Ink Review #840: Vinta Sikatuna Sandugo 1565

This week it’s time to tackle some of the Vinta Series 1 inks, starting with Vinta Sikatuna Sandugo 1565. According to Vinta’s website, “In 1565, Datu Sikatuna and the Spanish Miguel López de Legazpi made a blood compact, or Sandugo, to seal their friend­ship with trust. This beautiful dark red ink sheens with green to symbolize both friendship and the lush green landscape of Bohol where the Sandugo was held.” Thanks to Vanness Pens for sending a sample over for review.

As soon as I swabbed this ink it quickly reminded me of J Herbin Rouge Hematite. It feels like a similar red with green sheen, so we will compare the two below.

The color:

Sandugo is a medium red with lots of green sheen.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper it’s easy to see the bright green sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: low shading, high sheen, and no shimmer. There could be some more shading under there, but if so it’s hidden under all the green sheen. It’s almost a monster sheener, just a little bit short of the mark.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in all nib sizes and had a little bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Sandugo is very similar to Rouge Hematite, the main difference is that Sandugo doesn’t have any shimmer. Other than that they are very close. Click here to see the Vinta inks together, and click here to see the red inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a TWSBI Eco Coral with a medium nib on Tomoe River paper. The ink had a wet, slightly sticky flow (this sticky quality is common in heavy sheening inks).

Overall, it’s a close match for J Herbin Rouge Hematite, so if you are looking for a non-shimmer version of that ink, this is the one for you. It does have the slightly sticky feeling flow that a lot of heavy sheening inks do. It doesn’t smear as much as the Organics Studio sheening inks, but does smear more than the Diamine sheening inks. This ink is very hard to clean out in pens. It took three rinses as well as two passes in the ultrasonic cleaner before my pens were free of red. While sheening inks are fun, I’m not a fan of the ones you can easily smear, so I would say my feelings are neutral on this ink-I don’t love it due to the smearing, but I don’t hate it either.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Vanness Pens for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Endless Recorder Notebook

I go through a lot of notebooks each year, a rather ridiculous amount, so I get excited to try out new notebooks. Today’s daily carry notebook is the Endless Recorder Notebook. I have the A5 with the Endless Space black cover. I brought this notebook with me to the San Francisco Pen show, and the leatherette cover (8.3 x 5.5 inches) has held up beautifully. In the US, this notebook is available for sale at Endless Works, Pen Chalet, Goulet Pens and more. Thanks to Endless Works for sending the notebook over for review.

Paper

This notebook contains 192 pages of 68gsm dot grid Tomoe River paper. This paper does a great job with fountain pens, no feathering or bleeding. It’s my favorite paper.

This paper handles most mediums well, but it does struggle a bit with pencils. I love it for fountain pens.

I love that this notebook contains a table of contents and can lay flat. This notebook also has a ribbon bookmark, a back cover pocket, and an elastic closure. Included with the notebook was a cloth drawstring protective bag, a silver bookmark engraved with my name and a packet of guide sheets.

I like that the pages are numbered, but if you look at the numbers you can see one of my concerns with this notebook. The cut on the pages are not even. There is less space on the bottom margin on page 9 than on page 13. This inconsistent cutting means that you can sometimes see the next page’s dot grid occasionally ghosting through on the current page.

The last 30 pages of the notebook are perforated. At the bottom of the photo you can see the inconsistent cutting again-you shouldn’t be able to see the guide lines.

Binding

The binding is stitch and glue bound. There are a few spots in the notebook where the glue has seeped into the binding and partially sealed a few pages together. I had to separate a few pages near the binding which lead to some tearing.

Overall, I like the cover and love the paper. I do have some concerns about the inconsistent cutting and the glue in the binding, which I hope they can work out over time since they are a relatively young company. This notebook has held up to daily use for a few weeks and the cover still looks brand new.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This product was provided by Endless Works for the purpose of this review. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

Fall September Inks

If you were to look at my life, you might think I hate color. All of my furniture is brown, beige or white. 99% of my clothes are neutral and most of the time I even choose neutral-colored notebooks whenever possible, but when it comes to ink and pens I want all the colors of the rainbow. I’m a bit odd in that I like to switch up my colors with the seasons-pastels and light colors in the spring, bright happy colors in the summer, jewel tones and deeper colors in the fall and dark colors and icy blues in the winter. So while I love all the colors, I try to stick to a few carefully chosen colors that coordinate well with each other. Lately I’ve been using 4 colors per week-a great neutral, usually black or blue-black, and three coordinating colors. This lets me have a few options to play with while still having a great basic in there too. This month I decided to plan out my colors in advance. I picked up this Col-o-ring Oversize at the San Francisco Pen Show and thought it would be great for keeping my color palettes.

