(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
With a name like Octopus Fluids Violet Medusa, how could I resist giving this a try? Sheen is such an exciting ink feature. It's character and personality without the high-maintenance of shimmer. And the sheen in this ink is bold enough to punch you in the face with all eight tentacles.
The ink comes in a lovely glass bottle with a wide base and wide mouth, so it's easy to fill your pen without worrying about the bottle tipping. The label shows the color and has a fantastic illustration of Medusa on it.
The base color of the ink is a vivid, saturated violet. The sheen, which shows up quite well in regular writing and is downright aggressive in places where the ink pools, is acid green. It calls to mind the venom in Medusa's snakes' fangs. Chromatography shows its true violet roots, with no hint of how it magically transforms into a metallic bright green. Alchemy, I guess.
Chromatography does show a water-resistant grey line, which also is confirmed in the water drip test, where some faint lines are still visible after water is wiped away or left to sit. You might be able to save some of your notes after a tea spill with this ink.
The ink has a fairly slow dry time. It takes nearly a full minute before a line fully stops smearing. I suspect that's because it's during that dry time that the sheen magic develops.
The ink is very fun to write with. It flows well and has great attitude. The bottle is 30ml and costs $21.50 at Vanness Pen Shop, which is an average price for ink, though I would not call this an average ink. It's the first time I've tried Octopus Fluids ink, but they have a number of equally tantalizing sheening inks that I'd now like to try. This ink is perfect for artists as well as writers. It would look fantastic in paintings and illustrations. It will be adding a beautiful, venomous bling to my journal pages for months to come.
(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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