Colorverse X Opus 88 Horizon 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.)

A few weeks ago I reviewed Colorverse Trailblazer in Space: Strelka and Pushinka ink. This week, I’m reviewing a different series of inks made to match the Opus 88 Picnic fountain pens. The ink I’m reviewing is Horizon, which complements the Opus 88 Picnic Blue fountain pen.

I tested the ink using my brand new Opus 88 Picnic Blue with a fine point (I mean, I /had/ to have the pen to go with the ink, am I right?) on Maruman Septcouleur paper. The ink is a light blue color with very little shading (in a fine point nib) and little color variation in the swab. The ink is fairly dry and is not waterproof.

On my Col-o-dex card, I used a Nikko G nib. With this nib I was able to get a little shading out of the ink.

Chromatography reveals that the ink has virtually no variation whatsoever. It is consistently light blue.

I also tested the ink with some wider nibs: a 2.4mm Pilot Parallel and my Handwritmic Brody Neuenschwander Ruling Pen. With wider nibs, this ink is much more exciting. It has nice shading and a tiny bit of sheen if you look closely.

Overall, I’m pretty disappointed with Colorverse Horizon. With a fine nib, it is so light as to be almost unreadable. In fact, in my Opus 88 Picnic Blue fountain pen--the very pen the ink is made for--it writes poorly on every kind of paper I tried (including Tomoe River Paper and William Hannah paper). If you want to use this ink, I suggest using it only with very broad nibs.

You can buy Colorverse X Opus 88 Horizon from Pen Chalet for $36.00, which includes a 65 ml bottle and a 15 ml bottle.

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

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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 28, 2018 by Susan Pigott and filed under Colorverse.

Cognitive Surplus Notebook 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.)

Science without art, art without science--no good. They need each other. And If you were to draw a Venn diagram of where they overlap, you'd probably want to draw it in a Cognitive Surplus notebook.

These notebooks are truly beautiful. With cover designs inspired by scientific illustrations from anatomy to entomology to astronomy, there's bound to be one or five you can't resist. When I first found them a few years ago, I had some kind of notebook-induced blackout and I regret nothing. I had just started working in my last book from that wee binge when Cognitive Surplus announced their new designs and new paper. Even better, they asked me to give their new paper a try.

The new notebooks still have the gorgeous scientific illustrations on the covers, and now they have illustrated endpapers as well. They come in a variety of sizes and line formats, hard and soft cover, grid or dots or lines or blank, or a combination. My favorite are the larger hardcover books, which also include a ribbon bookmark. But for maximum design options, you can get a pack of smaller notebooks in different sciency themes. Really, you can't choose wrong.

Cognitive Surplus is a dedicated green company. Check out their webpage on sustainability to see just how much care they put into operating in an environmentally responsible manner. I'm impressed. It makes me want even more notebooks.

The paper that CS used to use was extremely fountain pen friendly. I used all sorts of inks and pens in it with no trouble at all. It was crisp white and showed off the subtlety of ink colors and never bled or feathered. But the folks at CS thought they could do better--environmentally better. So this summer they replaced their paper stock with a newer, greener option.

Of course, they were concerned about whether or not it would perform as well as the previous paper--and unfortunately it doesn't. Like a lot of recycled papers, it has a warmer tone to it that doesn't show colors as well, and it doesn't hold up as well when in contact with liquid inks. There's some bleed-through and feathering, and with wetter inks, it looks almost as if the paper fibers are separating as they soak it up. With fine point pens and dryer inks I had no problem, though. So you can still use fountain pens in these notebooks--just not the firehose pens.

Pencil, ballpoint, gel, and rollerball all did great. If you've got a non-fountain pen that you love, then you are totally golden with these notebooks.

Is this paper going to delight fountain pen enthusiasts? No. It works in so much as I can still read what I wrote, but it doesn't perform in any spectacular way with liquid ink. It doesn't show off color or shading or sheen, or any of those other papery tricks we pen addicts swoon over.

