Ink Review #1905: Troublemaker Grand River Sunset

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Troublemaker Grand River Sunset is a Phidon Pens exclusive ink. Thanks to Phidon Pens for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Grand River Sunset is such an interesting color. In swabs it’s more green with brown and pink shading, and it looks different on each paper.

*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 looks more purpley pink than green.

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 seconds

Water resistance: Low (my bad-I forgot to do the water test before taking the photo)

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

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

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering and a bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Grand River is closest to Troublemaker Sea Glass. Click here to see the green inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a TWSBI Mini Rose Gold with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a slightly dry flow.

Overall, this is such an interesting ink. I love the shading but the flow is a bit dry for me.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by Phidon Pens 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.

1900 Inks!

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We have surpassed 1900 ink reviews so it’s time for another favorites post! We are almost into fall so today let’s focus on my favorite fall colors.

Reds:

There are so many good fall reds! Robert Oster Australian Shiraz is one I reach for over and over.

Pinks:

I don’t love pinks in the fall, but Diamine Raspberry Rose is a good one!

Oranges:

Like reds, there are so many good fall oranges! You can’t go wrong with almost any orange inks.

Yellows:

KWZ Honey is a sneaky ink. The first time I used it I didn’t really love it-it just never clicked for me at first. Now it’s one I reach for often.

Greens:

I love olive greens in the fall. R&K Alt-Goldgrun is a must-try for every ink lover.

Teals:

Robert Oster Monsoon Sky is a more recent interest, but it’s such a good ink.

Blues:

In the fall I reach more for blue-black inks rather than traditional blues, but Diamine Oxford Blue is always in season.

Purples:

Pillars of Creation is possibly my favorite purple right now. It’s so good.

What are your favorite autumn inks? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Review #1904: Monarca Cenote

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Monarca Cenote is from the Monarca Caribe collection. Thanks to Monarca for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Cenote is a deep blue with lots of 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 there is some pretty sheen and lots of 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: low shading, high pink sheen, and blue shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering and a bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Cenote is closest to Diamine Blue Pearl. 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 is a lovely ink. It’s a pretty color and well behaved.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by Monarca 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 #1903: Monarca Cielo Cruel

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Monarca Cielo Cruel is from the Monarca Semideserto collection. Thanks to Monarca for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Cielo Cruel is a dusky cornflower blue.

*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 there is a little bit of 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: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

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

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering and a bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Cielo Cruel is duskier than Aurora Blue. Click here to see the blue inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Laban Ocean with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this is a nice ink. It’s well behaved and I like the color.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by Monarca 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.

Diamine Inkvent 2021, Part 4

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Let’s take a look at 5 more inks from the 2021 Diamine Inkvent calender (these inks are now known as the Red Edition). We’ve already covered days 1-15 so let’s take a look at days 16-20. These inks are available in full bottles now.

Swabs:

Left to right: Vintage Copper, Thunderbolt, Subzero, Festive Joy and Pink Ice.

Writing samples:

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

Dry Time: 20-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-Medium

Feathering: Thunderbolt and Subzero had low feathering.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Thunderbolt and Subzero had low bleeding.

Other properties: All five inks had medium shading. Thunderbolt had medium copper sheen and Festive Joy had medium gold sheen. Vintage Copper had gold shimmer, Subzero had blue shimmer and Pink Ice had pink shimmer.

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

Comparison Swabs:

Vintage Copper is darker than Diamine Caramel Sparkle.

Thunderbolt is closest to Kobe #50.

Subzero is similar to Diamine Blue Lightning.

Festive Joy is close to Troublemaker Dona Victorina

Pink Ice is less orange than Diamine Pink Champagne.

All the inks had an average flow except Pink Ice, which was dry.

Overall, Subzero is my favorite out of the five, but Vintage Copper is really good too.

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

Ink Review #1897: Colorverse Navy

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Colorverse Permanent Navy is from the Colorverse Office collection. You can find this ink for sale at Vanness Pens.

The color:

Permanent Navy is an unsaturated blue black.

*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 there is a little bit of 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: High

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

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

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering.

Comparison Swabs:

Permanent Navy is lighter than R&K Salix. Click here to see the blue black inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Pilot VP Wish with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a super dry flow. Halfway through the page I re-filled the pen hoping to fix the flow issues but it only worked for 2 lines before it went back to having problems.

Overall, this ink is ridiculously dry. With a fresh fill it will write 1-2 lines without a problem, but then gets super dry and hard to write with.

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

Ink Review #1896: Colorverse Blue Black

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Colorverse Blue Black is from the Colorverse Office collection. You can find this ink for sale at Vanness Pens.

The color:

Blue Black is simply that-a medium blue black.

*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 there is a little bit of 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: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, low red sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering and bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Blue Black is closest to Pilot Blue Black. Click here to see the blue black inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Franklin-Christoph 46 Blue Diamondcast with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this is a nice, well-behaved ink. It would be a great ink for the office.

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

Ink Review #1895: Monarca Nopal

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Monarca Nopal is from Monarca’s Semiderierto collection. Thanks to Monarca for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Nopal is a medium olive green.

*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 there is a little bit of 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: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading, low red sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had some feathering and bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Nopal is closest to Diamine Classic Green. Click here to see the green inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Kaweco Al-sport Evergreen with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this is a lovely ink, well behaved and a nice color.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by Monarca Stationery 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 #1894: Monarca Manglar

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Monarca Manglar is from Monarca’s Caribe collection. Thanks to Monarca for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Manglar is a deep forest green.

*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 there is a little bit of 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: low shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had lots of feathering and bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Manglar is a little more yellow than Pilot Iroshizuku Hoteison Click here to see the green inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Kaweco Sport Olive with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this is a nice dark green. It would be great for the fall and winter seasons.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by Monarca Stationery 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 #1893: Monarca Cardona

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Monarca Cardona is from Monarca’s Semidesierto collection. Thanks to Monarca for sending this ink over for review!

The color:

Cardona is a deep burgundy with sheen and 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 you can see the green sheen and gold 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: low shading, high green sheen, and gold shimmer.

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had feathering and bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Cardona is closest to PenBBS Danjo. Click here to see the red inks together.

Longer writing:

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

Overall, this ink is pretty. I would probably use this ink for holiday cards.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by Monarca Stationery 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.