Ink Review #1689: PenBBS 114 Zhang Ailing

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PenBBS 114 Zhang Ailing is from season 10. You can find this ink for sale at Vanness Pens.

The color:

Zhang Ailing is a medium bright red.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some shading.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper there was lots of bleeding and feathering.

Comparison Swabs:

Zhang Ailing is a bit brighter than Birmingham Rose Overture. Click here to see the red inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Sailor Pro Gear Slim Supernova Red with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a dry flow.

Overall, this ink was rather dry for me, and the color is a bit too bright. It’s a nice ink, but not the ink for me.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

Vinta Neon Set

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Left to right: Electric Pink, Android Teal and Magnetic Blue.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry Time: 30-50 seconds

Water Resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was a bit of feathering in every nib size as well as bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Electric Pink is lighter than Tono & Lims Gifu.

Android Teal is lighter than Pennonia Poison Green.

Magnetic Blue is close to Colorverse Horizon.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook. All 3 inks had an average flow.

Overall, I enjoyed all three of these inks. They are well behaved, have some pretty shading and are all beautiful colors.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.

Ink Review #1685: PenBBS 236 Mandarin Duck Male

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PenBBS 236 Mandarin Duck Male is from season 15. You can find this ink for sale at Vanness Pens.

The color:

Mandarin Duck Male is a dark cobalt blue with pink shimmer.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some red sheen and pink shimmer.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 15 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Low

Other properties: low shading, low red sheen, and pink shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper there was lots of bleeding and feathering.

Comparison Swabs:

Mandarin Duck Male is closest to Diamine Starlit Sea. Click here to see the blue inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a TWSBI Eco Transparent Blue with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this ink is a lovely well-behaved blue ink. I didn’t have any issues with clogging.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

Vinta Vintage Set

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Left to right: Silab, Binibini and Peregrino.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry Time: 30-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low-medium shading, Silab has medium sheen and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was a bit of feathering in every nib size as well as bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Silab is close to Pelikan Ruby

Binibini is closest to Robert Oster Cherry Blossom.

Peregrino is a little lighter than Taccia Fakaki-hanada.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook. Two of the inks have an average flow, Binibini has a dry flow.

Overall, I like Peregrino the best out of the three. I love the pretty shading and Silab’s bright sheen.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.

Colorverse USA Part 2

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We recently looked at five inks from the Colorverse USA collection, so let’s take a look at five more: Cape May, Rocky Blue, Tar Heel, From Cali and Green Goddess.

Swabs:

Left to right: Green Goddess, Cape May, Rocky Blue, Tar Heel and From Cali.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry Time: 40-60 seconds

Water Resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Low-Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, Cape May has high sheen and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was a bit of feathering in every nib size as well as bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Green Goddess is close to Birmingham Summersweet

Cape May is closest to Sailor Ink Studio 943.

Rocky Blue is a little lighter than Caran d’Ache Idyllic Blue.

Tar Heel is close to Pennonia Danube.

From Cali is lighter than Monteverde Purple Mist.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook. Green Gooddess and Cape May have an average flow, the others have a dry flow.

Overall, I enjoyed all of these inks, but three of them are very light and are most readable in broad nibs. Cape May has pretty sheen and Green Goddess is a gorgeous color.

Disclaimer: I purchased these inks myself. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.

Colorverse USA Part 1

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Colorverse has been working on a set of 50 states inks (similar to what Sailor is doing). Let’s take a look at the first five: Gentle Terrier (Massachusetts), Chesapeake Bay (Virginia), Red Rock (Arizona), Tex Mex (Texas) and Chi-Town (Illinois).

Swabs:

Left to right: Gentle Terrier (Massachusetts), Chesapeake Bay (Virginia), Red Rock (Arizona), Tex Mex (Texas) and Chi-Town (Illinois)

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry Time: 40-100 seconds

Water Resistance: Medium

Feathering: None (only Chi-town has low feathering)

Show through: Low-Medium

Bleeding: Only. Chi-Town has low bleeding.

Other properties: medium-low shading, some sheen (Chi-town has medium bronze sheen and Gentle Terrier has monster black sheen) and Chi-town has gold shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was a bit of feathering in every nib size as well as bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Gentle Terrier is close to Van Dieman’s Devil Black.

Chesapeake Bay is similar to Sailor Ink Studio 373.

Red Rock is less red than Sailor 50 States Virginia and more red than Pennonia Chestnut Brown.

Tex-mex is close to Monteverde Cherry Danish.

Chi-town is close to Ostrich Glen the Sea.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook. The inks had average flows except Tex Mex and Gentle Terrier, which had wet flows.

Overall, Red Rock is my favorite out of the five-good shading and a great fall color. Gentle Terrier is my least favorite simply because it has a ton of sheen and can be smeared.

Disclaimer: I purchased these inks myself. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.

Ink Review #1671: Tools to Live by Green

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Tools to Live by ink is exclusive to Galen Leather. This is a KWZ iron gall ink in a tall, gorgeous glass bottle. Let’s look at Tools to Live by Green. Thanks to Galen Leather for sending this ink over for review.

The color:

Green is a dark evergreen.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Bottle:

Green comes in a glass 30ml bottle.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink is darker with some black sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 60 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, medium black sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper there was some bleeding and feathering.

Comparison Swabs:

Green is closest to Ostrich Green Emerald. Click here to see the green inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Pilot Custom 74 in Forest with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a wet flow.

Overall, I like this ink. It has a smooth, wet flow with medium water resistance. The downside to this ink is the price-at $49 for 30ml it’s very expensive, with most of the cost in the bottle. If you just care about the ink, buy it in a standard bottle from KWZ. If you want a gorgeous bottle, buy it from Tools to Live by.

Disclaimer: This ink was provided by Galen Leather for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

Ink Review #1670: Wearingeul Soyeongwije

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Wearingeul Soyeongwije is from Wearingeul’s Yi-Sang series. Thanks to Wearingeul for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Soyeongwije is a deep violet with silver shimmer.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some sheen and lots of silver shimmer.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, tiny brown sheen, and silver shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper there was some bleeding and feathering.

Comparison Swabs:

Soyeongwije is more blue than the other purple shimmer inks I have. Click here to see the purple inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Platinum 3776 Nice Lavande with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, I enjoyed this ink. It’s a pretty color, flows well for a shimmer ink, and is well behaved.

Disclaimer: This ink was provided by Wearingeul for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

Wearingeul Yun Dong-ju

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Wearingeul Yun Dong-ju includes: a Star Spattered Hill, Shooting at the Moon, Stars in Autumn and the Sky. These are such great winter colors together. Thanks to Wearingeul for sending these inks over for review!

Swabs:

Left to right: a Star Spattered Hill, Shooting at the Moon, Stars in Autumn and the Sky.

*For my swab cards I use a Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress, a medium Pilot Ishime and a Mabie Todd Swan.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

*For my writing samples I use:

Dry Time: 20-70 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, no sheen and some shimmer, Star Hill has gold shimmer and Stars in Autumn has silver shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was a bit of feathering in every nib size as well as bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

A Star Spattered Hill is close to Colorverse Ornament Yellow.

Lake Shooting at the Moon is a little darker than Kobe Nagisa Museum Gray.

Stars in Autumn is close to Birmingham M. River Luster.

The Sky is darker than Taccia Classic Blue Jeans.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook, the inks had average flows.

Overall, I love both of the shimmer inks together, they are great night sky inks. I didn’t have any issues with clogging, and they are generally well behaved.

Disclaimer: These inks were provided by Wearingeul for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.