Oblation Papers & Press in Portland, OR released a custom ink for the Pacific Northwest Pen Show in collaboration with Anderillium Inks called Oregon Marionberry. Each bottle comes in a small 15ml brown glass bottle with beautiful letterpress labels.
The ink is a burgundy, red-purple with a tiny bit of shading, no sheening and no shimmer.
When writing with a fine dip nib, I saw little-to-no shading and instead got a fairly dark reddish purple, almost red-black color.
I found a few inks in my stash which are in a similar color range: Birmingham Pen Co. Pittsburgh Symphony Framboise (discontinued), J. Herbin Rouge Grenat ($13.81 for 30ml) and 3 Oysters Delicious Red Wine ($16 for 38ml). Both Rouge Grenat and Red Wine are a little bit lighter and show a bit more shading. Rouge Grenat leans a little more red however, while Red Wine is a little more pink than Marionberry. If you had Framboise and need a replacement, I do think Marionberry is quite similar.
At $14 for a 15ml bottle, no matter how pretty, the cost per ml is a bit high but both the ink and the packaging some from small makers who are based in the US so keep that in mind when comparing the prices.
Overall, I found the color a little dark and flat overall with minimal shading but I’m not a huge fan of reddish inks, even burgundy-ish colors so I am definitely biased. The bottles are beautiful and the labels are lovely so even knowing the color isn’t 100% me, I probably still would have picked up a bottle just because its pretty.
Tools:
- Paper: Rhodia Ice No. 16 Bloc
- Pens: Dominant Industry Ink Muddler, No. 2 Round Escoda Reserva paint brush and a random waterbrush
- Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
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