink is Sailor so its smooth, easy to use and dries in a reasonable amount of time.
The above inks are my current collection of “close enough” yellow-greens. Pen BBS #342 Matcha Ice Cream (no longer available) has been my go-to but, as you can see, with the glass pen (comparable to a fine or medium nib pen), it looks to be a lovely olive-y color. Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku Rin, the glass pen sample is a bit grass green. Van Dieman’s Encore Maestro is a little too yellow-y and J. Herbin Vert Olive is a little too light — and even lighter when writing (it also dries down a little darker than when wet but its still too light in fine pens). As you can see, the closest competitor is Pen BBS #342 which is a little darker. Sailor Wyoming is a little yellower but has a little lower saturation than Chiku Rin and Maestro.
So, in the end, I’ll need to do a few more writing tests but I do think Wyoming is a great option. If it works, I’m gonna end up buying multiple bottles!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.