I’ve been having fun with the Monarca Stationery fountain pen inks that the company shipped me last month. I’ll have reviews coming soon, but I wanted to go ahead and get one of the cooler colors into your hands this week.
Cardona is part of the Semi Desert series, and features a deep red ink with beautiful sheen and shimmer. I have one bottle to give away this week, so read the rules below and enter away.
I’ve turned the corner on shimmer inks over the past few years. From tentative, to accepting, to wanting at least one pen inked up at all times with the glittery goodness. It’s a transition I’m happy with, because otherwise, I would be missing out on beautiful inks like Jacques Herbin Shogun, created to honor Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada.
As a fan of all things Japanese, and a bit of a fashion-follower, I’d be lying if I said I’ve heard of Mr. Takada prior to this collaboration. Admittedly, he was a bit before my time, but he was an icon in the fragrance industry, and later in life, art, design, and fashion. He passed in 2020, shortly after beginning this collaboration, but had a life well-lived for 81 years.
According to Jacques Herbin, this twilight-colored ink is
"... reminiscent of a beautiful night of stars, is coated with fine red and gold glitter. The resulting hue is reminiscent of certain armours from the Shogun era, for which Kenzo Takada held a fine appreciation."
I have to say it is executed to perfection. The most interesting thing I’m finding in my usage of Shogun is trying to decide what color the base ink is. Is it Black? Brown? Grey? Depending on the light, the answer is yes to each, and, at times, all. It’s fascinating to look at.
That’s before accounting for the shimmer. The red and gold combine to give it a rose gold or copper appearance, which combined with the base color, makes this ink pop off the page. This is an ink rich with color, and emotion.
Rich also describes the performance on the page. In my medium Aurora gold nib, it flows well. It’s wet, which translates into a long dry time. On Rhodia, it was very smudgable after 20 seconds, so don’t expect this ink to dry any time soon, no matter the paper. If you are ok with that, then you will be rewarded with amazing results once dry.
Even though it contains shimmer, I could use Shogun as an all-day writing ink. Ok, maybe not on official paperwork, but at first glance it looks like a nice dark ink. Upon closer inspection, it favors the twilight it was designed to represent, as well as the classic colors of the Shogun era. I can’t help but stare at my lines on the page and try to define it more than that. It’s a feature that I’m not able to.
Jacques Herbin Shogun lands in the premium ink category, at $29.50 for a 50 ml bottle. I think that is a fair price for the quality and character of the ink. This is a category that Jacques Herbin excels in, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this ink, or any Herbin shimmer ink in their Special Collection.
Finally, if you are concerned about using shimmer ink in fountain pens, you should be - to a degree. You need to think about using a wide enough nib to show off the ink properties, and to offer good enough flow to prevent clogging. Also, shimmer inks are made to be used once inked, not sit on your desk or in a pen case. Use it regularly, or clean it out. Shimmer inks aren’t something to be scared of. Just be considerate of what you are using it in, and how you are using it.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:
— News: Souveräns Go From Translucent To Opaque (The Pelikan's Perch)
— Wildflowers in an Urban Environment (Writing at Large)
— Rich Linework in Black Ink Composes Meditative Mounds and Ridges in Lee Hyun-Joung’s Paintings (Colossal)
— The many faces of shading inks, or my love affair with dry inks (mnmlscholar)
— Pen Show Prep 2022: Back To Baltimore! (The Gentleman Stationer)
— First Fountain Pen on BBC’s The Repair Shop (Chicana Writes)
— first flowers of spring and momento zero (a fleeting ripple)
— State of the Art: Notifications (Comfortable Shoes Studio)
— The New Bend Nods to Gee's Bend but Strays From Quilting (Hyperallergic)
— Video-Review: Kaweco "Special" Mechanical Pencil (0.5 mm) (Scrively)
— Van Dieman’s Native Cornflower on Midori MD (Inkcredible Colours)
— Fountain Pen Quest Trail Log – March 6, 2022 (Fountain Pen Quest)
— Illustrator Daniel Salmieri on keeping a cool head while drawing a final version (It’s Nice That)
— Lamy 2000 (Flex & Other Follies)
— How Does Nib Size Affect The Look Of Your Handwriting? (Fountain Pen Love)
— Our Favorite Inks: Platinum Carbon Black (The Well-Appointed Desk)
— Fountain Pen Shootout: Tibaldi No 60 vs. Tibaldi Bononia (SBREBrown)
— My plan for the London pen show this weekend (UK fountain pens)
— Ink Review #1758: Kobe 45 Silhouette Green (Mountain of Ink)
— Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Zero Jade Fountain Pen - Steel Extra-fine Elastic Nib (Gourmet Pens)
— Ink Review #658: Tono & Lims The Gleaners (Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
— A Venetian pencil collection (Bleistift)
— How I use pencils (Stationery 🍕)
— Furniture Design from the Ukraine: Pavel Vetrov's Ollly Desk (Core77)
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