Ink Review: De Atramentis Pearlescent Columbia Blue
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Today we are going to take a look at the four De Atramentis Pearlescent Columbia Blue inks, and just looking at the swabs I like the silver version best, so most of the photos will feature Columbia Blue Silver. I purchased my samples of ink from Vanness Pens.
Left to right, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper. The copper version looks a bit purple when compared to the others.
The shimmer isn't visible when the ink is wet, it only appears when the ink dries.
Swabs:
In large swabs there is a ton of shimmer and a little bit of reddish sheen.
Writing samples:
Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.
Dry time: After 30 seconds the ink is completely dry, but you can still smear the shimmer.
Water resistance: Low
Feathering: None
Show through: Medium
Bleeding: None
Other properties: no shading, no sheen, and lots of shimmer. There could be some shading in there, but I didn't notice any since it was covered in shimmer.
On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was feathering and bleeding in every nib size.
Comparison Swabs:
Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): De Atramentis Columbia Blue Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper. Click here to see the De Atramentis inks together.
J. Herbin 1670 Bleu Ocean, Diamine Blue Flame, and Diamine Blue Pearl. Click here to see the blue inks together. Bleu Ocean and Blue Flame have gold shimmer, and Blue Pearl has silver shimmer.
Longer writing:
I used a broad Pelikan M600 Turquoise with the Gold version, a Pelikan M400 White Tortoise with a vintage 400N nib with the Silver version, a broad Conklin Durograph Forest Green for the Copper version, and a medium Pilot VP Galaxy for the Bronze version. I still think the Silver is my favorite of the four. All had some clogging issues, even with the wet flow. Each nib handled the shimmer a little differently. The Pelikan broad did little spurts of shimmer, the Pelikan 400N nib showed a pretty consistently heavy shimmer, the Conklin had shimmer for the first line, and then no more, and the Pilot medium had a consistent trickle of shimmer.
Overall, there is a ton of shimmer in these inks, but each nib handles the shimmer differently. I got the most consistent shimmer from wet flex nibs, but I did have clogging issues with every nib size.
Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.