Posts filed under Monteverde

Monteverde Mulberry Noir and L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen: Two Inks Reviewed

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

Today I'm reviewing two inks from two different companies. There's no special reason for combining these particular inks, other than that I love purple and green together. Plus, these inks have been languishing in my queue for awhile.

Monteverde Mulberry Noir

Mulberry Noir is a pinkish purple with good shading and green sheen. I had a difficult time capturing the true color of this ink in my photos and had to enhance the pink tones.

On Rhodia paper, the ink looks fairly flat and not much sheen or shading comes through. The ink did not dry quickly, but this is probably because I was using a large stub nib and had just inked my pen. Later, when I wrote my longer writing sample, the ink was much drier. The ink is not waterproof, but you can see in the water test how the pink tones predominate.

On the Col-o-dex card, the ink displays some shading and lots of green sheen.

Chromatography confirms that Mulberry is primarily composed of pink with a bit of lavender and some turquoise.

Using a ruling pen brings out all the lovely characteristics of Mulberry Noir--shading and a burst of rainbow sheen.

Although the ink flowed well on Rhodia paper, when I did a longer writing sample on MD Paper, it ran much drier. My sense is that the ink is rather dry and might benefit from Vanness White Lightning Ink Additive.

Mulberry Noir is a beautiful purple ink with fantastic sheen and excellent shading (depending on the paper and nib you use).

L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen (Irish Green)

Vert Moyen is a bright spring green.

On Rhodia paper, the ink displays good shading with wider nibs. It dries fairly quickly and is not waterproof.

The Col-o-dex card shows off the shading capabilities of the ink more clearly. There's no sheen to this ink--the splats dried almost black.

Chromatography indicates that Vert Moyen is comprised of light peach, lime green, and turquoise.

Vert L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen Chromatography

A ruling pen allows the ink to pool and shows off its shading characteristics. Vert Moyen is gorgeous with wider nibs.

L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen Ruling Pen

I used my Sailor Pro Gear Aprés Ski with a fine nib to do my longer writing sample. This wasn't the best choice for Vert Moyen since Sailor fine nibs are really extra fines. Thus, the writing is light and no shading is evident.

L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen Writing Sample

L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen Writing Sample 2

Vert Moyen is a beautiful color that reminds me of fresh clover.

You can purchase Monteverde Mulberry Noir from Vanness Pens, 30ml for $18. L'Artisan Pastellier Vert Moyen is also available from Vanness, 30ml for $7.

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

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Posted on April 30, 2021 by Susan Pigott and filed under Monteverde, L'Artisan Pastellier, Ink Reviews.

Monteverde Giant Sequoia Fountain Pen: A 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.)

The Monteverde Giant Sequoia fountain pen is a large resin pen with a stainless steel nib. It comes packaged in a substantial clamshell box with two cartridges as well as a converter.

The green Sequoia has sheeny turquoise, black, and silver stripes. It’s a really beautiful resin.

The pen itself is cylindrical in shape with a flat top and barrel bottom. The cap has an unadorned silver clip and a band engraved with “Monteverde USA Sequoia.” The cap screws on, and although it is postable, doing so throws the balance off considerably.

The Sequoia is a large pen both in length and girth. It is 5.7 inches (145mm) capped, 5 inches (127mm) uncapped, and 6.7 inches (170mm) posted. The grip is 10.8mm in diameter and the barrel is 15.4mm. In spite of its size, the pen itself is not heavy, weighing 33 grams capped and 19 grams uncapped.

The pen fills by cartridge or converter. Since it is made of resin and there are no metal parts on the barrel, you could probably eyedropper the pen if you wished.

The Sequoia comes with a #6 stainless steel nib. My review pen has a fine nib width. The nib is engraved with the Monteverde logo, and the Monteverde name appears twice, once near the base of the nib and once along the perimeter near the tip.

Unfortunately, this nib is scratchy, hard, and dry. Writing with it is not a pleasurable experience. It skips occasionally on downstrokes, and if you stop writing for any length of time, you have to re-wet the nib to continue.

*You can see where the nib skipped on the downstroke*

My macro photos of the nib don’t reveal any obvious problems, such as misaligned tines or tipping issues. I think the nib is just scratchy and ink-stingy. A nibmeister could probably get it writing better, but that’s an added expense.

The Sequoia is a beautiful pen, and I really like its size. My middle-aged hands prefer pens with a larger girth, especially for long writing sessions. But, the nib is a deal-breaker for me. If a pen doesn’t write well, no amount of beauty will make up for it.

You can purchase the Monteverde Giant Sequoia in green, blue, or brown from Vanness Pens. It costs $90.00 and comes in fine, medium, broad, and stub nib sizes.

Pros

The Monteverde Sequoia is a beautiful, large-sized pen that is light and comfortable in the hand.
The pen offers at least two filling methods (cartridge and converter), and it probably can be eyedroppered as well.
I really like the resin on this pen. It reminds me of the ao-tamenuri color Nakaya used to offer.

Cons

Unfortunately, the nib on this pen is scratchy and unyielding. It is also stingy with ink.

(Vanness Pens loaned this product to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Monteverde, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Monteverde Canyon Rust Ink: A 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.)

Canyon Rust is one of the many new inks Monteverde is producing. It is a rich red/brown that definitely reminds me of canyons—Caprock Canyons in particular.

I compared Canyon Rust with a few other browns in my ink collection. I expected it to be a close match to Diamine Ancient Copper, but the Diamine is much darker. Iroshizuku Tsukushi is more of a cool red/brown, Montblanc Toffee is a dark brown, and Kyo-Iro Moonlight, but is much lighter than Canyon Rust.

I tested the ink with my Pelikan M600 Grand Place which has a medium italic nib. The ink flowed well and is quite wet on Maruman Septcouleur paper. In the medium italic, it showed some good shading, but no sheen (but see below). It is not waterproof.

The chromatography shows that the ink contains pink, light orange, dark orange, and brown shades.

I also tested the ink with my Handwritmic Pen. Boy, does a wide nib show off the shading and dark green/brown sheen of this ink.

Monteverde’s inks claim to have lubricating properties (see more on that here). I’ve certainly not had any problems with their inks in my pens. If you’ve had trouble with Diamine Ancient Copper gooping up your nibs, you might give Monteverde Canyon Rust a try.