I think this paper does something better than that, though. Cognitive Surplus has prioritized the environment over fancy features and I commend them for it. They make beautiful, functional, responsible books and my initial disappointment in the paper led me to question my own priorities when it comes to my paper needs. It's not the end of the world if my broad/wet nibs/inks bleed through the page a little, but it literally is the end of the world for species losing their habitats to deforestation and climate change. So take a peek at your papers and your priorities and maybe give a greener option a try. Because small actions do add up. Plus, in the dystopian wasteland, there's nowhere to wash your pen, anyway.

(Cognitive Surplus 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!

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Sarah Read and filed under Cognitive Surplus, Notebook Reviews.

Opus 88 Fantasia Fountain Pen Review

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

The Opus 88 Fantasia fountain pen is unlike any other I've ever used. As an eyedropper pen, it's a similar to other eyedropper pens I've used, such as the Franklin Christoph pens I use. But what's unique about this one when compared to classic eyedroppers is the inclusion of a shut off valve to stop ink flow. The unique design as well as the translucent body and colorful cap make this an instant favorite.

The particular model I have is a dark teal body paired with a black ebonite cap that also has a few colorful stripes to add visual interest. The stripes on the cap are green, dark red, and a light yellow. The stripes are different widths and really draw my eye to them. The clip is chrome and is incredibly strong.

The cap is secured/removed with threads, and only requires four turns to operate completely. The overall length of the pen is quite short at only 4.5 inches or 11.5cm when capped. When opened and not posted, the length is just a hair over four inches, but the full posted length is a more comfortable 5.75 inches or 14.5cm.

Since there aren't any metal parts that make up the body of this pen, it's a lightweight instrument. The grip section is a bit short for my liking, not providing quite enough surface area for my fingers to rest comfortably. I didn't notice this much while writing, but trying to find a comfortable writing grip at first was a challenge. It's workable, but you are definitely reminded that this is a compact pen where the main focus is ink capacity and portability.

The nib included on this pen is a medium stainless steel JoWo nib. Vanness offers Fine, Medium, and Broad, and I've found that the medium on my unit is much closer to a European fine. I've always had good luck with JoWo nibs, and this one is no exception. It's an incredibly smooth and reliable writer with just a small of flex when pressure is applied on downstrokes. There is some light decoration on the nib along with the Opus 88 name and the size indicator. I've been really happy with this nib and how it writes.

Writing with this pen can take some practice since the grip is so small. The overall length of the pen doesn't bother me at all because I usually prefer to write without the cap posted. The grip has caused me some grief, however. If there were just a bit more space for my fingers, it wouldn't be an issue. It's difficult to find a sweet spot that doesn't involve gripping the cap threads or dipping my fingers onto the nib or feed accidentally, resulting in inky fingertips that transfer ink back to the grip. After some practice, I've found the sweet spot for my grip, but it took some time.

The real selling feature for this pen, along with the beautiful exterior, is the filling mechanism. It's a classic eyedropper with a twist: there's a end blind cap that operates a shut off valve. This is something I've come to love with vacuum fillers. I like being able to totally close off the ink reservoir from the feed so I can travel or just for additional security when being transported.

To fill the pen, simply unscrew the section and use the included eyedropper to fill the reservoir with ink. I didn't measure exactly, but I got a little over 2ml of ink when filling. For such a small pen, that's extraordinary. To write, back out the blind cap a few turns to allow the ink to flow. In practice, this has worked flawlessly for me. And, for quick notes, you can write for about half a full page without opening the blind cap.

I've been able to operate the blind cap easily with my fingers, but there's a nifty screwdriver mechanism built into the top of the cap. You can use the top of the cap as a screwdriver for operating the blind cap, which has two centered cross grooves (like the top of a Philips screw head). It's a novel idea, but not one that is required to operate the pen.

The Opus 88 Fantasia has been an incredibly fun and satisfying pen to use over the past several weeks. I wasn't sure what I would think of it after unboxing it. At first glance, it looks very practical and scientific in a way. After getting to know it, it's a practical piece of art that's a joy to use.

If you're interested in the Opus 88 Fantasia, they come in several color combinations for $125 a piece. The price if fair given the quality of the materials and craftsmanship, not to mention the unique filling mechanism.

(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!