Ink Review #2172: Dominant Industry Christmas Red

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Let’s take a look at Dominant Industry Christmas Red. Thanks to Yoseka Stationery for sending this ink over for review.

The color:

Christmas Red is just that-a bright Christmas Red with 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 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: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

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

On 20 lb copy paper the ink had just a little bit of feathering and a few dots of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Christmas Red is closest to Ferris Wheel Press Wondrous Winterberry. Click here to see the red inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used an Esterbrook Estie Maraschino with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this is a lovely red shimmer ink, perfect for the holiday season. It would be great for Christmas cards.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

Disclaimer: This product was provided 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.

Vanness Inks, Part 1

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Vanness Pens occasionally releases some in-house inks. Let’s take a look at three of them today. You can find these inks for sale at Vanness Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: Hissy Fit, Lake Water and Fountain Pen Day 2022.

Writing samples:

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

Dry Time: 30-60 seconds

Water Resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Hissy Fit is similar to Ferris Wheel Press Double Raspberry.

Lake Water is a little more green than Birmingham Glassmith.

FPD 2022 is a little lighter than PenBBS 160.

Longer Writing:

All three had slightly wet flows.

Overall, I enjoyed all three of these. The flows were slightly wet which I love, and I love all three colors. You can’t go wrong with any of them.

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

Ink Review #2168: Dominant Industry Winter Wood

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Let’s take a look at Dominant Industry Winter Wood. Thanks to Yoseka Stationery for sending this ink over for review.

The color:

Winter Wood is a deep coal brown.

*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 black than brown.

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 black sheen, and no shimmer.

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

Comparison Swabs:

Winter Wood is closest to Kobe 03. Click here to see the brown inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Pelikan M800 Renaissance Brown with a medium nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had an average flow.

Overall, this is a nice brown ink. It’s dark enough that it’s almost black on some papers which makes it office appropriate.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

Disclaimer: This product was provided 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.

Sailor Yurameku Series 1 Part 1

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Sailor Yurameku Series 1 consists of 9 inks. Let’s take a look at five of them today. You can find these inks for sale at Goulet Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: Yoi, Kitssune Biyori, Byakuya, Amamoyoi and Kyokuya.

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: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: high shading.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Yoi has shading like Troublemaker Petrichor, but the base color is lighter.

Kitsune Biyori is similar to Inkebara Brown Pink.

Byakuya is lighter than these other purples.

Amamoyoi is lighter than Troublemaker Grand River Sunset. Kyokuya is similar to Sailor Washington.

Longer Writing:

All five had dry flows.

Overall, Yoi is my favorite out of the five. It’s the most readable while still has some awesome shading. Byakuya was very pale and difficult to read. All of them were very dry.

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

My 10 Favorite Purple Inks

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Last month we looked at my 10 favorite yellow inks so today it’s time to take a look at my 10 favorite purple inks, in no particular order. There are so many good purple inks out there that it’s hard to narrow them down to ten.

Sailor Manyo Fuji has fabulous shading, but it is very dry.

Colorverse Pillars of Creation has some gorgeous green sheen.

Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi is another good purple shader.

Diamine Music Handel is gorgeous and has some lovely shading.

Monteverde Blueberry Muffin is a great purple for fall.

Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai is a lovely blue-violet.

Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo is so pretty and bright.

Monteverde Amethyst is a lovely medium purple.

Platinum Lavender Black has some awesome shading and I love watching the color change.

J Herbin 1798 Amethyste de L’Oural is such a pretty purple with silver shimmer.

What’s your favorite purple ink? Let me know in the comments below!

Stylosuite Flex Nibs

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When you go to a pen show in the United States you might run into Les Sheely of Stylosuite. You’re going to want to sit down at his table. He’ll let you try out one of his pens. He modifies the nibs to have some awesome flex. After you try one he’s going to ask what you think-is the pen too large? Is the nib too small? Does it flex enough for you? Then he’s going to take your feedback and hand you another pen to try, and you’re going to repeat the process until you find a pen and nib combo you can’t live without. Or in my case…I found three I couldn’t live without.