This week I’ve been holding onto the very last of summer here, sticking to some brighter inks.

• Sailor Sei-boku

• Monteverde Garnet

• Montblanc Lucky Orange

• Diamine Aurora Borealis

• Sailor Kiwa-guro

• Monteverde Pumpkin Cake

• Monteverde Cherry Danish

• KWZ Chicago Blue

• Sailor Black

• Robert Oster Australian Shiraz

• Monteverde Olivine

• Robert Oster Midnight Sapphire

• Robert Oster Thunderstorm

• Sailor Jentle Yama-dori

• Robert Oster Berry d’Arche

• Robert Oster Caffe Crema

How many pens do you use each week?

Ink Review of Colorverse Martian & Life on Mars

It’s time to take a look at the last two inks from the August Ink Flight box, (the box is still available-you can find it here) Colorverse Martian and Life on Mars. This ink comes in a boxed set with a 65ml bottle of Martian and a 15ml bottle of Life on Mars.

The color:

Martian is an interesting burnt orange color, Life on Mars is somewhere between grey and teal. When I compared it to both grey and teal inks, I decided it leans a bit more toward the grey side.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some pretty shading.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Medium-both inks feathered in all nib sizes on Leuchtturm and the larger nib sizes on Rhodia.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Medium-both inks bled in all nib sizes on Leuchtturm and the larger nib sizes on Rhodia.

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in the all nib sizes and had a lots of bleeding in the flex nib too.

Comparison Swabs:

Martian is similar to KWZ Butterscotch. Life on Mars is a bit more unique-I didn’t have any good matches for it, neither grey nor teal inks came close. Click here to see the Colorverse inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a TWSBI Eco Transparent Orange with a medium nib and an Edison Beaumont Unicorn with a fine nib on Tomoe River paper.

Overall, I find the colors really interesting, but the performance just isn’t there for me. It performs well on Tomoe River paper, but 98% of inks do. There’s way too much feathering and bleeding on most papers to justify the high price of the ink. KWZ Butterscotch is a better-behaved alternative for Martian (which stinks because that was a limited edition show ink), but I don’t have a good alternative for Life on Mars.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Ink Journal for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #837: Colorverse Dust Storm

Colorverse #67 Dust Storm belongs to Colorverse Season 5 and was included in the August Ink Flight box, the box is still available-you can find it here. This ink comes in a boxed set with a 65ml bottle of Dust Storm and a 15ml bottle of Valles Marineris.

The color:

Dust Storm is a brownish-yellow with some shading.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some pretty shading.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering in the flex nib on Rhodia and Leuchtturm.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in the all nib sizes and had a lots of bleeding in the flex nib too.

Comparison Swabs:

Dust Storm is closest to 3 Oysters Mustard, but it’s quite a bit lighter. Click here to see the Colorverse inks together, and click here to see the yellow inks together,

Longer Writing:

I used a Kaweco Al-sport Anthracite with a medium nib on Tomoe River paper. The ink had an average flow but it didn’t get along well with this medium nib-after about a paragraph the ink felt dry and I primed the feed a bit. This was interesting since the ink had an average flow in all the other pens I tried it in.

Overall, it’s not my favorite Colorverse ink. There’s some feathering, bleeding and it didn’t get along well in every pen I tried it in. I’m also not super crazy about the color, so it’s not an ink I need a full bottle of.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Ink Journal for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #836: Colorverse Opportunity

Colorverse #69 Opportunity belongs to Colorverse Season 5 and was included in the August Ink Flight box, the box is still available-you can find it here. This ink comes in a boxed set with a 65ml bottle of Opportunity and a 15ml bottle of Spirit. Opportunity is one of those interesting magenta purples, it can look pink in certain light but I find it more of a purple.

The color:

Opportunity is a bright magenta purple with a little bit of shading.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink in looks a bit flatter than it does in writing.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 10 seconds on Rhodia, 40 seconds on TR

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering in the flex nib on Rhodia and Leuchtturm.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in the all nib sizes and had a lots of bleeding in the flex nib too.

Comparison Swabs:

Opportunity is similar to Sailor Ink Studio 435 and Sailor Kingdom Note Thysanostoma Thysanura. Click here to see the Colorverse inks together, and click here to see the purple inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Platinum 3776 Nice Lavande with a broad nib on Tomoe River paper. The ink had a slightly wet flow.

