I acquired a few new bottles and samples of fountain pen inks over the last few weeks. The samples arrived this past Friday so I spent the weekend swatching and testing chromatography.
SET UP – I started my ink swatch collection initially with four swatch books. Three of them are made of paper that I typically write on with fountain pens – Rhodia (80 GSM), Clairefontaine (90 GSM), and Tomoe River (65 GSM). The reason I swatch inks on these three is to see how the ink and paper get on together. It lets me see exactly how the properties of the ink (sheening, shading, shimmer) is handled by the paper.
The col-o-ring swatch book (160 GSM) functions as a color reference guide for when I am just looking at inks to use. This swatch book is a favorite of many of my fellow ink enthusiasts which was my primary reason for using it. It is also the form factor basis of my other swatch books. It’s does what I need it to do and that was all I wanted.
Then I came across an Instagram post that featured swatch cards from a company called Wearingeul that I absolutely had to own for reasons. I knew they made fountain pen inks that were based on literature. I had recently picked up a 30 ml bottle of Shakespeare Twelfth Night, an Atlas Stationers exclusive ink – a beautiful pink ink with silver shimmer. To find our that they made swatch cards that revealed a particular cat’s smile when you swatch the ink…I couldn’t pass them up. I picked up a pack, the accompanying folder and an additional swatch book that had ink bottles on every page to swatch in. ( I was totally influenced by @seemownay in regards to the additional book) Because the book and the cards were the exact same paper I opted not to swatch the inks a sixth time but instead use the ink bottle swatch book as my chromatography reference guide for fountain pen ink art that I am slowly delving into.
I re-swatched all my inks (twelve at the time) on the cards immediately and have been truly giddy about the cards ever since. I smile every time I look at them. The smiling cat swatch cards (200 GSM) have now replaced my col-o-ring swatch book as color reference even though I still continue swatching in it at the moment. I am debating other uses for the col-o-ring book or possibly passing on the remainder of the book to another ink enthusiast – it would be shy roughly 30 cards..
THE INK – In addition to the the bottle of ink I mentioned earlier I also picked up Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat inks from the Wearingeul Alice in Wonderland collection while looking for inks that didn’t contain shimmer. (You can see their swatch cards in the picture featuring the chromatography.)
The delivery of ink on Friday consisted of a kit containing eleven of Goulet Pens best selling inks and two bottles of ink. Because one of the bottles of ink was also in the sample kit I gifted the sample to a friend that also enjoyed using fountain pens.
The Inks (in order from left column to right column in the photo)
Column 1:
- Sample – Organics Studio Nitrogen : A really pretty blue with a purple/red sheen that comes through even when using a fine nib.
- Sample – Diamine Chocolate Brown : A rich brown that really is reminiscent of semi-sweet chocolate.
- Bottle – Diamine Writer’s Blood : This ink was voted on/created in collaboration (via voting) with by the fountain pen community on Reddit. It was originally released in 2021. At first swatch I feel like it is a really close match to Diamine Syrah (which is a favorite). Looking at the chromatography it seems Writer’s Blood leans slightly to the paler pink side. (You can see them in the Wearingeul picture above)
- Sample – Noodler’s Southwest Sunset : A yellow orange color that does remind me of a sunset. It even has an undertone of pink in it when looking at the chromatography. I wouldn’t use this for writing but I can see some potential for art.
Column 2:
- Sample – Diamine Polar Glow : This was originally part of the 2019 Inkvent Calendar. In my swatches there doesn’t seem to be a lot of sheen however I’ve have seen other swatches of this color that show a red sheen quite similar to Organics Studio Nitrogen, I feel like the blue of Polar Glow leans more towards a teal.
- Sample – Jaques Herbin Emerald of Chivor 1670 : This is a beautiful teal color that on first swatch I thought of Iroshizuku Ka-Jaku but when I compared the two there was a clear difference.
- Sample – Organics Studio Henry David Thoreau : This ink surprised me. It’s a really pretty green that leans into blue just slightly and has a beautiful red sheen.
- Sample – Pilot Iroshizuku Yama- Budo : I’d been wanting to try a sample of this ink for a really long time now. It’s a fushia/magenta color that I love. It’s a little more purple than Cheshire Cat from Wearingeul (see the Wearingeul picture).
Column 3:
- Bottle – Celadon Cat : This is one of the Reddit colors released this year and I love it. It is such a pretty pale blue greyish color.
- Sample – Robert Oster Violet Clouds : I love love this color. It’s a pale purple almost lavender color with a pink sheen that has a dark purple border.
- Sample – Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi : I can see why Sailor Manyo inks are a favorite. This is a really pale bluish purple with some pink. And you see all three colors.
- Sample – Sailor Manyo Haha : I hear about this particular color quite a bit in Youtube videos I watch. It has a strong following. A really pretty pale blue green ink It’s similar to Celadon cat just more on the blue side. It writes the same as the other Sailor Manyo ink in that you see all of the colors. but not like a sheen that covers the original color. It’s hard to explain.
And that my friends is it. The only two inks I haven’t technically talked about in any depth are Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat but their swatch cards are in the Wearingeul picture if you want to take a closer look at them. I swatched them before my Goulet order came in.
What do you think of the colors? See one that might interest you? Let me know what colors you lean towards in the comments.
Much love,
Charlie
Loose Endings Studio 