When I ran into him at the Chicago show last year I spent almost an hour at his table. He was so patient with me and let me try every pen he brought to the show. He let me write with them until I narrowed down exactly what I wanted. One pen I was able to take home from the show, the other two he made to order.

I chose an Opus 88 Demo with an x-wing harpoon nib. I also chose a Leonardo Furore Arancio with the same x-wing harpoon nib. Lastly, I chose a Leonardo Furore Grande Verde Smeraldo with a flex stub.

All three pens were new to me-they were my first Opus and Leonardo pens.

The Opus 88 Demo with an x-wing harpoon nib writes so well. The Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsuji ink kept up with the nib really well, I didn’t have to slow down at all for the ink to keep up.

The Leonardo Furore Arancio with an x-wing harpoon nib is so smooth and flexes really easily.

The Leonardo Furore Grande Verde Smeraldo with a flex stub is one of my personal favorites. It’s so smooth and writes so beautifully. I need one in every color.

Overall, these three are always inked up and some of my most-used pens. I regret not buying more than three of them. I can’t wait to run into Les again at another pen show. I’ll have to hide my wallet to keep from buying too many of them, but seriously, they are my favorite modern flex nibs and absolutely worth trying out! If you’re at the Chicago Pen Show this weekend, make sure you find his table and try some nibs!

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

Octopus Fluids Write Draw Petrol

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Octopus Fluids recently came out with a line of pigmented inks called Write & Draw. Let’s take a look at five of them. You can find these inks for sale at Vanness Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: Blue Koi, Petrol Buffalo, Petrol Axolotl, Petrol Deer and Violet Bee.

Writing samples:

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

Dry Time: 30-70 seconds

Water Resistance: High

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low shading.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Blue Koi is close to Octopus Fluids Ultramarinblau.

Petrol Buffalo is similar to Sailor Ink Studio 641.

Petrol Axolotl is close to Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro.

Petrol Deer is a little darker than Octopus Fluids Crystal Blue.

Violet Bee is similar to PenBBS First Love.

Longer Writing:

All five had slightly wet flows.

Overall, I enjoyed these inks. The slightly wet flow is lovely, and I love the high water resistance. Out of the five Petrol Axolotl is my favorite.

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

Ink Review #2157: KWZ IG Violet 3

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Let’s take a look at KWZ IG Violet 3. This ink is from KWZ’s Iron Gall collection. You can find this ink for sale at Vanness Pens.

The color:

IG Violet 3 is a deep aubergine purple.

*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: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

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

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

Comparison Swabs:

IG Violet 3 is just a little lighter than IG Violet 2. Click here to see the purple inks together.

Longer Writing:

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

Overall, like IG Violet 2 that I reviewed earlier this week-this is a nice ink but not amazing. I expected it to be more water resistant because it’s an iron gall, but it only had medium water resistance. I also wanted a bit more shading than I got.

Thanks to all my Patrons! I couldn’t do these reviews without you! You can find my Patreon page here.

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

Kobe Purples

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Let’s take a look at four Kobe inks. You can find these inks for sale at Vanness Pens.

Swabs:

Left to right: 56 Shichidanka, 62 Nunobiki, 32 Tamon and 53 Pearl Silver.

Writing samples:

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

Dry Time: 30-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: low-medium shading.

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Nunobiki is brighter than Pilot Iroshizuku Jurojin. Shichidanka is a bit more red than Robert Oster Go Go.

Tamon is similar to Robert Oster Purple Rock.

Pearl Silver is lighter than these other grey inks.

Longer Writing:

All four had average flows.

Overall, I love all four of these. They flow well and are well behaved. 56 Shichidanka and 62 Nunobiki are my favorites, the colors are gorgeous.

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