Overall, it’s a pretty color. There was a bit of feathering and bleeding in the flex nib, but it performed well in the other nib sizes and dried pretty quickly too. It would be a good color to use in the summer.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Ink Journal for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

2019 San Francisco Pen Show

I got my first fountain pen in 2015 and since then I’ve had approximately 1, 762 people tell me I need to attend a pen show. Since I have three little kids and have been in school for the last 5 years it’s been almost impossible for me to make it to one. I finally finished school in July so I promised myself I would get to the San Francisco Pen Show in August. Since this was my first pen show and my view may be a bit different than most I decided to do a bit of a re-cap. 

Vendors

Let’s talk about vendors first-there were a lot of them, but a few stuck out to me. Unfortunately I missed getting photos of Bungubox, Dromgoole’s, Edison Pen Co, Yafa, Luxury Brands and more.

Curnow Bookbinders

The very first vendor I saw when I got into the show was Curnow Bookbinders. They make custom notebooks they mainly sell through Facebook and Vanness Pens. I’ve been looking into their custom notebooks for a while but never actually purchased anything. They recently started making notebooks with a new paper that’s supposed to be very fountain pen friendly so I purchased a set of 3 small notebooks to try the paper, and if I like it I’ll purchase a custom A5 journal through their Facebook page.

Vintage Pen Shop

Jessica Coles owns the Vintage Pen Shop and knows everything about vintage Esterbrooks (she also writes articles for the Well-Appointed Desk).

She had vintage Esterbrooks in a ton of colors and even a vintage testing station where you could try out a bunch of different nibs. I was surprised by how small most of the pens were.

Rickshaw Bags

Mark owns Rickshaw Bags and had a million fun things at his table.

Mark had a ton of fun stickers he’d made for the show-I picked four to play with. I love that he gave the pens personality-I wish I had grabbed one of the mad ink bottle too.

There were these fun pen sleeves in bright colors. I appreciated that he brought a variety to choose from. I ended up choosing a 6-pen wrap with art done by @pensivecandy on Instagram. It’s the perfect color palette for me-teals, purples and blues.

Nock Co.

Brad Dowdy is one of my pen heroes, one I’ve always wanted to meet in person. I am the queen of social awkward, but he gave me a big hug and let me ask him a bunch of questions about his pen cases. I walked away with a Nock Seed A5 in a gorgeous teal color.

He also had some new Nock cases debuting at the show. I love the pink and green watermelon combo.

Franklin-Christoph

Franklin-Christoph is one of my favorite pen companies. I’m always jealous of those who get to see the prototype pens at the shows so I decided to stake out their table before they opened for the day to make sure I got one. But let me tell you, it is BUSY. There are a ton of people who want to see everything so I ended up leaving and coming back. I was still able to find a pen I loved-this olive diamondcast 46. It’s my one pen show pen for this year. I’m pretty anti-glitter in my life but diamondcast materials just look amazing.

One great thing about the F-C table is that they have a nib testing station where you can try out all of their stock nibs before you decide which you want. I ended up going with a broad nib on my pen and Audrey and Scott both worked on my nib for me.

I enjoy Mike @Inkdependence’s YouTube channel so it was nice to meet him in person. 

Here’s @allthehobbies-she and I have corresponded before, so it was great to meet her. You have to be careful though-she’ll help you spend all your money on F-C pens!

I bought a F-C Penvelope 6 a few years ago and I use it daily. Of course I don’t just carry six in it-I usually stuff about 16 pens in it, but it has held up beautifully so I had to remind myself I didn’t need another one (even if that Suit Dark Blue one looks AMAZING!)

Vanness Pens

I love Lisa from Vanness Pens-she’s fun and spunky and was crazy busy. I ended up with a ton of ink.

Galen Leather

Galen Leather was present but selling via Vanness Pens. Their table showed off some new items including this new Writers Medic Bag they’ve been working on. I talked myself out of buying the washi tape dispenser but now I’m wishing I had bought it.

Additive Pens

These pen barrels by Additive pens look like so much fun and one day I’ll cave and try one out. I love how creative they are. 

Straits Pen

Straits pens has been branching out into their own ink and they had this fun ink mixing station. I appreciated the mixing card that showed a few of the colors you could make with them.

BauerInk

 I ran into Claudia from BauerInks and of course had to take a look at all of her Robert Oster swabs. I’m a huge fan of RO inks and had to see if she had any new ones…

…and of course she did. Astorquiza Olive is a new BauerInks exclusive and as soon as I saw this illustration Claudia’s daughter did I knew I had to give it a try-so look for a review of that in the near future.

