In Ink Review

12 Days of Inkmas: Ferris Wheel Press Ink Timeless Blue Special Edition 2020 (We forgot Day 8!)

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
12 Days of Inkmas: Ferris Wheel Press Ink Timeless Blue Special Edition 2020 (We forgot Day 8!)

Huge apologies for skipping Day 8 on Inkmas this year. Thankfully, one of our readers noticed the oversight. So, we have decided to bump this out to be our post-Boxing Day Inkmas post.

There’s no reason that the holiday festivities can’t continue, right? The Ferris Wheel Press Ink Timeless Blue Special Edition 2020 ($18 for 38mp) is a great gift. As a Special Edition ink, its a good end-of-year celebration, for as much as any of us want to celebrate 2020. We just want to celebrate that it’s over.

The packaging and bottle is lovely. There is gold foil stamping on both the box and and the bottle. The bolt cap is heavy metallic painted a brushed gold. Inside the cap is a rubber gasket which keeps the ink from leaking.

The 38ml bottles are flat on the front and back providing good real estate for branding and labelling the ink colors. This is an upgrade from the larger 85ml bottles which are almost completely spherical but are more difficult to label once removed from the box. As such, I much prefer the 38ml bottles. Not to mention, when am I ever going to use 85ml of any one ink?

The color is a bright, vivid Ultramarine blue. It doesn’t have a ton of shading but there is some sheening. Not as much as the new Krishna S Series Paakezah but it does sheen.

Even on Rhodia paper, the sheen will show with wider strokes and heavier ink coverage.

In regular writing, there is very little evidence of the shading and, with an EF nib, very little evidence of sheen. But the color is deeply saturated and bright.

The ink is water soluble. And when wet, the ink shows some evidence of a soft lavender undertone.

On Tomoe River, the results regarding the color are consistent to the results on Rhodia — not much shading, a little sheen. Timeless Blue is a little dry, it’s good for EF nibs and everyday paper since it is not likely to spread as much as other wetter inks. The ink has a little bit of a gritty quality which is more noticeable on smooth paper or with pens that have particularly smooth nibs. The ink adds a little tooth to the writing experience. If you prefer wetter, more lubricated ink, the Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao would probably be a good alternative.

When compared to other inks, as mentioned above, Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao is a good option as well as Monteverde Sapphire, Penlux Cobalt Blue (a Sailor made ink so it’s probably lubricated as well), Private Reserve Cosmic Cobalt and Monteverde 2018 DC Supershow Blue (which is very hard to tell apart from Sapphire Blue).

I don’t have a swatch of the white whale of the ink world: Parker Penman Sapphire but the swatch Jesi included in her review can be cross-referenced here too:

I think Parker Penman Sapphire has more sheen and is a little less violet in hue, even with the sheen.

This is definitely an ink color category that is thick with competition. These colors are all very similar. If I inked up seven pens with each of these colors, I think I’d be hard-pressed to know which ink was which. If you haven’t acquired any of these inks, Timeless Blue is a good option, albeit a bit more expensive than Monteverde or Private Reserve (at least in the US). If I was trying to find a good substitute for Parker Penman Sapphire, I don’t think Timeless Blue is quite there but its probably close enough for many who have not seen the Parker ink in person.

Side note: I created my own version of the Ink Journal Ink Collecting Guide Sheet (FREE) for the Traveler’s Notebook. If you are interested, I can add it to the Guide Sheets. Let me know in the comments if you’d like my version.

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

These are my working conditions! Cute, but quite the Ollie-obstacle.

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12 Days of Inkmas: Krishna S Series Paakezah (Day 12)

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
12 Days of Inkmas: Krishna S Series Paakezah (Day 12)

Today is our final day of Inkmas! Thanks for following our crew as we have shared a fun bunch of inks.

