(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
It's not often that you see the word "Unicorn" in a product name, but experience has taught me to get excited if I do see it — especially in stationery products. Unicorns are magical creatures, so the bar is high if you want to use the name in a product.
Unicorn blue from Octopus Fluids is a gorgeous medium blue ink with loads of shading, but it also has a secret magical feature that blew me away. There's gobs of pink/purple sheen that you can easily see once this ink has dried. With lots of inks that have high sheen, you need to use a large, wet nib to really get the benefit of the sheening effect. That's not the case with Unicorn. The pink/purple sheen comes through with ease in normal writing — not just large ink swatches.
I've only used a couple of inks from Octopus in the past, but my experience so far has been great. Unicorn is no exception when it comes to the basic ink behaviors. The flow is fantastic and even a bit on the wet side. The ink is nicely lubricated and glides across the page with ease. I haven't seen any feathering or bleeding, and the ink doesn't show through on the back side of the page very much either. Shockingly, even the dry time is shorter than I expected. In most cases, the ink is most dry by the 20-second mark, but certainly by 30 seconds.
As a blue ink, it's a winner. It's a deeply saturated blue that looks great on its own. The shading and sheen only add to the fantastic baseline color. I'd describe the color as a dark cobalt. There's a lovely level of shading that adds character and depth to the rich blues, and it looks great when writing with a wide or stub nib.
Once the ink dries, the pink/purple sheen starts to pop off of the page. With all sheening inks, one of the easiest ways to accentuate their effect is to move the source of light around the page so you can see all the different ways the ink and light interact. You can't see the sheen in dim light or soft indirect light, but it really comes to life when the ambient light is bright or if there is direct light hitting it. As you move around, it's easy to notice how the colors shift in the characters on the page. It really is magical, and I can't get enough of it. This effect beats out shimmer inks any day of the week (in my humble opinion).
It seems like there are so many ink makers that are worth being excited about at this point in time. It's honestly overwhelming, but that's such a good thing. Unicorn is another ink in my list of favorite inks, and I look forward to using it for my own pleasure, but also to see the responses from other people when they see the ink dance in front of their eyes like some magical creature that only exists in our collective imagination.
Octopus Unicorn is $20 for a 30ml bottle, but you can also snag a sample vial to try out first. I try to be objective and understand that not everyone likes the same things or has the same needs from their stationery and tools. That still applies here, but I'm finding it very difficult to refrain from making a universal, absolute recommendation on this ink. It's a great ink, and you should buy it if you find it in stock.
(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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