Musubi

I love Musubi’s social mission. They do a great job of helping minorities and providing jobs to the disadvantaged. They were sold out of the notebook I wanted by the time I got to their table, but I look forward to purchasing from them in the future. I think the cream little owl fabric is my favorite.

Ink Testing Stations

One of my favorite parts of the pen show was playing at the ink testing station. There were multiple tables set up around the show where you could try a ton of different inks. I especially enjoyed being able to try some vintage and hard-to-find inks. 

Kanilea Pen Co

Kanilea uses some of the most beautiful materials. I’ve been lusting after the Haleakala pen for quite a while, and someday I will get one.

They had some extra lighting above their table so it was easy to see some of the iridescence in the materials.

This is their newest pen-Aolani. It’s a purple swirly pattern.

The Nib Smith

Dan Smith is an amazing nibmeister. For this show I wanted to have one of my pens worked on and see how the process went. I have this Platinum 3776 Nice Pur that I bought used. It had an architect grind which I was excited about, but it had a very high sweet spot and I use a lower writing angle, so it never felt quite right to me-too scratchy when I held it comfortably. I finally decided I either needed to get it adjusted so I liked it or sell it. Cue the nibmeister! I showed up for my appointment with my clean pen. I told him what the problem was and demonstrated how I hold my pens. He looked at it for about three seconds and felt how it worked on paper and then took it straight to the grinder. This is where the trust comes in-it can be nerve wracking to see someone take a grinder to your pen, but trust me here, it’s worth it. After grinding it for a second he tested it out, went back to the grinder and tested it again. Then he smoothed it, flossed the tines and filled it up with ink for me to try. I asked that he make the flow a bit wetter which he quickly did and handed it back. I tried it again and it was perfect. The whole process took about three minutes, but it’s something I didn’t know how to do on my own and a lot of experience went into those three minutes. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

Pen Show Haul:

So what did I end up getting?

• Franklin-Christoph 46 Olive Diamondcast, broad nib

• Nock Seed A5 in the Ooh La La color way

• Yamamoto Paper Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection-This pad contains 5 sheets of 18 different papers to try

• Logical Prime A5-B Notebook

• Rickshaw 6-pen roll with art by @pensivecandy

Small things:

Fun stickers from Rickshaw

Backpocket Journals from Curnow

Cal-o-ring and Col-o-ring oversize from the Well-Appointed Desk

Monteverde’s new ink collection Sweet Life which includes:

• Chocolate Pudding

• Blue Velvet Cake

• Mango Mousse

• Pumpkin Cake

• Blueberry Muffin

• Iced Cookie

• Strawberry Shortcake

• Birthday Cake

• Key Lime Pie

• Cherry Danish

Private Reserve Fall Sampler Set:

• Shoreline Gold

• Copper Burst

• Fiesta Red

• Chocolat

• Robert Oster Astorquiza Olive (BauerInk exclusive)

• Monteverde DC Supershow Teal (Yafa)

• Monteverde Malibu Blue (this ink was free with the welcome tote bag)

• KWZ Honey (Dromgoole’s)

• Papier Plume Marina Green

• Monteverde Ocean Noir (Yafa)

• Blackstone Lemur Lime (Lemur Ink)

• Monteverde Smoke Noir (Yafa)

• KWZ Sheen Machine (Vanness Pens)

• Robert Oster Carolina Blue (Carolina Pen Co)
  

Struggles

I try to mix both pro’s and con’s in my posts. As much as I loved the pen show, I did have a few issues. Some of the vendors did not have great customer service. Some of the vendor helpers clearly did not want to be there and it showed in their interactions. After running a salon for years and handing a lot of customer service, it’s something I pay attention to. 95% of vendors were amazing, but there always seem to be a few issues in any crowd.

There weren’t a lot of options for food nearby the show. There was the restaurant attached to the hotel and a little market in the hotel as well, but it was open very limited hours. Outside the hotel there weren’t any close food options, so we mostly ate at the hotel, which was expensive.

It’s so easy to spend a lot of money on pens. I used a cash budget which worked really well. If I had used a debit or credit card I know I would have gone over budget.

Events with lots of people are not the easiest for me-I’m a true introvert and struggle when meeting someone new. I knew that there would be “pen show after dark” meetups at the bar in the evenings and there were-people congregated in small groups all over the bar area. I was often in the bar in the evening but found that since I didn’t know anyone personally in the small groups it was hard for me to try to involve myself. I think it would be best to attend a show with a pen buddy-someone who is in the hobby and can help you join in some of the groups and meet more people without feeling too awkward.

