Ink Review: Prussian Blue by Diamine

 

Prussian Blue, by Diamine. 

The ink flows well. It's Diamine. 

I like this subtle blue-grey. It's just powdery enough to be interesting and just blue enough to still be pretty. It doesn't make my heart leap. But it makes my heart sit in a calm space and read a book I've already read and know I love.  

Every time I try a new Diamine ink I am like "...why do we have all those other ink companies when Diamine is way cheaper and also better?"

Yet I buy the other inks anyway. 

6/10. 

Ink Review: Diplomat Orange by Diplomat

 

Diplomat Orange, by Diplomat. 

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It flows fine. No problems there. 

So here is the problem with this color: for some reason, it just hits people as missable. I don't know why, because objectively, it's a pretty orange! It even shades some! but no one looks at it and falls in love. At least no one I've shown it to. 

I feel a little guilty about not liking it. It didn't do anything wrong. It's me, not you, Diplomat Orange. 

Ink Review: Bluebell Brushstroke by Ferris Wheel Press

 

Bluebell Brushstroke, by Ferris Wheel Press. 

The ink is fine; it flows etc. 

The problem with this ink is just that it is an incredibly boring color. 

I guess I don't hate it. I just sort of never want to see it again, because it is a waste of my eyesight. 

2/10.

Ink Review: Henry David Thoreau - Organics Studios

One of the inks everyone has opinions about: Henry David Thoreau by Organics Studios. 

 

 It flows fine, no problems with it. It looks very different when it's starting to run out, fyi. 

[Additional photo of page to be inserted - somehow didn't take a pic of it.]

I have a bias here: I strongly dislike Thoreau. Like, the person. So smug, so navel-gazing, so absolutely supported entirely by his unnoticed mother. So it's hard for this ink not to kind of have a petulant-entitled-man-child aura about it for me. 

I admit though - it's a cool ink. I don't know how anyone could disagree with that. It is a serious mix of colors, they all shine separately, and it shades insanely. It's in a class of its own. 

I just don't... quite... like the color? I come very close to liking it sometimes, but I haven't bought an actual bottle of it, and I doubt I ever will. 

Now, of course, I want to. 

6/10.

How I'm doing swatches and reviews

Here's how I so far have been doing my testing. 

1) Nibs. I try to always use a broad nib for testing. Honestly why do we even have other nibs. What is the point of a smaller nib, you can't see the shading and the sparkles and everything that makes ink colors gorgeous. You might as well just get a normal pen. 

2) Pens. I mostly use Navahlur Schyukills, Twisbi Diamonds and Ecos, and some Jinhaos I swapped the nibs out of. I have a Conklin Duragraph I really like and a Lamy 2000 that I really don't like, which is very sad because I wanted so much to like it. I have a caran d'ache that I'm not sure of the model of (it was given to me). I am sure there are more but who cares, you get the idea. 

3) Paintbrush. I got one from an art supply store (Wet Paint). It's a round brush. It wasn't the most expensive one there, and it wasn't the cheapest one there. You now know everything I know about this paintbrush. 

4) System. I make a swatch card, number it, then make a swatch page in my ink-testing notebook , with the same number. The idea is that one day I might start grouping swatches by color, but that's okay because the ink testing notebook pages will always be in numerical order. I'll always be able to find the full test page for whichever swatch. 

5). Paper. I researched this obsessively, because I research anything the least bit important obsessively. In the end, I settled on these half-size Clairfountaine-paper sewing-bound "Triomphe" notebooks. Maybe at some point I'll write up a post about why I picked that kind. They look like this: 

...only they're less beat up when you get them. (This is my first one, it's seen the world. Or at least the inside of a lot of my various bags.) 

6). Tips. I test a lot of samples, and to do this you really need an ink miser. Also, for really dry inks, it's good to have a bottle of White Lightning on hand. (It makes the inks flow better.) I also have glass dip pens. These are good for when I very first get a bunch of samples and I want to try all of them immediately :D I don't do swatches with them though because mine aren't consistent enough. 

That is all I can think of! :D 

Ribbiting pond ink review

The Ribbiting Pond, by Ferris Wheel Press. It's from the Frog Prince in their FerriTales series. 

The very first ink I swatched ❤️ (I’m using co-lo-ring.) 

Ok, look, it was a first effort.

This is Ribbiting Pond from Ferris Wheel Press. Ferris Wheel Press's Ferri Tales line of inks is just so pretty. And there are like five gorgeous-looking blues. This is the first one I bought. It was not an easy decision. 

Me: Michael, I can't pick a blue ink

Me: can you help  

Michael: *confidently* Sure

Michael: *looks at inks* 

Michael: wow, um

Me: I know right

It took days to decide.  

I GET BETTER AT  IT OK

Note - I try to always use broad nibs for example pages. I mean, I try to always use broad nibs in general, but sometimes I neglect to switch out a medium nib and mistakes are made. 

Verdict: 7/10. It is indeed gorgeous and sparkly, but more difficult to see and less variated in color than I was hoping for. I kinda wanted a little more green shading in there, to make it pond-y. Oh well. Really it was probably just that I had too high of expectations. 

and now for something completely different

So I started this one billion years ago when I was canvassing all the local parks. Then I stopped doing that. Why? idk, what's keeping you from making a blog about awesome local parks? Probably that. 

Right now I want to blog about ink and pens instead. Fountain pens were one of my corona hobbies. Ink is pretty. I am teaching myself to write with my left hand. This is all not a waste of time or money in any way because it is self-care, which my therapist says I need to do more of. Blah blah mental health. (When I was a kid we didn't even have "mental health". Either as a concept or a reality!)

I have no particular fountain pen expertise. I just appreciate that other people put ink and pen reviews online and I want to pay it forward. Sometimes it's nice to see an ink on multiple sites so you can get an idea if you really like it and want to spend a stupid amount of money on it. So here you go, internet. Yet another site about inks. You are welcome.