On day 12, I’m presenting a fun new ink that is beginning to show up at various retailers – Krishna Paakezah. This ink is a bright blue with slightly turquoise undertones and medium-high sheen. The sheen shows up more in the writing than it does in large swatches which surprised me. Usually I find the opposite.

The accompanying ink well is what sets Paakezah apart from other inks. This package has the ink well inside a can surrounded by foam (it was tough getting it out – I recommend removing the foam with the ink well first, then separating the two) and the ink is packaged separately – this is to ensure that if there is accidental breakage, the ink won’t make that a disaster. An eyedropper is included to help get the ink into the ink well. I will be reviewing the ink well separately later on.

I’ve compared Krishna Paakezah to some highly sheening inks so you can see that, while the sheen is definitely present, it isn’t overwhelming the main ink color. The base color is close to Robert Oster Blue Sea.

I did notice how close Paakezah was to Parker Penman Sapphire. No one would mistake one for the other, but both are a beautiful jewel tone blue.

I am thrilled to report that Paakezah showed no signs of smearing that are usually present in sheening inks. I did allow the ink to dry for 10 hours before I tried to smear it in this case, however. In tests where I let the ink dry only 1 minute, I could get it to smear slightly on Tomoe River paper, noticeably on Cosmo Air Light paper and not at all on Bank Paper. (For the smear test, I rubbed the ink as hard as I could with my finger for about 10 seconds)

Sheen on Tomoe River Paper:

Smearing on Tomoe River Paper

Sheen and (no) smearing on Bank paper:

Sheen on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Smearing on Cosmo Air Light paper:

 

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased with my own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

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12 Days of Inkmas: A Robert Oster Holiday Part 2 (Day 11)

Author Jaclyn MyersPosted on 1 Comment
12 Days of Inkmas: A Robert Oster Holiday Part 2 (Day 11)

Yesterday, I made a Col-o-wreath of the Robert Oster limited edition 2020 Holiday inks from Vanness Pens: Santa’s Hangover, Choc Pudding, Silent Nite, and Elf’s Cap. Today, I’ll show off the inks a little more with different tools and papers.

For the tools, I used a few of the unconventional tools I’ve become fond of since I went off the inky deep end for this post.

I also used two different sizes of glass ink pens from Shigure Inks and Fire Spider Glass, which really deserve their own post sometime soon.

I tested the inks on three different papers to cheer me up while I watched a very sad Purdue basketball game last night.

Cosmo Air Light

Tomoe River

Rhodia

Overall, it’s a nice holiday set. Each of the colors has just enough subtle complexity to make it interesting. Silent Nite and Choc Pudding are my favorites, and I’ll be inking them both up next week. If you need a last-minute idea to gift yourself for Inkmas, I think any of this set would make a great choice even after the 12 days of inky fun have come and gone.

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased with my own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

 

 

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Link Love: Don’t Panic

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Link Love: Don’t Panic

We are all anxiously awaiting our holiday package deliveries but, to quote Douglas Adams:

 

If your shipper sent a tracking number, you have as much information about the status and location of your package as the sender. If you don’t think you got a tracking number, remember to check your spam folder in case it got shuffled off to the email DMZ. Then, contact the sender and ask them to send (or re-send) your tracking information.

As a seller, I have customers who have been waiting 10+ days to receive their package and, as a recipient, I have waited 18+ days for a package. You are not alone and, by now, most of the world will understand if their gift is late. Just take a screen grab of the item, print it out and tuck it in an envelope. If you want to really play it up, put the photo in an appropriately sized box and wrap it and stick it under the tree.

There’s a link below with more detailed information from the USPS and an article from the Washington Post about some of the reasons they see that has caused the delays and bottlenecks. I hope you have a panic-free holiday.

