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Ink Review: Colorverse Mars Curiosity, Hubble Zoom & Space Laika

Author AnaPosted on 15 Comments
Ink Review: Colorverse Mars Curiosity, Hubble Zoom & Space Laika

(This is part two of a series of reviews about the new Colorverse ink line. Please refer to the overview for details about the whole collection.)

It was so hard to decide which set of Colorverse ink colors to review first so I decided to go with the colors I was most surprised about. First, I don’t actually remembering ordering a couple of these. I think I hit ink ordering mania and was just clicking on everything.  But secondly, I was pleasantly surprised about the colors of these inks. They are not usually colors I gravitate towards (space pun intended!) and I actually ended up really liking them which is a good thing since I now have two bottles of each!

For an ink collection about space, #6 Space Laika, #7 Hubble Zoom and #8 Mars Curiosity (each $36 per two-bottle set) are all decidedly earthy colors. I was able to include Pantone chips for all the colors except PMS2035U for Mars Curiosity because I didn’t have it. I think the chip for Hubble Zoom is pretty close but I’m not sure the chip for Space Laika is quite right.

But the big excitement was the sheen on Mars Curiosity! It looks like the silvery dust on the surface of Mars! I am mesmerized!

Hubble Zoom does not have any sheen per se, but the color has a lot of shading and is a rich, warm mahogany color. I wouldn’t call it red or brown or burgundy. It’s lovely.

And Space Laika was a freaking Communist Revolution. Its a brown I actually like. Its a warm rich brown that doesn’t go too cool. You want that rich Chocolate Lab brown? This is it.

 

In writing, Mars Curiosity writes bright red and then dries darker with its signature silvery sheen. Hubble Zoom is a lighter, warmer red-brown in writing and Space Laika is that fab cocoa brown that makes me want to sing the soundtrack to Dogs in Space all day.

Finding ink swatch comparisons to Mars Curiosity was a challenge as it turns out I don’t have a lot of deep orange inks in my collection. (Over 300 inks and red-oranges aren’t amongst them!) So, what I had to reference was  very limited but I also think that Mars Curiosity is in a class by itself with the silvery sheen so take that into consideration. I have Apache Sunset and its way more orange than Mars Curiosity and not even in the same field. Most of the colors I had were too orange or too red. Mars Curiosity is really a curiosity.

When it came to finding ink comparisons for Space Laika and Hubble Zoom, I faced a similar struggle finding a good range of comparison inks too. Both were different enough on the color specturm that is was more aboutfinding contrasts this time rather than similarities.

I went ahead and tried to dive a little more deeply into understanding more about ph levels today. I know its important to have a working knowledge about the acidity or alkalinity of inks but I tend to care more about staining, water solubility,  fade-ability and fluidity first. My chemistry skills being what they are, I’ve always left the more technical aspects of ink reviews to people who are more savvy than I am. But since Colorverse has been so kind as to provide ph information, I decided I might as well figure out what they mean.

So, I went over to Richard Binder’s site and found out that the ph level of distilled water is 7.  He worked with someone who tested a range of common inks to get a good idea of alkaline and acidic inks ranging from 1.5 to 9.7.

On the Colorverse pamphlet included with the inks, they list the ph for Space Laika at 8.4, Hubble Zoom at 9.3, and Mars Curiosity at 8.6. The Colorverse inks seems to be in the same range as Sailor and Pilot Iroshizuku. While that is not super scientific, I feel fairly confident that anything I write or draw will survive my lifetime if protected from the light and water. Beyond that… who knows?

So, those are the earthy tones from my first fourteen colors. Tomorrow….we go blue!

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Colorverse Inks Overview

Author AnaPosted on 11 Comments
Colorverse Inks Overview

I thought I’d start my massive review series of the Colorverse Ink collection ($36 per set) with an overview of the product. If you’re not familiar with Colorverse inks yet, they have recently come onto the pen and ink scene by way of Korea. The original series of inks, Season 1, started as a Kickstarter and then a Season 2 line of colors was added. In January of this year, the most recent Season 3 colors was launched a set of six companion sets of colors.

One of the most notable things about the Colorverse Ink collection is that each box comes with two bottles of ink. In the Season 1 & 2 sets, its a matched set of 65ml and 15ml bottles of the same color. In Season 3, this becomes a large 65ml bottle of a focal color and a 15ml bottle of a “special” color — maybe a shimmering metallic, a pigment ink or just a contrasting dye-based ink.

The packaging for the Colorverse Inks is amazing and if you are the least bit science or space-inclined, you’re going to be hard-pressed to pass up a box or two of these inks. Inside each box is star char graphics, a brochure featuring the rest of the lines of ink and sticker and accessory pack.

The accessory pack includes stickers, a paper bookmark, a foldable paper pen stand and a branded napkin for clean-up. The first reaction for many about the Colorverse ink collection was the price but I think these little extras prove that they are definitely making it worth the slightly higher price. Caran d’Ache inks are almost the same price and you don’t get stickers or toys in the box. Nor do you get an extra bonus bottle of ink that you can share or keep at work.

