Posts filed under Ink Reviews

Six Shades of Grey: An Ink Comparison

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

A few weeks ago I reviewed Kaweco Smokey Grey ink. Unfortunately, I was unimpressed with that ink, but I needed a matchy ink to go with my lovely Montblance Alexandre Dumas fountain pen. So, I bought some grey ink samples from Vanness Pens and decided to compare them.

The six inks I compared are Kaweco Smokey Grey, Robert Oster Graphite, Kobe #10 Mikage Grey, Papier Plume Oyster Grey, Akkerman #29 Hofvijver Grijs, and Kobe #46 Nagisa Museum Grey.

In the comparison above, you can see that I wound up with quite a variety of greys, ranging from the very light Kaweco to the almost black Nagisa Museum Grey.

The chromatography on each ink reveals some interesting characteristics.

*L to R: Kaweco Smokey Grey, Robert Oster Graphite, Kobe Mikage Grey, Papier Plume Oyster Grey, Akkerman Hofvijver Grijs, and Kobe Nagisa Museum Grey*

Kaweco Smokey Grey has virtually no color range, varying slightly from grey to light lavender. Robert Oster Graphite is the most spectacular of the bunch at least in terms of chromatography, with lots of magenta and blue. Kobe Mikage contains mostly lavender and a little bit of blue. Papier Plume Oyster Grey contains blue and magenta tones. Akkerman Grijs is, perhaps, the truest grey, revealing no other colors. Kobe Nagisa Museum Grey is the darkest of all, and like the Akkerman, it demonstrates virtually no color variation.

Close ups of the ink swatches show what each ink looks like using a Brause 361 Steno Blue Pumpkin Calligraphy Pen Nib along with splotches and swabs.

Kaweco Smokey Grey is quite light in the swab, but with the wet dip nib, it writes more like a dark grey.

Robert Oster Graphite, despite its colorful chromatography, is a dark grey both in the swab and with the pen. The ink splats show a tiny bit of sheen, but unfortunately it’s been raining in Abilene all week, and I couldn’t get pictures with sunlight displaying the sheen in all its glory.

Kobe Mikage Grey, in my opinion, is the most intriguing shade of grey. In the swab, the writing, and the splats its purple hue is quite striking.

Papier Plume is a really nice blue-grey as revealed in the swab. With the pen, it appears as a dark grey with some blue sheen.

Akkerman Grijs is definitely the truest grey. The swab shows that it’s a flat color with little variation.

Kobe Nagisa Museum Grey is very close to black with some nice sheen.

I was really pleased with the wide variety of grey shades in these samples. I’ve pretty much written off Kaweco Smokey Grey as being too light and uninteresting for my use. If I wanted a true grey, I would choose the Akkerman. I found Kobe Nagisa to be too close to Iroshizuku Take-Sumi which I already own. Although Robert Oster inks are usually among my top picks, I didn’t much like Graphite, even though the chromatography made the ink look really interesting. So, of the six shades of grey, my two favorites are Papier Plume Oyster with its beautiful blue-grey tones and nice shading and Kobe #10 Mikage Grey with its deep purple-grey hue. It also shades quite well and has some sheen.

Currently my Montblanc Alexandre Dumas is inked with Kobe Mikage. When I run out of that, I’ll put the Papier Plume in the pen and make my final decision about which ink I’ll buy.

You can purchase a 30ml bottle of Kaweco Smokey Grey from JetPens for $13.50. All the other inks are available from Vanness Pens. Robert Oster Graphite is $17.00 for 50ml. Kobe #10 Mikage Grey and Kobe #46 Nagisa Museum Grey are $30.00 for 50ml. Papier Plume Oyster Grey is $7.00 for 30ml. And Akkerman Hofjijver Grijs is $28.00 for 60ml.

(I purchased the ink samples above with my own funds from Vanness Pens.)

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Posted on September 29, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Ink Reviews, Akkerman, Kaweco, Kobe, Papier Plume.

KWZ Gummiberry Ink Review

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

The best ink decisions you can make are those that take place at a pen show. That's exactly how I ended up with a bottle of KWZ Gummiberry, and I'm very happy with this bright little ink that I picked up earlier this year in Atlanta.

Gummiberry (not to be confused with the Iron Gall Gummiberry version from KWZ) is a bright purple with lots of personality. It pops off the page and has some moderate shading to boot.

Gummiberry was one of the handful of KWZ samples available at the Vanness Pens ink testing station at the Atlanta Pen Show, and I fell in love with it immediately. I'm not normally so attracted to purples, but this one was so vibrant and fun that I couldn't resist.

The saturation and vibrance dials of this ink are turned up to eleven, and the hue is such a delicious color...it looks edible. The shading is another prominent feature, and it varies the ink color from dark purple to light violet in places. The shading isn't incredibly dramatic, but it's certainly noticeable in most nibs. If you're looking for something a bit more dialed down in terms of saturation, Iroshizuku Murasaki-shikibu might do the trick nicely.

The dry time for Gummiberry in my 1.1mm stub nib wasn't impressive, coming in around 20 - 25 seconds usually. In a German fine nib, this dry time was reduced by about 5 seconds. So, it certainly doesn't win any awards for its drying time, but it's within the normal bounds — especially for such a bright ink.

From what I've seen, feathering and bleeding are nonexistent with this ink as long as you're using decent paper. There's a bit of spider vein crawl when using this ink on common copy paper or even standard Field Notes paper, but it's not extreme. For any of your favorite papers, I'm sure Gummiberry will perform admirably.

As far as nib lubrication goes, Gummiberry is right in the middle of the scale. It's not dry, but it's not wet. I tested this in 4 different nibs, and had the same results. There also haven't been any problems with skipping, hard starts, or unusually short drying times when left uncapped and unused for around a minute at a time.

Cleaning the ink out of pens isn't difficult, but it does take quite a few flushes to remove all the bright purple from pens. I've found this to be true for many of the bright inks I normally use. At any rate, it's not a big deal.

KWZ Gummiberry is available in a 60ml bottle for around $15 if you're ready to go all in, or you can pick up a small sample for a couple of bucks to make sure it's everything you hoped and dreamed for in a bright purple ink. The price is a great deal, and I highly recommend this fun, playful ink.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Jeff Abbott and filed under KWZ, Ink Reviews.

Kaweco Smokey Grey Ink Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I’ve been hunting for a beautiful grey ink to put in my new (to me) Montblanc Alexandre Dumas fountain pen. I originally filled the pen with Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun, but I find that ink too watery, especially with an italic nib. As I was going through my list of things to review, up popped Kaweco Smokey Grey ink.

I don’t own many Kaweco inks, so I was interested to see how this one performed in my Dumas. I did my usual ink tests, and found that the ink is light grey with a little bit of shading. Like Fuyu-Syogun, it’s quite wet. Although it’s not waterproof, it held up better than many of the inks I’ve reviewed in my water test.

Chromatography reveals a rather uninteresting spectrum of colors: grey, some dark blue, and a little lavender.

Kaweco Smokey Grey is a flat color. Although it offers some shading, it has no sheen whatsoever.

Compared to Fuyu-Syogun, Kaweco Smokey Grey is what I would call a true grey, whereas Fuyu-Syogun is more of a lavender-grey.

Unfortunately, Kaweco Smokey Grey is not the solution to my grey ink dilemma. I find it boring and much too light for everyday writing. It might work as a nice wash for painting or a background color for other inks.