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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12 Days of Inkmas: A Robert Oster Holiday Part 1 (Day 10)

Author Jaclyn MyersPosted on
12 Days of Inkmas: A Robert Oster Holiday Part 1 (Day 10)

Yes, I know. Robert Oster has already been featured several times (Day 2, Day 4, and Day 7) in our Inkmas countdown. But when I finally opened my package from Vanness Pens and remembered I had ordered the new, limited edition Robert Oster 2020 Holiday inks, I couldn’t resist. It’s now or never.

Earlier this year, I sent Ana a photo of my Col-o-ring cards all laid out in a circle. I believe it was Bob who cleverly pointed out they looked like a Col-o-wreath. I’m not sure how you can possibly get more inky and festive than that, so I thought it would be fun to make a mini Col-o-wreath with the Dippers in my collection that were nearest in range to the new Robert Oster colors and break the wreath down section-by-section.

The new holiday colors include Choc Pudding, Santa’s Hangover, Elf’s Cap, and Silent Nite.

Overall, the set shares some commonalities with the Robert Oster Australis set that Ana reviewed on Day 2. Especially for a holiday-themed set, the colors are subdued and a bit “dusty”- with very little sheen and a healthy amount of shading. What I like about the set is that they work as holiday colors, but also aren’t so “holiday” as to knock themselves out of contention for day-to-day use well into 2021.

Choc Pudding is a light brown with grey or pink undertones. I reach for brown inks a surprising amount these days, so I’m glad to see a brown included in the collection.

Santa’s Hangover is a light but bright red that leans heavily into pink. In fact, three of the six Dippers that I pulled for comparison were classified as “pink.” I’ve always liked the shade of the Pilot 100th anniversary Benzaiten but wished it was a little darker in writing. I’m interested to ink this up because it appears to be almost exactly that in first “dip.”

Elf’s Cap is a classic-ish green with some lime undertones. I usually prefer my greens either dark and leaning brown or bright and lime. This range was especially difficult to capture in photos, but the color is like a very classic green with a splash of Akkerman 28 added for good measure.

Finally, Silent Nite is purple-grey. Is grey the single most underrated fountain pen ink color? Greys were the multi-chromatic-shaders of inks before that became the latest ink trend, and the colors in this range show just how complex grey-leaning inks can be.

That’s the Col-o-wreath preview of the Robert Oster Holiday 2020 inks. Tomorrow, I’ll dig into the details of how these perform with different inky tools and different paper types.

In Ink Review

12 Days of Inkmas: Callifolio Sepia (Day 9)

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

Today, I wanted to warm up with some hot cocoa, gingerbread or a peppermint mocha. So, I chose an ink that reminded me of all those things — Callifolio Sepia.

Callifolio Sepia

Callifolio Sepia is a warm brown ink that is reminiscent of chocolate, gingerbread and all those warm beverages that keep us toasty during these long winter days.

Side note: For an in-depth analysis on sepia, check out our post, Let’s Talk About Sepia Ink.

Callifolio Sepia

Callifolio Sepia

Callifolio Sepia is a lighter, less saturated ink and definitely puts me in mind of milk chocolates when looking at a writing sample.

Callifolio Sepia

Amusingly, every time I tried to write Callifolio, I wrote “caffeinated” by mistake. Clearly the ink reminds me of coffee and chocolates or I am in desperate need of caffeine.

Callifolio Sepia

Compared to other brown inks, like shown above,  Callifolio Sepia is a lighter, albeit more neutral brown. Diamine Gingerbread, from the 2019 Diamine Inkvent calendar,  is much more golden and Diamine Roasted Chestnut has a more orange-y tint. J. Herbin Café des Íles is probably closest in tone though more saturated.

Callifolio Sepia

When lined up, from top to bottom —  Callifolio Sepia, J. Herbin Café des Íles,  and then Diamine Roasted Chestnut and Gingerbread — the difference in hue is clear to see.

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced, warm brown ink, Callifolio is an often overlloked option. This particular shade is a little lighter than I anticipated but might be suitable for you. Regardless, Callifolio is a great brand of ink and one of my favorites though it’s not mentioned often.

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.