Favorite Parts

I was able to attend the live recording of The Pen Addict podcast on Friday which was great. I loved putting faces to the voices I hear every week. They interviewed the owners of the Kanilea Pen Co and it was interesting to learn more about the company.

Many attendees were very friendly. There are lots of people in the room-it gets hot. I went and sat in the little lobby outside the main room to take a break for a few minutes and ended up talking with a fellow pen lover-we discussed pens and he let me try his Nakaya. Seriously-pen people are the best people.

I often attend the Seattle-ish Pen Posse and I was surprised to find that seven of my pen friends from Seattle also made it to the show. We were able to have a mini Seattle meetup at the bar. I love seeing so many products in person. There have been many times I’ve held off from making a purchase because I want to see it in person first, and a pen show is a great way to do that.

Overall, I had a great time at the show. I would absolutely go again, but next time I would like to attend with a fellow pen addict.

Ink Review #835: Colorverse Mariner 4

Colorverse #65 Mariner 4 belongs to Colorverse Season 5 and was included in the August Ink Flight box, the box is still available-you can find it here. Mariner 4 is a lovely dark navy blue with some pretty shading. It comes in a box set with a 65ml bottle of Mariner 4 and a 15ml bottle of Allan Hills.

The color:

Mariner 4 is a dark navy blue.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has a little bit of shading.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering in the flex nib on Rhodia and Leuchtturm.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: medium shading, nosheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in the all nib sizes and had a lots of bleeding in the flex nib too.

Comparison Swabs:

Mariner 4 is similar to Robert Oster Great Southern Ocean. Click here to see the Colorverse inks together, and click here to see the blue inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used an Edison Collier Blue Steel with a broad nib on Tomoe River paper. The ink had a slightly wet flow.

Overall, I love navy blue inks. There was a quite a bit of feathering and bleeding in the flex nib, so I would stick to standard nib sizes with this ink.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Ink Journal for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #834: Colorverse Map of Mars

Let’s take a look at another ink from the August Ink Flight box, Colorverse #63 Map of Mars from Colorverse Season 5 (the box is still available-you can find it here). Map of Mars has a surface tension of 60.5 and a PH of 8.5. This ink is only available in a box set which includes a 65ml bottle of Map of Mars and a 15ml bottle of Mars Attacks.

The color:

Map of Mars is a gorgeous dark teal.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some pretty sheen-I can’t quite figure out what color the sheen is though, somewhere between red and black.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: medium shading, low sheen, and no shimmer. The sheen was only visible in the broad and flex nib on Tomoe River paper.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in the larger nib sizes and had a lots of bleeding in the flex nib too.

Comparison Swabs:

Map of Mars is similar to Diamine Aurora Borealis and Robert Oster Deep Sea (both of which I love). Click here to see the Colorverse inks together, and click here to see the teal inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pelikan M600 Turquoise with a broad nib on Tomoe River paper. The ink had a slightly wet flow.

Overall, I like this ink. I’m a sucker for teal inks and this one is a gorgeous color, generally pretty well behaved and has a nice flow as well.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Ink Journal for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #833: Colorverse Arabella

The Ink Flight Box is a monthly ink sample subscription by Ink Journal, and they were very kind to send me this month’s subscription. August’s box includes 7 Colorverse inks (the box is still available-you can find it here). The first ink I want to take a look at is Colorverse #51 Arabella from Season 4. According to the card included with the inks, Arabella is a “Bright, ‘DOS prompt’ green named after a space-bound spider. Surface Tension: 76.0 / PH: 7.6”. Arabella comes in a box set with a 65ml bottle of Arabella and a smaller 15ml bottle of Anita.

The color:

Arabella is a medium vivid green.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some nice shading and just a tiny hint of pink sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering in the flex nib on Rhodia and Leuchtturm.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low-there was some bleeding in the flex nib.

Other properties: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink feathered in the larger nib sizes and had a little bit of bleeding in the flex nib too.

Comparison Swabs:

In writing Arabella is pretty similar to Pilot Iroshizuku Fukurokuju from the anniversary set. Click here to see the Colorverse inks together, and click here to see the green inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a TWSBI Eco Transparent Green with a medium nib on Tomoe River paper. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, it’s a nice ink. I like the little bit of shading and the color but I don’t love that it feathers and bleeds in the flex nib on some papers. I do love the Ink Flight Box-it’s a nice way to try out some new inks each month. Check back later this week to see the other inks from the August box.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Ink Journal for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.