The one thing I did discover about the smaller bottle is that the opening is not particularly conducive to larger pens or dipping a dip pen into the bottle as most holders are too large to fit into the opening. So, the smaller bottle will require a pipette, a syringe or other transfer method to be used efficiently. The larger bottle has an opening that is much bigger and accommodates most pens easily. Whether it will be easy to get the last drops from the bottom of the bottle is still something I’ll have to determine but I think it will be a long time before I need to worry about that.

I wanted to give a size comparison of the bottles with some commonly recognized bottles for scale.

So… ready to see some of my early color swatches?

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Housekeeping: Ink Reviews & Pen Shows

Author AnaPosted on 10 Comments

Just thought I’d drop a little housekeeping post today to let everybody know what’s going on around here.

Ink Review Week

First, between Laura and I, there are going to be a ton of ink reviews in the next week or so. I have over a dozen Colorverse inks to review which I’ve decided to group into color families so you don’t have to wait a month to get to see them all. Laura will be bringing in some Monteverde reviews as well as some Diamine Shimmering inks so hopefully we will have something for everyone. We want to get them out before we head off to LA!

Pen Shows

Next up, in the sidebar, I have reactivated the Pen Show Countdown. Its like “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?” the Well-Appointed Desk Edition. We are counting down the days to the LA Pen Show. Laura and I are headed out to LA and as I am looking outside to whiteout blizzard conditions here in Kansas City, California is sounding better and better.  I’ll try to keep it up for all the shows I’ll be attending this year which will include Arkansas, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, DC, San Francisco and Dallas thus far — with LA being the first of the year for me.

Col-o-ring Ink Testing Books

I noticed that there were a lot of people on the Col-o-ring mailing list. If you are waiting to order one, they are currently available from our online shop! Col-o-ring Ink Testing Books are also available through  many of our favorite online retailers in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia/NZ and soon even Korea! We’ll let you know as info is available.

We have other products and ideas in the works as well and will post them here on the site and unveil them at future pen shows. Stay tuned!

Some Questions

I want to ask you, lovely readers, is there something you’d like to see more of here on the blog? It was suggested that I should consider doing more videos but, of what? Reviews? How-to’s? Ask the Desk Q&As? Interviews? Do you want more pen reviews? Paper reviews? Behind the scenes? More cat photos? Everybody wants more cat photos, right?

Seriously, if there’s something lacking or a product, brand or company you think we neglect here on The Desk, leave a note in the comments and we will start to build a list of posts we can do in the future.

In the meantime, I’ll be in the studio…

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Sailor Shikiori Yodaki

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Ink Review: Sailor Shikiori Yodaki

This is the last of the Sailor Shikiori colors and I saved what I think it the best for last. I don’t know how widely known it is but when we were cooking up the Col-o-ring, I used Sailor Jentle Irori as my litmus test color for paper testing. It has a gold sheen that is subtle but it’s there. If it showed up on paper that we tried, it made it into our “maybe” pile. If the sheen was not revealed, the paper was NOT acceptable. So, my feelings for Sailor red inks are pretty deep set.

So, when I swabbed Sailor Shikiori Yodaki ($15 for 20ml bottle) and it was a deeper, brickier red and the green-gold sheen revealed itself, I was in. Smaller bottle? Okay fine. I have more ink than any one human could ever need anyway.

In some light, the shading will look look warm like sun-baked reds. With heavier applications, the color deepens and the sheen is revealed.

The variation in red inks is so vast its hard to find a close comparison but this color swatch collection shows where Yodaki falls in the spectrum. It’s more orangey in contrast to Irori which is more watermelon-y. Grenade is more wine colored, if you want to compare inks within the Sailor line.

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Zebra Sarasa Prefill: Shiny Metallic Gel Refills!

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Zebra Sarasa Prefill: Shiny Metallic Gel Refills!

Since my Pilot Juice Metallic Pen Set glee, I decided to refill my Prefill (my Zebra Sarasa Prefill, that is) with some of the metallic refills that are now available. I chose my favorite colors: metallic green, metallic pink and silver plus the pencil for an entirely non-work appropriate set. Who’s going to stop me, really?

I filled the Prefill with Shiny Pink 0.5mm ($1.90), Shiny Green 0.5mm ($1.90) and Silver 05.mm ($1.90) and the 0.5 mm mechanical pencil refill ($3). There is also a shiny blue and gold color gel refill available in the metallics but I didn’t have enough room in the pen to hold them all! Decisions had to be made.

As far as I know, Zebra is the only company making refills for multi-pens with metallic colors so if you’ve always wanted to add a metallic color to your multi-pen line-up, the Prefill is definitely the way to go. The current line-up of Prefill component bodies on JetPens are 5-color so you can have one more color than I do.

