The Well-Appointed Desk

By Jessica Coles

This newest offering from Robert Oster is also the first ink offering from Brad Dowdy (The Pen Addict). After many long years of being asked to create a Pen Addict ink, Brad finally caved to the cries from his fans.  Teaming up with the talented Robert Oster, he has now introduced a new ink to the market with a moniker gently poking at Mr. Oster’s propensity to add “fire” to his inks (alluding to high levels of sheen).

According to Brad, his ink idea was a long and arduous journey that only came to fruition when the perfect name popped into his head one day: Fire on Fire.

Fire on Fire is a nicely saturated orange ink, one that doesn’t sear the eyes but is also dark enough to use every day.

Monteverde Mandarin Orange and Montblanc Lucky Orange are the closest colors in my Col-o-Ring collection.

Sailor Apricot has long been a favorite of mine for this particular orange.  My first thought when seeing the ink was that Fire on Fire would replace Apricot.  However, it seems that they can live harmoniously side-by-side and not compete for this particular spot in my life.

Writing with Fire on Fire is quite pleasant.  I used the TWSBI Eco Burnt Orange with a fine nib (mainly because it is Brad’s fault that I had to get this pen) and a turquoise Conklin with an omniflex nib (recently purchased from another Pen Addict follower) on Tomoe 52 gsm paper notebook made by Birmingham Pens.

Writing on Tomoe cream-colored paper with the fine nib, the color of Fire on Fire is a well-saturated orange that leans towards red, flows well (not particularly wet or dry) and no bleeding or feathering. The fine nib didn’t produce noticeable shading.

The omniflex nib wrote similarly except for the shading.  Here the shading was present even without pressure.

So far everything with this ink was nice.  Pleasant.  Good.  My notebook had been left open on my desk overnight.  When I sat down in the morning, my writing looked quite different.

The previous day had been cloudy and gloomy, no sunlight to speak of.  However, this day the sun was shining through the window – no clouds in the sky.  Simply turning the writing samples slightly in the bright light made it shine a beautiful silver!

Remember, the ink is totally dry.

None of this sheen required large amounts of ink.  It was there in regular writing.

There is no glitter in the ink, but it has an almost metallic look.

I found that the metallic sheen shows up like a halo when the writing is heavier.

 

Even with a fine nib, the sheen is there.

I love that this ink has such a beautiful sheen that reacts magnificently to bright light.  Both the actual color of the ink (orange) and the sheen color (silver) can be appreciated.

Whether we should thank divine intervention or subconscious whisperings, the Pen Addict ink is now available for purchase through Brad’s website. The first batch of 200 bottles sold out quickly but a second batch will be available soon.  It seems that the pens of Pen Addict fans were more than ready and quite thirsty for this new and particular ink!

Thank you, Brad, for FINALLY bringing us this ink!

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DISCLAIMER: All items in this review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details.