Where to even begin with this one. Yes, we have an update on the Retro 51 project, and we pretend we know about MSRP. But who cares about all that when I have the fastest pens in the world in my possession?
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(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!)
The Joy in the Ordinary series from Colorverse is truly delightful, as a theme. What would astronauts miss when in space? Lots of lovely earth things, like hot coffee--the inspiration for Colorverse Coffee Break. I love a good warm brown ink, and this one is well up in the ranks with some of my favorites.
The packaging, as with any Colorverse ink, is so charming that you're inevitably smiling before you even set eyes on the ink itself. The box is fully decorated with delightful illustrations. When all the different colors are lined up, the illustrations on the outside of the boxes form one continuous scene. I don't know any other company that puts this much thought into their presentation, and I totally love it.
The ink bottle itself is an egg-shaped blown glass 30ml jar. The front is flattened where the label goes. It's a cute bottle, as all Colorverse bottles I've seen to date are. It's a practical shape, too, allowing for easy pen filling, even when the ink starts to run low. The smaller size bottle helps to keep the cost down, as well. This bottle retails for $13.75, which seems just right.
The ink itself is a nice warm brown. It leans a bit yellow, I think. This isn't a black coffee, or a creamy latte coffee. This is more like the weak coffee you get in a hotel lobby at 3am. But I dig it. Chromatography shows a lovely split between an almost purple-mauve, fading into pink, to coral, to bright yellow. It's easy to see where all that warmth is coming from. And Colorverse remains the most surprising brand when it comes to chromatography tests.
It has quite a lot of shading, ranging from a dry grass color to a rich chocolate. It's well balanced between wet and dry. It doesn't feel like a wet ink, but doesn't have the drag of dry ink, either. The dry time on it is decent, between 20 and 25 seconds. There is almost no water resistance to this ink at all. The slightest splash washes it clear away. A bit ironic, since the thing that most people seem to spill on their writing is coffee.
As far as comparisons go, I can't say that this ink is unique. There are a lot of similar colors out there. The closest in my swab collection is J. Herbin Lie de The--a funny naming convention coincidence. The J. Herbin is a little bit cheaper than this Colorverse, but I strongly prefer the Colorverse bottle.
I really like this new series from Colorverse. Their previous offerings are all excellent, but the larger sets they come in often exceed my ink budget. These smaller singles at affordable prices are just what I needed from this line. And while the colors so far aren't anything wild, they perfectly capture their theme of joy in the ordinary.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Out of the many inks I own, there aren't any true greens. I've always enjoyed green, but never fallen for any green inks that I find while at pen shows or perusing online shops. Sailor Ink Studio #960 is about as true a green that I could ever want. While the color might not match exactly what "true green" is, it certainly comes close enough by my personal definition.
Sailor Ink Studio is a fascinating project and line of inks produced by Sailor's own Osamu Ishimaru, a professional blender of inks. The Ink Studio line is comprised of over 100 unique inks chosen from Mr. Ishimaru's thousands of ink creations. I can't imagine coming up with a handful of unique ink colors that span the color wheel, let alone coming up with thousands. This is truly fascinating to consider and makes the 960 on my desk even more special for that reason.
Aside from the clever concept and interesting branding behind the Ink Studio line, it's still a Sailor ink at heart, which means I was excited to try it out. 960 is a deep green that looks more like jade in lighter areas. It's not dark enough to qualify as forest green or British racing green, but it comes close to those shades when the ink pools up on the page. Let's just say this ink will not come into question on St. Patrick's Day.
This is a fairly saturated ink, which helps it pop from the page despite the dark-ish color. I've been using this ink in a 1.1mm stub nib mostly, and that's purely because I love to see the character of the ink come out more with a wider nib. There's some really beautiful and subtle shading that comes out with a broader nib. When using this ink in a fine nib, I barely noticed any shading at all and almost wrote the ink off as a dark green with very little character. I'm glad I was wrong.
Like all Sailor inks I've come across, this one is extremely well-behaved. The ink is smooth on the page, works great in the feed and nib system (meaning it starts quickly and doesn't skip or sputter), and dries really quickly on the page. In my unscientific tests, the ink is normally dry in under 15 seconds. And, as with all well-behaved inks, it's also easy to clean out of pens when it's time to swap in for something else.
The dark, subdued shade of this delicious green is something that makes me happy when I see it drying on the page. It's not a flashy ink, but it has a lot of hidden character that you can coax out with the right nib. It's dark enough to be appropriate in many business settings, but fun enough to use on a daily basis.
At $18 for a 20ml bottle, Sailor Ink Studio #960 is a bit on the pricey end of inks, but it does have a very unique story and some additional info on all 100 colors in the Color Studio line, as well as some blank cartridge converter labels so you can always remember what ink you have in a given pen. If this particular color doesn't strike your fancy, take a look at the other 99!
(Dromgoole's 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!
