Posts filed under Robert Oster

Robert Oster Signature Ink Review: Hippo Purple

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

There’s a new Robert Oster Signature ink in town, and this one’s a special edition. It’s called Hippo Purple, and it was made especially for the Hippo Noto Tomoe Notebook, a Kickstarter project.

*Image via the Hippo Noto Kickstarter page*

The Hippo Noto Tomoe Notebook is a special sub-A5-size notebook (131mm x 208mm) with 500 pages of 68gsm Tomoe River paper. The creators of the notebook named it Hippo Noto because their late son’s favorite creature was the hippo, and “noto” means “notes” in Japanese. You can read all about the Hippo Noto Kickstarter project here. The project ends April 23, 2017, so if you’d like to support it, you’ll need to act quickly.

Robert Oster created a special Hippo-colored ink as a part of the Hippo Noto project. The ink has shades of magenta, ochre, and blue, creating a unique brownish-purple that mimics the color of hippos.

The ink is wet and writes quite well in my TWSBI Eco with a stub nib. It does not exhibit much shading with this nib and is a rather flat color. It is not waterproof. I did my ink testing on Maruman Septcouleur white paper (my usual ink testing paper), not the Tomoe paper that will be in the Kickstarter notebooks.

Although I was able to create some fun ink splats, this ink doesn’t have the gorgeous sheen I’ve found in other Robert Oster inks.

In wide nibs (I used a Pilot Parallel 2.4mm), the ink demonstrates subtle shading. I really like the unusual color.

You can order this special edition Robert Oster ink only through the Kickstarter project. So if you like this unique shade of brownish-purple, be sure to go to the Kickstarter page and pledge $47 for one notebook and a bottle of Hippo Purple ink.

(This ink was provided to Pen Addict at no charge for review purposes.)

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Posted on April 21, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Robert Oster, Ink Reviews.

Robert Oster Signature Ink Review: Peach

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

Robert Oster signature ink has become one of my favorite brands primarily due to its wonderful shading properties, and, in many cases, the sheen. I’m partial to blue inks, but I picked up a sample of Peach when I purchased some other inks from Vanness Pens.

Robert Oster Peach is a fantastic yellow-orange ink. It is not subtle; it is flashy and sweet as the fruit after which it is named. Just look at the shading and color in the writing sample below:

Initially, I was a bit disappointed with the ink because my usual ink tests didn’t exhibit the qualities I expected, such as rich shading. For example, my swab looks flat and uninteresting as do my swirls, but the swipes show some of that gorgeous color where the ink pooled. The ink dried more quickly than other Robert Oster inks I’ve tried. I thought it would be a wet ink, but in my Omas italic, it was fairly dry. The ink is definitely not waterproof.

Chromatography reveals several colors, including pink, peach, yellow, and vivid orange.

Ink splats show off the rich colors and even a bit of deep orange sheen.

With wide nibs you’ll see lots of shading and ink pooling, and you might get some shimmer on the edges of your letters. Even in finer nibs the ink exhibits some shading. So if you like a vivid yellow-orange, you will definitely like Robert Oster Peach.

You can purchase Robert Oster Signature Peach from Vanness Pens, $16.00 for 50ml and $2.50 for a 4ml sample.

(This ink was purchased with my own funds.)

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 March 3, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Robert Oster, Ink Reviews.

Robert Oster Signature Ink Fire and Ice: 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.)

I’ve reviewed several Robert Oster inks (Torquay, Tranquility, Astorquiza Rot, and Claret and Verde de Rio), but I’ve been looking forward to this review for a while. The first time I saw a swatch of Fire and Ice, I knew I must have it. Usually I order a sample first, but, nope. I ordered an entire bottle. This ink has two characteristics I love: it’s blue and it has amazing red sheen, thus the name “Fire and Ice.”

I loaded it up in my Visconti London Fog with a fine palladium nib. This nib has a little bit of flex to it, so I figured I would see some shading and sheen. I was correct. When I did my usual ink tests on Maruman paper, I noticed sheen in the writing and wherever the ink pooled. The ink is wet, as you can see from the dry times test. It is also not waterproof. It’s a gorgeous turquoise-ish blue with distinct red sheen.

The sheen shows up best in the ink splats, of course. Just look at that delicious color!

My Pilot Parallel 2.4mm really shows off the shading and sheen.

The chromatography test revealed pink, green and blue in the ink.

Fire and Ice is a spectacular color. You can see the fire (red) even with a fine nib.

I prefer this ink to J. Herbin’s Emerald of Chivor (review here), which is also a blue-teal with red sheen, plus sparkles. They are both beautiful inks, but, honestly, I don’t like sparkly ink anymore. It’s too high maintenance, and I don’t like having to constantly shake the pen to get the gold sparkles to appear.