Posts filed under Pennonia

Pennonia Zuzmó Lichen Ink Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

This clay-tea-green is basically my favorite color, so I am super excited to have it in fountain pen ink form with Pennonia Zuzmó Lichen, even if I must acknowledge that it's not a terribly practical ink color. It is fun and interesting, perfect for art or accents, but would be tricky to see if it was pages of text.

Lichen has a lot of character, with shades of green, putty, and even a bronzey-brown showing through in different concentrations and shading. The chromatography is downright mystifying with a split of bright primary colors. When the ink first hits the page, it is more of a pale, leafy green, but it then darkens to what is seen in the pictures here. It's difficult to capture the differences in shade, but it's a really cool transformation to watch.

This ink has a fairly normal dry time, with everything staying put after 20-25 seconds. It doesn't feel like a wet ink when writing, but it doesn't feel dry, either. It's well balanced and flows nicely. I loaded it in one of my wettest nibs on purpose, hoping that the wet nib would bring out the pale color a bit better. In a very fine nib, this color would be quite difficult to see, I think.

There is no water resistance to this ink. It washed away completely when water was sprinkled or wiped across it.

It does show shading very well, but doesn't appear to have a true sheen. Just layers of color that show at different depths, which creates a bit of a sheen-like effect. It's really gorgeous.

The bottle I received is 50ml, in brown glass with a black lid. It's a nice bottle, sturdy and easy to fill from. It costs just under $10, which is a fantastic deal. A slightly different shaped 60ml bottle sells for around $13, also a great deal.

This is the second Pennonia Ink I've tried and I've liked both of them a lot. This one is my favorite, though. I want to get a big music nib and write a whole book in it. Because practicality is clearly not my priority.

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

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Posted on January 20, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Pennonia, Ink Reviews.

Pennonia Vattacukor Fountain Pen Ink Review

Romanian ink brand Pennonia is making a big splash in the pen world with its lovely colors and fun formulas. I was excited to try them for the first time with this bottle of Cotton Candy ink.

The ink comes in a generous 50ml dark glass bottle that's perfectly shaped for pen filling. It's wide enough to be stable, but deep enough to fill your pen easily. The label on the bottle is made of fountain pen friendly paper and includes a swab of the color, so you get an honest idea of what the color looks like.

This color is, if you ask me, the perfect pink. It's not too red or purple, it's not too pale. It's readable, rich, definitely pink, and shows some incredible shading. The color is exactly the color of cotton candy.

It looks great in writing and in swabs, and the swab color even looks like the writing color, which is rare in samples. Chromatography shows a pure pink color, which is not surprising. It dries fairly quickly, and does have a dry feel to it when writing, but it flows well and doesn't dry out in the nib. I set this pen down for a week, then picked it back up and the ink flowed right away.

There is not much water resistance. Writing may survive a quick, light splash, but where I let the water sit for a minute, the ink is totally gone. It does not show any sheen or shimmer--just the lovely shading from sugar-pink to deep pink.

I will definitely be using this ink often in my rotation. I love pink, but many true pinks are too pale to read in low light, and I'm usually writing in low light. This is a winner from Pennonia, and now I'm even more excited to try more of their colors. And since they're only $13 for 50ml, I can afford to do that! I highly recommend giving this brand a try.

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

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Posted on September 16, 2021 by Sarah Read and filed under Pennonia, Ink Reviews.

Pennonia Tihanyi Lila Ink Review

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

Purple inks have always been a favorite of mine, and I'm always excited to try out new and interesting shades. The latest purple ink I've been playing with lately is from a Hungarian maker: Pennonia. Tihanyi Lila is an understated and somewhat dusty purple that I just can't get enough of.

One of my all-time favorite purple inks is KWZ Gummiberry because it's rich, bright, and explosive. It's a vibrant purple that pops off the page and demands your attention, and it makes me smile every time I see it. Tihanyi Lila is way more subdued, but just as beautiful and enjoyable. It's the more pale tone that really speaks to me and possibly the in-between blue/gray hints that really intrigue me. It's unique in that way, and I guess that's why I can't put it down.

This is definitely the most gray-toned purple I've ever used, and I really don't have much to compare it against. It really looks to me like a gray ink that someone added just enough purple to in order to shift the balance just the slightest bit toward the purple spectrum. It's pale and a little pastel, seems thin in places, but rich in the thicker parts where the ink pools. The shading is what sets this ink apart and makes it so interesting. If it didn't have the shading aspects, it would be a fairly dull ink.

And while it doesn't have an intense amount of shading, it's just enough to add the right amount of character to transform this ink into something more than the base tone. According to the marketing information, this ink color is inspired by the lavender fields that are found near the town of Tihany in Hungary. The purple tone in this ink really does a great job of capturing the organic nature of a field of lavender waving gently in the wind. It's a beautiful characterization.

Getting on to how it performs as an ink, Tihanyi Lila hits all the usual goals without any trouble. It's a smooth and well-lubricated ink that flows easily and works well in all the pens I've tried so far. It washes out easily and doesn't dry up in the nib or feed in between uses.

The dry time can be a little long depending on the nib. Smaller nibs like EF or F aren't a big deal — the ink is normally dry after 10 - 15 seconds. In the 1.1mm stub I used for the review pictures, it took between 20 and 30 seconds to dry. Once the ink is dry, though, it's water resistant. Not archival quality, but pretty close.

If you're interested in picking up a bottle, they come in at $13 for a generous 50ml bottle, and just a few bucks for a small sample. The bottle isn't anything special, but I was extremely thankful for the large mouth. I wish all ink bottles had wide openings like this one — makes it so easy to fill!

Overall, I've really enjoyed using this ink. It's not flamboyant, but that's okay. It's beautiful for what it is, and I just keep coming back to it. Not all inks need to be bright and loud. I like those too, but the subtle inks hit a different spot for me. Pennonia Tihanyi Lila is a lovely purple ink that you should definitely try.

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

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