The Shiny Pink, Shiny Green and Silver worked well on white and dark colors. The metallic flakes are small enough to give the color a shine rather than a glittery quality so the name does seem to fit. I tested the colors over a swatch of black Sharpie marker on a Col-o-ring card ($10 for 100/card set — shameless plug!) to simulate colored paper to good effect.

These Zebra Sarasa Prefill shiny refills seem perfect for anyone who wants to spice up a their Bullet Journal, work notes or planner. I don’t think I’d use one of these colors exclusively for long writing but I like the idea of accenting, underlining or doing a title on a page with a little flair. Since most of the multi-pens allow for five different refills in each pen, I’m sure you can find the right combination of gel, ballpoint, pencil and shiny (!) to make your work, planning and projects a little more fun.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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Eye Candy: Ink Sample Jar

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments

I have collected so many ink samples and many have been used and the bottles refilled with inks to share with friends but some have still yet to be sampled or reviewed so where to keep them? I had a large glass jar that made a perfect display and forces me to keep the number down to what fit in the jar. I try to use them up now or  either pass them along now.

It is certainly not the most organized method but its definitely eye candy!

 

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Pilot Juice 6-Color Metallic & Pastel Sets (with Bonus White Gel Pen Comparison)

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Pen Review: Pilot Juice 6-Color Metallic & Pastel Sets (with Bonus White Gel Pen Comparison)

Sometimes its nice to go back to my tried-and-true basics: gel pens. For many of us, it was the gateway into better pens whether it was in school or later in life. And what better way to liven up a wintery day (or a bleary Thursday) than with some metallics and pastels! So I thought I’d go over the Pilot Juice Metallic 0.5m 6-Color Gel Set ($9.90) and Pilot Juice 0.5mm 6-Color Pastel Set ($9.90) as well as do a quick comparison of some of the white gel pens available and which ones I like best.

Like all the other Pilot Juice pens available, the metallic and pastel set in 0.5mm come with the spring-loaded clips and rubberized grips. They are all retractable so they are easy to use and feature the same conical tips. The metallic set come with metallic violet, metallic pink, metallic blue, metallic green, silver and gold.

I tested the pens on both white paper and black paper. Then I tested the color over black Sharpie marker to see contrast.

The 0.5mm is fine line enough to dry quickly and work for anyone with small handwriting like myself. Because it is very fine line, they are not as sparkly or glittery as a Sakura gel pen but they also don’t take an age to dry or get gloopy. The colors are nice and vivid but since the points are very fine, if you re using these on colored paper like construction paper, you may pick up loose paper fibers since the pens are very fine tipped and pointy. A light touch will work best and you may want to use a paper towel to wipe the end to remove any loose fibers.

The pastel set comes in the same packaging and features all the same great features as the metallics: retractable, conical tip, spring-loaded clips, etc.

The colors in the set are pastel yellow, pastel violet, pastel pink, pastel blue, pastel green, and white.

When tested on white paper, the pink and purple were the only truly usable colors. The green, purple and yellow would work for coloring or underlining and not much else. On black or dark colored paper or to go over other colors, ink or pen, though, the pastels and white were a lot more usable.

Again, the Pilot Juice 0.5mm are very fine line and sharp so on construction paper, you are likely to pick up paper fibers if you are heavy-handed but with a light touch or small or detailed work, these can be a nice addition to your collection.

I decided to include the Sakura Ballsign 5-Color 0.6mm Pastel Set ($12) for comparison since I had it available. It is a little bit wider tip but I think it will give a good comparison colorwise to the Pilot Juice Pastel set. It does lack the pastel yellow however.

You’ll notice that the pastel blue, pastel pink, pastel green and pastel purple included in the Ballsign set are all fairly usable on white paper as well as on darker stocks. And the white is much more opaque on black. I don’t know if its the shades of pastel they chose or the extra 0.1mm that makes the difference?

So, after comparing the Pilot Juice to the Sakura Ballsign, I decided to pull all the white gel pens I had in my stash and do a quick comparison of all the ones I had to show the difference in opacity on dark paper.

Above I have:

Clearly,  the Pilot Juice is very light but it is also very fine and the Uni-Ball Sign Broad is pretty opaque but the broadest of the lot. My favorite middle ground is the Signo Angelic which is pretty fine but also pretty opaque and can be layered up a bit.

The Y&C Gel Extreme did well on dark paper but I’ve not had as much success with it over ink and other artwork so if you’re looking for a pen to draw or write on colored paper, the Y&C might be good for you but I wouldn’t recommend it as much for using over other inks. I find it cuts or lifts up the other colors.

The Ballsign is okay for doing little bits of dotty snow or stars or the occasional highlight. Its okay but the Uni-Signo and Angelic are definitely better options.

Sakura Gelly Roll is good for doing eye lights or other “final touch” highlights but takes an age to dry so be prepared to leave your drawing or lettering out to dry if you use it.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.