Ink Review #185: Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue

Akkerman is a brand that's new to me,  but I'm super excited to try it out. I have heard nothing but good things about the brand so far, and finally decided to give it a shot. Their bottles look amazing, but I have yet to buy a bottle-I hear they are wonderful (the bottles hold 60ml of ink). I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens. 

The color:

Shocking Blue is a dark blue with lots of pink sheen.

This ink has a lot of sheen packed in-it's a dark pink.

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: No shading, high sheen, and no shimmer. The sheen showed on every paper at least a little bit in every nib size. It's just a little short of monster sheen territory.

On 20 pound copy paper the ink did feather a bit but other than that it performed pretty well.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Diamine Majestic Blue, Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue, and Organics Studio Emerson. Just by looking at the swabs I think Majestic Blue and Shocking Blue are really similar, but since I haven't reviewed it yet I can't say anything for sure. I do have Majestic Blue on the schedule for review next week, and I will discuss how similar they are then. Emerson looks similar to Shocking Blue, but does have more sheen.

Diamine Florida Blue, Papier Plume Calle Real, and Diamine Oxford Blue. Click here to see the blue inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Waterman's Ideal 52 1/2 flex pen on Tomoe River paper. I love this pen/ink/paper combo. The ink had an average flow.

I am a sucker for that sheen though-it's beautiful.

Overall, I really like this ink. It's a beautiful blue with tons of gorgeous pink sheen. I am interested to see how it compares to Diamine Majestic Blue, but that's a review for another day. I do think I would buy a full bottle of this ink-I like it a lot and I am interested in their bottles.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.