Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Monteverde Emerald Green Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

A few weeks back, I tried out my first Monteverde fountain pen ink and was pleasantly surprised. Since then, I've acquired another Monteverde ink, and while it doesn't perform as good as the previous, it's still a beautiful color and well-performing ink. Monteverde Emerald Green is a beautiful color, and I've really been enjoying using it as spring comes around.

There are several blues that easily make my top 5 lists, and I don't even need much time to decide. Greens, however, are a bit more elusive for me. I haven't settled on a list of favorites because I'm still working on finding what I like, and it doesn't help that there are an endless amount of green inks out there. It's slow work, but it's enjoyable.

Emerald Green takes its name from the emerald jewel, and it lives up to that name quite well. It's not what I would call a true emerald green, but it gets close and manages to be beautiful in the process. At the end of the day, I'm less interested in the name of the ink compared to how I like the color and ink properties.

Emerald Green is a light to medium green hue depending on how much ink is on the page. At times, you can detect more yellow and a touch of blue, giving it a pleasant teal or lime hint. Even with these other tones, it's impossible to mistake this for another color. It's absolutely green, and it's a beautiful shade.

Just like the Scotch Brown ink I reviewed, this ink has Monteverde's ITF (Ink Treatment Formula) that supposedly makes it perform at a higher level. Thinks like easy and consistent flow, resistance to drying when the cap is off, nib lubrication, and dry times. Like I said in my earlier review, I don't know (or really care) about their treatment system; whatever they're doing seems to work just fine. This is a very well-behaved ink. It flows well in the pens I've used, it doesn't have any trouble with starting or skipping, even after being uncapped and unused for a minute. It also does really well after being capped and unused for over a week — the ink usually started flowing just fine after the first stroke of a letter. Impressive.

The dry time is also a positive aspect of this ink. I found that the ink was dry on the page within 10-15 seconds in most cases. Obviously, this time increases as the nib size increases, but it manages to dry quickly in general.

Shading is great with this ink, though I wish it had just a little bit more variation. When you look at the ink after it dries, it's easy to see the shading between the fast and slow strokes of the letters and where the ink pools. But, the shading doesn't occur as effortlessly as other favorite inks. Still, it's nothing to criticize — it does a great job shading.

One thing I did notice was that the ink had significant show-through on some papers. Specifically, the untreated Baron Fig paper suffered the most, and also exhibited a good amount of feathering. But, on coated papers (Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Apica), it showed through very little and had no feathering problems. Sure, some inks perform well on every paper you throw at it, but this Monteverde still does a very good job considering. Part of using fountain pens is understanding that each pen, ink, and paper combination are unique and require a bit of learning to find what suits it best.

Overall, I've really been enjoying the Monteverde Emerald Green. It's a pretty good deal on JetPens at about $8 for a 30ml bottle. If you really love this ink, you can also purchase it in a massive 90ml bottle for just $16. If you're looking for a new green to try, consider this one!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on April 19, 2017 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Monteverde, Ink Reviews.

De Atramentis Black Edition Green Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

De Atramentis, the German ink company comprised of Dr. Franz-Josef Jansen, is an ink brand that I'm getting more accustomed with. As I try more of their inks, I've found a lot that I like, as well as things I don't care for. In the case of Black Edition Green, I came away a bit disappointed with the color and behavior of the ink. But, as they say, you can't win them all.

From looking at the name of the ink, I was expecting a rich, deep ink that had hints of green hidden away under a black shroud. Instead, the ink looks like a medium gray-green. It's not a bad color, I just don't think the name matches up with the actual ink color. The green is definitely there, but the black is pretty light. It's an interesting color, for sure, but not what I was expecting.

The next thing I noticed about the ink was how quickly it soaks into the paper when writing. In the 1.1 mm Monteverde stub nib, it felt a bit dry, but some papers soaked up the ink like a sponge, while others behaved normally. This probably has something to do with the coatings on different papers. For example, the ink did great on Rhodia and Clairefontaine, but looked terrible on Baron Fig paper. On the latter, the ink had zero shading and a bland gray-green hue that didn't look very attractive. Overall, the saturation of this ink is on the low side.

On the plus side, there's a fair amount of shading if you're using the right paper. It shades between a dark green and a lighter gray-green, but it's not dramatic. It's business friendly, especially in finer nibs.

Dry time is somewhere in the 15-second range, depending on the nib and paper. This is fairly standard and positive as far as drying times go for most inks.

I didn't detect any amount of feathering in my testing, with only minimal cases on cheap copy paper. It does an excellent job in that department. Show-through was also minimal, which is pretty impressive for a darker and somewhat wet ink like this one.

Like I mentioned before, I'm not sure what to make of the lubrication qualities in this ink. The pens I've tested with this ink do fine, but they feel slightly less smooth. And, there's the tendency for the ink to soak in on uncoated papers, which is something you need to keep in mind if that's primarily what you use. If I used Baron Fig exclusively with this ink, I would be disappointed. This isn't a knock on Baron Fig — most of my inks perform great on their paper. This has something to do with the formula of this particular ink.

When it comes down to it, it's difficult to recommend De Atramentis Black Edition Green. Dark greens are plentiful, and I can think of 5 inks from memory I'd rather use than this one, let alone if I went ink shopping. Given the price of the De Atramentis inks (about $15 per 35ml bottle), I'd suggest looking at some of the options that Diamine offers as a start. After that, most ink brands have a dark green or gray-green that looks great and performs well.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on April 5, 2017 by Jeff Abbott and filed under De Atrementis, Ink Reviews.

Platinum Classic Ink Lavender Black Review

January 2017: I need to slow down on buying inks.

March 2017: I bought all six colors of the new Platinum Classic Inks.

Sometimes the planets line up perfectly, and they did for me with Platinum Classic Ink. Unique colors? Check. Iron Gall? Check. Japanese? Check. Overall coolness factor? Check.

This is everything I personally want to see in an ink, so I bought them all. Luckily, that was only six bottles, and my friend Dan Smith from the Nibsmith had them all at the 2017 Arkansas Pen Show. When I told him I wanted one of each he said “Really?” Yes, really.

Let me get this out of the way right up front: Iron gall inks are not for everybody. If you are not able to monitor the ink in your pens and have good pen hygiene, you should not buy iron gall inks. There is a possibility that some damage could occur to your pens, such as staining the barrel or feed.

That said, if you are as particular as I am and pay attention to these types of things, you will be rewarded with unique inks and performance characteristics that you won’t find just anywhere. I trust Platinum to not do anything crazy, but the jury is still out on the long term ramifications of using these inks.

From the Classic Ink lineup, I see two colors getting the most hype: Lavender Black and Citrus Black. The first, because it is a traditionally awesome color that can’t often be found in fountain pen ink, and the second because you rarely see a company try a brighter iron gall ink. KWZ is the only one I can think of offhand.

With Lavender Black, the ink goes down on the page like the skin color of a red grape. There is a brightness to it while still having great depth of color. As it oxidizes, it darkens into more of a dark plum skin color that looks fantastic on the page.

The ink is wet too, not dry like some iron gall inks I use. The flow from my fine nib Platinum PKB-2000 is exceptional. The color transition happens quickly, too. The shade changes as soon as the ink begins to dry, and then is near its final state within minutes. It dries very fast as well, even on Rhodia paper.

I’m enamored, if you couldn’t tell. But again, this is a product that fits me perfectly. Will it fit you and your preferences as well as it does mine? Only you can answer that, but do your homework and don’t rush into it.

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