The Colorverse Eye on the Universe ink series has undoubtedly been one of the best releases this year, and I have one Hubble / HST-2 set to give away to readers, courtesy of my friends at Goldspot. Read the rules below, and enter away!
Posts filed under Colorverse
Nebula by Colorverse A5 Premium 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. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
My first impression of this Nebula Premium Notebook by Colorverse was “Why do I need another hardbound, pleather, elastic closure, A5 notebook?" I have six different brands of nearly identical notebooks on a shelf right next to me--so what was going to make this one stand out from the crowd? It turns out there are a few standout things about this notebook. It's a good one. It's not filling a gap in the market or anything, but it is offering some choices of features that I enjoy and appreciate.
It has a very firm cover bound in faux leather with a smooth texture to it. My notebook is a lovely shade of lavender blue, but there are a variety of colors available. It has rounded corners and sturdy endpapers prettily decorated with stars and constellations, and the inside back cover has a generous gusseted pocket. One cool feature is that, instead of a ribbon bookmark, this notebook comes with two magnetic flap bookmarks that can be used beyond the life of this notebook alone. I love magnetic bookmarks, so this delighted me. Ribbons are nice, too, but they get caught in case zippers, fray, and get ink stains. The magnets are a huge upgrade, in my opinion. The binding is sewn and the notebook lies open flat with no trouble.
Between the covers are 192 pages of 90gsm, "ink-proof" white paper. Mine is lined, though blank paper is also available, and maybe preferable, as the blank notebook comes with some very cool writing guides in unique formats, including boxes and lines for ink swatching.
But could you swatch in this notebook? Yep. The paper is impressive. When I first felt it, it had the crisp, textured feel of paper that usually feathers and bleeds, so I was expecting at least some degree of failure, but it did not do either of those things in any measure. I suppose a notebook made by an ink company would know how to make their paper truly "ink-proof" as they claim. My skepticism was short-lived.
The slightly fibrous texture of the paper makes it great for pencils and standard pens alike. It's not fibrous enough to be snaggy with sharp tips, but it offers enough friction that it gives good control even with smooth, broad writers and glassy nibs. There was not a single feather to be seen, and nothing bled through--not even the fineliner Sharpie. Not even where I literally poured ink on the page. There was some ghosting with the latter two, but hardly any show-through at all for regular writing. Given Colorverse's affinity for outer space, I can only assume this is some kind of alien technology.
With the matte, textured surface of the paper, I did not expect to see much shading or sheening, but both definitely made an appearance. Sheen was a little rarer, only really showing where the ink pooled, but it's definitely there in wetter inks and nibs. Personally, I prefer the way ink looks on more smooth, coated papers, but one major benefit of this paper is dry time, which was surprisingly fast, depending on the ink and nib. In fact, this notebook is now high on my list of ones I'd recommend to left-handed pen addicts.
The Nebula Premium notebooks sell for $20, which puts it on equal footing, price-wise, with most of the notebooks it so closely resembles. Did the market need another clone A5 notebook? No. Is there room for everyone at the table? Yes, and Colorverse has definitely brought some nice treats here to the notebook potluck.
(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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Colorverse Johannes Kepler Mini 3 Bottled Ink Set: 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 Colorverse Johannes Kepler Mini 3 Bottled Ink Set contains three 5ml bottles of dye-based fountain pen ink honoring Kepler, the famous astronomer and mathematician. The three inks in the set are called "Conjecture," (for Kepler's mathematical theorem on sphere packing) "Planetary Motion" (for Kepler's three laws) and "Somnium" (for Kepler's novel about a dream involving daemons and the moon).
The 5ml bottles are tear-drop shaped and adorable.
That said, the bottles aren't very practical. The opening is only .7mm, so you cannot insert nibs into it. A mini-pipette comes with each bottle. You can fill converters and eye-droppers with the pipette but not piston-filled pens.
Conjecture
Conjecture is a wine colored ink with fair saturation. It exhibits little shading and no sheen on Rhodia paper, and it is not waterproof. Although my dry times test shows the ink smearing after 30 seconds, I think that's because a bit of ink had pooled. The ink is actually quite dry.
The Col-o-dex card also shows some shading but no sheen. I had to soak up the ink splats with a paper towel because sunlight was fading (and I needed to take my photos), so it's possible that ruined any sheen effect.
Most interesting is the chromatography. This ink has a surprising bit of yellow-green in it along with pink and magenta. The yellow-green actually shows up in my water test (see above), but it wasn't evident in any of my writing, swatches, or splats.
Because the bottle is so small, I wasn't able to test the ink with my ruling pen. I opted instead for my widest Pilot Parallel pen (2.4mm). In this wider nib (which I dipped) the ink seems much lighter--more of a cherry blossom color than wine. Shading is much more evident in a wider nib.
Planetary Motion
Planetary Motion is a denim blue color. It has a bit of shading but no sheen and dries quickly. It is not waterproof, but when water is mixed with it, you can see the purple and teal undertones of the ink.
The Col-o-dex card shows off the shading of the ink. Again, it does not have any sheen (maybe due to my paper-towel blotting) but a bit of teal is visible in the splats.
The various dyes in Planetary Motion come out clearly in the chromatography: teal, turquoise, light blue, lavender, and purple.
Testing on Midori Paper with the Pilot Parallel 2.4mm demonstrates decent saturation and shading.
Somnium
Somnium is a jade green color with a tiny bit of shading. It has low saturation except in swabs. It dries fairly quickly and is not waterproof.
On the Col-o-dex card, the ink looks rather flat, with just a tiny bit of shading with the fine nib. Again, because I had to blot the splats, I don't know if there's any sheen with this ink. If there is, it's quite small.
Chromatography reveals different shades of green in this ink: olive green, light green, and blue green.
The Pilot Parallel pen brought out some good shading in Somnium.
I found all three Colorverse inks in this set to be quite dry, especially in the fine nib I used to do longer writing samples. The colors are understated, and I'm not enthusiastic about any of them. They are much more interesting in the Pilot Parallel nib, so I suggest using wide nibs for these inks.
You can buy the Colorverse Johannes Kepler Mini 3 Bottled Ink Set from Goldspot Pens for $19.50. Keep in mind that you'll need to use these inks in pens that are either eye-droppers or cartridge/converters. You could also transfer the ink to a sample bottle in order to fill a piston-based pen.
(Goldspot Pens provided this Colorverse Ink Set to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)
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